The College Classroom as a Small Group: Some Implications for Teaching and Learning

Throwing the Sociological Imagination Into the Garbage: Using Students' Waste Disposal Habits to Illustrate C. Wright Mills's Concept

“…One goal of the debriefing is to give students a clearer picture of their accomplishment and to help them see the purpose of the exercise and tie it to the broader goals of the class (Billson 1986;Millis 1997;Woodberry and Aldrich 2000). Through class discussion students begin to acknowledge how time, place, status, and social influence and economy create waste material.…”

Planning and Running Effective Classroom-Based Exercises

“…However, by then, they often cannot recapture the excitement or insights aroused by the exercise. As Billson (1986) noted, stirring emotions in small groups can heighten their readiness to learn. To benefit from students' heightened emotions and fresh insights, instructors may want to cut back their plans so that the entire unit --exercise and feedback/discussion --fits into a single period.…”

“…For this reason, pair work and group work are often more effective than class-wide discussions (especially at the start of an exercise). If student groups have to share their conclusions/ideas with the class or other groups, peer pressure helps keep them on task and reminds them of their interdependence (Billson 1986). For example, create a "structured controversy" in which all groups must report their position on an important social issue, such as bussing to achieve racial balance in schools (Johnson and Johnson 1979).…”

“…It also saves time if instructors encourage group members to sit next to each other in class. In fact, this generally happens naturally in the evolution of small groups, regardless of instructor prompting (Billson 1986). …”

“…First, give students a clear picture of what they have accomplished. Help them see the purpose of the exercise and tie the exercise to the broader goals of the class (Billson 1986;Millis 1997). Moreover, during debriefing, instructors should facilitate higher order thinking by highlighting the multiple perspectives of different individuals and groups.…”