Below is a brief list of resources and presentations that are intended to support educators who want to support their students in engaging in civil discourse about contentious topics.
Webinars Hosted by the MDOE:
(Led by Dr. Diana Hess)
(Led by Dr. Paula McAvoy)
(Led by Dr. Wayne Journell)
(Led by the News Literacy Project)
(Led by David Olson)
(Led by Abigail Swetz)
Resources for Finding Balanced Information:
(Iowa DOE)
Research & Resources from Dr. Diana Hess:
(Webinar Led by Dr. Diana Hess)
Other State Resources & Webinars
(Washington state OSPI)
Structured Academic Controversy:
(Webinar led by Dr. Paula McAvoy)
(Video from the Teaching Channel)
(From PBS Newshour Extra)
(From NWABR)
Creating & Building Classroom Community:
(Lesson from Facing History and Ourselves)
(Classroom contract from Teaching Tolerance)
Supports for Having the Conversations:
(From Facing History and Ourselves) - Check out their website for more information about this new resource guide. Free registration required, otherwise the previous version of the guide is available here:.
(From the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility)
(From Teaching Tolerance)
-In this issue, the Annals of Social Studies Education Research for Teachers ()isproud to present six works representing the scholarship of seven scholars whose scholarship has focused on teaching controversial issues.
A new resource from Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy titled, “,” was recently published. The document offers guidance for school teachers and administrators on how to manage political discussion and promote civil dialogue.
-In 2011, the University of Arizona created NICD after the Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded thirteen others, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Although many people know about this incident now, fewer people know that Congresswoman Giffords was already in discussion with the University of Arizona about creating a center to study how to improve the quality of civil conversation. The Tucson community came together to create NICD, a non-partisan organization based at the University of Arizona to promote healthy and civil political debate. NICD is devoted to the same principles that motivated Congresswoman Giffords: that people with different values and political preferences can discuss their differences in a civil and productive manner. The galvanizing power of that event brought together an impressive, bipartisan group of leaders to work on these issues.
-The Better Arguments Project is anational civic initiativecreated to helpbridge divides– not by papering over those divides but by helping Americanshave better arguments.
-Close Up informs, inspires, and empowers young people to exercise the rights and accept the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.
- This resource guide from Choicesaims to provide teachers with resources and pedagogical tools so they can feel more prepared to address controversial issues in the classroom. It begins with why it is important to teach about controversial issues and then provides tools and resources for creating guidelines for discussions, facilitating discussions, teaching about controversial issues, and garnering support from administrators and parents. Be sure to preview all resources to be sure they are appropriate for use in your classroom.
-The University of Michigan has put together guidelines that can help instructors facilitate classroom discussion around controversial issues. Whatever the context, it is helpful to structure such discussions in a way that defines boundaries for the process and provides some degree of closure within the classroom. Such discussions are an especially important time to explicitly discuss expectations for respecting a range of perspectives and experiences in the room.
Tools for Classroom Discussion:
-Kialo Edu is a custom version of Kialo (), the world's largest argument mapping and debate site, specifically designed for classroom use. Its clear, visually compelling format makes it easy to follow the logical structure of a discussion and facilitates thoughtful collaboration. Kialo’s mission is to promote well-reasoned discussion online, and to that end, Kialo is free for educators to use.
- Theirmission is to teach critical thinking skills so that students achieve academically and discuss social issues with precision and care.
-Mismatch is an online conversation platform that is purpose-built to cultivate skills and offer practice in civil dialogue between middle school, high school, and college students in different parts of the United States. Like a modern-day “pen pal” program, Mismatch connects students across distance and divides and guides them through structured, meaningful conversations with one another.
-Parlay is a discussion-based learning tool and global community of over 40,000 educators who are reimagining class discussions for the 21st Century.
(From the Harvard Graduate School of Education) - A collection of discussion protocols used by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
(From Jennifer Gonzalez/Cult of Pedagogy) -15 formats for structuring a class discussionto make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you’ve struggled to find effective ways to develop students’ speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.
(From Street Law) -Deliberations are civil discussions among students about public policy. These are very similar to a strategy some teachers use called deliberative discussion.