Debating is commonly used in academic contexts, in which students foster learning by making critical and analytical assessments of others’ opinions. There are two main advantages of incorporating debating into the teaching curriculum.
Promoting active learning: Debate is a form of active learning in which students are encouraged to develop, argue and reinforce their own opinions on a particular topic, which is often central to the teaching of a particular learning outcome.
Promoting critical thinking: During the process of a debate, students have to define the problems, evaluate the credibility of sources, and identify and challenge assumptions. These activities facilitate students to be competent in analysing information from different perspectives and to think critically.
Implementation
Here is a list of suggestions that aid the conduct of debates in classrooms:
In addition to an oral presentation of the topic for debate, Tessier (2009) found that incorporating additional writing tasks on the debate questions can enhance the level of understanding among students.
Temple (1997) suggested that teachers could select students randomly to take part in the debate in class instead of assigning a particular person to represent the team.
Alternatively, Huryn (1986) suggested that including an open discussion for non-presenting students after the presentations could also be effective.
Kennedy (2007) suggested performance of students in debates should be judged on five aspects: analysis, evidence, organization, delivery and teamwork. That is, teachers should consider whether a particular piece of evidence is relevant in supporting an argument; whether a piece of evidence is objective enough to reinforce a constructive comment; whether students are able to present their ideas precisely and concisely; and whether the organisation of the arguments enhances the degree of persuasion.
Last but not least, non-verbal behaviour should also be assessed, including the use of physical cues such as eye-contact and body gestures.
Extended reading
Clark, D. R. (2004). Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domain: The three types of learning. Teachers can click on the link below for more information: http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Freeley, A. J., & Steinberg, D. L. (2000). Argumentation and debate: Critical thinking for reasoned decision making. (10th ed.). Belmont, CA : Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Ideas:
Clarifying controversial concepts through debates. At Winthrop University, debate was adopted to teach economics. Teachers began by introducing the steps required for students to be prepared and to fully understand the expectations and objectives of the exercise. At the end of the semester, a survey was conducted to collect students’ opinions about their experience of using debate as a form of learning activity. In summary, debates were found to yield benefits with regard to three aspects: 1) solid understanding of the course material, 2) increasing learning motivation, and 3) enhancement of critical thinking among students. The report can be found at: Vo, H. X., & Morris, R. L. (2006). Debate as a tool in teaching economics: Rationale, technique, and some evidence. The Journal of Education for Business, 81(6), 315–320. CUHK teachers can click on the link below for more information:
Evaluating latest issues through debates In an attempt to help students to critically evaluate the latest issues in the field of neuroscience, teachers at the Memorial University of Newfoundland incorporated debate into the undergraduate neurosciences curriculum. Subsequent to this intervention, debate was found to be successful in achieving the course’s learning outcomes. Read more at: Corbett, F. M. (1996) Debate: A tool for teaching graduate students. Advances in Physiology Education, 271(6), 45−47. Teachers can click on the link below for more information:http://advan.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/271/6/S45
Debate encourages self-learning and researching. Debate was introduced as a teaching technique in a series of sociology courses at the East Carolina University. Debates were scheduled on seventeen different topics on the course syllabus. The university required students to prepare before each debate by researching and making use of suggested journals. Students had to apply theory to practice by establishing personal opinions and developing critical commentary during the course of a debate. The story was covered at: Huryn, J. S. (1986). Debating as a teaching technique teaching sociology. American Sociological Association, 14(4), 266–269. CUHK teachers can click on the link below for more information:http://www.jstor.org/stable/1318385
