Debate 

Debating is an important part of children’s education, in particular to develop their cognitive processes. It helps them to become persuasive speakers and engaged citizens who are more informed about the world around them in a fun way. It helps them developing attention, perception, memory, language, confident communication, assertiveness, higher reasoning, analytical and critical thinking, interpersonal skills, empathy and self-control.

This activity does not require special resources. A debating activity only needs a clear space where students can move around, some desks for writing notes, pens or pencils and paper. A ‘horseshoe’ or u-shaped set up is often best. This can easily be accommodated in a classroom. The moderator should have a stopwatch to control the time of speeches. School children need to practise and gain experience in fitting their ideas into a time limit. Phones can be used for this purpose. Debates can involve single-member teams or teams that include several students.

A typical AHI HPS model debate format includes two teams of 10-15 children. The topic of the debate must be related to the theme just presented through e-learning (e.g. Impact of diet on health). The moderator welcomes the students to the debate and explain the rules. The moderator starts the debate briefly introducing a statement (e.g. ‘A diet rich in refined sugar keeps me healthy’) or setting a scene. Then, the moderator allocates one side of the room as the “agree” side and the other as the “disagree” side. The children may have a say in which side they want to be, and the moderator should quickly and diplomatically creates two groups approximately the same size. Children who are neutral can be allocated to the smaller group to balance the size of groups. The moderator asks each group to identify a summary speaker. This part of the activity lasts up to five minutes. Next each group prepares an argument for the summary speaker to voice. The moderator helps them to identify the major issue and asks them to focus their argument on it. He/she gives students an opportunity to discuss debate-statements from their own experience and also assures that arguments are evidence-based through data, facts, and statistics presented in the data show. This part of the activity should be completed in five minutes. Then, 10 minutes is allocated to preparing the argument. Following, each summary speaker will then have five minutes to present their group’s argument. Finally, all children involved in the debate will act as judges. The moderator asks them to leave the room and, when they return, to choose again one or other side of the room “agree” side or “disagree” side (5 minutes). Then the moderator close the debate and thank you all for participating.