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I attended a session by Chris Luzniak at the California Math Council Conference last month and loved this way of increasing discourse. He gives students a structure to justify their thinking in a very engaging debate structure. This gets to the very heart of Mathematical Practice 3 (MP.3) Constructing Viable Arguments and Critiquing Reasoning. He recently published a book called Up for Debate! Which my sister, who knows me so well, bought as a holiday gift. This is especially powerful for ELL students and reluctant speakers as is it a clearly defined speaking routine. While I have done some form of debate in class before, Chris has an organized method of implementing this.
I attended a session by Chris Luzniak at the California Math Council Conference last month and loved this way of increasing discourse. He gives students a structure to justify their thinking in a very engaging debate structure. This gets to the very heart of Mathematical Practice 3 (MP.3) Constructing Viable Arguments and Critiquing Reasoning. He recently published a book called Up for Debate! Which my sister, who knows me so well, bought as a holiday gift. This is especially powerful for ELL students and reluctant speakers as is it a clearly defined speaking routine. While I have done some form of debate in class before, Chris has an organized method of implementing this.
Here is a link to the presentation if you want to modify it.
Tips for implementation
Tips for implementation
- Start with a non math example to introduce the structure (see beginning google slide)
- Not every student talks in the debate (4-5 are plenty for most topics)
- Students can have the same claim, but should state different evidence
- To increase listening skills, have students rephrase the previous claim before making their own
- Be sure you sit to give the speaker the floor
- You can front load students who need to increase their mathematical status by giving them the question the day before then asking if they will speak
- Students can debate in small groups or pairs as well (doesn't have to be full class.)
Video in to see Debate Math in action in a pre calc class
Video Debate Math my Integrated 2 class looking at different ways to solve quadratics. Note that this my early attempt at using this (so definitely imperfect and before I learned about claim/evidence framework.) Here is the quadratic solutions paper students were using.
Basic Idea
Basic Idea
1. Find a topic
1. Find a topic
- Choose two or more different representations of a problem (graph, table, equation, situation or equivalent equations)
Ask: Which representation is best?
- Perfect for Which One Doesn't Belong
Ask: Which one doesn't belong
- Use a Would you Rather
Ask: Would you rather____ or _____?
- Use a problem your students took on a test and made a mistake
Ask: Which is the best mistake?
2. Have students think on their own (or pair share first)
2. Have students think on their own (or pair share first)
3. Students use the sentence frame
3. Students use the sentence frame
My claim is ____
My evidence is______ (Chris uses warrant instead of evidence, however I like the connection to social studies and science)
4. Student stating the claim and evidence stands, the teacher sits, and the other students face the speaker
4. Student stating the claim and evidence stands, the teacher sits, and the other students face the speaker
5. The standing student calls on the next student
5. The standing student calls on the next student
6. Use Chris' resources
6. Use Chris' resources
Watch a webinar by Chris that was recorded on Tuesday, Jan 14, 2020
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