Practical Wisdom Reasoning through Deliberative Pedagogy

Windy Lawrence,John Rountree,Sara Drury

doi:10.14434/josotl.v21i4.32658

Windy Lawrence, John Rountree + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v21i4.32658

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Abstract

Deliberative pedagogy holds promise for improving democratic society by cultivating practical wisdom in students as a means to tackle the problems of democracy, such as polarization. This study embraced an opportunity to consider civic education in the 21st century through deliberative pedagogy by considering practical wisdom in a synchronous, virtual deliberation among university stakeholders and local political candidates concerning our role in 21st-century politics. This civic site enabled an analysis of practical wisdom across three student roles: facilitators enrolled in a deliberation course; students from the wider university; and student alumni of the university’s deliberation center, who had been exposed to deliberation in curricular and cocurricular practice. Using a constructive rhetorical analysis to understand practical wisdom within deliberative pedagogy discourse, we contend that students in these three different roles demonstrated three key aspects of practical wisdom through their discursive responses to rhetorical exigences that arose during deliberative engagement. This analysis offers insights beyond outcomes and informs deeper thinking about curricula and better pedagogical practices. Additionally, such studies, focused on the discourse itself, contribute to understandings concerning the connection between rhetoric and deliberative pedagogy.

Highlights

Deliberative pedagogy holds promise for improving democratic society by cultivating practical wisdom in students as a means to tackle the problems of democracy, such as polarization
This study embraced an opportunity to consider civic education in the 21st century through deliberative pedagogy by analyzing practical wisdom as found in a synchronous, virtual deliberation among university stakeholders and local political candidates. This civic site allowed us to analyze three aspects of practical wisdom in deliberative pedagogy, expressed in three student roles: a facilitator enrolled in a deliberation course; a student from the wider university; and an alumnus of the university’s deliberation center, who had been exposed to deliberation in curricular and cocurricular practice
Using a constructive rhetorical analysis to understand practical wisdom within deliberative pedagogy, we contend that students demonstrated practical wisdom as their discursive responses to rhetorical exigences arose during deliberative engagement

Summary

Introduction

Deliberative pedagogy holds promise for improving democratic society by cultivating practical wisdom in students as a means to tackle the problems of democracy, such as polarization. Students hone three important aspects of practical wisdom, including their capacity to (1) consider their discursive moves as a means to elevate democratic norms; (2) engage and weigh tensions and trade-offs of possible solutions, for the purposes of good decision making; and (3) account for and adapt to expert discourses that emerge as a means to discern the evidence forms that are available.

Results

Conclusion