Deliberative Pedagogy Lab

Welcome to the Deliberative Pedagogy Lab! We are engaged scholars committed to innovative approaches to teaching and learning for democratic engagement using a practice we call “deliberative pedagogy.” Here you will find resources introducing this growing interdisciplinary field of scholarship and practice.

In Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement, we built upon several years of conversations at the Kettering Foundation to define “deliberative pedagogy."

"Deliberative pedagogy is a democratic educational process and a way of thinking that encourages students to encounter and consider multiple perspectives, weigh trade offs and tensions, and move toward action through informed judgment. It is simultaneously a way of teaching that is itself deliberative and a process for developing the skills, behaviors, and values that support deliberative practice. Perhaps most important, the work of deliberative pedagogy is about space-making: creating and holding space for authentic and productive dialogue, conversations that can ultimately be not only educational but also transformative" (Longo, Manosevitch & Shaffer, 2017, pp. xxi).

For a brief introduction, see the following blog posts about deliberative pedagogy.

Deliberative Pedagogy: What Does It Mean to Educate for Citizenship in a Democracy?

Deliberative What? Bridging Deliberation and Engagement in Higher Education