Study Groups

From Peacebuilding

Content Processing Activity: Study Groups

Contents 1 Aims: 2 Time: 3 Materials: 4 Participants: 5 Procedure: 6 Note:

Aims:

• To encourage participants to deepen their understanding of the content introduced

• To process the content in a participatory and interactive way

Time:

In addition to preparation, it can take a minimum of 30-40 minutes during the workshop for each discussion session

Materials:

• Handouts prepared in advance by the facilitator (or copies of books or articles chosen by the facilitator)

• Flip chart paper

• Markers

Participants:

Any number

Procedure:

I) Before the workshop, write down the content you’d like to introduce and divide it into parts if necessary. Prepare a handout for each part. If your content derives from books, articles or electronic documents you can choose to copy and use these sources (taking account of copyright restrictions). Together with the materials, provide “homework guidelines” in each handout, such as the following:

“Your task is to read the handout and prepare a list of questions, comments and critiques arising from what you’ve read. Prepare a list for each handout and write them down below.”

Example: In an introductory two-day workshop on nonviolence you plan to deliver four presentations. The first one will be on “Introducing Nonviolence”. You gather articles and books by Mohandas K. Ghandi, Gene Sharp and George Lakey. You prepare a two-page handout. The second part will be on “Power and Nonviolence” and is to be introduced in the afternoon of the first day. You prepare a two-page handout using Gene Sharp’s power and consent theory. You follow the same procedure for the third and fourth presentations, which will be delivered on the second day of the workshop. You supplement each handout with “homework guidelines”.

II) Before the workshop, get the list of participants with contact details. Get in touch with them and tell them you’re going to send them content materials that will be processed during the workshop. You ask them to study the materials and do some homework based on the guidelines in each handout. Send out the handouts.

III) During the workshop – when it’s time to work on the first part of the content – ask participants to refer to the first handout and divide the plenary into working groups of 5-6 people.

IV) Ask participants to exchange questions, answers, comments and critiques on the first handout. Allow 10 minutes for discussion.

V) Now ask each group to identify the most important question that they’d like to be answered; the most important learning points; and the most critical or controversial issue. Allow a few minutes.

VI) Return to the plenary and ask a member of the first group to read out their most important question. Discuss with the plenary.

VII) Turn to the second group and ask for their most important question. Discuss it with the group.

VIII) Repeat the procedure with other questions, and then with the most important learning points and the most controversial/critical issues.

Note:

This procedure can be time-consuming and tiring, so pay attention to the energy flow. Leave plenty of room for discussion in the plenary if there is interest and energy. Otherwise, shift quickly to other issues, trying to maintain interest and participation.