Creative Activities to Deepen Dialogue in the Classroom
Capstone Workshop - Fall 2013
Structured Controversy
Structured controversy invites students to defend a perspective that they might not agree with in real life. You
can use any issue as a starting point, assuming there are multiple parties with a stake in the issue (i.e.
immigration policy, criminal justice system reforms, arts funding in the schools.)
Begin by asking students to brainstorm the stakeholders surrounding an issue. Next, narrow this list down to
a handful of distinct stakeholder groups. Finally, randomly assign students to represent one of these
stakeholder groups and choose two students to serve as moderators for the mock public forum. Each group
takes time to prepare for their testimony while the moderators develop a set of guidelines for the forum. A
typical forum includes the following elements:
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Each group presents their testimony. Equal time should be given to each group.
Moderators ask follow up questions.
Moderators facilitate a rebuttal period in which groups can pose questions of each other.
Moderators leave the room for a period of deliberation.
Moderators return and share their decision about which testimony was strongest and why.
Once the forum has ended, I typically take time to reflect on the process. Reflection questions could include:
“How did it feel to represent a perspective that was not your own?” and “How did this activity change the
way you think about X?”, “What factors contributed to a strong testimony?”, and “How did you feel about
the outcome of this forum?”
Example:
Mock Agriculture and Food Policy Council:
A huge earthquake has struck the Pacific coastal region of the US and California, Oregon and Washington have
finally split away from the mainland. The new country of “Cascadia” is being formed and residents are scrambling to
establish a system of policies to govern this new nation. An agriculture and food policy council will convene this week
and representatives from the industrial agriculture sector, industrial organic agriculture sector, and small/family farm
sector have been called to testify. The goal of the council is to determine food and agriculture policy for this fledgling
nation.
Each stakeholder group will have 5 minutes to present testimony in favor of their agricultural model. Testimonies
should describe the agricultural model you are advocating for and address the following issues:
1.
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Food Insecurity & Food Prices
Job Creation
Human and Animal Health
Labor Rights
Environmental Protection
Dependence on Foreign Oil
Please appoint a representative or two from your group to present your testimony. Your group should begin your
testimony with a “catch phrase” that captures the spirit of your agricultural model. Good luck!
Student-Led Discussion Teams
Inviting students to lead class discussions ensures that students follow through on their reading assignments.
Student-led discussions can also foster broader participation in the class session as students may be more
likely to share their views with peers than with the faculty member.
I typically ask each final project team to facilitate one readings discussion. The team works together to design
a set of powerful questions and then formulates a plan for facilitation of the discussion. In a typical scenario,
the team splits the class into 2-3 groups for small group discussions led by 1-2 team members per group.
Next, the discussion team brings the class back together for a large group sharing of ideas. I meet with each
team in advance to review proposed questions and to provide coaching on facilitation techniques.
Example:
Discussion Facilitation Assignment
Each final project team will facilitate student will one class discussion of assigned readings during the term. To prepare
for this class session each individual student will need to:
1) thoroughly read the assigned articles
2) identify key points or quotes from the article that will enhance our understanding of the topic and/or
contribute to our grant writing efforts for Groundwork Portland
3) prepare and turn in 3 discussion questions which will generate a thoughtful discussion of the readings (i.e.
questions that will encourage critical thinking and open-ended discussion)
4) meet with Celine and members of your team to compare questions and develop a facilitation plan for the class
session
Additional Ideas for Deepening Dialogue in the Classroom
Source: http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/reflection_manual/activities.html
Stand and Declare
The facilitator makes a statement to the group, to which members can strongly agree, agree, disagree, or
strongly disagree. Groups form around each of the four responses to the statement, showing the group's
"differences." Members from each opinion group are asked to explain their stance, fleshing out the many
facets of the issue. People must listen carefully, and can change positions if they change perspectives. This
activity helps everyone learn to disagree without being disagreeable, but must be carefully facilitated.
Questions are intentionally stated to allow for personal interpretation and to limit responses to one of the
four categories. Several group members will want to take some sort of an intermediate stance, but should be
encouraged to choose the stance about which they feel the strongest, or which is their instinctive response.
Part of processing this activity can then be discussion how it felt to be so limited, to be categorized.
Questions should proceed from lower risk statements to higher risk, more controversial statements. Sample
statements include:
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Service learning is transforming higher education
Service isn't really service if people get paid.
Direct service is mostly charity work and does little to promote social justice.
Public education does a good job of preparing young people for the future.
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The goal of service-learning programs is the development of the student (or the transformation of
the community).
Service makes a lasting impact, on the participants/community.
Fish Bowls
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Fish Bowls provide an opportunity for a select group of participants to openly discuss an issue,
video, problem, or strategy in an open manner. Simply select volunteers to sit in a tight circle in the
middle of the room. The facilitator may choose to have only men, only people of color, etc. in the
Fish Bowl. Provide two or three questions for Fish Bowl participants to discuss. The goal is for those
observing to keep quiet and notice, comment, or observe different perspectives. The value of a Fish
Bowl is that certain groups relate in different ways when uninterrupted. Men sometimes approach
conversations in a different manner than women. Much awareness can be raised by simply hearing
what other groups have to say on particular topics. As a general rule, the facilitator should allow
equal time for each Fish Bowl group. For example, if African-Americans are given ten minutes in the
Fish Bowl, then Asian-Americans should also be given ten minutes. If the facilitator allows one
group more time than others, conflict may arise. In order to process the Fish Bowls, simply allow for
all to discuss openly, at the end of all Fish Bowls, any group's observation (also see Frierian Fish
Bowl).
Freirian Fish Bowl
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Often, for many reasons, certain individuals will feel uncomfortable voicing their opinion in a group
environment. One mechanism for gaining full-group participation is to have all participants write
their respective responses to issues on a piece of paper (do not include names). The issues, or pieces
of paper, are then placed in a hat in the middle of a circle. For example, the facilitator asks that
everyone explain (on paper) "why are there so many homeless people in this city?" Answers may
range from, "people do not want work because they are lazy" to "there exists a government
conspiracy and homeless funding is often misused." These are typical statements that are
controversial but tend to not be voiced openly. Thus, the Frierian method gets all opinions down on
paper.
Once opinions have been recorded on paper and placed in a hat, pass the hat among the group.
Everyone must respond with their interpretation of the written response and then voice their
personal reaction to the paper.
Prepared by Celine Fitzmaurice, celine@pdx.edu, 503-725-8260