Polarization Micro-Dilemmas
In order to foster productive and respectful dialogue related to the upcoming US election, the EdEthics team has created brand-new bespoke resources and has curated additional open-access resources. One of the key new resources that you will find are short practice-based ethical dilemmas, known as “micro-dilemmas.”
Our educator-facing micro-dilemmas are designed to help educators discuss, with colleagues, possible responses to student talk about the 2024 election, both in the classroom and in non-curricular spaces; they are divided into dilemmas for elementary schools and for secondary schools. These micro-dilemmas are fictional accounts, informed by research into student talk, current news coverage about student talk, and interviews with elementary and secondary educators. When it makes sense, we’ve provided two similar dilemmas, one left-leaning and one right-leaning.
You can also find student-facing microdilemmas that are designed to help educators lead secondary students in discussions about how they might respond to peers’ comments about the 2024 US election, both in the classroom and in non-curricular spaces. These are also fictional accounts based in practice, and informed by similar lines of research. When it makes sense, we’ve provided two similar dilemmas, one left-leaning and one right-leaning.
To accompany both the educator-facing and student-facing resources, we have included interactive participant packets to give to all discussion participants. We have also included fully-detailed facilitation guides for use by the educator(s) leading the discussion. You'll find norms, potential sentence starters, reflection prompts, and more in the links below.
What else is available? Please check out these curated additional open-access resources for your reference and use.
Our team at EdEthics hopes that our users will adapt the resources and protocols as needed to make them most useful in their contexts. Please feel free to reach out to share your experiences.
- Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition (micro-dilemmas, participant packet, facilitation guide, and more)
- Student Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition (micro-dilemmas, participant packet, facilitation guide, and more)
- Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Post-Election Edition (micro-dilemmas, participant packet, facilitation guide, and more)
- Additional Election Talk Resources (curated library of additional open-access resources)
*Please include proper attribution when using and disseminating these resources:
-To cite Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition:
O’Brien, S. & Levinson, M. (2024). Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition. Justice in Schools. https://www.justiceinschools.org/us-election-resources
This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
-To cite Student Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition:
O’Brien, S. & Levinson, M. (2024). Student Micro-Dilemmas: US Election Edition. Justice in Schools. https://www.justiceinschools.org/us-election-resources
This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
-To cite Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Post-Election Edition:
O’Brien, S. & Levinson, M. (2024). Teacher Micro-Dilemmas: US Post-Election Edition. Justice in Schools. https://www.justiceinschools.org/us-election-resources
This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0