Democratic and Co-Constructed Classes

Democratic Classrooms

Establishing a democratic classroom entails setting up an environment focused on equity and civility, or the Confucian concept of harmony, in order to promote deliberation and consensus building on open or controversial topics in any given field. This model is often favored by disciplines and classes where there is an emphasis on discussion and deliberation of controversial or difficult course topics. Ways to establish a democratic classroom include developing a community of learners, establishing norms, and engaging students in issues that are open (meaning an issue with multiple and competing points of view in society [or the discipline]) through methods that allow for discussion and deliberation of evidence from more than one side or perspective.

Developing a community of learners starts the first day of class. It entails engaging students in dialogue from the beginning, involving them in the generation of knowledge and understanding, and simple but important activities such as learning each other’s names and routinely asking them to sit by and talk with students whom they do not know. Establishing norms entails setting basic shared beliefs about how the course should run, and what types of behaviors may be off limits (e.g., personal attacks vs. challenging evidence and ideas). Finally, democratic classrooms are designed to engage students in thoughtful discussions of open issues where students are fully and equitably prepared to engage in deliberations that help them to both understand the issues and to at least attempt to seek consensus on aspects of the issue that groups may agree upon. The objective of a democratic classroom is not to instill particular ideological beliefs in students but to help them to become open and more empathetic to opposing [Page 359]points of view, more analytical when it comes to weighing evidence, reflective of where their beliefs on issues come from, and to help them form habits for democratic citizenship.

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