ALCA Members PLC Domains Data Standards Map Plan Curriculum Assessment Strategies

Fishbowl

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.

  1. Focus for class discussion.

    1. Give a thought-provoking problem or question for all individuals to consider and work through privately.
    2. Give a thought-provoking problem or question for all individuals to consider and work through privately.
    3. This could be an article to read, a math model to build, a story problem to solve, a piece of artwork to consider, and so on.
    4. Make sure students have a product or idea to share (notes, questions, solutions) when they’re done. 
    5. This accountability is important, because discussions are richer when participants have an investment in their ideas.

  2. Setup

    1. Five or six chairs are arranged in a circle in the center of the room and facing the center.  This set of chairs is the fishbowl.
    2. Additional chairs are arranged outside the inner circle, also facing the center. (Fewer chairs could be used if if there are fewer students)

  3. Format and Expectations of Discussion

    1. Four or five participants (exactly one fewer than the number of chairs) occupy chairs in the fishbowl.  They are the fish.
    2. Other participants sit in the additional chairs.  They are observers.
    3. A facilitator stands near the fishbowl.  His/her job is to keep the discussion moving, to enforce the rules of the fishbowl, and to take notes of any interesting points or questions that may emerge from the discussion.
    4. Only the fish can speak.  Moreover, they can speak only if exactly one of the chairs in the fishbowl is vacant.
    5. At any time, an observer can step forward and sit in the vacant chair.  At that point, the discussion must stop until one of the fish voluntarily retires to the observer area.
    6. Any observer may join the discussion at any time simply by occupying the vacant chair.
    7. A participant may move between the observer and fishbowl areas as many times as he/she likes during the discussion.
    8. It is also permissible for a fish to retire to the observer area at any time, even when no one has stepped forward to fill the seat.  In this case, the discussion must stop until an observer volunteers to join in.
    9. Make sure the audience knows you will hold them accountable for sharing their observations.
    10. Equity sticks (a cup of sticks with each student’s name on one) can be used to increase audience accountability.

  4. Time to Think & Discuss

    1. Give students five minutes to turn to a neighbor and talk about their ideas and opinions related to the issue.

  5. Field Trip Practice

    1. When you feel that the students are ready to move on, announce that the class will be taking a “field trip” to observe a single team or pair of students engage in a discussion about their ideas.
    2. Again, the purpose of this activity is to model, practice having, and closely assess a discussion so that in the future, students will understand the skills they need to independently participate in and lead productive discussions of their own.
      1. As students become more adept at the discussion process, you can use the same Fishbowl activity to demonstrate high-quality discussions in regard to content. In other words, the content and students’ thinking can become the focus (the products rather than the process). Of course, the hope is that students will work on both content and discussion skills at any given time, but we must develop their skills to get to that point.
    3. And the observers need to record anything else important they see and be ready to share it.
    4. Remind the students in the audience about their job as observers: They need to note examples of when their peers in the discussion group are following the rubric and when they’re not.

  6. Discussion

    1. If discussion last for more than one class period, have an observer give an overview of the discussion on the next day.

  7. Critique/Summary/Journal

    1. Once the team has completed the discussion, allow them to assess themselves according to the established goals and mention anything else they’ve noticed.
    2. Following the fishbowl, the observers compose a constructive critique or summary of the discussion.  These can be public or submitted directly to the instructor.
    3. All students incorporate what they have learned during the activity into another activity such as a journal or module reflection.
    4. The instructor may provide a final summary point for the discussion before beginning the next unit of activity.

  8. Teaching Strategies

    1. Keep it constructive.  Any student comments need to be constructive from the gallery in order to make those in the fishbowl comfortable.
    2. Keep the topic interesting, to motivate some students to actively participate while being observed by others.
    3. Students in the fishbowl must have the opportunity to share what they know.
    4. Be careful of peripheral participation.  Some students learn best in the observing role, but everyone must participate at some point in the actual fishbowl in order to demonstrate competence in action rather than just from an evaluative standpoint, although both are important.
    5. Expect some students to get frustrated by this activity.  For example, an observer may have what s/he believes to be an excellent point that everyone in the bowl is missing.  It can be difficult for some students to keep that idea to themselves until after the activity without getting frustrated.
    6. Allow the students to self-facilitate within the group or appoint a leader if the activity goals include being able to lead a discussion on the given topic.
    7. One advantage of the fishbowl for online education comes when synchronous sessions are used.  By limiting the active participants to those in the fishbowl, the online synchronous discussion does not become difficult to manage.
    8. Following the fishbowl, the observers compose a constructive critique or summary of the discussion.  These can be public or submitted directly to the instructor.
    9. All students incorporate what they have learned during the activity into another activity such as a journal or module reflection.
    10. The instructor may provide a final summary point for the discussion before beginning the next unit of activity.

  9. Variations

    1. Variation one: The empty chair

      Some teachers include an empty chair in the fishbowl circle, so that if an observing student feels they absolutely must make a comment, they can move into the empty chair, make their comment, then return to their seat.

    2. Variation two: Progressive fishbowls

      Some teachers have students rotate in groups through "the fishbowl," either picking up the same topic of conversation where the last group left off, or discussing what they observed in the other group"s conversation, or starting with a new topic.

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