Promoting Civil Discourse through Coffee and Common Ground

Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness conflict, particularly directed toward historically-marginalized groups, in class. While it seems sensible schools should play a role teaching children how civilly speak with people different themselves, are often unprepared do so. This paper describes project-based learning activity conducted during Fall 2022 semester which was designed empower pre-service practical tools promote their future classrooms.