(http://newsmomsneed.marchofdimes.com/?tag=children-fighting)
Web 2.0 Tools: aMap
http://www.amap.org.uk/
Researching for a Web 2.0 tool this week I had a mission. We have had a horrible week in Florida. Not one, but two stories of brutal violent attacks on students by students has really left my heart heavy and has left me wondering why some of our children think it is ok to solve problems this way. I think the truth is schools are becoming responsible for teaching more and more of what used to be taught at home. Gratitude, empathy, compassion, limits, are issues that are increasingly lacking in the classroom and social settings of our kids. There is a growing movement for this type of education in the classroom as it becomes evident that these are skills that need to be taught. “In the coming school year and beyond, teachers, and policy makers will develop and advocate for programs that leverage the best practices of two intersecting movements: character education and social and emotional learning (SEL). Activities and standards based on topics such as conflict resolution, violence prevention, and communication skills are expanding throughout the regular school day as a movement to bring values and personal strategies into public school classrooms gathers steam.” (Bernard, 2008)
So I started wondering what was available that I could use to introduce life skills, critical thinking and personal analysis. There are many tool out there for character education, however, I found a really great tool that teaches students how to argue!
I love the idea behind this site. “aMap is short for ‘argument map’. The idea’s very simple – to promote the art of arguing by mapping out complex debates in a simple visual format.” (Delib, 2008)
This site uses the informal logic structure to set up a visual map of arguments. It is broken up into four parts.
-Your position (I think…)-what you think overall
-Propositions (Because…)-reasons that support your position
-Arguments (As…)-supporting arguments that back up each of your positions
-Evidence (Supported by…)-supporting evidence to back up your argument.
(http//.www.amap.org.uk/about/)
There are many different ways to continue and share your arguments.
You can create your own aMap and send it to your friends, school group, teacher, etc. who can then add to the argument you create. This is all done in a logical and structured system. I think that teaching them a constructive way to share different opinions and beliefs can lead to meaningful discussion and less violence.
The process teaches critical thinking skills, rational discussion, rules that teach how to communicate when you disagree, and much more. This is a fun, not very time consuming, interactive site that really hits a niche in a much needed area.
References:
Bernard,S. (2008). Schools Cultivate the Character Development of their Students. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/whats-next-2008-character-education
Delib. (2008). About aMap. Retrieved from http://www.amap.org.uk/about/
This is a very interesting and surprising tool. I could use this in my design class. One of our global outcomes is critical thinking around researching the job market in multimedia. Surprisingly, we discuss a lot about critical thinking skills and most students especially the older ones can relate to critical thinking, its the 17-early twenty year old's need more explanation.
ReplyDeleteA tool such as this would be a great "test out the concepts" of what critical thinking is as an integral step with a peer student or myself before beginning the project. What cool find.
Great site Shannon. I teach "I Statements" and have students role play how to disagree respectfully without putting the other person on the defensive. It is always awkward for students at first and they have a hard time creating the statements on the fly. I would like to incorporate this tool as a method of practicing the art of argument before they learn how to phrase an "I Statement." Thanks for the great tool.
ReplyDeleteThis is cool. Constructive life skills are something that is sorely needed in our students today, simply because our lives have been drastically changed by the advances in technology made in the last decade. It seems like they are coming up with useful web tools for everything, and heres another one. Measured, constructive debate. Nice find, Shannon.
ReplyDelete