Listening to Practice Critical Thinking and Feeling in Discussions
Help participants practice both critical thinking and feeling in discussions by using their listening skills
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting two activities that helps participants practice critical thinking and feeling in discussions by using their listening skills to pay close attention to and analyze the conversation. You can use Jessica Friedrich’s Critical Feeling and Thinking in Discussion (Guns & Society) slide deck to pair these activities together. All the activities in the toolkit have an activity key that indicates the level of the activity (beginner or advanced) and other characteristics using icons. Activities that support listening skills are denoted with the following icon.
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This week's activities:
Activity 3.1 – Critical Thinking in Discussions
Activity 3.2 - Critical Feeling in Discussions
Use listening skills to boost critical thinking and feeling in a discussion
Activity 3.1 Critical Thinking in Discussions helps participants practice critical thinking skills in real time while in dialogue with others. Often, critical thinking skills are focused around reading and analyzing written text. This activity introduces participants to an adapted CLUE approach so they can critically analyze and respond to what is being said during a discussion.
Participants are first invited to individually review a shared resource on the chosen topic and then discuss the topic in small groups, while listening and taking notes on the CLUE Worksheet provided in the activity. First, they consider the source of the statements being shared during the discussion. They listen and take notes on how people are contributing to the discussion, including if they are citing sources (external evidence), referring to personal experiences (anecdotal evidence), or if they are making general statements without much evidence or support. They also consider how participants are presenting their ideas, whether with authority or caution and caveats, and which approach is most convincing. Participants are also asked to pay attention whether those speaking have some sort of political leaning or agenda in this discussion.
Next, participants are invited to listen to and lay out the arguments being made during the discussion. They are asked to note down what points the other participants are trying to convey and what position are they taking, whether they agree with these arguments or positions and why or why not. Participants are also asked to dive deeper and look beneath the surface. They are asked to note down the assumptions about the world that the other discussants are making. They are also invited to think of one value that one of the other discussants holds and to provide evidence for this, for example, by using a quote from the discussion.
The third step in this CLUE approach is to uncover the evidence. Participants are asked to listen to and note down which discussant is most convincing, whether this person presents evidence to back up their claims, and whether they offer clear arguments. They are asked to reflect on what about this person’s contributions seem convincing and why are they persuaded by these contributions.
The final step is to evaluate the conclusion. Participants are asked to wrap up their discussions and each participant is invited to share a concluding thought or remark. They are then asked to reflect on and write down if the group reached consensus and, if not, how their small group is divided and on what grounds. They asked to think about whether one side is more convincing than the other and what they are basing this on. Participants are also asked to reflect on whether they rethought any of their beliefs as a result of this discussion and what convinced or challenged them.
This activity is designed to help participants use their listening skills to practice critical thinking in real time in order to evaluate and analyze each other’s contributions while engaged in a discussion.
Activity 3.2 Critical Feeling in Discussions helps participants develop a deeper awareness of how emotions influence a discussion and decision making. This activity encourages participants to listen for, identify, critically reflect on, and engage with their own and other participants’ feelings during a discussion, rather than ignoring them.
This activity begins by having participants look at images related to a particular topic that usually invokes strong emotional responses, such as gun control. As they are shown the images one at a time, participants are invited to share the level of emotional response they have to each image using hand signals or by holding up pieces of colored paper, with red for strong, orange for moderate, and yellow for weak. Participants are then asked to look at a few of the images again, this time delving deeper by naming and discussing the specific feelings that the images brought up. Participants can refer to an emotion wheel if it helps. They are encouraged to explain their emotions and share the context for why they had that particular reaction.
Participants then come back together as a full group and are given a specific prompt to discuss. They are asked to indicate the level of their emotional responses once again using the colored pieces of paper during the discussion. As certain points, such as when many participants are holding up red pieces of paper, the discussion is paused and participants discuss why the emotions are changing at that point. Participants then debrief, reflecting on the role of feelings in a discussion, when they might be good or bad for the discussion, and if any of the emotional reactions during their discussion were surprising.
By helping participants listen for, identify and gain a deeper awareness of the role emotions play in a discussion, this activity makes them less prone to emotional manipulation. Participants also develop a greater understanding of the reasons why people are passionate about particular issues.
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team