Motivating a Productive Discussion of Normative Issues Through Debates

Jessica Hennessey

The Journal of Economic Education, 2014, vol. 45, issue 3, 225-239

Abstract: In this article, the author presents a way of using in-class debates to discuss contentious issues and help students develop critical thinking skills. Three elements were incorporated into an undergraduate public finance course: a presentation of ethical approaches in order to formally discuss normative issues, class debates which required students to work in groups and imaginatively occupy a perspective with which they were not personally comfortable, and individual reflection which forced students to reconcile their beliefs with academic evidence. The results show that even if students did not change their perspectives on economic policy, the reasons why they have those perspectives did change to be based in academic theory and evidence and not their blind adherence to specific political platforms.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1080/00220485.2014.917567

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