The first one was simple and what the teacher did was write a controversial issue on the board (In this case it was "The best way to promote green energy is to make oil more expensive").
She then had the class move into a horseshoe shape, where on one end it was those who "strongly agreed," and next to them were those who agreed, in the middle were those who weren't sure, and then the students who disagreed, and strongly disagreed the statement (On the other end). She then led a discussion and asked students why they were where standing they were, and created a class discussion this way... After a bit of discussion you can allow for students to move around if they feel as if their opinion has changed at all. With the teacher led discussion it allows for students to make their voice heard but not get into arguments with each other.
The second activity that I thought was good, the teacher gave everyone post-it notes, and wrote an issue on the board (this time it was "the first year of post-secondary education should be free"). Everyone was to put a symbol on their post-it and place it on their chest. They could have strongly agree(++), agree(+), not sure(?), disagree(-) and strongly disagree(--). Then we were to
1. talk to someone who is the same as you
2. talk to someone who is one degree lower than you (eg. a + would talk to a -)
3. talk to someone who is two degrees lower than you
It is important to emphasize the fact that you are not arguing, but simply speaking your opinion, and listening to the other persons opinion. This activity is good for students to be able to speak about something without getting into an argument, and be able to understand and appreciate the fact that others have different views, and respect that. I think this could be interesting to do at the beginning of a unit and then at the end and see if students have changed their opinion at all throughout the course of the unit.
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