Should humans colonise Mars? Is there life in the Universe? Science continually seeks to answer big questions - but it takes a lot of research and communication to come to a consensus. Why not host a debate and try it yourself?
By the end of this activity you will:
- have used your team work skills
- have developed your communication skills
- know how to structure a persuasive speech
- understand that anticipating opposing arguments and planning rebuttals can strengthen an argument
To complete this activity you will need:
- a group of people to debate with
- some sticky notes and pens
- some sheets of paper
- the Structure Your Argument Sheet (PDF)
- the Example Rebuttal Sheet (PDF)
Approx Duration
60+ mins
Have a go!
Debate activity
- Set up the activity (5 mins)
- Divide everyone up into small groups of 3 or 4 people.
- Give each group one side of one of the topics to prepare:
- Space should be explored by humans, not robots.
- We should not spend taxpayer's money on the space industry.
- Pluto should still be a planet.
- There is life elsewhere in the Universe.
- Humans should colonise Mars.
- Brainstorm ideas (10 mins)
- Each person silently comes up with their own ideas and writes the keywords for each argument on a sticky note.
- The group share all their arguments and stick them all on a large sheet of paper.
- Organise ideas (10 mins)
- Make sure everyone in the group understands what you are setting out to prove.
- Remove any duplicated arguments.
- Discount any off-topic arguments.
- Group similar ideas together to make stronger arguments.
- As a group, identify the strongest arguments from all your ideas (try and come up with 5 or 6).
- Prepare speeches (10 mins)
- Decided who will present each argument.
- Use the Structure Your Argument Sheet (PDF) to plan a speech for each argument (this can be done as a group, or by the person who will be presenting).
- Prepare rebuttals (5 mins)
- Think about what the opposing team may use as their arguments.
- Come up with ways to rebut their argument (use the Example Rebuttal Sheet (PDF) for inspiration).
- Host the debate (20 mins per topic)
- Debate each topic - speakers from opposing teams take it in turn to present their arguments and rebut opposing arguments.
- At the end of each debate, the rest of the group votes for the team they found most persuasive.
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