Each volume in the Taking Sides® program is designed to provide readers with well-developed, carefully considered, and sharply opposed viewpoints on a wide range of issues. The purpose of the debate format is to stimulate interest in the subject matter and to encourage critical thinking. The pro and con essays reflect a variety of ideological viewpoints and have been selected by the Taking Sides editors for their liveliness and because of their value in a debate framework. The selections are written by scholars and commentators who are respected and accomplished in their fields.
Each issue in each of the volumes in the Taking Sides® program has an Issue Introduction, which sets the stage for the debate, provides some background information on each author, and generally puts the issue into context. Each issue concludes with an Issue Postscript that briefly summarizes the debate, gives the reader paths for further investigation, and suggests additional readings that might be helpful. Each volume in the Taking Sides® program concludes with a list of contributors (with a brief biography of each contributor) and an index.
Understanding the complexity of our society requires thought and a sensitivity to the continuum of views of all important issues. The volumes of the Taking Sides® series provide a starting point for fostering critical thinking and serious dialogue. Each volume has been designed to accomplish the following:

Provide students with well-developed, carefully considered, and sharply opposed points of view on enduring issues in a field of study.

Help students to understand the significance of the principles, concepts, and theories they are learning in class by demonstrating their relevance to vital issues that they will confront throughout their lives.

Encourage students to apply critical thinking techniques to the opinions and statements that they see and hear around them.

Promote the personal resolution of important issues by challenging assumptions and unconscious biases.

Stimulate students to synthesize their own positions by clarifying and understanding values.

Develop students' understanding and appreciation for the nature and value of evidence in forming an opinion.

CONTROVERSY IN THE CLASSROOM
Educators have always understood the importance of presenting conflicts of opinion in the learning process. Studies have given experimental support to the commonsense notion that students learn more and retain information better when they are actively engaged in the dialectical process. One study tested short- and long-term recall on the basis of four different methods of organizing information: dialectical, causative, problematic, and serial. Of these, the dialectical method was shown to result in the highest rate of retention. Another study yielded similar results.
The results of these studies will not surprise veteran educators. At one time or another, most instructors have searched out and presented to their students views that are contrary to those presented in the standard course texts or in their own lectures. They are operating on the principle that truth can best be determined by the study of opposing viewpoints. However, in many instances it is difficult to transform this principle into a workable, systematic educational plan. If done randomly, the introduction of contradictory points of view may be confusing and may lead to frustration for both students and instructors. Yet it is very important for today's students to understand that experts can disagree and that for some questions there are no clear-cut answers.
The Taking Sides® program was initiated to create a clearly directed, systematic approach to the study of controversial issues. Each Taking Sides® volume presents the most coherent statements available on both sides of a multitude of current issues. In each of the many disciplines covered by Taking Sides® volumes, an academic editor has searched the literature to determine the most critical issues in that particular field. Care is taken to ensure that the issues presented can be easily integrated into introductory-level classes as well as into more advanced seminar situations.
Each issue within the Taking Sides® volumes is self-contained and may be assigned according to the individual instructor's preferences or the dictates of classroom time. The introductions and postscripts that accompany each issue are written by the academic editors to provide the necessary background for an informed reading of the issue. The introductions reduce the need for background lectures and should increase the time available for discussion of critical information.
It is this final step of evaluation that often makes the essential difference between considered thought and passive recall. This point has been the subject of several papers. For instance, Charles W. Dunn of Clemson University has written that students retain 90 percent of assigned material after it is read, heard, and seen. (See Charles W. Dunn, "Using Debates to Teach American Government," News for Teachers of Political Science, Summer 1980.) This belief is shared by each of the editors of the Taking Sides® volumes as well. As Brent Slife writes in the volume introduction to Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Psychological Issues:
Knowing the "facts" often is not enough to make useful decisions. It is seeing relationships after examining evidence from all sides and the development of personal insights that makes it worthwhile to gather "facts."

Practical Applications
While few would argue with this call for "eloquent expression of opposing views," there are other factors to consider when choosing a pedagogical approach. In most disciplines, introductory classes are large; because of this, instructors often believe that the discussion of multiple points of view can cause confusion and consume too much valuable course time. The Taking Sides® series is designed to free instructors to inject as much or as little controversy into their classes as they believe can be handled comfortably. For instance, there are a number of ways you might approach the use of Taking Sides as a student reader:

You might simply assign students to read particular issues at the time you cover the topic in class. (This method is used in the introductory economics program at the University of Notre Dame and in many other large lecture classes.)
You might choose to have your students write summary papers of entire issues or selections within issues, showing how they amplify topics covered in class or in the text. (This has been done at Arizona State University in large introductory psychology classes.)
If you choose to give test or quiz items on an assigned issue, you will find the instructor's manual that accompanies each volume to be quite helpful. Each manual contains test items in addition to a synopsis of each issue and guidelines for discussing the issue in class, if such discussion seems appropriate to you.
You might have students give short oral reports to the class on a particular selection. This can lead to some of the other, more formal approaches to using Taking Sides in the classroom, such as debates and discussions.
If you supplement a textbook with Taking Sides, you may ask your students to correlate the issues in the Taking Sides book with the appropriate sections of the text.
Students could be asked to do follow-up research and to find or develop alternative views on a particular issue.
A simple approach (designed at Northern Virginia Community College) is to ask students to create and answer their own issue questions. The grades are based more on the validity of the questions than on the answers. This method is not time-consuming, and it tests students' grasp of the essential ideas being debated.
These and other methods are discussed here to allow for a smooth and ordered transition into the treatment of controversial issues in any classroom setting. Time is always in short supply, and you, as the instructor, will give more or less weight to particular issues according to the focus of the course. This need not prevent the addition of this material to your syllabus. The Taking Sides® volumes have proven very successful in many different disciplines at all levels of intensity, from more content-oriented introductory settings to more theoretical upper-level seminars.
Criteria for Issue Selection. The board of directors of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) adopted a set of guidelines for the teaching of social issues ("NCSS Guidelines for Teaching Science-Related Social Issues" by Robert Otto et al., November 1982). These guidelines stress matching the material to students' reading levels as well as their background and interest levels. A guiding principle in the selection of the issues for all Taking Sides® volumes, as well as the corresponding articles, is that they be easily understood and relevant to the backgrounds and interests of the students. Through our editorial and revision processes, we eliminate issues that prove to be uninteresting or not easily understood by the students. We actively solicit reactions from instructors for this purpose.
The issues that are selected are chosen for their broad applicability. Even students simply fulfilling a requirement in a discipline to which they may have no further exposure will have formed opinions on many of these issues. One of the important functions of the Taking Sides® volumes is to force students as well as instructors to examine their opinions and beliefs in light of contradictory facts and evidence. This purpose is consistent with the guidelines of the NCSS.
Evaluation. In addition to the concern for maintaining an ordered system in the classroom, there is the problem of evaluation. If an instructor ascribes strongly to a particular point of view, how can he or she objectively evaluate the learning and teaching processes? Subjectivity is an issue that has long plagued educators. How can we guard against hidden biases on the part of the instructor and a desire to please on the part of the student?
On this site, we provide a variety of evaluation techniques and materials. Some are simple report forms to be filled in by the students and returned to the instructor or a teaching assistant. Others are more complex and are for use in evaluating the contribution and performance of members of the class during formal debate sessions. These include role-playing suggestions, numerical ratings for coherence of thought and presentation, and evaluation forms for use by the instructor and class members. These methods can allow for a more objective appraisal of issues for which there are--in the end--no right or wrong answers, only considered opinions.
Opinions, Conflict, and Truth. All of the evaluation methods presented in this guide are based on the value of studying conflicting opinion in order to establish the truth. Writers from Georg Hegel to Thomas Jefferson have recognized the importance of a struggle of ideas and warned against the danger of a monopoly by any one set of ideas. The dialogue approach to education that is embodied in this guide and in the Taking Sides® program embraces a philosophy as well as a pedagogical technique. With the aid of this guide, and through shared experiences with other instructors, any class can be enlivened through the study of controversial issues. The importance of this to the search for truth cannot be doubted. As John Milton wrote in Aeropagitica:
Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing the prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?

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Each volume in the Taking Sides® program is designed to provide readers with well-developed, carefully considered, and sharply opposed viewpoints on a wide range of issues. The purpose of the debate format is to stimulate interest in the subject matter and to encourage critical thinking. The pro and con essays reflect a variety of ideological viewpoints and have been selected by the Taking Sides editors for their liveliness and because of their value in a debate framework. The selections are written by scholars and commentators who are respected and accomplished in their fields. Each issue in each of the volumes in the Taking Sides® program has an Issue Introduction, which sets the stage for the debate, provides some background information on each author, and generally puts the issue into context. Each issue concludes with an Issue Postscript that briefly summarizes the debate, gives the reader paths for further investigation, and suggests additional readings that might be helpful. Each volume in the Taking Sides® program concludes with a list of contributors (with a brief biography of each contributor) and an index. Understanding the complexity of our society requires thought and a sensitivity to the continuum of views of all important issues. The volumes of the Taking Sides® series provide a starting point for fostering critical thinking and serious dialogue. Each volume has been designed to accomplish the following:
		Provide students with well-developed, carefully considered, and sharply opposed points of view on enduring issues in a field of study.
		Help students to understand the significance of the principles, concepts, and theories they are learning in class by demonstrating their relevance to vital issues that they will confront throughout their lives.
		Encourage students to apply critical thinking techniques to the opinions and statements that they see and hear around them.
		Promote the personal resolution of important issues by challenging assumptions and unconscious biases.
		Stimulate students to synthesize their own positions by clarifying and understanding values.
		Develop students' understanding and appreciation for the nature and value of evidence in forming an opinion.
CONTROVERSY IN THE CLASSROOM Educators have always understood the importance of presenting conflicts of opinion in the learning process. Studies have given experimental support to the commonsense notion that students learn more and retain information better when they are actively engaged in the dialectical process. One study tested short- and long-term recall on the basis of four different methods of organizing information: dialectical, causative, problematic, and serial. Of these, the dialectical method was shown to result in the highest rate of retention. Another study yielded similar results. The results of these studies will not surprise veteran educators. At one time or another, most instructors have searched out and presented to their students views that are contrary to those presented in the standard course texts or in their own lectures. They are operating on the principle that truth can best be determined by the study of opposing viewpoints. However, in many instances it is difficult to transform this principle into a workable, systematic educational plan. If done randomly, the introduction of contradictory points of view may be confusing and may lead to frustration for both students and instructors. Yet it is very important for today's students to understand that experts can disagree and that for some questions there are no clear-cut answers. The Taking Sides® program was initiated to create a clearly directed, systematic approach to the study of controversial issues. Each Taking Sides® volume presents the most coherent statements available on both sides of a multitude of current issues. In each of the many disciplines covered by Taking Sides® volumes, an academic editor has searched the literature to determine the most critical issues in that particular field. Care is taken to ensure that the issues presented can be easily integrated into introductory-level classes as well as into more advanced seminar situations. Each issue within the Taking Sides® volumes is self-contained and may be assigned according to the individual instructor's preferences or the dictates of classroom time. The introductions and postscripts that accompany each issue are written by the academic editors to provide the necessary background for an informed reading of the issue. The introductions reduce the need for background lectures and should increase the time available for discussion of critical information. It is this final step of evaluation that often makes the essential difference between considered thought and passive recall. This point has been the subject of several papers. For instance, Charles W. Dunn of Clemson University has written that students retain 90 percent of assigned material after it is read, heard, and seen. (See Charles W. Dunn, "Using Debates to Teach American Government," News for Teachers of Political Science, Summer 1980.) This belief is shared by each of the editors of the Taking Sides® volumes as well. As Brent Slife writes in the volume introduction to Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Psychological Issues: Knowing the "facts" often is not enough to make useful decisions. It is seeing relationships after examining evidence from all sides and the development of personal insights that makes it worthwhile to gather "facts." Practical Applications While few would argue with this call for "eloquent expression of opposing views," there are other factors to consider when choosing a pedagogical approach. In most disciplines, introductory classes are large; because of this, instructors often believe that the discussion of multiple points of view can cause confusion and consume too much valuable course time. The Taking Sides® series is designed to free instructors to inject as much or as little controversy into their classes as they believe can be handled comfortably. For instance, there are a number of ways you might approach the use of Taking Sides as a student reader: You might simply assign students to read particular issues at the time you cover the topic in class. (This method is used in the introductory economics program at the University of Notre Dame and in many other large lecture classes.) You might choose to have your students write summary papers of entire issues or selections within issues, showing how they amplify topics covered in class or in the text. (This has been done at Arizona State University in large introductory psychology classes.) If you choose to give test or quiz items on an assigned issue, you will find the instructor's manual that accompanies each volume to be quite helpful. Each manual contains test items in addition to a synopsis of each issue and guidelines for discussing the issue in class, if such discussion seems appropriate to you. You might have students give short oral reports to the class on a particular selection. This can lead to some of the other, more formal approaches to using Taking Sides in the classroom, such as debates and discussions. If you supplement a textbook with Taking Sides, you may ask your students to correlate the issues in the Taking Sides book with the appropriate sections of the text. Students could be asked to do follow-up research and to find or develop alternative views on a particular issue. A simple approach (designed at Northern Virginia Community College) is to ask students to create and answer their own issue questions. The grades are based more on the validity of the questions than on the answers. This method is not time-consuming, and it tests students' grasp of the essential ideas being debated. These and other methods are discussed here to allow for a smooth and ordered transition into the treatment of controversial issues in any classroom setting. Time is always in short supply, and you, as the instructor, will give more or less weight to particular issues according to the focus of the course. This need not prevent the addition of this material to your syllabus. The Taking Sides® volumes have proven very successful in many different disciplines at all levels of intensity, from more content-oriented introductory settings to more theoretical upper-level seminars. Criteria for Issue Selection. The board of directors of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) adopted a set of guidelines for the teaching of social issues ("NCSS Guidelines for Teaching Science-Related Social Issues" by Robert Otto et al., November 1982). These guidelines stress matching the material to students' reading levels as well as their background and interest levels. A guiding principle in the selection of the issues for all Taking Sides® volumes, as well as the corresponding articles, is that they be easily understood and relevant to the backgrounds and interests of the students. Through our editorial and revision processes, we eliminate issues that prove to be uninteresting or not easily understood by the students. We actively solicit reactions from instructors for this purpose. The issues that are selected are chosen for their broad applicability. Even students simply fulfilling a requirement in a discipline to which they may have no further exposure will have formed opinions on many of these issues. One of the important functions of the Taking Sides® volumes is to force students as well as instructors to examine their opinions and beliefs in light of contradictory facts and evidence. This purpose is consistent with the guidelines of the NCSS. Evaluation. In addition to the concern for maintaining an ordered system in the classroom, there is the problem of evaluation. If an instructor ascribes strongly to a particular point of view, how can he or she objectively evaluate the learning and teaching processes? Subjectivity is an issue that has long plagued educators. How can we guard against hidden biases on the part of the instructor and a desire to please on the part of the student? On this site, we provide a variety of evaluation techniques and materials. Some are simple report forms to be filled in by the students and returned to the instructor or a teaching assistant. Others are more complex and are for use in evaluating the contribution and performance of members of the class during formal debate sessions. These include role-playing suggestions, numerical ratings for coherence of thought and presentation, and evaluation forms for use by the instructor and class members. These methods can allow for a more objective appraisal of issues for which there are--in the end--no right or wrong answers, only considered opinions. Opinions, Conflict, and Truth. All of the evaluation methods presented in this guide are based on the value of studying conflicting opinion in order to establish the truth. Writers from Georg Hegel to Thomas Jefferson have recognized the importance of a struggle of ideas and warned against the danger of a monopoly by any one set of ideas. The dialogue approach to education that is embodied in this guide and in the Taking Sides® program embraces a philosophy as well as a pedagogical technique. With the aid of this guide, and through shared experiences with other instructors, any class can be enlivened through the study of controversial issues. The importance of this to the search for truth cannot be doubted. As John Milton wrote in Aeropagitica: Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing the prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?