The essence of a healthy democracy is open dialogue about issues of public concern. An integral part of the training of young citizens, therefore, includes the discussion of controversial social, political, and economic policies. The use of classroom discussions as a pedagogical technique to examine controversial issues is explored by considering:…

Noting that college-level critical thinking instruction is now an interdisciplinary movement coordinating such fields as English, rhetoric, philosophy, and developmental psychology, this digest surveys the history of critical thinking studies in these converging disciplines and argues that literature study preeminently encompasses the mental…