Engineering Debates

Guidelines:

Throughout this activity, you will research topics on an assigned theme. Based on your research, you will look for items that support your topic and are against your topic.
Working in a team of 2, you will put together debate materials on each subtopic listed under your theme.
On the debate day, your subtopic and the pro/con side will be randomly drawn. Therefore you should be prepared for both side and all 3 subtopics.
All documentation must be handwritten. Anything not handwritten will be counted as a zero. All notes should be in your design notebook.

THE TOPICS:
Social Media
Theme: Smartphones and Tablets in the Hands of Small Children (Ages 0-10)

Subtopic #1: Smartphones and tablets hinder learning when used in educational settings for children younger than 9 years old.
Subtopic #2: Children are more likely to become addicted to technology if given a smartphone or tablet of their own before age 10.
Subtopic #3: Smartphones and tablets in the hands of small children result in adverse health effects later in life.

DOCUMENTATION:
To prepare for your debate you should prepare the following for each subtopic of your theme – All documents MUST be handwritten (typed documents will get a 0) Each piece of documentation will count as a 15 pt grade in addition to the debate grade.:

Opening Statement for Pro and Con on each subtopic – Less than 3 minutes – ½-1 page written statement
10 facts to support each subtopic of your theme
10 facts against each subtopic of your theme
Include the website or reference for each fact you list.

DEBATE FORMAT:
1. Pro speaker, maximum of three (3) minutes
2. Con speaker, maximum of three (3) minutes
3. Conference break, two (2) minutes
4. Pro rebuttal, maximum of three (3) minutes
5. Con rebuttal, maximum of three (3) minutes

Engineering Debates

Rubric

Resource files: