Who Decides
A Socratic circle with assigned roles debates one real scenario — a school considering a tool that flags 'distracted' students — from every seat at the table.
Students can identify whose interests are represented in a decision about an automated tool, and whose are not, and explain why that gap matters.
What you need
- Role cards: Student, Teacher, Parent, Company representative, School board member
- One printed scenario sheet
- A timer
Why this works
Most decisions about automated tools get made in a room that doesn’t include everyone the decision affects. This circle puts every one of those missing voices in the room on purpose, including the ones with the least power. Feeling whose concern gets the least airtime — because the format runs out of time before it runs out of speakers — teaches something a summary of “stakeholders” cannot.
How it works
- Read the scenario aloud: a school is deciding whether to adopt a tool that flags students as “distracted” from webcam data.
- Assign roles. Each student gets two minutes to prepare their character’s opening position using only the role card.
- Run a timed circle: each role states its position and one concern, in order.
- Open the floor for ten minutes so roles can respond to each other directly.
- Break role and discuss as yourselves.
Talk about it
- Which role’s concern got the least airtime in the circle? Why might that happen in a real decision, not just this game?
- Was there a role that wanted a say but doesn’t actually get a vote in real life? Who?
- Now that you’ve heard every role, what would you personally need to know before deciding?
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