Guiding Discussions of Presidential Debates: Opportunities and Challenges for Fostering Students' Civic Learning

• In Event: 18.044 - Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Session 2

Abstract

Presidential debates provide substantial material for classroom discussion, but little published research has examined how educators leverage these events to generate civic learning. In this paper, we analyze data from seven high school classrooms during the 2012 presidential election to examine how teachers generate discussions of debates. Findings indicate that students enjoyed these activities, and that certain strategies were helpful for fostering substantive discussions: guiding students’ preparation for discussion, providing adequate time for students to address open-ended questions about debates, redirecting students’ engagement in interpersonal debate dynamics to learning about the issues, and moderating students’ partisan tendencies. These findings have implications for practice and research related to how educators can generate dynamic classroom political discussions during and beyond election seasons.

Authors

• Lauren Collet-Gildard, University at Albany - SUNY

• Thomas Owenby, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Brett L. M. Levy, University at Albany - SUNY