ABSTRACT
Discussion is thinking out loud together with others. Or, to put it more formally, a discussion is a reasoned verbal communication between two or more persons. The classroom discussion, however, poses some special considerations. It is a method used towards a specified end: that within a given period of time students will have incorporated a certain content of knowledge, certain habits of thought, and certain ways of operation. To observe a good discussion is to be impressed with its apparent spontaneity, freedom, the combustion of ideas among the participants, and by the keen skill of the leader in provoking new thought and drawing its varied strands together. The educational value of discussion is the exercise of the student’s mind in habits of clear thinking and clear communication. The educational purpose of discussion as a means of learning by doing (learning to think, to communicate, to co-operate, etc) is not included in this article largely because of space considerations. .
