Tags: Debate Pedagogy

Oscar Handlin proffered this challenge over a half a century ago:  Our troubled planet can no longer afford the luxury of pursuits confined to an ivory tower.  Scholarship has to prove its worth, not on its own terms, but by service to the nation and the world.  As we experience what some have labeled the third academic revolution in American higher education, universities look to meet the increasing demands of political relevance…

Neal Katyal In debates that take place between policy teams and project teams, one central sticking point tends to be over the merits of switch side debate in our activity. Proponents of switch side debate argue that doing so offers debaters an opportunity to take a new perspective by learning and advocating a position they might not agree with within a given debate round. Doing so enhances critical thinking skills and teaches debaters to…

Recruited some new novices? Check. Taught them the Toulmin model? Check. Explained what a DA is? Check. Explained how to extend a piece of evidence and why it’s important to do so? Ooops…. The above scenario pretty accurately explains my first debate experience. I spent a few weeks learning about the topic, could pretty comfortably talk about GMOs, still wasn’t sure about the Farm Bill, and had somehow managed to remember speech times. I was…

Susan Herbst, chief academic officer for the University System of Georgia, recently wrote an Inside Higher Ed piece and made a strong argument for incorporating the principles of policy debate into a curriculum dedicated to improving the critical thinking skills of students.  While there are other approaches that have incorporated argumentation into the curriculum, those efforts can be further improved by teaching the principles…