Cyber Civics - Integrated (Grade: 8)

Cyber Civics is a course designed by a former Waldorf teacher to help
middle grades students learn about civics or ethics in general and to
apply those same principles and standards to the cyber world, especially
as situations arise within the realms of social media.  The themes are
very basic in the beginning and build in complexity from year to year. 
Cyber Civics has been recognized and awarded within the mainstream
educational and wider social spheres as a program that addresses a
modern need for students, teachers, and parents.

This course will look at several aspects of debate as well as the actual
practice of it.  Students will learn about the hierarchy of persuasion,
understanding that a personal opinion is not as persuasive as, say,
relevant historical facts.  Students will learn about researching topics
and being able to cite sources.  Students will learn about the
importance of respectful rebuttal, or civil disagreement.  As students
practice these skills, they will always be required to research both
sides of any topic.  They will not learn which side they will actually
be debating until moments before the debate actually takes place.  In so
doing, young people learn to more fully consider both sides to any
topic and to consider what factors can and should affect their thoughts
and beliefs.  For the seventh grader, just discovering his or her powers
for verbal disagreement--also known as "argument"--learning to debate
helps redeem these tendencies so that they can pursue truth and
understand when it is better to simply agree to disagree.