Are classroom discussions on controversial political issues in civic education lessons cognitively challenging? A closer look at discussions with assigned positions.

Autor/in	Gronostay, Dorothee
Titel	Are classroom discussions on controversial political issues in civic education lessons cognitively challenging? A closer look at discussions with assigned positions.
Quelle	In: Studia paedagogica, 24 (2019) 4, S. 85-100 PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1803-7437
DOI	10.5817/SP2019-4-4
URN	urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-190513
Schlagwörter	Gruppendiskussion; Kognitive Dissonanz; Kognitive Leistung; Schülerverhalten; Lernprozess; Lerntheorie; Unterrichtsqualität; Unterricht; Argumentation; Politische Bildung; Argumentationstechnik; Diskussion
Abstract	Discussing controversial political issues in class provides rich opportunities for cognitively activating learning processes, i.e. in-depth processing of learning content and higher-order thinking processes. However, relating the features of a given argumentative design to specific learning outcomes is a tricky endeavor, as this theoretical paper aims to illustrate through the example of a discussion with assigned positions (for/against) in civic education classes. The potential of such discussion settings for cognitive activation was examined by considering the features of the overall argumentative design, task configurations, and learning activities. More concretely, it is argued that controversial discussions with assigned positions constitute three different task configurations depending on the relationship between a student's personal and assigned positions. Based on the ICAP framework for cognitive engagement, the paper further shows that students may take part in various modes of learning activities within a single instructional setting (although to different degrees). These findings point to the need to develop "more local" or "middle-range" theories of learning through argumentation. (DIPF/Orig.).
Erfasst von	DIPF \| Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2020/3