ARE-PRED

The proposed research aims to develop a Web Based Learning Environment for fostering middle-school students’ argumentation skills and reducing ethnic prejudice. The project will examine the novel research question of whether engagement in structured dialogue and in reflective activities can support belief change and emotion change, reducing prejudice. Addressing novel research questions with important educational implications, the proposed project satisfies the programme’s objective for supporting academic excellence. Individuals’ beliefs influence their decision-making process and their behaviour. Unsupported and unexamined beliefs give rise to prejudice. Belief change though is challenging. Although it constitutes one of the major objectives of education, our understanding of how it can be supported it is far from complete. In the present work, we aim to contribute to ongoing research internationally by shedding light to the question of how beliefs and emotions change. In this context, ARE-PRED has set the following objectives: