At the same time, these group discussions increase student enthusiasm and participation. His students seem to agree. Griswold works toward three main instructional goals in his courses. His unique mixture of lecture and group work in the classroom gives him a method for reaching his goals. Using Small-Group Discussion Griswold began to experiment with using group work when he became dissatisfied with the class atmosphere in his seminar courses.
Students are often reluctant to engage with the material.
They tend to sit around, waiting for each other to talk. The 'discussion' can easily turn into a monologue by the professor or by one or two students. Small-group discussion has helped to solve this problem in many of Griswold's courses. Griswold assigns certain book chapters or articles or original historical material to be read before class time. Then in class, students are divided into groups of four or five each.