The remote fishbowl-Hanada Al-Masri, Modern Languages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVCFGLVZA3w

You may be familiar with a group discussion technique known as the fishbowl. In this technique, the instructor identifies a set of students that have the same opinion on a topic. 

The strategy

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The students arrange their chairs in the center of the room, creating the fishbowl.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The remainder of the students place their chairs on the outside of the fishbowl.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Students in the fishbowl discuss the topic or reading at hand – how they reached their understanding of the topic, why this topic is important to them, etc. – while the students outside the fishbowl actively listen.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. When the fishbowl students are finished, the instructor asks the observers to summarize what they heard, allowing the fishbowl students to affirm or clarify these remarks.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The students then switch places and repeat.

This technique helps students develop empathy for other points of view, and is particularly useful when discussing sensitive topics. 

Going remote

This spring I found that this strategy transfers well to a remote setting with Zoom. During step 3, students in the fishbowl turn on the video during their discussion while listeners turn off their cameras.  At the start of step 4, the roles reverse with observers turning on their cameras, while fishbowl cameras go dark. During this step, fishbowl students can use the chat feature to affirm or clarify the remarks made by the observers.

Extending to reading discussions

In the spring, I extended this strategy beyond debate. In my language class,  I used  fishbowl for understanding reading passages through guided textual analysis. Prior to class, I would divide the reading in half – part one and part two – then assign half the class to part one, the other half to part two. During our synchronous remote class, students working on part one would be in the fishbowl and are asked to discuss the main idea(s) in their half, identify the grammatical structures (previously introduced or new ones) and identify new cultural phrases. The fishbowl group concludes their discussion by offering a cultural comparison (practices, products, and perspectives) between first language and target language. The other groups would be active listeners, where they “learn” from the first group, take notes, and write any questions they may have. The two groups then alternate. During this activity, my role as a teacher is to observe and take notes to address things like mispronunciations, misunderstanding, etc.   

Hanada Al-Masri
Associate Professor
Arabic/Modern Languages/International Studies/Middle East North African Studies