Let us Debate

There are many different ways of debates. However, objective of every debate is to provide a platform for the participants to share their view point in support of their topic. As a CICT class members we had a very effective debate session on the topic of writing Lesson Objectives in class. It was very nice group work and enhanced a sense of competition among the groups. 

I then used the debating activity with my Year 6 Students in their PSCHEE class based on the topic of Friendship and Dependence on Each Other. I distributed the whole class in to two groups and asked one group to support and the other one to speak in favour of “We can live alone”. I gave them some time to discuss and make notes in their respective tables. They were working as a team and coming up with good ideas that was welcomed by the other team members. After the preparation time I posed a notion and the debate began. This 15 to 20 minutes activity turned out really well and students were very enthusiastic. However, the challenge remained to refrain the extrovert students from speaking or commenting when opposing team member was giving his view point. But everyone soon went with the flow.  At the end of the debate everyone was clear that as humans we cannot remain alone. The debating strategy enhanced the learning capability of students more than what they could extract from teacher talk and share mere experiences. I completely enjoyed doing this activity with the students while listening to their views they also shared a very positive feedback about the activity.