Back to Critical Thinking

Purpose

Debates allow students to explore opposing sides of an issue by means of a structured dialogue. An organized debate requires students to defend a point of view based on evidence and reasoned arguments. Using a wiki to present a debate allows students to post, edit, and clarify these viewpoints. Students in a wiki debate can add evidence to another student’s argument or clarify the language of an argument, which results in a debate that represents students’ diverse points of view.

Frame

Home Page - The home page should provide the directions for the activity at the top of the page.  Links should be provided for each of the debate groups.

Debate Pages - Each debate can usually take place on a single wiki page. You will need to set up the wiki page with the debate question, background information, and a structure for framing arguments on the two opposing positions.

Management Tips

• Instead of populating the debate page with a long list of evidence, consider linking to a new wiki page, on which students can post their evidence, resources, and references. 
• As the course instructor and facilitator, it is important for you to avoid taking a position during the debate. Instead, focus on the process and on providing feedback to students regarding their reasoning, arguments, and evidence.
• See the Sample Debate Wiki Frame for an example of how to set up the complete wiki frame.