M.I.S.O. – Motion In The Science Ocean - Erasmus+ project - Use of Powtoon, Easyclass and Mentimeter in a High School Debate using the the WSDC model

Abstract

SdDESM, “Sociedade de Debates da Escola Secundária da Maia”, is a local school debate society led by the actual student members, teachers and a teacher coordinator. Its purpose is to think critically about issues in logical and unbiased ways in order to provide solutions and debate them to find the best one, making students love understanding all viewpoints and perspectives, but also teach them how to criticize in a respectful and rational way. The main goal of this work was to train high schoolers from 6 countries involved in the MISO Erasmus+ Project (Romania, Germany, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Turkey) in the World Schools Debate Competitive Model (WSDC) skills and competences. One of the objectives of the Erasmus+ MISO project is to attract more students to science in general through new methodology using new ICT applications/ e-learning tools. The students used various digital tools such as Powtoon to do tutorials on the debate model, Easyclass to do a course (“How to debate”), and Mentimeter for evaluation of the international debate, with the motion “This House believes that overfishing and ocean pollution will compromise our survival on a long term basis” that took place in Maia High Secondary School, integrated in the Portuguese mobility in the 7th February 2019. This debate also met one of the project competences which is understanding scientific content and foster structured international cooperation objectives.