Ask Dr. Helen: How Can I Keep My Students From Becoming Little Marxists?
The suggestion to use “The Propaganda Game” is excellent. Show an episode of Bonanza or the original Battlestar Galactica first, then say “Lorne Greene came up with this game.”
Also: an introduction to logical fallacies (see http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ for example). That kind of exposure to critical thinking should be well within the capabilities of middle school students, and might actually stick, given that it is fun to discover and point out stupid things adult “authorities” say.
(Wff’n'Proof maybe not so much – though I loved it – because the link between predicate calculus and the kind of informal reasoning that takes place in the public/political/policy arena isn’t that close. Might help kids understand how to evaluate the arguments for and against “global warming science” though.)
– David
