Collaborative Deliberation in the Classroom

To expand students' preparation for civic life, many teachers regularly engage students in discussions related to contentious issues. These discussions, however, typically restrict the range of communicative styles allowed and prioritizes disagreements between fixed and competing choices. Keith C. Barton & Li-Ching recommend that educators instead engage students in collaborative deliberation -- an authentic problem-solving model of discussion that is premised on relationships, mutual trust, common interests and concerns, and diverse forms of communication. To support collaborative deliberation, teachers need to pay attention to how they frame issues, how they organize student groups, and what kinds of discourse they encourage.