Decisions, decisions, we make them everyday. Simple and hard decisions are a part of life: Blue or red? Pizza or chips? Within these decisions, there’s debate about what’s right, wrong, & what you believe. The classroom is a huge part of developing skills to make decisions. At this week's Round Table, Jack, Kenisha and Madeline spoke with Mariel Halpern, the program coordinator of the Debate and Decision-making Workshop at Columbia University Teachers College, a 4 week long workshop for middle schoolers focused on civic discourse about contemporary issues. Debate is so important during middle school years, especially in a complex world where there are so many shades of gray. Students are placed with a peer with an opposing viewpoint each week to converse for about 25 minutes, after which they write a short position piece on their stance and watch their feedback video to evaluate what skills they’ve gained. Since the pandemic started and the workshop shifted online, Mariel and her colleagues discovered that the anonymity Zoom affords makes participants feel freer to express ideas they may not have otherwise, and that participants have stayed more focused on the issues than the identity of their partner, while noting that the absence of in-person cues has pros and cons. Interesting, right?
As Mariel finishes her graduate work, her main question is about how students value the things they learn in the classroom through thinking and discussing critically and, of course, whether this translates BEYOND the classroom into our democracy. Now YOU can practice these skills by making the decision to keep on listening to learn more about the program, its impact, and what’s next for Mariel Halpern. Thank you for listening!
