More info about the debate kits

Key facts

Science Debate Kit: Free teaching resource
Activity: Role play on topic: Should embryonic stem cell research be funded by the government?
Kits contain: Character cards, lesson plan, background info, wallet holder
Time: Approx 1 hr
Age: Designed for KS4, have been used for ages 11-18
Aim: Promote discussion skills

“I thought the IVF cards were brilliant for debating. It made the debate run smoothly and showed them clearly how different people have different points of view. By giving more info gradually, the pupils started to think about each situation and change their opinion with justification. I would really like to see some other cards like this on different topics.”

Teacher, Winterhill School, Rotherham and I’m a Scientist pilot participant

Background

In June 2008 we ran a pilot ‘I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here!’ event – funded by the Wellcome Trust. The IVF debate kit was one of the accompanying resources we supplied for this online event.

The kits proved a simple but highly effective way to develop students’ critical thinking skills about science, get them seeing different sides to a debate and give them the confidence to discuss the issues. They were also easy for teachers to use and worked ‘straight out of the box’. So we thought we’d better make some more!

We have funding from the Wellcome Trust to produce three new debate kits. The first phase was to mass-produce the IVF debate kit that we’d already developed and tested. We produced 1,500 sets and they went within four weeks.

For the next kit, we asked teachers what topics they wanted, and then asked them to vote on the list of suggestions. Teachers chose ‘Are we too clean?’ as the topic of the next kit. This kit was also snapped up in weeks.

We strongly believe in listening to teachers. How else to produce resources that are useful for them?

The third kit is now in production and the first batch will be sent out to teachers on 8th June. This kit will be on Stem Cells, a fascinating topic which raises many ethical, social and economic issues, as well as scientific ones! The topic was the second most popular one with teachers when we polled them for the second kit.

What is the debate kit?

The kit consists of a set of eight character cards, lesson plan, background info on the topic, and a natty little wallet to keep everything in. You need to do no photocopying!

The activity is a role play where students (or groups of students) are given different character cards with a short background and position in the debate. They also have a fact, an issue and a question. Students read out the first part of the card initially, then discuss. After this there are three more ‘rounds’ where they read out their fact and their issue, then address their question to the other character of their choice. Further discussion happens at each round.

What do you get out of the debate kit?

• Gets a discussion going
• Shows students how to structure their points and gets them thinking
• Builds the teacher’s skills and confidence at running a debate

I think the best thing we can do is let the teachers who tested the kits speak for themselves about it:-

Teachers on: the debate itself

“They were still arguing about the IVF debate when they left the room…They hadn’t done anything like that before but were all on task.”

“The IVF debate went on for two lessons and they started defending their viewpoints which they wouldn’t have done before. They also began to see all sides of the argument rather than have a blinkered approach.”

“I’d love to do a debate like this with them every half term. I don’t think we give enough time in school to them exploring their own ideas and opinions.”

Teachers on: the effect on students

“Now they’ve been trained to structure and back up what they are saying.”

“Now when i am explaining a topic they ask ‘Why’ a lot more and put their own point across.”

“[In another discussion a week later] they threw things up that they’d not thought about much in the past – such a funding nanotechnology – and then you could see they’d taken ideas across from the IVF debate and applied them.”

Teachers on: the effect on teachers

“[It's given me] the confidence to tackle more controversial topics in a debating lesson. I would not have opted to do that previously.”

“understanding of the need to allow students to debate more openly.”

“This group are often a bit quiet. In the discussions I got a real insight into the way they thought.”

How do I get one of the kits?

You can order a lovely printed copy here.

Or you can download a copy here. This won’t be as shiny and you’ll have to cut things out and stuff, but if you are in a hurry (or you really don’t like the Royal Mail or something) then be our guest.

We believe that information should be free – especially in education, so these kits are Creative Commons. You’re free to do what you want with them, including distributing them, adapting them, or making your own work based on them, as long as you give us credit.

What about other kits?

Unfortunately we have no copies of the first two kits left, however, you can still download them and print them out yourselves, using the link above. The final kit will be produced in Autumn term 2010 but will be download only. (Unless a sponsor comes forward…)

I’ve ordered a kit before, how do I get a copy of the Stem Cells one?

If you’ve ordered a kit before we will automatically email you asking you to confirm if you’d like a copy of the new one.

I’ve got a question you haven’t answered – your website is rubbish!

Well, I’m obviously a bit hurt by that, but I do know how annoying it is when you can’t find what seems like obvious information. Sorry! I’ve put in everything I could think of. Please put your question in the comments at the bottom and I will answer it and add it to this page.

And would you, the organiser, have any message for me personally?

Why yes! Thanks for visiting the site and hopefully for ordering and using one of the kits.

We’ve heard so much from educationalists about how there should be more discussion in the science classroom. And we’ve heard so much from teachers about how you’d like to do more discussion (and anyway the specifications tell you to…) but there aren’t good quality resources to help them. So we decided to do something about it. We really hope these kits do help.

We’ll send you a link to a survey some time after we’ve sent you the kit (it’ll be a short one, I promise). If you could help us by filling that in and giving us your feedback that would be really helpful when we are making the next ones. And if you don’t want a kit, please tell us in the comments below what you would like instead!

We really, really hope you and your students have fun using the kits, and develop your skills too.

Best wishes,

Sophia Collins
Project organiser