The Skillful Teacher

Generating Truth Statements
One task that Frederick (1986) and Van Ments (1990) suggest for
the start of a discussion is to ask students to generate what they call
“truth statements” (Frederick, p. 144) or “statements worth making”
(Van Ments, p. 38) based on their preparatory reading. Students are
split into small groups, and each group is asked to generate three or
four statements that they believe to be true on the basis of their read-
ing. The point of this exercise is not so much to produce undeniable
facts or theories but to generate, and then prioritize, questions and
issues around which further discussion and research should be under-
taken. The exercise helps participants develop an agenda of items
for discussion and suggests directions for future research they need
to conduct if they are to be informed discussants.