The fishbowl is a format for facilitated group discussion that stimulates interest and encourages participation by focusing on a small group of people at a time, and by allowing the composition of that group to be fluid.
The fishbowl is a format for facilitated group discussion that stimulates interest and encourages participation by focusing on a small group of people at a time, and by allowing the composition of that group to be fluid.
The following lesson will guide you throughout the activity, from setup to completion. For a successful fishbowl, read the whole lesson first before implementation. The first two fishbowls maybe a struggle for you, especially for classrooms that has been traditionally teacher-centered. Active listening, constructive and accountable talk take practice, therefore the more you use activities such as the fishbowl in the classroom, the more the students will adopt them as a classroom routine.
Fishbowl activities force participants to listen actively to the experiences and perspectives of a specific group of people. A student fishbowl gives pre-service and in-service educators an opportunity to hear the experiences, ideas, and feedback of current students while giving the students an opportunity to be active in the dialogue on educational equity.