Milk: Good, bad, or ugly?

This unit is best suited for high school students. The model can be adapted for any other controversial topic in agriculture, such as farrowing crates, organic farming, meat consumption, tail docking lambs, or horse racing.

This lesson will help students practice critical thinking because many of them, especially those participating in the industry, will have already formed strong opinions. The goal of the lesson is not to teach them to agree with everyone or force them to change their minds by the end of the lesson; however, the student should learn to own his or her existing or newfound beliefs and opinions AFTER conducting a thorough examination of the opinions others may have in order to argue from a well-informed perspective.

This excercise would flow easily into a lesson with a debate, verbal or written. Students could also extend their learning by writing a paper defending a particular opinion using arguments gathered from this lesson.