Debates
What are they?
Debates (also known as Structured Classroom Debates (Oros, 2007)) are opportunities for students to explore alternative viewpoints, and to take a stance to commit to defending one argument against another. Debates can be used in any discipline where students are encouraged to explore the advantages and disadvantages of a particular argument. Debates promote critical thinking and communication skills (Kennedy, 2007; Oros, 2007); they also promote empathy (Kennedy, 2007, citing Walker & Warhurst, 2000).
How do they work?
Usually, the debates will take place after the students have done some preparation before the class; thus, this might fit well into a flipped classroom context where the students have done some individual work online first. Students may be asked to research one side of the argument, or both.
From an experiential learning perspective, the setting should be as realistic to what students will encounter in the workplace; for example, political students might expect to debate in a debating chamber, or law students in a court. However, debates can happen in a normal classroom environment (usually a flat floored space rather than a lecture theatre) or using a learning technology platform.
Students are usually asked to choose a side or are allocated a specific viewpoint/stance to defend. This could be done between a pair of individual students, or a group of students could be split into two, assigned to opposite sides of the room. The activity would be facilitated by the lecturer acting as arbitrator of the event.
There are different types of debates; the ‘tennis debate’ allows students on each side to individually present an argument in a set amount of time – if they cannot, or repeat a point already made, the ‘ball’ is considered to have been dropped and the serve goes to the other team (Middle School Public Debate Program, n.d.). In their literature review, Kennedy (2007) describe the ‘four corner debate’, where students go to the corner of the room that they agree with, and collaboratively work on arguments to defend their position, ‘role play debates’ where students enact the part of a stakeholder, ‘fishbowl debates’ where debating students sit in a circle surrounded by the rest of the class, taking it in turns to debate, ‘think pair share debates’ where students write down their arguments individually, collaborate with one other and another pair, then share back to the class, the ‘meeting house debate’ where each team presents their arguments and are questioned by the audience, and the ‘problem solving debate’ (which is less well defined).
Involvement in debates can contribute to graded assessments (written and/or oral presentation aspects, individually or in groups); however, formative practice opportunities are required (Oros, 2007).
Do they work?
A study of the lecture versus debates, in an introductory political science course, showed that students performed better at the understanding, application and evaluation levels of tasks while knowledge recall was best served by the lecture, and students were more likely to change their position on a topic having engaged in a debate than a lecture (Omelicheva & Avdeyeva, 2008). Engagement in debates has also been shown to lead to greater engagement with course readings in political science (Oros, 2007). In an IT strategy course, most students found debates enjoyable, a valuable way to master course concepts, and it helped them make connections with activities they would engage in as professionals (Woods, 2020).
What do I need?
Oros (2007) presents guidance on how debates can be run, including the setup of the classroom – they opt for a format where three students on each side of the debate are nominated to actively participate, who are then observed by the rest of the class, which is then followed by a wider class discussion on the issues raised. They also suggest that debates are not ‘add-ons’ to an existing course but embedded as part of the curriculum design as a regular method in advance. Peasah and Marshall (2017) outline a possible debate structure including steps of: opening statement, main arguments, rebuttal, class participation, and closing.
References
Kennedy, R. (2007). In-class debates: Fertile ground for active learning and the cultivation of critical thinking and oral communication skills. International Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, 19(2).
Omelicheva, M. Y., & Avdeyeva, O. (2008). Teaching with lecture or debate? Testing the effectiveness of traditional versus active learning methods of instruction. PS: Political Science & Politics, 41(3), 603-607.
Oros, A. L. (2007). Let's Debate: Active Learning Encourages Student Participation and Critical Thinking. Journal of Political Science Education, 3(3), 293-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512160701558273
Peasah, S. K., & Marshall, L. L. (2017). The use of debates as an active learning tool in a college of pharmacy healthcare delivery course. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 9(3), 433-440. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2017.01.012
Woods, D. M. (2020). Active Learning Using Debates in an IT Strategy Course. Journal of Information Systems Education, 31(1), 40.