People involved in debate often encounter apocalyptic appeals but seldom look at how these arguments affect debate beyond their ability to influence winning. Debaters use nuclear war apocalyptism, for example, by capitalizing on the human desire to sustain its own story, by appealing to the universal drive for control and power inside all humans,…

When directors of forensics stop coaching and travelling with their teams, they often seek other roles to enable them to continue their affiliation with forensic activities. A closer look at five commonly held assumptions about the motivation of ex-directors shows that: (1) after active coaching ends, ex-directors do take on different roles in…

The Transformational Leadership theory proposed by J. M. Burns (1978) may be profitably applied to the role of debate/forensic coach. A Transformational Leader aims to fulfill the personal needs of followers by giving them the power to think and act for themselves, thus empowering them to work toward the group vision. A Transformational Leader…

Experiential education provides an excellent justificatory framework for the forensics program as an educational opportunity. The three major tenets of experiential education are: (1) connecting theoretical knowledge to real life experiences; (2) valuing and fostering different "ways of knowing"; and (3) encouraging lifelong learning.…

Speaking activities should be stressed along with reading experiences in teaching-learning situations. It is important for learners to develop needed skills in reporting to others in a group setting. The teacher and the pupils in the classroom should support each other so that satisfying experiences in oral communication are an end result.…

In nonpolicy debate, the affirmative speakers must demonstrate the probable truth of a resolution. Successful formats for affirmative cases include (1) generic analysis, (2) example analysis, (3) R. J. Matlon's definitive/designative format, (4) J. Chesebro's criteria approach, and (5) "should" resolution affirmatives. In generic…

Lincoln-Douglas style debate will not reach its objectives as value-oriented argumentation until debaters are trained in values analysis. Lacking adequate theoretical and practical literature and unsure of this relatively new debate format, coaches and debaters fail to develop an adequate understanding of what a value is and how it relates to…

To gain insight into whether debate judges actually do treat impromptu speaking as miniextemporaneous speaking, a study compared the comments judges wrote to extemporaneous speakers with those they wrote to impromptu speakers during the first two rounds of a forensic tournament. Approximately 1,000 comments from 152 ballots (102 impromptu and 50…

Authors presented contrasting views about the effects of the women's movement on professionalism in art education. (Editor/RK)

The educational research compiled by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement was described. Australia, England, Finalnd were among the countries surveyed in this six subject evaluation of student achievement. Bicentennial Youth Debates, a national project designed to foster thoughtful commemoration of America's…

Describes a three day activity in which students divide into groups, each group arguing for the construction of a power plant using coal, oil or nuclear energy. (CP)

A study examined the administration of college forensics programs, comparing the current (1990) status of programs to the status of such programs one year ago and five years ago. The study was based on the philosophy that if forensics programs have changed, more than likely they have changed in terms of what activities are offered to students, and…

A joint forensics program including both debate and individual events offers important benefits to students and coaches in training. A complete forensics experience provides what some would consider a true liberal arts education. When exposed to all events, students learn a variety of argumentative styles and develop a variety of universal skills…

Established in 1874, the Interstate Oratorical Association (IOA) represents the nation's oldest competitive collegiate speaking association. It is now composed of collegiate speaking associations in 19 states. Begun by three student members of the Adelphi Society at Knox College, the IOA held its first contest on February 27, 1874 at the Opera…