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Using Debating to Sharpen Students’ Thinking Skills for Public Speaking and Implications for Within-KLA Curriculum Planning. By Ms. Isabella MA Yee-nam Ms. Bonnie MA Wan-chi Mr. Edgar CHEUNG Ho-ka
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Using Debating to Sharpen Students’ Thinking Skills for Public Speaking and Implications for Within-KLA Curriculum Planning By Ms. Isabella MA Yee-nam Ms. Bonnie MA Wan-chi Mr. Edgar CHEUNG Ho-ka Pui Ching Middle School
“Debating should be for a small group of outstanding students outside the classroom” Are you for or against the motion? What are your reasons? Any evidence?
Debating is only for competitions outside the classroom Debating is a useful learning strategy in the classroom for students’ language and cognitive developments
Debating for Our Students – Why Are We on the Affirmative Side? Benefiting more students in the classroom CMI school Creating rich learning experiences Opportunities for independent and collaborative learning
An Overview of Our Approach Formal curriculum Including debating as a learning strategy Holistic curriculum planning to build a firm foundation Informal curriculum Inter-school debates as Other Learning Experiences
Progressive Development of Thinking Skills (2006-2007) 3 units selected in S1
Progressive Development of Thinking Skills (2007-2008) 2 units selected in S2 1 unit selected in S4
Using Issues as the Contexts for Thinking and Debating Facts and myths in advertisements and the business world Electronic textbooks and newspapers to save paper Appearance Vs character in the show business Impacts of globalisation on the lifestyle of individuals
Choosing School-based Debating Knowledge and Skills and Designing School-based Debating Rules Meeting students’ varied needs School-based knowledge and skills Use of demo video clips • Debating Formats used in Hong Kong • School-based Debating format
Explaining the motion Analyse the relationships among ideas Explain key terms and analyse related concepts Which is more important to a good actor/actress,the appearance or the character?
Focusing on Specific Thinking Skills to Develop Arguments Analysing cause-effect relationships Analysing advantages and disadvantages Reasons for or against the motion Giving support and evidence - examples, facts, statistics, analogies, empirical data and precedents
Analysing causal relationships to formulate arguments The Government Food suppliers “If they sell poisonous food, they can make more profits. But if they sell poisonous food, many people may suffer or even die.” The media Food vendors Customers
Developing basic concepts of myths, facts and opinions to help students develop strong arguments
Taking a Stand to Formulate Arguments in a Debate On the affirmative side Taking a stand to give reasons Different parties’ perspectives Exploring Different aspects On the negative side
School-based Debating for the Whole Class to Meet Students’ Varied Needs • Shorter speeches from different perspectives • Examples: teachers, students, parents, the public, • audience, mass media and film producers • From prepared to spontaneous speeches • Grouping and division of work • Longer pauses for making rebuttals • School-based rubrics
Principals & teachers Giving arguments from different perspectives Students The public
Making Rebuttals Weak arguments • Over-simplification / generalisation (related to inductive and deductive reasoning) • Ambiguity in meaning • Fallacies • Making wrong assumptions • Giving insufficient reasons / evidence • Giving irrelevant reasons / evidence • Giving contradictory arguments / reasons
Carrying out research with peer support • Define • Compare • Give examples • Spot out false assumptions • Rebut
Pre-debating scaffolding and activities • Basic research skill • Presentation skills • Persuasion strategies Projects to research facts & myths • Paired arguments • One-minute debating
Obstacles and Hurdles to be Overcome Changing teachers’ mindsets Time constraint Many innovations going on at our school Integrating debating into modules
Implications for More Effective Within-Panel Curriculum Planning Longer term planning Planning for the electives Strategic focus Public speaking & thinking skills English Enhancement Fund (3 million)
Implications for More Effective Within-Panel Curriculum Planning To support student learning in the NSS curriculum, the following areas can be included in curriculum planning • Multiple perspectives • Reasoning power and thinking skills • Public speaking skills • Note-taking and integrated use of skills • Peer and independent learning • Debating outside the classroom to enrich students’ learning experience
Implications for Teacher Development • Opportunities for developing a wider repertoire of professional skills among teachers • Useful experience in planning the Compulsory and Elective Parts • Accomplishing the mission to share experiences with other schools
Concluding Remarks • School-based needs and conditions • Concerted efforts to pave the way for the NSS • Modifying ideas in the school case for developing your elective