Engaging Middle School Students in Classroom Discussions of Controversial Issues (original) (raw)
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Communicative self-efficacy serves as an important link between discussing controversial issues and civic engagement because confidence in one’s discourse skills is important to managing conflicting perspectives and developing solutions to community-based problems. Freely available to schools, Word Generation is a cross-content literacy program that supports teachers in the four main content areas –English language arts, social studies, science, and math— to embed learning of controversial issues through classroom discussions, subject-specific lessons, and writing. Middle school students (N = 5,870) from highly diverse backgrounds participated in a randomized study of the intervention that was conducted in twelve middle schools located in an urban school district. We analyzed survey data based on students’ self-reported ratings on their communicative self-efficacy, as indicated by confidence to participate in discussions of fifteen different controversial issues related to politics, society, and science. Paired sample t-tests indicate that treatment students reported higher communicative self-efficacy than control students on a set of topics immediately covered prior to testing, but not for the set of topics covered in the previous year. This study informs curriculum developers, policy makers, and educators to consider the importance of incorporating discussions of controversial issues within a framework of subject-specific instructions.
Although schools are required to meet civic education goals of preparing students to become “competent and responsible citizens” (Carnegie Corporation & CIRCLE, 2003), high quality civic opportunities (e.g. service learning and volunteering) are consistently less available to youth of color who are typically enrolled in schools located in high poverty communities. Schools can instruct adolescents’ to learn about controversial issues, which have been found to improve civic engagement or collective action at the community level. Word Generation (WG) is a cross-content program delivered at the classroom level that instructs students to learn academic words, which are embedded in brief passages covering a different controversial issue each week. The program features topics that range from political to scientific-based controversies, such as whether the government should allow stem cell research or animal testing. Middle school students (N = 5,870) participated in a randomized study of t...
The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies (2010) stress the importance of engaging students in collaborative classroom discussion as a strategy to develop skills and understandings that have wide applicability outside the classroom or workplace. Moreover, the standards’ authors believe that cogent reasoning and use of evidence is essential to civic participation or “responsible citizenship in a democratic republic” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010). However, there is a lack of empirical evidence documenting the link between classroom discussion and civic participation. One strategy of improving students’ civic participation is engaging students in discussion of controversial issues (Campbell, 2007; Hess, 2009). This study focuses on a cross-content academic literacy and engagement program (Word Generation) for middle school students – program activities requiring active discussion of social and scientific issues of the day. The proposed study will be presented as a paper session that summarizes findings from an evaluation of the Word Generation program.
Daring to debate: Strategies for teaching controversial issues in the classroom
College Quarterly, 16 (3). , 2013
Have you ever avoided discussing controversial issues in the classroom? Teachers report often avoiding these types of discussions due to concerns about the unpredictability of student reactions, accusations of trying to push a political agenda, and insufficient knowledge or skills to work through complex issues. Debates, however, have been shown to have a direct and positive impact on students’ critical thinking skills and democratic commitments. With some preparation and facilitation techniques, teachers’ concerns can be addressed and open discussions of current events and social issues can become an extremely rewarding experience for both teachers and their students.
Supporting Controversial Issues Discussion in the Charged Classroom
2016
The presidential election offers a rich opportunity for democracy education, through which young people engage with political, social, and moral questions about how we should live together. Discussion of controversial issues is widely advocated, yet teachers need support from researchers, teacher educators, and school leaders as they grapple with tensions in the charged classroom.
This study evaluates efficacy of the Word Generation (WG) to improve adolescents' (11-14 years old) self-reported civic engagement (N = 5,798) in the context of a randomized trial that was conducted in several American middle schools in a West Coast metropolitan area. WG is a cross-content curriculum that instructs students to analyze weekly controversial issues on politics and science. In addition to measuring their voting interest, participants completed survey items on how often they help their community. Results provide support for the primary research question- participation in the WG program has a significant impact on students' self-reported civic engagement, but not for voting interest. These results suggest that classroom debates on controversial issues are crucial to enabling youth to envision themselves as active and informed citizens.
Middle school is a crucial transition period for adolescents; in addition to beginning to grapple with the academic literacy demands of college and career readiness, they are working to find their place in public life and developing opinions about civic issues. This article presents debate as a literacy practice that is uniquely suited to helping middle school students increase their academic reading comprehension skills while also honing their critical literacy skills and capitalizing on their developing civic identities. Our study extends the established body of literature about the benefits of classroom debate by focusing on the impact of extracurricular, community-based debate among students in a large northeastern public school district. We use a critical literacy framework and mixed methods approach including analysis of standardized test scores of 179 debaters, as well as 34 interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, in order to explore the impacts of voluntary, community debate participation. Our findings demonstrate how debate encourages students to analyze complex texts, take multiple perspectives on controversial issues, and use their voices to advocate for social justice. Our findings speak to the power of community literacy initiatives to support academic development and foster critical literacies.
Teaching Urban Youth about Controversial Issues: Pathways to Becoming Active and Informed Citizens
Citizenship
Although American schools are required to meet civic education goals of preparing students to become active and informed citizens, high-quality civic opportunities (e.g. service learning and volunteering) are consistently less available to youth of color who are typically enrolled in schools located in high-poverty communities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate efficacy of the Word Generation program to improve students' self-reported civic engagement (N = 5798) in the context of a randomized trial that was conducted in several middle schools located in a West Coast metropolitan area of the United States. Word Generation is a cross-content literacy program that instructs students to learn academic words, which are embedded in brief passages covering a different controversial issue each week. Participants completed survey items on how often they helped their friends, community, and school, as well as voting interest. Results provide support for the primary research questio...