Inside/Outside Circle
K-12
Big Idea
Inside/Outside Circle is a structured discussion technique that allows students to respond to questions, review or teach concepts, discuss new topics, and share ideas or experiences with a variety of classmates. Students form two concentric circles and share information with the person standing across from them until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction, giving each student a new peer to talk to.
Directions
- Determine Purpose: What will students discuss? Provide a guiding question or task students will respond to prior to joining the inside-outside circle. Students can have time to prepare by writing about the question or gathering information to share, depending on learning target.
- Split the Class: Decide which half of the students will form the inside circle and which half will form the outside circle. You can have students count off. 1's = Inside / 2's = Outside
- Form Inside/Outside Circle: Students will move to their designated circle and face one another.
- Expectations/Share: Explain to students that they need to be actively listening to their inside/outside partner, not just focusing on their turn to share. When the teacher says go, students on the inside of the circle will share first. Teachers can set a timer to indicate when students should switch. Students on the outside share next.
- Rotate: After the first pair has shared, have the students on the inside of the circle move to the next student. Tip* Have students tap their right elbows with their partner. Students on the inside can move 1-4 steps by tapping elbows or they can give their partner a high five as they move if you want students to move more than one place at a time.
When to Use
This cooperative learning strategy can be used to engage students in discussion for different purposes in a structured, organized manner:
- Peer Teaching Jigsaw: Assign students different concepts to teach to their peers. This can be used to introduce new topics or to review topics before an assessment.
- Personal Share: Students can share experiences/personal information or ask each other questions to get to know each other at the beginning of the year. Teachers can formulate questions for students to use.
- Socratic Seminar: Students can each prepare an open-ended question for the inside/outside group discussion based on a novel or topic of study. They ask their questions to their partner and share.
- Anticipation Guide: Students can all respond to teacher created questions or statements. Students can share their responses based on their prior knowledge or agree or disagree with the statements to preview a unit of study.
- Processing Content: Use this discussion strategy to help students process their learning or understanding of a concept. Teachers can form leveled questions to stimulate higher level thinking (surface level, deep, transfer). The questions can get more challenging as students move through different partners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3EwWa6AB2o&feature=youtu.be
Strategy Variations
- Differentiate the level of discussion by designating questions for the inside students to ask the outside students and vice-versa. Students on the inside can be given a red card with a concrete, surface level question. Students on the outside can be given a yellow card with a deeper, higher level thinking question.
- Students can create the questions or the teacher can create the questions.
- Instead of a circle, use desks that are facing each other to allow students to record information based on their discussion (see video above).