Saturday 15 April 2017

Debate #2 - Technological Advancement and Humanity

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: DEBATE, GATTACA, GENETIC MANIPULATION, TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS, THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, THE SCORPION PROJECT, CLONES, CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE THE NOVEL, COLLABORATION, TEAMWORK

UP NEXT: JAPAN


The Scorpion Project Culminating Activity: Debate
After preparing for this demonstration of learning for the week before the break, and the first two days once we returned, students successfully debated the following assertion:


Drawing on their learning in science about simple machines and the role these machines have played in human society, and inspired by the two texts they examined (the novel The House of the Scorpion and the film Gattaca), 8.1 teams took the proposition (in support of the debate assertion) while 8.2 teams argued the opposition. We were lucky to have members from our school community judge these debates. Thank you so much to these judges who took time out of their busy days to help us out by providing feedback to the students: Ms. Saadeh, Ms. Davis, Ms. James, Mr. Petronech, Dr. Butterfield, Ms. Chomistek, Ms. Burlett, Ms. Santos, and Ms. Veteikis. 

While watching the short video (below) you will see students demonstrating a variety of skills:
  • reading from their scripts
    • created after collecting ideas and research as a team
    • written with special attention paid to engaging and persuading the audience, keeping in mind Aristotle's model of persuasion 
    • co-written and co-edited by the teams
  • taking notes
    • listening to their peers and opponents and recording important ideas, and often rebuttals
  • discussing as a team how to effectively respond and rebut
  • re-writing speeches
    • responding to what their opponents said by re-writing parts of speeches
  • engaging in respectful, open debate (speaking "off the cuff," and doing it quite effectively)
After debating, students were asked to reflect individually on the process of preparing and debating in their journals, as well as to consider the feedback provided by the judges.