The Power of Debate: Reflections on the Potential of Debates for Engaging Students in Critical Thinking about Controversial Geographical Topics

Abstract

Many controversial subjects characterize geography in the 21st century. Issues such as climate change, sustainability and social exclusion generate much discussion and often involve clear differences in opinion of how they might be addressed. Higher education is an important space for critical engagement with challenging issues. Preparing for and participating in debates enables students to develop critical thinking skills, alongside a variety of oral presentation and discussion skills. This paper reflects on the potential for teaching through debate in geography. The arguments are illustrated through a debate about whether asylum seekers should be allowed to work in the UK.

Keywords:

• Debate
• critical thinking
• communication skills
• oral presentation
• controversial subjects
• asylum seekers

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the students who participated in this debate and Dr Chris Ribchester for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank the three anonymous referees who offered valuable insights on how to enhance this paper.

Notes

¹ Throughout the debate the tutor remained neutral about her own views on the subject (Hitchings (2011) explores the challenges and potential issues of this choice in detail). However, in both cohorts the students clearly wanted to know what the tutor thought on the issue, and so after the second reflections had been completed, the tutor expressed her own position and discussed why she believed this was the right course of action.