Description

A devil’s advocate is a person who argues against a point of view to poke holes in it. The devil’s advocate does not have to believe the perspectives or ideas that they are supporting. Either the instructor or learners can be the devil’s advocate.

Advantages

• Encourages learners to see their blind spots or miscomprehensions.
• Helps learners to see diverse points of view.
• Improves learners’ debating skills.

Disadvantages

• Learners and parents may interpret your devil’s advocate position as an attempt to teach unsavory views in the classroom.

Implementation

1. The instructor can note in their lesson plan moments when they believe there are opportunities to play the devil’s advocate role to promote debate.
2. The instructor can give learners debating points where one person acts as the devil’s advocate and another as the person defending the dominant perspective.