Constructive Dialogue: Teaching & Learning Resources

The resources on this webpage are organized into three categories. The K-12 resources are for teachers, schools, parents, and kids. The General resources are for the general public. The online classes are free and are divided into general, brief overviews and more advanced tutorials.

Table of Contents

K-12

  • “Constructive Dialogue and Elections: An Educator Guide to Engaging Students” – Issue Lab: “This guide provides high school educators with strategies and activities to teach and talk about elections through a constructive dialogue framework. Before the new wave of political and cultural divides, elections once presented fun and engaging learning opportunities for educators and students alike. We developed this resource to support educators and, hopefully, reduce concerns about discussing topics that can often present strong and differing opinions. The tips, practices, and supplemental resources in this guide will allow students to practice skills that support life-long learning, and think critically about themselves, others, and their place within our U.S. democracy.
  • “School Curriculum” – Better Arguments Project: Flexible curriculum designed with middle and high school students in mind.
  • Teaching Resource Library – The Economist: “Topical Talk gives you free teaching resources for weekly classroom discussions about current affairs. Our trustworthy, ready-to-use lessons are made by expert teachers in collaboration with world-leading journalists and fact-checkers”
  • National Issues Forums: “Educator’s Center… space where educators of all kinds can learn more about deliberation and its use in the classroom and other educational communities. It is a place to connect with each other, to share your experiences and to learn how deliberation has been integrated into K-12 curriculum, after school programs, and college courses.”

General

  • Better Arguments Project: Broad range of resources for constructive dialogue.
  • “Bridging Differences Playbook” – Great Good Science Center (GGSC): Developed at the University of Berkeley, the playbook highlights 14 skills to promote positive dialogue and understanding.
  • Civic Health Project: “[F]ree educational resources and accessible tools that empower Americans to reject toxic partisanship and collaborate across partisan divides.” Resources on understanding cognitive bias, political leanings, and practicing healthier civil discourse.
  • Civility Resources: Numerous tools and resources to promote civility, separated into sections including: general civility, civility at school, civility at work, and civility in politics.
  • “Collaborative Discussion Toolkit” – The Collaborative Discussion Project: An open access resource designed by dialogue and deliberation experts, practitioners, and educators. It includes 50+ learning activities, each designed to intentionally develop collaborative discussion skills in areas of creativity, criticality, cultural responsiveness, and civic engagement.
  • Constructive Dialogue Institute: Library of tools and resources to foster constructive dialogue.
  • Kialo: “[A]n easy to use, yet powerful tool to engage in thoughtful discussion, understand different points of view, and help with collaborative decision-making. With Kialo, you can take on issues big or small, build consensus on a topic, and explore every aspect of a discussion. Kialo allows you to be more thorough and thoughtful about the issues that matter most to you, and the world around you.”
  • Open to Debate: “[T]he nation’s only nonpartisan, debate-driven media organization dedicated to bringing multiple viewpoints together for a constructive, balanced, respectful exchange of ideas. Open to Debate is a platform for intellectually curious and open-minded people to engage with others holding opposing views on complex issues.”
  • Political Polarization – Pew Research Center: Continual updated research on political polarization in the US.
  • ProCon.org: “To promote civility, critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to debatable issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way.”
  • National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD):
  • Engaging Differences – Key Principles and Best Practices: Steps to engage in critical conversations that connect “across divides, including: Empathy instead of vitriol; Listening for Understanding instead of hearing to overpower; and Humility instead of all-knowing to find common ground.” There is also a supplemental video series and additional resources.
  • “How to Practice Constructive Dialogue” – Achieve Centre for Leadership: Offers simple tips on practicing open dialogue. University Level
  • LivingRoom Conversations Tool Kit: A guide to for facilitating conversations including information on over 100 topics and participant agreements.
  • National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD): A membership organization that engages and mobilizes people to come together and strengthen understanding of each other and issues in ways that support community-building and collaborative problem-solving.
    • Resources: Assembles resources created by the organization on dialogue and deliberation.
    • NCDD’s Resource Guide on Public Engagement (Beginner’s Guide) – Outlines principles and processes for public engagement.
    • Engagement Streams Framework – Covers the range of dialogue and deliberation approaches in both a PDF and web-based version.
    • Quick Reference Glossary – Lists definitions on terms in public engagement, conflict resolution, deliberative democracy, and community problem solving. 
  • On-Demand – Citizen Connect: “Find a podcast, video, blog post, toolkit, app or more that lets you connect with making a better America. The organizations offering these opportunities are built by, and welcome, Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike. What they all have in common is a commitment to provide ways to come together again and strengthen our nation.”
  • “Perspectives” – Constructive Dialogue Institute: A curriculum of eight lessons to teach how to engage in constructive dialogue.

Blogs and News Feeds

  • Bridge Alliance: News and commentary on a broad range of issues focused on fostering democracy and active citizenship.
  • Bridging Community: From the AllSides news service, this feed focuses on stories of finding the “common ground” to mitigate partisan tensions and social divides.
  • Common Ground Committee: Commentary on policies and practices concerning the “national challenges of polarization and incivility” with the hope of “inspiring and motivating the public to find common ground.”
  • Divided We Fall: Strives to “provide bipartisan dialogue for the politically engaged [by publishing] written debates between individuals who disagree in order to expose readers to different viewpoints and demonstrate productive civil discourse.”
  • Starts with Us: News and commentary focused on “highlighting our shared humanity, our common ground, and the power of constructive conflict and dialogue.”

Podcasts

  • A Braver Way: “Done with the divisiveness in our politics and ready to do something about it? [Discussions from] guests from across the political spectrum to unearth tools, insights, and messy real life stories that can guide you over the divide in your everyday life. So whether you’re Red, Blue, or something entirely different, “A Braver Way” will help you hear and be heard by people who confound you.”
  • The Bully Pulpit: “[W]e bring together top Republicans and Democrats to transcend partisan divisions and explore solutions to our most pressing national and global challenges. . . . The conversations go behind the curtain with elected officials, campaign staff, journalists, academics, pundits, and political operatives.”
  • Crossing Party Lines – The Conversation: “[W]eekly discussions where people have the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about politics, society and everything in between, and to listen to what others think/feel so that we can really understand why American’s believe what we believe.”
  • Let’s Find Common Ground: “As the tone of public discourse becomes increasingly angry and divisive, Common Ground Committee offers a healing path to reaching agreement and moving forward. We talk with top leaders in public policy, finance, academe and more to encourage the seeking and finding of points of agreement, and to demonstrate how combating incivility can lead us forward.”
  • The Round Table: “[A] platform for conversation and engagement of civically-minded young people from different parts of the country. We strive to model civil dialogue across various divides–socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, political, and regional. We aim to challenge norms and represent all kinds of diversity–especially of perspective and ideas–enabling listeners to “hear” our thinking. The Round Table is 100% created and edited by young people committed to building a more just and joyous world.”

Online Classes

All the course below are free to take. Most have the option to pay for a certification.

Brief Overview

  • Braver Angels: Several free course available including:
    • Depolarizing Within Online Course: “[D]esigned to foster skills to help you lessen the effects of polarization when you encounter them in your political conversations. Note that by “polarization,” we are not referring to healthy disagreements over issues or philosophy. We are talking about how we regard and talk about large groups of ordinary people on the other side of the political aisle.”
    • Managing Difficult Conversations: “[T]his workshop will equip you with practical tools you can use immediately when a constituent or colleague (of whatever political party) tells you how wrong you are and how you should change course. These skills can lower stress that comes from having difficult political conversations and help you feel more satisfied and more confident in your role as an elected official. At best, you will soften critics and find more common ground. Or at least you won’t add fuel to today’s epidemic of incivility.”

Advanced