How to Structure Civic Discourse with Thinkalong

Thinkalong discussions are designed to help students engage with real issues that are relevant to their lives. Students can practice their critical thinking skills through evidence-based debate with their peers. Follow these steps to host a structured Thinkalong discussion with your students.

Note: Thinkalong discussions are designed to take about 30 minutes. Educators are encouraged to modify aspects that work best for their students.

How to configure HowTo Schema in UABB ?

So to get started, you will just need to drag-n-drop the How-to module in the Beaver Builder editor.
The How-to module can basically be used on How-to pages which contains a How-to in their title and contains steps to achieve certain requirements.

Time Needed: 30 minutes

Total Cost: USD 69

Things Needed ?

- A WordPress Website.
- Beaver builder plugin.
- UABB Plugin

Required tools:

- A Computer.
- Internet connection.
- Google Structured data testing Tool.

Steps to configure the How-to module:

Step 1 : Enter the HowTo schema title you want.

Enter the title to your HowTo Schema

Step 2 : Enter the HowTo schema Description and Add a relevant Image.

Enter the HowTo Description with a relevant image to your description.

Step 3 : Configure the Advanced settings. ie Total Time, Extimated Cost, Supply, Title

Under the Advanced settings for HowTo Schema
- Total Time required to perform all the given instructions.
- Estimated Cost for the consumables/ supplies needed for the instructions.
- Supply needed to be consumed when performing the actions/directions.
- A Tool used but not consumed for the operation.

Step 4 : Enter the Steps for your HowTo schema.

Steps for your HowTo Schema instructions it can be a single step (text, document or video) or an ordered list of steps (itemList) of HowToStep.

Step 5 : Manage the Styling and Typography of the module.

Style your HowTo Schema with various styling options to display your HowTo Schema.

How to Structure a Discussion with Thinkalong

Thinkalong debates are designed to help students engage with real issues that are relevant to their lives. Students can practice their critical thinking skills through evidence-based debate with their peers. Follow these steps to host a Thinkalong discussion with your students.

Note: Thinkalong debates are designed to take about 30 minutes. Educators are encouraged to modify aspects that work best for their students.

Some debate definitions:

Civil Discourse
Debate
Pro
Con
Position
Evidence
Claim
Argument
Rebuttal

  1. Take a poll of where your students stand on the Thinkalong question — pro or con. Ask them to record their response and reasoning before the debate begins. What information in the sample pieces of news media influenced their position? What credible factual evidence can they reference? The Thinkalong debate worksheets will be helpful for this.
  2. Split your classroom into 2 teams – the Pros and the Cons. Try to have an even number on both teams. Don’t worry if some students want to be on a different team than the one to which they are assigned – Thinkalong debates are about practicing the ability to see both perspectives. Ask each team to discuss their responses to the debate question among their teammates and make notes of the evidence they will use to support their statements.
  3. Ask a representative from both teams to present their opening statements. This is an initial response to the debate question and should include at least 3 claims for their side of the issue supported by evidence from the resources in the Thinkalong module.
  4. After both sides present their statements, open the discussion up for questions from each other. Some students may ask for clarifications on specific claims or citation for a source, while other questions may be much broader. Both are valid and add value to the discussion.
  5. Reassemble your Pros and Cons teams and have them discuss the claims they heard from their classmates. Ask them to create evidence-based responses to the other team’s arguments and incorporate any new information gained from the questions. Students may need extra time to reference other pieces of evidence from the Thinkalong module.
  6. Now it’s time for rebuttals. Here students will take the findings from their team discussion to present their response to the rest of their classmates. Ask a representative to present the new response and summarize their position on the debate question.
  7. After the debate is finished, ask your students to go back to their original response. Did their opinion change after the discussion? Did they learn anything new? Are there more ideas they might like to explore?