“Impact Weighing Showdown” is a structured debate activity designed to sharpen students’ skills in weighing the impacts of various arguments against each other. By focusing on key criteria such as magnitude, probability, scope, and timeframe, students will learn to evaluate and compare the potential outcomes of different arguments, a critical skill in advanced debate.
“Advertising Fallacy Detective” is a critical analysis activity where students use their debate skills to identify and critique logical fallacies in television commercials. This exercise helps bridge the gap between the persuasive strategies used in marketing and those encountered in debate settings.
AI-Powered Debate is an innovative activity where students engage with artificially generated debate topics and arguments. Leveraging the capabilities of AI, students are exposed to a range of debate perspectives, allowing them to expand their horizons and challenge their argumentative prowess against machine intelligence.
“Debate Relay” is a dynamic and interactive debate format designed to cultivate and refine students’ skills in quick thinking, impromptu speaking, and rapid rebuttal within a debate context.
This activity focuses on improving students’ enunciation and clarity in speech. This is crucial for debate, as clear communication ensures that the message is effectively transmitted to the judges and the audience, increasing the likelihood of successful persuasion.
This activity, termed “Secret Agent,” centers around Kenneth Burke’s Dramatistic “Pentad,” which outlines the five motivations integral to any complete narrative: Act, Agent, Agency, Scene, and Purpose. Burke conceived this model on the premise that a compelling overarching narrative is pivotal, whether in extemporaneous or prepared speech or any debate round.
Debate Bingo is an interactive and engaging activity designed to familiarize students with the terminology and key concepts employed in debates. By listening actively to either debate clips shared by the instructor or using students to perform key terms, and then, marking relevant terms on their cards, students are not only introduced to the language of debate but also trained to listen attentively for specific arguments and techniques.
Leading and moderating a discussion are important skills for students to learn. One way to help students explore debate topics, gain skills in moderating discussions, and thinking critically about topics that impact the United States can come from “Open to Debate” (formally, Intelligence Squared US Debates).
This activity focusing on impromptu speaking and uses three random topics, which the speaker must link together to create a cohesive speech.
This activity serves as a dynamic tool for guiding students to analyze and compare the significance of contrasting impacts and effects, and compels students to argue persuasively from multiple angles. Debaters need to learn how to assess and weigh complex scenarios. Through their assessment, student will consider people affected, the severity of harm present, probabilities of occurrence, and ethical considerations. By honing their capacity to craft tangible, specific, and compelling arguments, debaters not only enhance their critical thinking and communication skills, but they also gain a deeper understanding of the intricate nuances that underlie multifaceted issues.
