Hello, this is a short blog post about an “idea sprint” about terrorism. The goal of this sprint was to retain information about terrorism and use our skills to present our understanding in a Socratic seminar format. 

Throughout this condensed project we watch a series of videos about terrorism. The franchise of these films were called The Age of Terror. Each of these documentary opened up the conversation of perspective. Explaining the quote “one man’s ‘terrorist’ is another man’s ‘freedom fighter’”. Based of the information in the documentary I listed some fathers questions, fleeting notes, and solidified points for future discussions.

After watching each documentary I separated into little groups and we choose a topic mentioned in the documentary that we would want to research further. Individually, I found multiple resources to enhance my understanding. 

We would then upload it to basecamp and do a group discussion. This allowed for my to embrace other people’s understanding and have an idea of what would be discussed in the Socratic seminar. 

After the first documentary and class overview we participated in our 1st out of 2 Socratic seminars. Throughout this seminar we focused on The Age of Terror: In the Name of Liberation. Throughout this first seminar, although I had a good understanding of the context within the documentary, I feel I lacked preparation for my discussion.

After this seminar I went into the rest of the documentary with the intent of making notes that could further be altered into discussion points. I was then able to create a more in—depth understanding. 

I feel like my second seminar I improved on how I presented my findings. I created discussion points that I felt would be mentioned in the seminar. I also had follow up questions to say after each of my points, and I feel that helped me with keeping the conversation going. These tactics also prevented having my downfalls of the previous seminar (derailing the conversation).

Throughout this whole process I not only learnt how to improve on my discussion tactics, but also learnt content to guide me into the next project, cults. I’ve learnt the idea of shifting perspectives and how most people fighting for an issue in a controversial use religion as a justification for harm.  

I hope this short project opens your eyes, and allows you to understand how everyone’s worldview is different from your own. Thanks for reading, 

Alicia