Contentious Dialogue in Civics Classrooms: The Utility of Normative Case Studies

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum, Teaching, and Citizenship Development

Abstract

More and more states around the US are requiring middle school civics coursework as a way to promote a healthy democracy, but teachers lack the confidence and willingness to bring up controversial discussions in the classroom. To help teachers engage with more productive contentious dialogue around democratic concepts, so as to promote a more robust citizenry, we worked with teachers to design and implement Normative Case Studies (NCS) in 4 middle school classrooms. We wanted to know how NCS might support the facilitation of productive dialogue in these middle school classrooms? To answer this question, we conducted a exploratory case study of 4 teachers in different classroom contexts.

Authors

• Jane C Lo, Michigan State University

• Meira Levinson, Harvard University