Students are encouraged to make a choice. Additional articles read are to be noted only if they are supportive of the students' position. They build their debate on designated guidelines an democratically assign tasks among members of the group. The debate takes place over a two-day period with a variety of observers. All participants and observers are given rating sheets to complete and the information is collected and tabulated.
Students are in an active rather than passive learning mode.
The teacher becomes consultant and catalyst. Students totally immerse themselves in the topic and become extremely competitive even before the debate. Weeks after, they still have truly internalized their work. Science in debate format shows students that subjects are not mutually exclusive. The unit requires students to research the topic of animal and behavior in an open-minded format and to learn research, reasoning, and presentation skills at a much higher level than ordinarily required.