4-S Application Activities are the cornerstone of Team-Based Learning (TBL) pedagogy, but can be used on their own outside the context of a TBL course. Students work together to solve problems and debate complex ideas. The 4 S’s are:
- Significant problem – a problem that is meaningful to students and complex enough that it requires the collective brainpower of the entire team.
- Same problem – each group/team is trying to solve the same problem.
- Specific choice – teams are required to come to a consensus on one clearly-defined answer.
- Simultaneous report – teams share their answers with the class simultaneously.
Image: Simultaneous reporting of answers in a TBL classroom – From Jim Sibley, https://learntbl.ca/what-is-tbl/structured-problem-solving/, 2018, accessed July 31, 2020.
Steps
- Think about a significant problem in your discipline with multiple potential solutions.
- Arrange students into groups (or use teams already established in your course).
- Provide a multiple-choice question which requires students to make and defend an argument. For example: “Which of the following theoretical frameworks best explains the rise of working-class militancy in late-nineteenth century Europe?”
- Have students individually write down their choice and explain their reasoning.
- Direct students to share answers with their team and decide on a consensus choice. Encourage them to go back to their readings or other materials to support their decisions.
- Once a decision is made, ask teams to simultaneously reveal their consensus choice using answer cards (see image).
- Ask students to look around the room and see how the other teams responded to the question.
- Ask teams to explain their decision and supporting rationale.
- As students discuss their answers, remind them to speak to each other (not to you). Ask guiding questions to prompt their thinking. For example: Why did you say ____? Team A, explain to Team B why you chose a different answer from them. Team C, what would you say to add to Team A’s argument?
