Are You Listening? How Listening Skills Help Students Become Informed and Engaged Citizens in a Culturally Diverse World

The ability to listen is vital for good communication to exist and flourish. Without properly developed listening skills, one may unintentionally create roadblocks when communicating with others. Good communication will allow for the spread of differing ideas and perspectives. The social studies classroom is a place in which students have the opportunity to develop skills to become good citizens. These skills include the ability to make reasoned and informed decisions and interact with a culturally diverse and interdependent world. In order to achieve these skills, students must engage in discussion with their peers. While there is a focus on the ability to communicate ideas, a focus on the ability to listen to those ideas is absent within the social studies curriculum. Good listening skills are imperative to the success and continuation of conversation. If students are to participate effectively in a culturally diverse world, they must develop listening skills. The development of listening skills will help students to better understand those who possess a different disposition or perspective than themselves