Make Up Your Mind: A Classroom Guide to 10 Age-Old Debates

Have you struggled with how to engage students in a lively and meaningful discussion about ideas that matter? Make Up Your Mind, for grades 7-10, presents 10 pervasive intellectual conflicts that have bedeviled the world of ideas for centuries and continue to influence modern thought, including free will vs. determinism, nature vs. nurture, and liberalism vs. conservatism. Each chapter offers background information and a variety of discussion starters, journal prompts, skits, readings, and student assignments. Students will sharpen their critical thinking skills as they wrestle with contradictions that continue to challenge all people, shaping dialogue about contemporary issues.

Clark Porter, Ph.D., teaches gifted and talented middle school students in Waterloo, IA. He has received state and regional awards for his teaching. Dr. Porter has worked as a school psychologist, nonprofit administrator, adjunct university instructor, and teacher.

James M. Girsch studied natural science and languages at the University of Iowa. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees (medieval Latin and English literature) from the University of Toronto's Centre for Medieval Studies. He did graduate coursework in architecture at the University of Michigan. In addition to teaching history, literature, writing, and Latin language, he has worked as a lexicographer (the "Middle English Dictionary" and the "Thorndike Barnhart Dictionary" series), translator, writer, and editor.