Human interaction increases enjoyment and promotes relationship building. Sharing ideas with others having different views from our own fosters the ability to compromise and be fair and impartial. It also fosters empathy.

Increasing how much students actively participate in the classroom increases the students’ enjoyment of the class and their retention of factual knowledge. (Costa et. al, 2007). A study was done on undergraduate medical students. Two groups of students took the same class. They covered the same information and took the same tests but one class was taught following a traditional lecture format while the other consisted of open discussion sessions. The medical students who were in the discussion group enjoyed the style of teaching more than the students in the lecture group and test results show that interactive teaching practices increase knowledge retention. (Costa, et. al, 2007)

Discussions help students develop and strengthen interpersonal communication skills as well as analytical and critical thinking skills. Research shows a positive correlation between the quality of classroom discussion and the how well students understand what they have learned (Murphy et al, 2009). It also suggests that improved discussion in the classroom will help students build better problem solving skills. (Murphy, et. al, 2009)

Discussions help to summarize what students have learned and strengthens conceptual and procedural knowledge. When students have problems understanding something, having a discussion makes it clearer to both the teacher and the student exactly what the student is struggling with and then the teacher can address the problem and fix it (de Garcia, 2013). There are lots of benefits associated with the use of discussion in education, yet it is not something that enough teachers take advantage of.

Students who participate in guided classroom discussions learn essential life skills as well, including the importance of active listening. … By creating an atmosphere of understanding and encouraging students to listen with the goal of understanding, we can improve their communication skills.

Help with Understanding: Group discussion use to help students to understand a topic or concept deeply which will stay for a long time in their minds. Improve Communication Skills: It is also used to improve communication skills as it can encourage students to become more confident in speaking up and asking questions.