Debate in English: 11 Study Topics In the second year debate courses, students will be thinking about problems. The problems will be in English, and the students answers will be in English. Here are some of the problems the teachers will give to the students.

1. Inference, for example deciding what happened between two frames of a sequence story.

2. Problem solving from visual information (negotiation of cause and effect ).

3. Interpreting trends shown by various segments of a line graph, given sufficient background information.

4. Interpreting a data matrix e.g. comparing three countries, using simple data from the United Nations "Infonation" website.

5. Finding and reporting the rules needed in a given logic scenario, e.g. playing the de Bono game L-spot, or the attribute card game SET.

6. Deciding the validity of a claim, e.g. the danger to human health from EMFs (electro-magnetic fields) by both information search and the use an experimental tool such as a gauss detector.

7. Researching to find information which supports or contradicts a strong statement, e.g. "U.S. web searching is more fruitful than Japanese web searching".

8. Formulating a list of priorities, e.g. to rank items on a list for a survival kit from most important to least important.

9. Identifying the positive and negative aspects of an issue, e.g. "English as a required subject for Japanese university engineering students".

10. Predicting the consequences and sequel of a decision, e.g. to make motorcycles with 2-stroke engines illegal.

11. Anticipating the views of various groups with regard to a contentious issue.

Last updated on February 5, 1998
Copyright (C) 1998 by Lawrie Hunter (lawrie@info.kochi-tech.ac.jp)

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