A Comparison of Debate vs. Discussion in Large Undergraduate Psychology Classes

Abstract

Classroom debate is a pedagogical strategy that can serve to reinforce critical thinking and presentation skills, enhance perspective-taking, and increase meaningful student engagement with course materials. This presentation will include a discussion of the benefits and challenges of including role-playing debates in large, lower-level, undergraduate psychology classes typically taught in a lecture-discussion format. Preliminary results of an ongoing study comparing debates to more traditional discussions of controversial issues will be presented.