Teaching Controversial Topics in the
Classroom: Maximizing Benefits and
Minimizing Risks
JANINE DUNCAN, PHD, CO-PRESENTER
CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
AND LEARNING
FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY
APRIL 14, 2014
Concerns for Examining Issues
PC
 Personal Opinion
 Anti-Intellectual
Environment
 Fear
 Parker Palmer
Promote others’ identity
 Seek, promote harmony
 Chaos leads to creativity
Emergence of new life, ideas


What it Means to be Educated?
Be Changed.
Becoming an Educated Person**
 We need to be open to those who are not like us.
 We need to think about the culture in which we live.
 We need to use new ideas to understand and
communicate . . . as we move to new times and places.
 We need to listen to those outside our community to hear
. . . their perspectives.
 We need to exercise reason.
**(Based on principles of Catholic Intellectual Tradition)
The World Café:
Shaping Our
Futures
Through
Conversations
That Matter
Brown, J. &
Issacs, D.
(2005)
Creating an Environment
of Rapport
Sue James
(2014), AI
Consulting
AI is a process
that allows
individuals to
focus on
positive, lifegiving
conversations
rather than
focusing on the
negative.
The 4 Ds—A Communication
Process: Appreciative Inquiry (AI)
AI Applied to Family & Consumer Sciences
 Define Topic
 Define the situation
 Discover New ideas
 Discover the different
meanings
 Dream what might be
 Offer possibilities
 Design
 Inform our own practice
 Deliver
 Transform us
Creating an Environment of Inquiry
Critical Science Perspectives
 A Philosophical Framework for Social Critique
 Offers “lenses” that promote questions surrounding
The Common Good
 Democratic Practices
 Emancipative Action/Praxis

 In Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS)
 Introduced by Marjorie Brown (1985)
Creating an Environment of Inquiry:
Important FCS Perspectives
 Perennial Problems and Evolving Problems
 Practical Reasoning Skills—

examine the values, means, and consequences for addressing human
problems through various perspectives

Relies on the learned ability to pose questions:

not simply to identify the facts of the matter,

uncover the potential for “false consciousness,”

revealing contradictory perspectives

how misconceptions are socially perpetuated

“offer an alternative interpretation” plausible to learners.
Creating an Environment of Inquiry
Case Study Use in Education
Wasserman, S. (2004). This Teaching Life, p. 125-143, New York: Teachers College Press
 Teach students how to:

Communicate effectively

Critically examine issues

Make informed decisions

Respect different views,
attitudes, beliefs
 Case study questions:

Data gathering

Analysis questions

Values identification

Evaluative judgments

Calls for plans of actions
Teachers must:
• demonstrate an appreciation for individual frames/perspectives
• Need to be comfortable with uncertainty
Remember:
The world was
once
understood to
be flat, not
round.
Everything is Controversial!
Duncan’s Summary
 Develop a culture of rapport and respect
 Develop an intellectual environment founded on
 Disciplinary philosophy and theories
 Principles of effective dialogue
 Principles of CST and CIT
 Trust yourself
 Develop comfort with uncertainty
 Redirect students toward data (exercise reasoning skills)
 Redirect students toward intellectual purposes of university
 Remind students of classroom culture
Thank you for listening—
Q U E S T I O N S / C O M M EN TS ?