Mini-Lessons and Activities to Develop Civil Deliberation in any Course

• In Event: Agreeing to Disagree: How to Promote Civil Discussion on Campus

Abstract

Democracy requires robust debate over complex decisions. Educators in any field, and particularly in political science, can help to develop the skills and motivation for such debate.
This proposed workshop will provide participants with a framework for incorporating 10-minute civil deliberation lessons and activities into their regular course content. In addition to learning specific mini-lectures and exercises that have been deployed in online and in-person classes, participants will learn how to incorporate other activities into a framework that reinforces students’ skill development, and access resources for sharing mini-lessons and exercises.
John Dewey provided insights into active learning and expressed the pragmatic concern that the health of democracy depends upon such pedagogy and the resulting deliberation skills (1916, 1927). The Science of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) continues to examine how pedagogies of engagement, rather than just ‘of things’ can provide students with the necessary analytic and communication skills for the 21st century (Bernstein 2008, Edgerton 1997). Political science and its subfields have “signature pedagogies”: the skills each discipline wants its majors to develop (Chick, Haynie, and Gurung 2012). Similar to many political science departments, my department’s website “emphasizes research that links theory with real world issues and action through policy.” This mission requires our majors to develop skills of inquiry, research, argumentation, and communication.
My project that focuses on methods and skill development within political theory classes but is broadly applicable to any class that requires argumentation and civil deliberation. The framework includes mini-lectures with activities related to: Open Inquiry (e.g., awareness of bias, motivated reasoning, scientific and philosophical questioning), Argumentation (e.g., standard form of logical arguments, cogency, evaluation of premises), Research (e.g., authoritative sources, media literacy), and Good Faith (e.g., moral humility, seeking understanding vs competition). I schedule the activities in the order of the framework and remind students of the overall framework so that they can reflect on why they are learning that skill set. However, this is supplemental methods, so I remain flexible to the demands of course content and student inquiry. A recent mini-lecture inadvertently spurred a class debate on the merits, effectiveness, and morality of Good vs Bad Faith arguments.
The framework also draws upon scaffolding skills as students return to review familiar arguments. Specifically, in one exercise on “Open Inquiry” the class considers claims that are outrageous to some, such as “feminism is hateful,” “race neutral policies are immoral,” “kneeling during the anthem is unpatriotic.” In later exercises on Argumentation, students review the same claims and identify possible premises and related conclusions, including a critical review of Beto O’Rourke’s viral video on kneeling. After practicing these skills, students are assigned an Argument Critique in which they choose any political claim (from any news, social media, etc.) and assess the strengths and weaknesses of its premises and conclusions.
I began this project after realizing that I penalized students for writing weak arguments when I had not taught them that skill. Initially, it was time-consuming to teach students Standard Form and Principles of Logic and the glossary of terms (cogency, consequentialism, etc.) was off-putting to students in an introductory class. In response, I developed and tested activities for lower-division classes and I am currently developing a series for upper-division series that builds upon the earlier skills. There are many civil deliberation activities that can consume an entire class. This series tries to introduce concepts quickly, let students ponder and revisit through in-class activities and take-home assignments, and then reflect on the role of these skills with broader civil discussions. There are many resources on how teach civil deliberation, this Workshop provides a simple framework, specific examples, opportunity to share more examples, and perhaps motivation to work them easily into existing classes.

Bernstein, Jeffrey L. “Cultivating Civic Competence: Simulations and Skill-Building in an Introductory Government Class.” Journal of Political Science Education, 4:1 (2008).
Chick, N.L., Haynie, A., & Gurung, R. A.R. (Eds.) Exploring more signature pedagogies: Approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Sterling, VA: Stylus (2012).
Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: Macmillan (1916).
Dewey, John. The Public and its Problems. New York: Holt (1927).
Edgerton, Russell. “Higher Education White Paper.” Unpublished report for the Pew Charitable
Trust. (1997).

Author

• Tara M Lennon, Arizona State University