Getting a Quiet Section to Talk

You ask a question and nobody answers. Groups sit side by side without talking. Students submit alone even when you asked for group work. TAs describe it in discussion sections, early-morning labs and recitations alike. Silence is rarely about the students not caring. It is usually about the room: no one wants to be the first to be wrong, the question is too big to start on, or nothing in the setup makes talking the normal thing to do. Those are things you can change. This page gives you moves to try in your next section, with the research behind them. Your instructor's plans for the section come first; most of these fit inside any lab script.

Defaults that work. If you only take four things from this page:

Write before talk. Give everyone a minute to write an answer first. Then nobody is answering cold.
Wait. Count to five, silently, after every question. Don't answer it yourself.
Pair, then share. "Turn to your neighbor and agree on an answer in 60 seconds," then call on a pair, not a person.
Make the groups yourself, give each person a role, and ask for one product per group.

The first five minutes

Have a question on the board as students walk in, and ask everyone to write an answer for two minutes. The first thing anyone says will be something they have already written down.
Start easy. A fact from lecture, or "what does this code print?". Everyone can answer it, and the first answers in a section set the tone. Save the "why" questions for later.
Use names from week one. Name tents or a seating chart help. Trying to learn names matters even when you get one wrong.
Say the norms out loud early: everyone here is learning, wrong answers are useful, and I will call on people, kindly. Then stick to it.
Move the chairs. Clusters of two to four, facing each other, before students arrive. Rows facing you invite a lecture.

Asking questions

Wait at least five seconds. Research going back to Mary Budd Rowe found that teachers wait about a second and a half after a question. Waiting three to five seconds brought more volunteers and longer, more thoughtful answers. Five seconds feels long at the front of the room. Count it.
One question at a time. Asking three versions in a row makes it harder to answer any of them.
Warm-call, don't cold-call. Tell the class early that you will call on people. Then call on someone after they have written or talked to a partner, so they have something ready. In one large study, classes with more of this kind of calling saw voluntary participation grow over the term, and classes with little stayed flat.
Call on names at random, from index cards or a list, so being called on is normal and not a punishment.
Ask for several hands: "I want three different answers before we go on." Then wait for three.
Vote, discuss, vote again. For a concept question, take an anonymous vote first (a poll or hands up with eyes closed), have pairs discuss, and vote again. This is peer instruction, and studies in computing courses show students learn from the discussion, not only from copying a neighbor.

Groups that actually work together

Form the groups yourself: count off or use a list. "Find a group" leaves the same students out every week. Keep groups to two to four.
Don't leave one student isolated, for example the only woman in a group of men. Pair students across groups so no one is alone.
Give roles and rotate them each session: driver and navigator for pairs, or manager, recorder and presenter for threes. A role gives a quiet student a reason to speak.
In labs, use pair programming: one screen, one driver, one navigator, swapping every 15 to 20 minutes on a timer. Research on pair programming in intro courses reports better completion, confidence and program quality.
Ask for one product per group: one whiteboard answer or one submission. If each person submits alone, they will work alone.
Visit the groups. Ask a group a question, and ask the quietest member to answer for the group.

When the room goes silent

Don't fill the silence with your own answer. Switch modes: "Turn to your neighbor and agree on an answer in 60 seconds." Then call on a pair.
Call on groups, not people: "Table three, what did you get?" The group answers together.
Check the question. Blank looks often mean the question was too big or unclear. Make it more concrete, or ask a simpler one and build back up.
Count the quiet kinds of taking part: written answers, forum posts, a question after section. Some students will never speak first, and that does not mean they are not learning.

Early mornings and hectic labs

Morning sections need a warm-up. A two-minute written question or a quick poll gets people thinking before you ask anyone to speak.
In a busy lab, go to the students. Walk the room and ask each group "what are you trying right now?". Many students who won't ask the room will answer you one-on-one.
Stop the room for the common problem. When three groups have the same bug, take one minute at the board for everyone.
If you are given a lab script, you can usually add these moves inside it: a written warm-up, wait time, and pairs before sharing. If you want to change the script itself, ask your instructor first.