Consider the Opposite: Opening Minds through in-Class Debates on Course-Related Controversies

Abstract

When considering a complex and controversial issue, students may engage in a biased assimilation of the evidence and strengthen their existing attitudes rather than become appreciative of both sides of the issue. However, a consider-the-opposite strategy in which students argue a position contrary to their current opinion may eliminate this biased assimilation. We conducted in-class debates in 3 different courses and randomly assigned students to argue for or against their current attitude on an issue. Our results indicate that arguing a position consistent with one's opinion does produce biased assimilation but that arguing for a position inconsistent with one's opinion reduces this tendency. We discuss how best to design in-class debates to maximize their educational value.

Debate as a Teaching Strategy in Online Education: A Case Study

“…Students tend to enjoy debating, and thus they are more likely to be engaged, to remember material, and to use the skills in other aspects of their lives (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006;McGraw-Hill, 2009;Tessier, 2009). Budesheim and Lundquist (1999), claim that one of the goals of education is to open students' eyes to the fact that issues can be complex and that examining different viewpoints objectively is an important skill. They argue that, "the ability to see different sides of an issue and to evaluate each objectively is a hallmark of science" (Budesheim & Lundquist, 1999, p. 109).…”

“…Her fears were heightened after reading an article by Budesheim and Lundquist (1999), in which the authors provided evidence that "biased assimilation" results in people believing the information that supports their view and trivializing the information that does not support it (p. 106). They found that when students were assigned to the side of the debate that they already supported, their belief in this side was strengthened.…”

“…Although a few researchers have studied whether students change their viewpoints through the debate process (e.g., D'Eon, Proctor , & Reeder, 2007;Lin & Crawford, 2007), more research is needed in this area. Budesheim and Lundquist (1999) suggested that preventing biased assimilation may be possible by having students prepare both sides of the argument before being told which side they would be supporting. A reflection page, in which students discuss the thought process they went through while working on the paper and whether the exercise changed their views in any way, might be useful.…”

Students’ Perceptions toward Using Classroom Debate to Develop Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Ability

“…Debate preparation fosters the talent of articulating an argument in its important terms, acquire and utilize data and evidence to sustain a principle, categorize and communicate information in a comprehensible approach, and think about, assess and rebut contrasting arguments; these skills are in line with critical thinking skills (Rudd, 2007;Kosciulek & wheaton, 2003). Budesheim & Lundquist (1999) summarized and discussed the learning objectives of higher education system in three assumptions. First, they state that higher education must expose its students to different perspectives and information; the kind of information and viewpoints that learners would have no access to in their usual experiences.…”

Presenting Controversial Issues in Applied Psychology through Debate-Style Peer Teaching

“…The peer teaching used here also reduced the pressure of evaluation on introductory students who widely vary in their ability to present timed arguments, crossexamine, and provide rebuttals, all of which are skills requisite to the formal debate technique used in related research (Budesheim and Lundquist, 1999;Elliott, 1993). Here, the strength of students' oral arguments or overall persuasiveness did not factor into the grading of the presentations and this decision allowed for enhancement of general oral presentation skills and greater spontaneity of discussion.…”