That's Your Opinion, This Is a Fact

6-8 years

Me with Others

15 min / 3x per week

Learning goal :

Developing My Ability to Communicate Harmoniously with Others

Pedagogical Intention :

Respecting Different Ideas and Accepting Disagreement

Target skills :

Opinion vs. fact distinction, Respectful disagreement framing, Epistemic humility

Materials :

Opinion vs. fact sorting cards, sentence starters chart

Detailed procedure :

1. Introduction: "The word 'wrong' is only for facts. For opinions, everyone can be right."
2. Sort: facts (checkable, one right answer) vs. opinions (based on values and preferences, no single right answer).
3. Script: "Before you disagree, ask yourself: is this a fact or an opinion? The answer changes how you should respond."
4. Practice debate: opinion statements where all views are valid.
5. Sentence starters for disagreeing with opinions: "I see it differently because..." / "In my experience..." / "Another way to look at it is..."

Progress Indicators :

Correctly classifies 10 statements as fact or opinion. Uses opinion-framing language spontaneously. Stops themselves from saying 'you're wrong' about opinions.

Research Foundations :

Piaget (1932); Kohlberg (1969); Flavell (1992)