Teaching the social contract tradition to students can be frustrating. Works by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau may seem arcane, abstract, or irrelevant to students. Yet, it is important for students to think about what processes or mechanisms would make consent and dissent legitimate. To address this problem, this paper explains how to use a short…

This exercise helps instructors teach students how to perform a simple event study. The study tests to see if stocks earn abnormal returns when added to the S&P 500. Students select a random sample of stocks that were added to the index between January 2000 and July 2015. The accompanying spreadsheet calculates cumulative abnormal returns and…

Courses: Communication Criticism, Rhetorical Criticism, Family and Communication, Gender and Communication, Popular Communication, and theory-based courses. Objectives: This activity engages students in dynamic, supportive, social discussion groups; helps them to identify and review the central ideas from the reading; and creates a record of their…

The action research method of appreciative inquiry (AI) was employed to develop a teaching tool. This exercise involves students' reflections on a course, noting when they learned the most. The AI process of appreciating, envisioning, dialoging, and innovating is used to help students reflect on how they learn. Instructors of all types of courses…

Online discussion is becoming more widespread as online classes move to the forefront of education. However, information for teachers about effective use of the online method of instruction is not readily available. This article identifies three models of discussion, extracts the elements from those models that will work well online, and combines…

With the advent of Common Core standards that focus on speaking and listening, discussion should be a tool in every elementary teacher's tool belt. As they discuss a topic, elementary students learn not just the content, but also the skills and social norms they need to become contributing members of our society. Discussion helps students to…

This exercise is designed to illustrate how challenging it is to listen. Although listening is an activity that people use more than speaking, reading, or writing, it is typically not afforded the same level of instruction and focus (Adler & Rodman, 2011). In addition, humans are subject to such continual and diverse stimuli; most do not even…

A Harvard Business School-style teaching case can be a powerful pedagogical tool to teach law and ethics to business students because instructors can combine a traditional business case study with Socratic-style dialogue and legal analysis from a managerial perspective. This teaching note includes suggestions for several methods of using the case,…

The value of student participation in class discussion is considered. An approach is suggested for college teachers to help them better motivate and evaluate students who participate in classroom discussion. Reliable, accurate, and meaningful assessment of students' participation in classroom discussion can be achieved if an instructor bases the…

Remarkably versatile and demonstrated as effective at all grade levels, the discussion method has great potential for classroom teaching. Teachers should use this method more often because it teaches students to speak freely, listen to others, analyze different points of view, and evaluate the effectiveness of a discussion. (CMJ)