In this article, the authors describe an innovative composition pedagogy they collaborated called "Showdown in Superior!". In order to simulate a current public controversy over a proposed mine in Superior, Arizona, three writing classes assumed roles as competing interests and composed researched and reasoned arguments that supported…

In this study we examined response patterns in exchanges between males and females and their effects on gender participation in five online debates. Students classified messages into arguments, evidence, critiques, and elaborations while posting messages to the debates to facilitate argumentation and the sequential analysis of message-response…

This article looks into the workings of educational authority. While scholarly debate in education usually promotes authority as either good or bad, the same debate seldom asks questions about how authority works. This article is, then, an answer to the question "How?" How does educational authority operate? It operates, it is suggested, in much…

The author describes the workshop he presented at Desert Vista Campus of the Pima Community College System on the use of case studies in science. During the workshop the participants developed their own cases and presented their cases to a group of students that were hired to act as expert critics. The faculty, usually in pairs, presented their…

Should political science educators use debate for teaching their undergraduate students? This article argues for incorporation of academic debate into curriculum of undergraduate courses. It demonstrates the process of arriving at a decision favorable of debate through exploration and analysis of competitive reasons, arguments, and evidence for…

Using Frederic Jameson, we outline concentric circles of the political unconscious structuring debates about academic freedom at the national and state levels. By drawing parallels between the World War I university and the contemporary university, we suggest that such circles function historically, always bearing traces of an earlier time. To…

In this case study, we examined the influence of five groups of communication activities on the quality of student's contributions to online discussion. The activities were the nominal group technique, debate, invited expert, WebQuest and reflective deliberation. Quality of discussion was operationalised as "cognitive presence", a construct…

Forensic program alumni returning for reunions or speech tournaments sometimes find difficulty in keeping pace with changing forensics practices and procedures. Elements influencing the evolutionary process in forensics include: a growing number of debate philosophy formats, bringing diversity in competitive options; expansion of standard…

In college-level forensic competitions, the three major weekly magazines, "U.S. News and World Report,""Time," and "Newsweek," are taking a beating. Students are purposely looking for specialized sources; they firmly believe that judges look down on the use of these weekly publications. Indeed, judges do seem to be…

A study assessed the predictive validity of two substantially different instruments (a questionnaire or a philosophy statement) which may be used to predict critics' ballot behavior in Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) debate. Questionnaires were distributed to 29 debate tournaments across the United States for completion by critics…

If "scholarly activity" is considered broadly to include more than traditional, knowledge-producing research, then forensics qualifies as scholarly activity. This point of view is reflected in the tenure, promotion, and evaluation criteria at Morehead State University (Kentucky), where the work of faculty members is divided into three…

A study focused on the effects of forensic participation on two specific traits--argumentativeness and verbal aggression. Two hundred eighty-one high school forensic students participating at a large western forensic tournament in the beginning of the 1990 academic year completed D. A. Infante's Argumentative and Verbal Aggression Scales. Results…

In classical Greece, there was a close tie between rhetoric and the practice and theory of public policy. Gradually, however, rhetoric became increasingly concerned with style and literary criticism, while philosophers began to debate political issues apart from the practical affairs of the polis. Because rhetoric provides a model that can still…

This document compiles materials and bibliographic references to assist national high school debaters in researching the 1989-1990 topic, "How Can the Federal Government Reform Prisons and Jails in the United States?" Materials are organized into a section of general materials and around each of three official debate propositions within…

Given a choice of one argument, most Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) competitors would choose the nuclear war scenario, which attempts to capitalize on apocalyptism. A three-stage methodology can be applied to apocalyptic appeals. First is an application of the concept of universal audience, composed of all reasonable and competent…