In last week’s biology class, Mr. C led all the Grade 12 students to hold a heated debate according to the different topics we have learned in Biology. This debate combined knowledge learned from books with some cases in real life, which not only enriched students’ thinking and expression ability but also was a new exploration of classroom teaching mode, making everyone take on a leading role in learning.
The whole class was divided into eight groups to debate four biological topics. The themes were announced as early as a week ago. The first theme was “did advantages outweigh the disadvantages for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for energy.” The second topic was “should the United States be made to pay the cost of all damages done by acid rain in Canada or not due to the population created in the mid-western United States.” The third topic was “should fast-food chains be made to pay the cost of treating health problems associated with eating their food or not?” And the last debate topic was “should genetically modified organisms be removed from the market or not until scientists are able to prove with 100% certainty that there are no long-term health consequences associated with eating GMOs?”
In their spare time, the debaters of each team focused on the topics intensely. They collected all the information that was beneficial to the team and sorted them out one by one. At the same time, students also analyzed the weak points of the other side’s argument, which was convenient for carrying out ingenious refutation during the debate. When the students felt confused with the problems from the topics, they chose to discuss the question with the teacher. Unconsciously, the students deepened their understanding of professional knowledge and enhanced their expression ability, organizational ability and sense of cooperation at the same time.
When it was time for the debate, the audience gathered in a U-shaped shape in front of the debaters. The usual classroom was infused with new vitality and breath of tension. With the timer being pressed, the flames of the battle officially ignited. The competition was divided into several parts: expounding ideas, free debating and summarizing speeches. The first group of students from the affirmative team took the lead in expressing the team’s position and giving examples to prove it. The opponents were not willing to show weakness as well. Once the words of the students on the right side finished speaking, they immediately launched their views. The two sides were equal in strength and faced each other. After the half-time break, the third and fourth debaters in both groups demonstrated their views from different perspectives. All the members explored deeply into the connotation of the debate. The content of the subject was naturally permeated and connected, fully reflecting the deep understanding and full preparation of the students on both sides for professional knowledge. After the four impassioned and forceful concluding statements of the two sides each drew a perfect end to their debate, Mr. C scored according to the performance of each team’s classmates, and finally rated the winning team. Additionally, he also made an excellent comment on every debate, affirming the hard work of each student on the debate topic, and emphasizing that through the debate contest, students can have better logical ability to think about anything in life from both perspectives.
Although the weather outside was biting, full of lively discussions happened in the classroom. During the whole English debate, the students not only practiced their debate skills, enhanced their language organization ability, but also improved their thinking reaction speed and adaptability. Both sides could extract adequate information from another team debaters quickly and accurately and make targeted answers in time.
by Silvia (Grade12)