Probably the most traditional way of education is a teacher lecturing most of the time. However, a new idea seems to be more and more accepted which advocates students play a more important role in class. Personally, I would like to side with the latter approach because it not only lead students to master a specific knowledge well, but also teachs them how to learn as well as how to express opinions.
First of all, a student is better educated in a discussion class, in which they usually have a deeper impression and understanding of knowledge through active and positive communication. Since the formation and expression of an opinion on a specific topic calls for a recalling and summarizing of a wide range of knowledge,
this course stimulates a deep level thinking which is greatly beneficial to the study of new things. Conversely, although a lecture may be informative, it is sometimes not so impressive. That is, students always have to spend lots of time reviewing the class notes afterwards to keep them in mind. This kind of course put more emphasis on the input part of study than the output part, so it is relatively not so balanced and efficient.
Second, students are more capable to learn by themselves if trained by a class which involves lots of exchanges of opinion. In order to have a strongly supported personal idea, students should do much preparation and self-education beforehand.
They have to collect information from the Internet or libraries. This kind of self induced study is most beneficial for it lets students learn to learn. In fact, lecturers no longer exist after graduation, but learning will never stop. So, to learn effectly and efficiently by oneself is of great importance, and this can only be acquired in a discussion based class.
Finally, students learn how to make effective speeches when it comes to the learning approach that encourages students to participate in discussions. In order to catch other’s full attention, a student must make his speech well illustrated and better organized,
thus Communication skills are enhanced, which is so important that we may find it have a wide range of use, from job interviews to academic lectures. It is also a key to cooperation in scientific research as well. So a discussion class is just what we need.
In summary, of all the factors concerned above, we can draw the conclusion that a discussion class overwhelms a lecture in several ways. The discussion based education system teaches much more than a specific knowledge, it provides learning and communication skills as well.
