When I first got to the high school I was surprised at how little the class discussed things. I kept waiting, especially in my history and English classes, to have a class discussion but unfortunately we never did. If there is one thing that I could change about my high school education, it would be to have more of a discussion based learning environment.
It seems natural for discussion to improve learning because it brings in many different opinions and allows people to see a topic with a different perspective. It also allows students to help each other in a sort of specialization and gives them the ability to interact like they would in the real world.
In this way, students have the ability to learn from each other. Not only does it help me to hear one of my peers explain an idea to me, but it also helps to explain the topic to another person. When I have to explain an idea to someone else it means that I must have a great enough understanding on my own to teach another person in a way that makes sense.
A webpage that explains the importance of discussion in school is listed below. The paper is titled 10 Benefits of Getting Students to participate in Classroom Discussions. The article, written by Maryellen Weimer, brings up points about why discussion helps students to learn.
http://www.studyandexam.com/importance-of-study-discussion.html