Teaching students how to enter conversations with curiosity and humility grounds everything we do in schools. In particularly fraught times, these skills and competencies counter contempt and inspire students to seek a deeper understanding of the people around them. (1) As much as we try to surround ourselves with like-minded individuals whose values and views support our own, it’s impossible (and perhaps boring!) to imagine a life that doesn’t offer intellectual challenge. Even so, we go to great lengths to insulate ourselves from opposing perspectives by curating our news, carefully selecting which information we are exposed to, how it is analyzed, and by whom. Social media amplifies our tendency toward echo chambers by employing algorithms that only expose us to ideas and people that align with our beliefs. (2) A 2022 Stanford study concluded that the resulting polarization and partisanship are having disastrous consequences for the American public and for children. (3)_x000D_ _x000D_ According to the work of Lynne Marie Kohm, Lynn D. Wardle and others, “when alternative viewpoints, opinions, and arguments are significantly absent from any community… it results in an ‘echo-chamber effect.’ The lack of intellectual diversity results in the community hearing only itself, hearing the ideas it wants and expects to hear, and hearing nothing but echoes of the arguments, and viewpoints it prefers and supports. Consequently, the discourse in that community becomes narrower and more extreme as it is unchecked by ideas from outside.” (4) This dynamic can fracture relationships, leaving people feeling bitter and isolated. (5) If we seek to counter these trends in exchange for a culture of care and compassion, we need to model empathy and provide students with opportunities to practice doing so, as well. _x000D_ _x000D_ This workshop invites participants to consider how to deliberately teach productive dialogue skills in history and social science classrooms. We will briefly explore research by Hess, McAvoy and Cohen regarding the crucial role of civil discourse education in safeguarding democracy, nurturing belonging, and promoting humanity. Building from a civility self-reflection that can be used in the classroom or to support faculty professional development, participants will examine sample lessons that can be adapted to various content areas. By the end of the session, individuals will have learned practical tools and strategies for amplifying competencies and skills instruction related to civil discourse._x000D_ _______________x000D_ (1) Arthur C. Brooks, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from Our Culture of Contempt (New York, NY: Broadside Books, 2019), 34._x000D_ (2) Matteo Cinelli, Gianmarco De Francisci Morales, Alessandro Galeazzi, Walter Quattrociocchi, and Michele Starnini. “The Echo Chamber Effect on Social Media.” National Academy of Sciences Volume 118, no. 9 (March 2, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118._x000D_ (3) Matthew Tyler and Shanto Iyengar. “Learning to Dislike Your Opponents: Political Socialization in the Era of Polarization.” American Political Science Review Vol. 117, no. 1 (2023): 347–54. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542200048X._x000D_ (4) Lynne Marie Kohm and Lynn D. Wardle, “The ‘Echo-Chamber Effect’ in Legal Education: Considering Family Law Casebooks,” University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy, Volume 6, Issue 1 (Fall 2011): 104 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217155846.pdf _x000D_ (5) Geoffrey Skelling and Holly Fuong. “3 In 10 Americans Named Political Polarization As A Top Issue Facing The Country.” FiveThirtyEight, June 14, 2022. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/3-in-10-americans-named-political-polarization-as-a-top-issue-facing-the-country/.
