Controversy causes engagement.
If you get your students arguing about the core matters of your discipline, they may understand its relevance even more, and even begin to think differently about how they approach the content.
At the heart of every discipline are controversies about how the discipline should be approached, what it means for the world, and what it takes to be good. So, force your kids to take a stand on a question to provoke a debate.
Terry Fortunato designed and ran this simple SMART Board activity -- a single page, designed to solicit deep critical thinking and debate about science, and her students responded with a variety of thoughtful responses (below):
Terry Fortunato designed and ran this simple SMART Board activity -- a single page, designed to solicit deep critical thinking and debate about science, and her students responded with a variety of thoughtful responses (below):
Here are some of the remarkably insightful answers her freshmen came up with:
- Imagination, because you are collaborating with others on specific ideas; not really having an exact answer.
- Logic is more important, but you are limited by ability to imagine.
- Imagination is what keeps science moving forward.
- Ideas for many inventions start as imagination running wild. Then logic is put in use and the idea is made real.
- Logic is what keeps science controlled.
- Science involves ideas that were never thought up before (imagination) and still uses a thinking process (logic) that can prove that your idea is not really "out there."
What are the controversies at the heart of your discipline? (I'm sure you know them better than I.)
- Does poetry come "nearer to vital truth than history," as Plato said?
- Is preparation or inspiration more important for performance?
- Is diet or exercise more crucial for good health?
- In math, is persistence or talent more important?
- Coke or Pepsi? (Thanks, Mr. Thompson...)
I know you can do better than that.
Give it a shot -- take Terry's template, substitute your own question, and have your students drag dots to indicate their opinion on your SMART Board as they walk into class one day.
I guarantee you that will be 5 minutes well spent.
And when you are engaging students in such controversies, you are getting to the heart of the essential questions and enduring understandings that underpin our content.
ReplyDeleteBrava, Terry, and thanks, Mark (as always) for continuing to shine the light on our collective efforts to engage our students in rigorous ways.
Lori
Great connection -- I hadn't thought of the explicit link between these controversies and the essential questions that we want students to grapple with -- as practitioners do.
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