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GSI
TA Talk Highlight
Discussing Controversial Topics
by Joanne Holladay
With the tragic events that stunned our nation on September 11,
2001, emotions
are running high for everyone at UT. As a TA, it is important to consider and
prepare for a variety of reactions in the classroom, especially if
you are teaching
relevant content. You may notice students taking strong positions and arguing
very passionately, which can be difficult to handle or mediate in the context
of classroom discussion. If you have questions on how to handle such heated
discussion in the classroom, we would like to provide some guidance about how
you might integrate the discussion of opposing positions in your class while
at the same time helping all of your students feel safe. In a
diverse community
like UT, students may have many different opinions. In his address
at the September
14 memorial service, President Faulkner stated, "The
university community
is made up of people from all over the globe. The UT family is a reflection
of all people who share our planet. We share this campus together. We aspire
to common goals and values." We at CTE therefore think it is appropriate
for students to express personal opinions as long as it is done in
a sensitive
and constructive way. The following sections will explore how
cooperative learning
can be used as a forum for discussing controversial issues in your
class, helping
to reduce an otherwise tense situation in your classroom discussion.
Controversy...is it always bad?
Lots of folks purposely avoid controversial issues in the classroom because of the difficulty involved in managing heated discussions. Typically, conflict is viewed to be negative and unless it is managed properly, conflict can be destructive or harmful to various parties involved. However, controversy can be useful, powerful, and memorable tool to promote learning. Here's what education research has to say about managing conflict and controversy in the classroom...
Conflict can be used as part of cooperative learning to promote the intellectual growth of students. Research has demonstrated that conflict or controversy during classroom discussion can improve communication and enjoyment of learning because the situation itself forces complex thinking and effective communication. Participation in heated discussions in the classroom can result in various personal cognitive gains such as creative thinking, the development of understanding and integration of other positions, the use of complex reasoning strategies, higher achievement, and retention, higher quality decision-making, continuing motivation, and even perhaps a change in attitude. These types of cognitive gains rarely occur in other learning situations that focus on individuals working alone. Additionally, societal benefits of managing conflict in cooperative learning situations can result in the development of more tolerant attitudes towards diversity and the reduction of prejudice and discrimination.
Here are some tips for handling controversy in the classroom:
- Don't get rattled. Calmness in the face of any kind of intense situation
is the first step to rising above the emotion and focusing on
problem-solving.
It also opens the door to possible learning if you can begin to recognize and
manage your own emotional response to tense situations in the
classroom. Ideas:
Take a few deep breaths, call a time-out if necessary, and agree to take up
the topic at a different time, if necessary.
- Remember your role. First and foremost, remember that you are
the instructor
and your main goal is to facilitate the learning process. Whether you like it
or not, many students are looking to you to provide guidance on how
to process
and develop positions on controversial issues. How you behave and
manage yourself
in heated situations will be remembered and modeled by your students. Ideas:
Ask for other opinions held by other students. Question the class as to why
someone would hold such a position.
- Remember the goal. The goal, of course, should be learning
rather than winning.
If there is a "winner" in a heated discussion, there
will, no doubt,
be a "loser". Keep your students thinking by having them
present different
sides not considered and try not to let one person dominate the discussion.
Encourage exploration of all different sides if the issue. There
are generally
more than two ways of looking at something. Ideas: Ask students if there is
someone else who agrees or disagrees and why. Ask students to generate other
ways of looking at the situation. Have students do some writing on the topic
and present their ideas in smaller groups.
- Promote tolerance. Seeking to understand various ways of looking
at the world
promotes tolerance. Encourage students to try to take another point of view,
even if just for an academic exercise. Ideas: Ask your students to
look at the
situation from another angle by asking questions like "If you
were someone
else, how might you view the situation differently? Why might you
view the situation
differently?"
- Don't let it get personal. If dialogue degenerates into character assassination or name calling, be sure to protect your students and yourself. Stop the conversation immediately and regroup. Again, the goal is not to tear others down in order to win. The goal is to learn. Remind your students of this fact. After all this is school...not a battleground. Ideas: Set ground rules. Take a break. Call your students on inappropriate behavior and insist that it stops. Resume the discussion another day, if necessary. In the end, remember that disagreement and controversy are a natural part of the educational process. How we handle controversy as educators makes all the difference. If you have limited teaching experience or are not sure how to handle controversy in the classroom, remember to take it one step at a time.
For additional information on using cooperative learning
techniques: http://www.collaborate.com/.
To learn more about the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center's services: http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/.
REFERENCES
Henderson-King, D. & Kaleta, A. (2000). Learning about social diversity: The undergraduate experience and intergroup tolerance. The Journal of Higher Education, 71, 142-164.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T. & Smith, K. A. (1986). Academic conflict among students: Controversy and learning. In R.S. Feldman's (Ed.), The social psychology of education: Current research and theory (pp. 199-231). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (2000). The three Cs of reducing prejudice and discrimination. In S. Oskamp's (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination: The claremont symposium of applied social psychology (pp. 239-268). Mahawah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Maruyama, G. M., Knechel, S. & Petersen, R. (1992). The impacts of role reversal and minority empowerment strategies on decision making in numerically unbalanced cooperative groups. In R. Hertz-Lazarowitz & N. Miller's (Eds.), Interaction in cooperative groups: The theoretical anatomy of group learning (pp. 228-249). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Warren L. (2000). Hot moments in the classroom. NEA Higher Education Advocate, 18(1), 5-8. National Education Association: Washington, D. C.