California State University,
Northridge
California State University,
Northridge
The text is by Robert T. Francoeur and William J. Taverner: Taking Sides - Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Human Sexuality, 6th edition. This is a collection of articles and essays published in 1998 by The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
Psychology 453 is an issues course that uses a debate format. Topics cover a wide range of
important concerns in human sexuality. In preparation for each class, students learn to navigate
the Internet to find "ammunition" for the debates. Students support their
arguments
with material they get from journal articles as well as from resources they find on the Internet
[CARL UnCover, Lexis/Nexis, Medline, PsychFirst, the World Wide Web]. They
use a wide variety of Search Engines and share the information that they
find.
During class, equal time is given to both sides of each topic, although
students do not always get to choose
whether they will argue on the "Yes" or "No" side.
Daniel Webster
once wrote: "...Inconsistencies of opinion, arising from changes of
circumstances, are often justifiable." Thus, after students share
relevant information on these topics, their classmates come to
realize the complexities of many of these issues. We
would like to share with you the information used during our classroom
debates.
[Please remember that since students are usually assigned "yes" or
"no," they often find themselves defending positions and points of view
that are not their own.]
It has been said that "opinion is the enemy of intellect."
For our classroom debates, students are
therefore required to support the viewpoints they express with
documentation from the Internet.
