Competitive debate programs exist across the globe, and participation in debate has been linked to improved critical thinking skills and academic performance. However, few evaluations have been able to adequately address self-selection into the activity when examining its impact on achievement. This study evaluated the relationship between…

Conflicting knowledge claims regarding complex issues have become readily available through networked digital media, and the introduction of Internet access to classrooms has provided opportunities for accessing a huge number of sources. Science education plays an important role in providing students opportunities to seek and evaluate information…

The aim of this paper was to evaluate gender differences in the language used in United Nations (UN) General Assembly debates by one male and one female representative each from India, China, the USA, and Indonesia. The critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework of van Dijk (2015) was used along with the 25 discursive devices in this framework.…

Purpose: This study aims to present a pedagogical approach that allows students to discuss and debate the differences between two competing models of corporate governance -- the shareholder primacy philosophy and the stakeholder value viewpoint. Design/methodology/approach: This study first presents the conceptual bases for each framework, noting…

Computer-supported collaborative argumentation is an online activity that can engage students in deep discussion and analysis of complex problems. Given the potentially confrontational nature of argumentation, using polite language becomes a strategic approach to prevent breakdowns in group communication and nurture productive dialogues. This…

This article outlines a method used to successfully breakthrough student bias surrounding controversial issues in the classroom. The method uses a debate with randomized position assignments to encourage students to consider all sides of the topic. Student feedback is overwhelmingly positive and students appear to develop a newfound respect and…

Introduction: A number of recent surveys have shown that college campuses are becoming intolerant of different viewpoints. Part of the mission of any college should be to create a space where different viewpoints can be debated in a healthy, intellectual way. To gauge the campus climate at their own University, the authors deployed a survey to…

Ongoing global crises, including climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, have made Saudi Arabia recognise the importance of moving away from its oil-dependent economy. This inaugural, exploratory study focused on female postgraduate students who, in addition to striving for intellectual growth and development, are shouldering a social obligation…

In the modern American politics classroom, ideological and partisan conflict have the capacity to interfere with a healthy classroom environment. This problem is increasingly apparent when students engage questions at the heart of U.S. Constitutional design. By asking students to inhabit fictional roles with preferences and attitudes that may…

The aim of this research is to investigate the development of preschool education pre-service teachers' (PST) understanding and evaluation of a socio-scientific topic, namely food additives by using debate as a teaching technique. Qualitative research was designed in a case study model with purposeful sampling in which sixty PST attended Mother…

This essay explores the place of debating, talk and group work in the Secondary English classroom. It discusses the ways in which pupils in one student teacher's year 7 class thrive in the dialogic classroom against the backdrop of curricular and attitudinal change. It considers the importance of talk and debate amongst the 'communities of…

We examined how social antecedents impact students' use of explanations versus evidence to justify arguments using "statistical discourse analysis" on 2028 postings from 87 graduate students in five courses, each participating in four online debates. The results show that students overall were much more likely to justify arguments with…

Although dialectical thinking plays an important role in daily life, this ability among adults, including university students, is not always well developed. The present study used three experimental designs to explore efficient ways to promote university students' dialectical thinking ability. The results showed that university students'…

Open classroom climate for discussion (OCC) is consistently associated with positive civic outcomes for students, but research on the determinants of OCC primarily focuses on individual- and school-level indicators or uses qualitative or non-representative samples. This study considers how teacher instructional practices influence the presence of…

In this essay, we consider how reconstructing our ideas about the nature of democracy, and its relationship to education, can help us respond to contemporary challenges. We focus specifically on the ongoing fights about critical race theory (CRT), providing an overview of the CRT controversy--we argue that its cultivation for political reasons has…