When There Isn’t a Simple Answer with Prof. Dennis McLaughlin (S3E4)
[MUSIC PLAYING] DENNIS MCLAUGHLIN: Students come in with opinions already, and they can say things in a seminar that are based upon just their common knowledge and not based on the readings. CURT NEWTON: Today on Chalk Radio, we're exploring global food production, water, and climate change, and the challenge of teaching when polarized opinions come to class. DENNIS MCLAUGHLIN: I'd say generally, the students learn that most of these issues are more subtle and complex than they thought when they came in the class. So one of the things that happens at the end of the class is, people's opinions are usually not as polarized as they were in the beginning. CURT NEWTON: I'm Curt Newton, your guest host for this episode of Chalk Radio. At MIT, officially, I'm director of MIT OpenCourseWare. But for so many years at MIT and in my personal life, I'm also doing a lot of work on climate change. So when Sarah Hansen, your usual host, lined up this episode deal...