Debate Across the MIT Curriculum

Debate Across the Curriculum is a nationwide initiative that encourages the use of in-class debates to advance multiple pedagogical objectives. MIT Prof. Edward Schiappa, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, developed these instructional materials for faculty, instructors, and students to facilitate civil discourse and debate in any subject across the MIT curriculum.

Why Debate Across the Curriculum?

Research has shown that participating in debate training activities can enhance students’ academic skills and achievement overall (Bellon, 2000). In particular, engaging in the art of argumentation improves students’ critical thinking skills as measured by a variety of standardized tests (Allen et al., 1999). Learning how to construct arguments to defend a position or respond to a critique also builds students’ research, organizational, and oral communication skills along with their ability to collaborate and empathize with persons who have different or opposing views (Litan, 2020). Although these are lifelong skills useful in any career, they are also closely related to the goals of MIT’s undergraduate Communication Requirement.1

Most recently, the call for a more dynamic culture of freedom of expression can be met (partly) by encouraging debate in more subjects. Most students do not come to campus knowing how to express positions on controversial topics. Recommendation 7 of the final report of MIT’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Free Expression says:

We recommend that the faculty explore ways of infusing into the curriculum in all departments and for all students opportunities to advance expression (i.e., present and defend ideas, active listening, etc.). We must recognize that learning to engage in dialogue concerning controversial matters is a developmental skill that can be taught, improved, and encouraged. We should not assume that all students arrive on campus equally prepared to engage in productive dialogue about controversial issues. It is certainly part of MIT’s mission to prepare our students to develop such skills. 2

Debate Across the Curriculum includes three pre-recorded lectures with corresponding slide decks, an instructor guide, and the contents of the first edition of Argumentation: Keeping Faith in Reason authored by Professor Schiappa and MIT alum John P. Nordin (PhD, 1980). MIT certificate is required.

Debate Across the Curriculum Lecture Series (On Panopto, MIT certificate required)

Debate Across the Curriculum Materials (On OneDrive, MIT certificate required)

About the Author

Professor Schiappa was a successful competitive high school and college debater, then a nationally successful college debate coach at two universities. He is the co-author of a textbook, a revised edition of which was published in 2024. He also published an edited collection called Warranting Assent: Case Studies in Argument Evaluation, a book about how scholars argue about the effects of popular culture (Beyond Representational Correctness: Rethinking Criticism of Popular Culture), and two books the provide case studies and assessment of definitional arguments (Defining Reality: Definitions and the Politics of Meaning, and The Transgender Exigency: Defining Sex & Gender in the 21st Century).
His Ph.D. is in Communication Studies from Northwestern University and has published extensively in argumentation studies. He came to MIT in 2012 to provide faculty-level expertise for the undergraduate Communication Requirement. Currently, he is a member of the Subcommittee on the Communication Requirement and serves as Faculty Liaison to the three writing groups housed in Comparative Media Studies/Writing.

Additional Resources

Notes

  1. The MIT undergraduate Communication Requirement (CR) requires that all students take a total of four communication-intensive subjects (CI). CI-H refers to humanities subjects typically taken in students’ first two years, and CI-M refers to communication-intensive subjects in students’ majors in their third and fourth years. ↩︎
  2. Report of the MIT Ad Hoc Working Group on Free Expression, June 24, 2022, pp. 21-22, boldface in original. Available online: https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/reports/202209_Final_Report_of_the_Ad_Hoc_Working_Group_on_Free_Expression.pdf ↩︎

References

Allen, M., Berkowitz, S., Hunt, S., & Louden, A. (1999). A meta‐analysis of the impact of forensics and communication education on critical thinking. Communication Education, 48(1), 18–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634529909379149

Bellon, J. (2000). A Research-Based Justification for Debate Across the Curriculum. Argumentation and Advocacy, 36(3), 161–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/00028533.2000.11951646

Litan, R. (2020). Debating Skills Are Not Just for Future Lawyers. In Resolved: Debate Can Revolutionize Education and Help Save Our Democracy (pp. 115–135). Brookings Institution Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7864/j.ctvkjb3jc.8