We live in a culture where changing your mind leads others to believe you are inconsistent or weak in terms of character and leadership.  However, this popular concept is in direct conflict with a broad based liberal education. Malcolm Gladwell said, "I change my mind all the time. And I...feel that's your responsibility as a person, as a human being - to constantly be updating your positions on as many things as possible. If you don't contradict yourself on a regular basis then you're not thinking." We hope ETSU graduates will be people who can change their minds in face of new and conflicting information. 

Only two-thirds of ETSU seniors reported having this kind of "mind-changing" experience in AY 2013-14. In the most recent NSSE* administration, seniors at ETSU were asked to respond to the question, "During the current school year, about how often have you learned something that changed the way you understand an issue or concept."  65% of respondents indicated they often or very often learned something that changed the way they understood a concept or issue.  The remaining 35% indicated they never or only sometimes learned something that changed their minds.  The question then is, how do we help these 35% of students use information to come to well-informed conclusions and, when necessary, use that information to alter their opinions?

Joseph Stepans proposed a six step model of conceptual change that helps students practice "mind-changing:"

1. Commitment:  Students hypothesize about a phenomenon or commit to an idea.

2. Exposure: Student reveal their ideas or hypotheses to their classmates.

3. Confrontation: Students test their ideas or hypotheses by working in groups to solve problems, consulting the literature and collecting data that may challenge their initial ideas.

4. Accommodation: By discussing, debating, and incorporating new information into existing ideas, students begin to welcome a new concept or hypothesis. 

5. Extension: Students apply the new idea to other situations, problems, or phenomena. 

6. Pursuit:  Student use the information they have found to form new questions and pursue ideas. 

Developing activities or assignments that help practice the change process will help students be the kind of mind-changers popular culture rebukes and educators embrace.   

*National Survey of Student Engagement