In December, we will focus on enhancing the students’ ability to make impromptu and lively discussions, which has not been practiced much in this classroom. We are eager to see the students’ skills to conduct discussions based on critical reasoning, general information, and news topics from various sources such as their daily conversations, YouTube, and other media outlets.
To achieve this goal, teachers are willing to guide students to use different information sources more effectively, to gather relevant information, and to establish a solid foundation for expressing their own opinions and arguments. However, teachers also need to be very careful about the validity of the information to ensure the logical quality of the discussions.
Nowadays, many students prefer to watch YouTube, SNS, and other online platforms instead of traditional TV stations or media outlets with established reputations. Students have easy access to these unverified information sources, which may distort their thinking. Therefore, teachers are trying to help students select reliable information sources that match their interests and focus areas, such as National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, and Nikkei Business, etc. In the process of making discussions, one of the most important things is to base the discussions on the right assumptions.
Many students tend to rush to the conclusion or the right answer without verifying their assumptions. Teachers are willing to make students aware of the dangers of relying on false or invalid assumptions. Especially when dealing with issues that do not have clear-cut or conventional solutions, students need to discipline themselves to seek answers by taking multidisciplinary and action-oriented approaches.