Discusses ways in which early childhood teachers can find their credo of education and credo of life. (BB)

Proposes satire as a form of argumentative practice. Examines eighteenth-century satirical attacks upon London's ubiquitous debating societies (formed among tradesmen, craftsmen, professionals, and small businessmen to "improve" themselves) as evidence of satire's public role in which the ideological struggle between social classes was…

Describes a class activity in which students receive copies of requests for charitable contributions, research the charities and issues, write a persuasive appeal for the charities, and debate the merits of the various causes examined by the class. Argues that students learn to analyze persuasive appeals, separate emotional from factual arguments,…

Two authors discuss contrasting methods of dropout prevention. Debates the effectiveness of coercion as opposed to positive incentives to keep students in school. (FMW)

Academic humanists have been hearing that too much of their research and teaching was politicized, trivialized by a fascination with popular culture, and preoccupied with questions of race, gender, and class. The most frequent target of critics are literary theorists and others farthest from traditional subjects and approaches. (MLW)

Analysis of the communicative setting of televised electoral debates in Israel focused on the stylistic features of the political candidates' discourse. The analysis identified and described such rhetorical strategies as figurative expressions and intensifiers, irony and rhetorical questions, repetition and parallelism, and meta-discoursive…

Investigates whether National Debate Tournament debaters are evaluated differently because of gender. Shows that male speakers received more points than females; the effect was more pronounced in the negative when female judges heard female/female teams; and male judges gave higher points to same-sex teams. Encourages all participants to be…

Uses an imaginary dialogue involving a critical theorist to explore propositions about the modern practice of adult education: (1) it has ceased to foster democratic social action; (2) its foundation is shaky; (3) it is governed by technical rationality, which favors the interests of business; and (4) self-directed learning is conceptually…

Studies the value of television commercials and political debates as sources of information about candidates. Reports that respondents who viewed both kinds of messages state that advertisements provide more information on issue positions. Concludes that debates are more effective in improving candidate name recognition and knowledge of party…

Study of classroom dynamics surrounding discussion of controversial issues in middle schools and the complexity of teacher-student interactions shows that heated and difficult debate about emotionally charged issues can be constructive. Students appear more resilient and able to handle disagreement, skills they will need in a democratic society.…

Responds to comments by David Hursh and Aggie Seneway on the author's classroom experiments with student democracy. Clarifies points from her initial article to answer questions by the commentators. Finds agreement with them on most points, except for the necessity of parliamentary debate as a fundamental element of democracy. (DSK)

Finds that communication-skills instruction generates (using the Binomial Effect Size Display) a 44% increase in critical-thinking ability. Finds that forensic participation demonstrated the largest positive impact on critical-thinking improvement, but that all communication skills experiences demonstrated significant improvement. (SR)

Explores, taking an issues management approach to new technologies, the dialogs that can occur on the World Wide Web. Examines the public issues debate between Shell Oil UK and Greenpeace which engaged in a town meeting regarding the best financial and environmental solution to the decommissioning of the Brent Spar. (PA)

Presents three different scientific issues to students and uses debate as a way of gaining information. Involves information collection on the topic, team preparation, and debate between teams. Includes debate format and presentation guidelines, suggestions for debate questions, information on areas to explore when preparing to debate the question…

Introduces a cooperative learning approach on human physiological systems based on a debate to decide on the most important body system. Includes a human systems debate assignment sheet. (YDS)