Teaching Deliberative Democracy: Civil Discourse in the K–12 Classroom

At a time when public discourse is increasingly polarized, learning to disagree thoughtfully and engage across differences from a young age has become an essential civic skill.

This course examines how the principles of deliberative democracy can be applied in K–12 classrooms, equipping educators with practical tools for teaching civil discourse and engaged citizenship.

Developed in partnership with the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab, it combines research insights with classroom-ready strategies.

Students learn to design and facilitate structured deliberations, practicing these methods through guided exercises and applying them to real and often contentious public issues such as climate policy, free speech, immigration, and emerging technologies.

They also explore Stanford’s AI-supported deliberation platform, which helps structure and moderate student discussions, and connect with a broad network of educators using similar approaches, including Northwestern’s Center for Enlightened Disagreement and the Close Up Foundation.

Students leave with adaptable lesson plans, facilitation strategies, and digital tools ready for immediate use in their classrooms.

This course is designed for teachers and educators.

The course may be taken for continuing education credit, and a digital certificate of completion is available in addition to an official transcript.

Educators may be eligible for a 20% tuition discount.

After registering, students complete a verification form, and Continuing Studies applies the discount retroactively once eligibility is confirmed.