DEBATE AS A TOOL IN ENGINEERING AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION

Debate is an active education tool which is widely used to teach undergraduate students in social science and humanities courses, but less common in Engineering and Computing courses. Debate, in this context, refers to the establishment of contradictory positions on a topic or question and inviting students to form ‘teams’ or parties each tasked with the responsibility of promoting those positions to an audience through mediated oral discourse. A well-integrated debate can help students to improve their understanding of the subject, improve their critical thinking, increase the retention of the information gained, enhance communication and teamwork skills, promote their confidence and help them to better construct their ideas and thoughts in a logical and sound structure. It is well known that integrating this approach in an active learning environment will promote a student’s engagement and motivation to learn. In this paper, the practice of integrating the debate on the climate change response pathways (Adaptation, Mitigation and Geoengineering) in a final year course taken by Mechanical Engineering students will be presented. The effect of using this practice on students’ engagement, module feedback and marks will be highlighted.