THE ART OF DEBATE

EVALUATING YOUR DEBATING SKILLS

During the next sessions, you will use the last step of the Design Cycle -EVALUATING- to understand the dynamics and skills needed to participate in a
debate. You will participate in a “sample debate” where two teams will compete arguing for opposing positions on an issue. The objective will be to evaluate
your skills and preparation and be ready for the –Great Energy Debate-.

SECTION IV: EVALUATION

The final section of the design cycle is aimed to determine if the desired result has been attained or not. To do so, you will complete the following three tasks
that will guide you from designing specific tests to evaluate your solution to objectively evaluate its success.
TASK 1 - Testing Methods TASK 2 - Evidence of Testing TASK 3 - Improvements
Design detailed testing methods, which generate Carry out the tests to gather the data and analyze Explain how the identified weaknesses and
high quality data to measure the success of the it to make conclusions that identify strengths and limitations of the solution could be improved.
solution. weaknesses.
In the first task, you have to identify the aspects of In the second task you will conduct your analysis, In the last part you will explain, in detail, how
the debate that you will use to evaluate your skills evaluating each one of the aspects identified in the
your performance in the debate could be improved
and specify how you will evaluate each one of previous step. and propose ways to refine your skills. You should
them. You may include aspects related to the You will carry out the analysis recording your suggest improvements for all the identified
manner in which you communicate your weaknesses and limitations found in the speech
debate and using the video to analyze your skills.
arguments as well as the reasoning behind the analysis.
arguments (see presentation).

SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
This activity is meant to help you understand what a debate is and how are your current debate skills. The grade obtained will assess Criterion D – Evaluation.
The final grade will be obtained considering the following two parts:
PART 1
DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS AND TESTING METHOD
This first part will be evaluated in groups and the percentage weight applied
is a 35%.
Develop a list of the success criteria to evaluate the quality of your debate
skills considering all important debating aspects including style, content,
strategy and teamwork, giving proper explanation on why are they
important.
You will then describe detailed and relevant testing method that you will use
to generate accurate data to evaluate your solution against those
PART 2
SPEECH ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENTS
This first part will be evaluated individually and the percentage weight
applied is a 65%.
Evaluate your INDIVIDUAL speech, identifying and analyzing the strengths
and weaknesses that of your speech based on the criteria of the design
specifications. You should write down an analysis for each one and
transform it to a numerical value.
Then, describe how the solution could be improved proposing further
improvements to refine your skills.
requirements specifying how will you do it for each criterion.
PART 1: TESTING METHODS PART 1: TESTING METHODS
Columns 1, 2 and 3 Columns 4, 5 and 6

0  The student does not reach a standard described by any of the  The student does not reach a standard described by any of the
descriptors below. descriptors below.

 Lists less than 5 basic success criteria to evaluate the quality of  Briefly explain the quality of the speech identifying strengths and
the debate skills. weaknesses without explanations or minor details
1–2
 Lists the ways in which the solution could be improved
 Briefly describes a testing method to measure the success of
each criterion using global information rather than minor details.

 Constructs a list between 5 and 6 success criteria to evaluate 

the quality of the debate skills explaining its importance.
3–4
 Outlines the main points of a relevant testing methods, which
generates data, to measure the success of each criterion.
Outlines the main points that affect the quality of the speech
identifying strengths and weaknesses with very summarized explanations,
using global information rather than minor details. More than one content
element is omitted or unsuccessfully covered
 Lists the ways in which the solution could be improved

 Develops design specifications, which identifying between 7 and Describes, for all the success criteria identified in the design
8 success criteria to evaluate the quality of the debate explaining its specifications, the main points that affect its quality pointing out strengths
5–6 importance. and weaknesses based on authentic product testing. Some concepts are
omitted or not fully developed.
 Describes a relevant testing method, which generate data, to  Outlines how the solution could be improved using global information
measure the success of the solution rather than minor details

 Develops a design specification which outlines 9 or more
success criteria to evaluate the debating skills justifying its
7–8 importance.
 Describes detailed and authentic testing methods, which
generate accurate data, to measure the success of each criterion.
 Explains, for all the success criteria identified in the design
specifications, the main points that affect its quality pointing out strengths
and weaknesses based on authentic product testing.
 Describes how the solution could be improved specifying how the final
result should be and what to do to achieve it.
THE ART OF DEBATE (PART I) Names: _______________________________________________________________
EVALUATING YOUR DEBATING SKILLS Class: ___________
Success criteria Why will I evaluate this criteria? How will I measure its success?
THE ART OF DEBATE (PART II) Names: _______________________________________________________________
EVALUATING YOUR DEBATING SKILLS Class: ___________
Success criteria Criteria evaluation Score Improvements