JANINE DUNCAN, PHD, CO -PRESENTER

CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

FONTBONNE UNIVERSITYAPRIL 14 , 2014

Teaching Controversial Topics in the Classroom:  Maximizing Benefits

and Minimizing Risks

Concerns for Examining Issues

PCPersonal Opinion Anti-Intellectual

EnvironmentFear

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)

Creating an Environment of Rapport

The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter

Brown, J. & Issacs, D. (2005)

Sue James (2014), AI Consulting

AI is a process that allows individuals to focus on positive, life-giving conversations rather than focusing on the negative.

The 4 Ds—A Communication Process: Appreciative Inquiry (AI)

AI Applied to Family & Consumer Sciences

Define Topic

Discover New ideas

Dream what might be

Design

Deliver

Define the situation

Discover the different meanings

Offer possibilities

Inform our own practice

Transform us

Creating an Environment of Inquiry

Critical Science PerspectivesA 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

Everything is Controversial!

Click icon to add pictureRemember:

The world was once understood to be flat, not round.

Duncan’s Summary

Develop a culture of rapport and respectDevelop 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

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?

Thank you for listening—