Academic Controversy: Fostering Constructive Conflict in Natural Resources Education

Abstract

Students who graduate from natural resource management curricula are virtually assured of having to deal with controversial public issues throughout their professional careers. Regardless of whether or not students will face such issues after they graduate, they can benefit from learning strategies that foster productive conflict in the classroom. Such strategies can lead to deeper understanding of issues than would be the case with lecture formats or outside readings. This paper discusses the use of a strategy called an academic controversy to facilitate critical thinking about, and deeper understanding of, natural resource issues. A format is given for conducting an academic controversy in the classroom along with suggestions for timing of the strategy. Students who have been involved in such controversies in forestry at Iowa State University rate themselves highly on team skills used during the controversy. Their overall impressions of the exercise are quite positive. Instructors have observed that students stay more focused on the problem being discussed than when the material is presented in a lecture format. The authors have not conducted controlled experiments to compare students' level of understanding between those who have participated in an academic controversy and those who have not. However, discussions and exam scores following the use of this strategy indicate that students do, in fact, develop a better understanding of central issues as a result of having experienced this strategy. Suggestions are also provided for other techniques to assess the effectiveness of the strategy.