David Sabol, English/University College
- This activity is designed to help students develop better communication and conflict resolution skills by examining topics of divisiveness and encouraging responsbile citizenship and ownership of one's behavior.
| Instructor Prep. Time | Student In-Class Time | Student Out-of-Class Time |
| 30 - 45 minutes | 2 hours | None |
None
Step-by-Step Procedure:
- Through a reflective writing assignment, ask students to explore a personal experience wherein they have not been able to forgive or reconcile with someone else. This issue should be something that touches them deeply and pushes their buttons.
- Ask students to respond in writing to the question “What would it take for your issue to be resolved?”
- Introduce different perspectives scholars have offered concerning forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Explain that there are large, divisive issues that permeate our culture of which many people are unable to reconcile and that the group will explore some of those issues in the next activity.
- Next, create a continuum along the side of the classroom, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. As you read a series of statements, ask students to find a place on the continuum that represents their views. This continuum shows the diversity of perspectives within the classroom. The statements may deal with divisive issues in any discipline. Some example statements regarding religion are: It’s okay to use violence in the name of religion; World peace is more important than religious differences; and Religions exclude more people than they include.
- Using the continuum, select an issue for the students to discuss in small groups. Intentionally create groups with different perspectives. For example, if the group decided to use reproductive rights/abortion as the main issue, then groups could be divided into a group of three students, one for pro-life, one for pro-choice, and one undecided based on where the students stood on the continuum.
- Present ground rules for group discussions – ask students to talk with respect, use “I” statements instead of blaming others, listen carefully to what others have to say before responding, be civil and use mature conduct.
- Allow students to discuss the issue in their groups using the ground rules. Remind the students to search for understanding among themselves and not for solutions. Lead students to look for areas of agreement first rather than focusing on areas of difference. For instance, despite the divisiveness around the issue of reproductive rights and abortion, different perspectives agree on aspects like reducing the number of occurrences of human suffering. Emphasizing understanding allows the students to acknowledge similarities and differences before coming to a conclusion.
- Ask students to report to the larger group what worked well for the group during the discussion and what did not work well as they discussed the topic. Were any of the groups able to come to reconciliation between opposing views?
- Ask students to take the Multicultural Awareness Quiz (see attached file below). Once completed, the instructor reveals the answers to the large group.
- Ask students to choose one divisive topic based on the Multicultural Awareness Quiz that they want to explore together as a group.
- Instructors present a new question based on the topic students chose from the Multicultural Awareness Quiz.
- Ask students in the large group: How do you want to approach this new topic in your groups that might be different from the last discussion and perhaps more helpful and more productive? Explore the various responses from students before moving on.
- Allow students to discuss the new question in their groups using some of the new techniques just discussed in the large group.
- Have one student per group take brief notes and report out to the larger group about their discussions.
- Ask students to compare the two discussions: Which of the discussions was most productive? Why? Which discussion came closest to reconciliation? Why?
- As a follow up, have students reflect, in writing, on how they felt as they began the process of being exposed to controversial issues (e.g. what was their initial reaction to the issues) and how did they feel after going through intense discussions with others who held different or opposing views? What did the students notice about their ability to really listen to the other side without offering a counterpoint right away? Was there any form of reconciliation that took place after the small group discussions? If not, why not? Was there not enough time? Were the opposing views still too far apart for reconciliation? Were the group members unwilling to open themselves to others’ points of view?
Suggestions for Use:
- This activity could be broken down into smaller activities that take less time. For instance, steps 1 through 9 could be used as one activity which may be completed in under an hour and fifteen minutes.
- The multicultural awareness quiz could also be a separate activity paired with reflection and discussion.
- It is helpful to have a time keeper appointed to keep the participants on track.
- Gullotta, T. & Hampton, R. (2004). Promoting racial, ethnic, and religious understanding and reconciliation. Washington, DC : CWLA Press.
- Helmick, R. & Peterson, R. (2004) Forgiveness and reconciliation : religion, public policy & conflict transformation. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press,
- Lincoln, M.G. (2001). Conflict resolution education: A solution for peace. Communications & the Law, 23, 1, 29-41.
- We acknowledge the contributions of following IUPUI faculty and staff members who contributed ideas for the activities contained within this module: Ian McIntosh, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology; John McGrew, Ph.D., Department of Psychology; and Frank Ross, Ph.D., Campus and Community Life.