Silent students

Situation

How do I get “silent” students more involved in discussions?

Solution

Break down the participants in small groups (2-3 participants) allowing for silent students to take more space. Group silent students together to get them to talk. Talk with silent students separately after session and see if they enjoy the meetings and if you can do something specific to help them express their views in sessions.

Another method is to give all groups the same task. Then you mix the groups so that they can compare solutions. This gives a very safe environment to talk about the subject since you have the solution from the former group.