Pros & Cons Organizer

How do I use it?

• Choose an article for students to read or a video to view that presents opposing, or positive (pros) and negative (cons) perspectives about an issue or topic.
• You may wish to have the students analyse the pros & cons of a topic from different perspectives or points of view depending on the topic, such as:
  • Personal or class perspective
  • Socioeconomic group perspective
  • Regional, provincial, national or global perspectives

• Provide students with a Pros & Cons Organizer reproducible to complete.

• A Pros & Cons Organizer may be done as an individual activity, a pair and share activity or group activity.

Variations

• Once completed Pros & Cons Organizers can be used in different ways:
  • Students pair up and share their organizer with a partner.
  • Have a class discussion about the various pros and cons students have determined and summarize the students’ ideas.

Extensions

• Students could prepare a written or oral argument presenting their reasons for defending or supporting their position on a topic, issue, etc., based on their developed Pros & Cons Organizers (e.g., why they support or oppose the genetic engineering of food crops).