Take a Stand

In one of my graduate classes a few years ago, the professor had us learn more about the ethics behind biotechnology by analyzing the 2014 Ebola epidemic from different perspectives. We each had to play a particular role in the round-table discussion about how to best control this epidemic-- as a doctor in Sierra Leone, a burial boy, a family member whose mother was sick, as a member of Doctors without Borders, etc. Another teacher in the group decided to try this model out with her middle school students, found that it worked really well, and recommended that I also try it with my high school students.

The most difficult part about this role-playing discussion is trying to get students to see a problem from a particular viewpoint that may not be the same as their own. They don’t fully understand what it means when I tell them to “take a stance” or “argue from your character’s perspective”.

As an introduction to the round-table debate this year, I’m going to try this “Take a Stand- My Day’s schedule” activity from this summer. Asking my students to reflect upon and then justify the reasoning for their decisions throughout the day might help them understand what it means to see an issue from a certain perspective.