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Eastern Illinois University

Selected Works

2011

Social Studies Instruction and Assessment

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

A Comparative Analysis Of Two Methods For Guiding Discussions Surrounding Controversial And Unresolved Topics, John H. Bickford Iii Jan 2011

A Comparative Analysis Of Two Methods For Guiding Discussions Surrounding Controversial And Unresolved Topics, John H. Bickford Iii

John Bickford

Debates, a popular classroom method, elicit students’ participation and critical thinking. Debates’ focus of winning, at times, generates arguments. Constructive controversy, a researched-based methodological alternative, similarly facilitates students’ engagement and critical thinking while also inventively diminishing arguments through cooperative negotiation (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The author examines both methods’ impact on students’ engagement, students’ thinking, and the dialogues’ productivity. Three findings and three educationally significant insights emerged.


Examining Original Political Cartoon Methodology: Concept Maps And Substitution Lists, John H. Bickford Iii Jan 2011

Examining Original Political Cartoon Methodology: Concept Maps And Substitution Lists, John H. Bickford Iii

John Bickford

Previous research on classroom uses for political cartoons identified two negative trends: creative stagnation (as teachers utilized them solely for interpretation) and age limitation (as researchers suggested they fit best with gifted and older students). Recent scholarship has addressed both trends by enabling young adolescent students to creatively express newly generated understandings through construction of original political cartoons. During such authentic assessment activities, students demonstrated high levels of criticality by using effective and efficient technologies to create original political cartoons, which then elicited constructive whole class interpretative discussions. This prior research did not detail specific methodological steps that positively influenced …