1. Spearfish School District Wide In-Service Session
5th CamTESOL 2009
Phnom Penh, Feb 21-22
Spearfish School District Wide In-Service Session
Cases and Controversy: Methods in Teaching Critical and Controversial Issues
Dr. Cody Lawson
Assistant Professor; Social Science Education
Black Hills State University
February 2017
Pham Tien Hung - FSD HANU -

2. Rationale and objectives
This session is intended to challenge participants to evaluate and develop their own positions and resolve potential conflicting views.
A number of values and persisting issues lessons will be demonstrated and copies of the procedures, strategies, and lessons will be shared.

3. Main Points What is debate? Why debate? What skills are needed?
How do we teach problem-solving, decision making, moral reasoning, and values and persisting issues?

4. 5th CamTESOL 2009
Phnom Penh, Feb 21-22
What is Debate?
A formal method of presenting arguments in support and against a given issue in which debaters present reasons and evidence to persuade an audience or a group of judges
Governed by some explicit rules
Pham Tien Hung - FSD HANU -

7. Perspectives on Debate
A game or mental gymnastics: participants sharpen their thinking and speaking skills, find best way to win
A lab: one team tests its arguments against the ones of another
A way of finding truth: winning arguments should be truest arguments

8. What is Debate? Common terms
Resolution: a simple statement that is subjected to critical analysis.
Affirmative team: supporting the resolution (‘pro’ side); speak first
Negative team: opposing the arguments offered by the affirmative team and offering arguments against the resolution (‘con’ side)
Rebuttal: explaining why one team disagrees with the other team
Judge: neutral third party, decides which side is most persuasive

9. Sample format for a class
Resolution
Affirmative team
Negative team
Listen & take notes
Prepare rebuttal 1
Present arguments
Listen & take notes
Prepare rebuttal 2
Present arguments 3
Break 4
Present rebuttal
Present rebuttal

10. One Debate Structure
Speech 1: first affirmative speaker introduces the topic and states the affirmative team's first argument.
Speech 2: first negative speaker states their first argument.
Speech 3: second affirmative speaker states their second argument.
Speech 4: second negative speaker states their second argument.
Give a 5-10 minute break for each team to prepare their rebuttal speech.
Speech 5: negative team states two rebuttals for the affirmative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.
Speech 6: affirmative team states two rebuttals for the negative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.

11. What is Debate?
Do your best to argue your side of the debate, rather than relying on your personal opinions
Sometimes argue something that is against your personal views

12. Why Debate? “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress”
Mahatma Gandhi

13. 5th CamTESOL 2009
Phnom Penh, Feb 21-22
Pham Tien Hung - FSD HANU - 13

14. What Skills are Needed? Public speaking Critical thinking Note taking
Organizing
Researching
Writing
Listening
Teamwork and people skills

15. Giving Support for Your Reasons
Support consists of evidence. There’re four kinds of evidence
Examples
Common sense
Expert opinions
Statistics

16. Rebuttal/ Refutation Repeat the argument you’re going to refute
Refute – explain what is wrong with other team’s argument
Replace the argument with your argument

17. Critical Thinking thinking about how you think
process of asking, answering questions and trying to understand how and why you come to the conclusions
in debate: plan what to say, anticipate other team’s response, think of an argument to counter other team’s arguments

18. Skills to Become a Better Critical Thinker
Compare viewpoints of other people to your own ones
Find ways to ask questions that apply to many perspectives
Understand why some statements are correct, others are not
Understand how problem solving works
Establish criteria for making judgments
Present arguments in a constructive way…

19. 5th CamTESOL 2009
Phnom Penh, Feb 21-22
Furthermore, NCSS explained that “The study of controversial issues should develop the following skills and attitudes:
The ability to study relevant social problems of the past or present and make informed decisions or conclusions;
The ability to use critical reasoning and evidence-based evaluation in the study and analysis of significant issues and ideas; this includes development of skills of critical analysis and evaluation in considering ideas, opinions, information, and sources of information;
The recognition that differing viewpoints are valuable and normal as a part of social discourse;
The recognition that reasonable compromise is often an important part of the democratic decision-making process” (NCSS, 2007).
Controversial issues must be studied in the classroom without the assumption that they are settled in advance or there is only one right answer in matters of dispute. The social studies teacher must approach such issues in a spirit of critical inquiry exposing the students to a variety of ideas, even if they are different from their own (NCSS, 2007).
Pham Tien Hung - FSD HANU -

20. Problem Solving Method
The problem solving method was created by John Dewey in 1933 for the sole purpose of students confronting and investigating issues that are relevant to students’ lives.
The goal for each student is to hypothesize, collect and organize data, and draw conclusions about problems that often do not have a definitive answer.

21. The process is done through five steps:
1. Create a puzzle, dilemma, or state of doubt about a topic.
Example: The teacher might organize a series of lessons around the question “When should one country intervene in the affairs of another country?” The teacher would then present the students with several examples. In this case it might be Iraq and Bosnia.
2. Stating the problem in a form of a question (What explains this?).
Example: The teacher could then pose the question “Why did the United States intervene militarily so quickly in the Gulf War and not in Bosnia?”
3. Generate hypotheses from students about the problem.
Example: Students would generate individually or in groups a series of reasons from their existing knowledge and research the ideas.
4. Testing the validity through evidence.
Example: Each student or group would draw a conclusion about the problem posed by the question(s).
5. Asking students to draw a tentative conclusion about the problem based on evidence.
Example: Students would discuss their findings.

22. Moral Reasoning
Moral reasoning is based on research from Lawrence Kohlberg.
In this approach the goal is to advance the quality of student reasoning about ethical dilemmas.
It contends that students reasoning becomes less self-centered but attuned to the well-being of society.

23. The five steps in this approach are:
Defining and clarifying the dilemma.
Taking a tentative position on the dilemma.
Dividing students into small groups to discuss the dilemma.
Conducting a class discussion that defends, challenges, and probes for reasoning.
Extending the reasoning to the larger moral question rose by the dilemma.

24. Values and persisting issues
Rather always starting with historical topics, one could define a number of controversial issues or value conflicts through the use of value clarification or persisting issues.
For example, a teacher might consider such issues as: immigration, immigrant rights and responsibilities, education issues, and majority rule versus minority rule as controversial in nature. The key to both value clarification and persisting issues is the student. In both approaches the teacher’s role is considered supportive.

25. Value Integration:
Introduce the value (the activity)
Teacher explores and clarifies the value with the students (short discussion)
Students develop and explore the value in relation to themselves (usually done in small groups of three to four students)
Value is summarized (students present their findings and what the value / issue means to them)
Value Analysis:
Introduce the value (give an example, comment, etc. to gain students attention)
Explore various value alternatives (brainstorm of different ways to handle / solve the problem or value)
Brainstorm the positive and negative effects of each choice (can be done as group or individually)
Each student or group makes a value alternative choice
Students or groups defend their choices

26. Persisting issues
Throughout social studies curriculum one will find “persisting issues.” Persisting issues are intended for students involve students simple more than a spectator, but more of thinking, acting participant in both history and modern life.
Persisting issues do not provide students with ready-made, right or wrong answers to social issues and problems.
Rather, it is intended to challenge students to evaluate and develop their own positions and resolve potential conflicting views.

27. Persisting Issues: Example Lessons
Government Responsibility
Religion and Distinguishing Rights
Separation of Church and State
Social Class Discrimination
Determining Social Class Discrimination
Defining Student Status
Religious Rights

28. Sample Practice Select a topic
Choose a side: affirmative >< negative
Discuss in your team:
arguments,
possible counter-arguments
and find a way to refute them
Start the debate
Listen to the other team’s arguments
Take notes
Prepare to refute their arguments

29. Online resources http://idebate.org http://wiki.idebate.org
spanclassroom.org/Lesson/126/Lesson+Idea+Debates.aspx

30. References
Rybold, G (2006). Speaking, Listening and Understanding Debate. International Debate Education Association.
Ziegelmuellerm, G., Harris, S., & Bloomingdale, D. (1995). Advancing in Debates – Skills and Concepts. Clark Publishing Company.
Ruth Sunda, “Debate and Persuasive Writing”