Goals:
1. To introduce the students the proper format for an organized debate.
2. To help students develop their speaking and thinking skills on the subject of whales..
3. To show students that sometimes you have to take a stand and be vocal in what they believe in.
Resources:
1. Dekkers, Midas. Arctic Adventure . Meulenhoff Nederland, Amsterdam. 1982.
ISBN 0-531-05704-6
2. Shedd Aquarium Field Trip and Home Page:
http://www.sheddnet.org/ed_school.html
3. All information that has been used from this unit will be applied in this lesson.
4. All guidelines that need to be used for the debate can be found at:
Materials:
1. Since the students have been learning about whales throughout this whole unit, they will now have to try and apply what they have learned.
2. Students are allowed to use any resource that they think is necessary in order for them to get their point across,
Teacher Background:
A good debate requires the teacher to be a good mediator as well as a good planner. Throughout the unit on whales there have been many examples of whales that have been held in captivity in Water Parks and Agencies such as Sea World. This is a very controversial issue and there are two very good points that can be made on either side. In order for this debate to be a success the teacher must also make sure that one side or the other does not get an immediate advantage. By keeping the sides relatively even throughout there is a better chance that the debate will be better off in the end. By looking at the internet and going over the ways to conduct an effective debate, it should also be easy to get the debate going at a very sucessful level..
Time: This lesson will be done in two parts and the students will have ample time to do both parts. The students will be given 1 hour to go to the library and research about this subject, even though they should have learned about it already. This will also give students the opportunity to look over their notes and hand-outs in order to refresh their memories on this subject.
The second part of this lesson will be the actual debate. The whole lesson should take approximately two hours.
Procedure:
Step 1- Give the students a hand-out that shows them what an effective debate is like. Make sure that the students understand all of the terms and facts within the debate that they are going to do.
Step 2- Divide the students up into groups of four students.
Step 3- Hopefully, there will be enough students in the class to have three separate debates.
Step 4- Divide the students into groups that are for whaling and groups that are against it and have the students brainstorm ideas to support their side, as well as organize their best defense strategy.
Step 5- Make sure that there is the same number of groups that are for whaling as there is groups that are against whaling.
Step 6- Have the students get information about whatever side of the debate that they are on and in their groups develop a strategy that they think will help them prove what they are going to try and say during their debate.
Step 7- Start the debate with the first speaker.
Step 8- After everyone in the two groups of four has spoken, then let the rest of the class decide who wins the debate.
Step 9- Begin the next debate on the same topic.
Step 10- Continue with these debates until everyone in class has done theirs.
Assessment:
Each student will be marked on how they conduct their debates. The students are going to have to have an outline that states what approaches that they are going to try to take as well as a how they think that each person in their group contributed to their overall effort. There will be a possible twenty points for the content and effort in the debate and another five points that the peers of each group will distribute accordingly to each member of the group. Every member of the group will fill out assessment for others in their group.
Rubric for Peer Assessment within the group
5 points= This person worked hard and was very helpful and co-operative with the group in this debate.
4 points= This person worked hard throughout the debate and was co-operative, with minor problems.
3 points= This person did not always stay on task, and was not always co-operative with the group.
2 points= This person did not really try to help with the debate, although they sometimes co-operative.
1 point= This person seldomly even made an attempt to help the rest of the group, and often disassociated themselves from the rest of the group.
0 points= This person did not help the group at all, and was often a distraction to the rest of the group.
20- 18 points= The debate was done very effectively and the group really got their main points across strongly. Also worked together to make their side of the debate very effective.
17- 15 points= The debate was well done and the group got their point across. Lacked some of the points that they were trying to get across.
14- 11 points= The group did not get their messages across very effectively. The group was also very individual and their ideas did not flow together very smoothly.
10- 7 points= The effort was there, but the debate did not go well at all. The group never really got their message across and they did not work together at all.
6 or lower points= There was no evidence that there was any work put into this debate. The debate team also lacked depth and skill.
Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:
1. Communication Arts- By having a debate, the students are encouraged to speak out for what they believe in.
2. Language Arts Skills- By reading about all of the information that is available on this topic, the students are learning good language skills.
Possible Extensions:
1. Find out all of the laws that involve "Whales in Captivity".
2. Have the students write about their debate experience in their journals.
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