The pupils engage with, discuss, and offer their responses to dilemma-based questions.
This method helps pupils practise engaging with different viewpoints, listening actively, and arguing their case in order to arrive at possible answers to dilemmas and complex situations.
Explain the purpose and format to the pupils, including that they will be engaging with, discussing, and giving their personal responses to the dilemmas they are presented with.
Hand out the dilemma-based questions that the pupils will be working with. Each group should receive a set of questions.
One member of the group draws a question and reads it aloud to the others.
The groups discuss the dilemma, and the pupils share their viewpoints with one another. They listen to each other’s arguments and try to arrive at a common solution or recommendation. Pupils may contribute more than once if they are inspired by what others say.
When the group has thoroughly discussed the dilemma or the time is up, they write down their joint decision and the reasoning behind it – or record it as an audio file.
The pupil to the right of the one who drew the first question selects a new dilemma-based question and reads it aloud to the group. The group then repeats the process from step 4.
The groups continue until they have addressed all the dilemmas or until the time is up.
Optionally, begin with an introductory exercise where the pupils formulate their own dilemmas.
This can foster a sense of ownership and make the activity more relevant, as they will be responding to dilemmas they have created themselves.
Consider introducing roles within the groups, such as “monopoly host/moderator”, “devil’s advocate”, and “note-taker”.
This can help ensure that all participants are actively involved.
You could also use the Talking Stick method, introducing a rule that only the pupil holding the card or stick is allowed to speak.
This helps to prevent interruptions and ensures pupils don’t talk over one another.
The Round Robin method can also be used to ensure that everyone in the group has a chance to speak.
To conclude, each group could present their conclusions orally to the rest of the class — one group per dilemma, with the opportunity for others to contribute or offer different perspectives.
Optionally, identify what was hardest to agree on, or which arguments were particularly convincing.
This method is used, for example, in activity XXX
| Engage | Investigate |
Dilemmas formulated as questions (inspiration cards)
Writing materials
Optional: digital recording app/program
Optional: hourglass or timer