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So how do we teach students who want to be more involved in politics to look beyond the divisive rhetoric and really start a conversation? Author Christine Barbour offers these tips: Make it easy to think critically: The trick to learning how to think critically is to do it. Critical thinking involves constantly asking questions about the arguments you read: Whose argument is it? What is the basic case and what values underlie it? What evidence is used to back it up? What conclusions are drawn? What difference does the whole thing make? To make it easier for students to remember the questions, use the CLUES ii acronym reflecting the five major steps of critical thinking: 1. Consider the source and audience 2. Lay out the argument, the values, and the assumptions 3. Uncover the evidence 4. Evaluate the conclusion 5. Sort out the political implications Build empathy: Create opportunities for students to step into someone else's shoes to better understand an opposing argument or perspective. In the classroom, you can accomplish this by choosing a hot-button topic and having students take turns debating and advocating for each side, so they are encouraged to think critically and make persuasive arguments about a side for which they would not normally advocate. Dig deeper: Give students easy access to more context about a topic, which helps them to think critically and build empathy. For this reason, AmGov: Long Story Short (see page iv), includes Dig Deeper features around key topics, which highlight what students need to know about a specific topic and provide on-the-spot links so they can dig deeper when more context is needed. Make it fun: Well, maybe not going- out-on-Friday-night fun, but if your students can't enjoy learning, they Captivating visuals boost learning. Turn the page for a captivating infographic of how the fall 2018 midterm election reshaped Congress. probably aren't going to learn. So try to use resources that present the material with a smile and a light heart. The subject is super serious, but the approach to it doesn't have to be. Bring in meaningful current events and use captivating visuals to reveal trends, generate discussion, and reinforce concepts. i Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Zimmerman, H. B., Aragon, M. C., Whang Sayson, H., & Rios-Aguilar, C. (2017). The American freshman: National Norms Fall 2016, pg. 4. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. heri. ucla.edu ii Barbour, C., & Streb, M.J. (2013). Clued in to Politics: A Critical Thinking Reader in American Government (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing According to the University of California, Los Angeles' Higher Education Research Institute 2016 Freshman Survey, "the fall 2016 entering cohort of first-time, full-time college students has the distinction of being the most polarized cohort in the 51-year history of the Freshman Survey…The record level of polarization of the 2016 entering freshman class comes at a time when these same students follow the recent trend of rising levels of civic engagement." i Are your students becoming more politically polarized? Award-winning instructor and author Christine Barbour shares strategies on how to bridge the gap between partisanship and effective political discourse. Strategies That Work i

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