Secondary Students and the Deliberation of Public Issues

Nine secondary teachers who were taught to use one model of deliberation, Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) (Johnson and Johnson 1979), were matched with nine teachers in their schools who taught similar grade levels and subjects. Teachers in the Deliberation Classes engaged students in three de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PS, political science & politics political science & politics, 2014-10, Vol.47 (4), p.849-854
Main Authors: Avery, Patricia G., Levy, Sara A., Simmons, Annette M. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beliefs
Class discussion
Cooperative Learning
Deliberative democracy
Democracy
Effect Size
Group Instruction
Interpersonal Attraction
Learner Engagement
Learning Strategies
Meta Analysis
Opinions
Perceptions
Perspective Taking
Political Issues
Political science
Public policy
Public Schools
Questionnaires
School uniforms
Secondary school students
Secondary schools
Self reports
Statistical variance
Student diversity
Teachers
THE TEACHER
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Summary:Nine secondary teachers who were taught to use one model of deliberation, Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) (Johnson and Johnson 1979), were matched with nine teachers in their schools who taught similar grade levels and subjects. Teachers in the Deliberation Classes engaged students in three deliberations across six months. Deliberations focused on current public issues, such as whether violent juvenile offenders should be tried as adults. Five of the nine classroom pairs were analyzed using both pre- and post-questionnaires. There were no statistically significant differences in the pre- and post-questionnaire responses of students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 244) and Comparison Classes (n = 249) in terms of self-reported issue knowledge. Variance in student opinion in the Deliberation Classes showed a significant decrease. Students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 297) demonstrated greater perspective-taking abilities than students in the Comparison Classes (n = 238). Within classes, diversity of opinion regarding issues was evident.
ISSN:1049-0965
1537-5935
DOI:10.1017/S1049096514001164