What Do Students Want in History and Civics Classroom Discussions? (Andrew Schiera and Andrew del Calvo)

This article appeared in Social Education, September 2026. I thank Kim Marshall for selecting it for his “Marshall Memo” at:https://www.marshallmemo.com/issue.php?I=b8bcee51f5609870a0379c6971846fcb#Three Andrew Schiera is a former high school teacher and now at the University of Colorado at Boulder; Andrew del Calvo is also a former high school teacher at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Running a good classroom discussion is “challenging work,” say Andrew Schiera (University of Colorado/Boulder) and Andrew del Calvo (Rutgers University) in this article in Social Education, especially on controversial topics. They share suggestions from a diverse group of high-school students on how social studies teachers can make discussions lively, engaging, and safe: • A big question – The focus of discussion needs to be open-ended, students said, not pointed toward a single correct answer or a binary agree/disagree choice. Students liked being asked to formulate an initial opinion and then…

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