Bringing the Power of Debate to Math Class

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“Why aren’t students talking?” was my constant gripe my first years of teaching. I was young, energetic, and passionate about math, but my students didn’t seem to be engaged in talking about math…at all.

Add to that the fact that I wanted my students to think deeply and critically about some of the rich questions I posed, but students wanted to take the path of least resistance. They just wanted to quickly get to an answer; they were not as engaged as I would have liked. They were doing math, but they weren’t discussing math.

Yet, at speech and debate team practice, I saw an entirely different side of these same students. Students were digging into heavy research articles. They were talking to each other, verbally brainstorming ideas. They were thinking critically about their arguments, and they were challenging each others’ thinking. They were alive with discourse.

So that brings me to the question that has been my exploration for the past decade or more: How do I bring these two worlds together?

Why Debate Belongs in (Math) Class 

When people picture a debate, they usually imagine arguments about politics, ethics, or social issues — not math. Math feels like the land of right answers and tidy solutions, where debate seems unnecessary. But debate (in any subject) can transform the way students learn. It shifts their mindset, builds communication skills, and strengthens their capacity for reasoning and argumentation.

When I think of mathematics, argumentation is fundamental. After all, what is proof if not a well constructed argument? Yet in math classrooms, we rarely ask students to debate. Why is the focus always on the answer? 

Debate flips that script.

Debate brings student thinking to the forefront. Instead of focusing solely on the answer, in a debate, the focus is on the thinking and reasoning. I want to hear why students believe something. I want them to convince one another. 

After years of intentional experimentation and practice, debate is now woven into the fabric of my classroom culture. I want students to know that anyone can talk and debate math (or any subject for that matter). I want them to know that learning can involve opinions, and I want them to feel that this learning can be messy, argumentative and beautiful.

Don’t just take my word for it: The National Speech & Debate Association website has a collection of stories, news, and research on the power of debate for students, including higher SAT math and reading scores and improved confidence and graduation rates. 

There’s also a broader urgency: The world is becoming increasingly polarized. People pick sides, and few truly listen to each other. Everyone just wants the “right” answer. The same is true in most (math) classes. Students just want to appear to be right. They are not focused on their thinking and processing, and they are usually not asked to make arguments. Regularly incorporating debate routines can help students see the world as less black and white. 

How it Works in the Classroom

So what does this look like in the classroom? Let me share some more on that.

Making Debatable Questions

One of the first points of contention for many people is that they do not see math as debatable. “What’s debatable about asking the answer to 3×4?” I often hear, and I get why. For many of us, math class was years of fast, precise answers (that were neatly listed in the back of the book). But whenever I hear that question, it brings me back to one of my core beliefs as a teacher: thinking is more important than the answer. 

Let me first assure everyone that it is ok to ask questions like “What is 3×4?” to see if students know how to compute. It’s just that I don’t want to always ask for only the answer. If this is all we do, we send the message that speed and correctness are the most important goals. So I learned to change many of my questions into a debatable format, asking for student thinking and not just the solution.

Some math curriculums already have moments for debate, like “Always, Sometimes, Never” or “Which One Doesn’t Belong?” questions to start a lesson. Others may have examples of different students’ work or error analysis questions. These are all great for getting students talking more about their thinking and incorporating a brief debate.

However, I claim that any moment can be made debatable, even in math. My reasoning: All you need is some superlatives to force an opinion. Below are some examples of the words I most often use:

• best/worst
• should/could
• biggest/smallest
• most/least
• weirdest/coolest

By slightly modifying a question to include one of these words, we change the focus from the answer to the thinking. Here are some examples of ways math questions might become debatable:

Notice that some of the debate questions I created could have multiple solutions. Others (like the triangle question) might only have one answer or conclusion. So, sometimes, the “debate” may be brief, but that’s ok. The goal is to get students to first share their thinking. After sharing (or writing) their arguments, students can still be asked to do the required calculations. However, by starting with a debatable prompt, I’m inviting students to explore ideas and discuss their reasoning first. 

Conducting the Debate

So how do we begin? I start introducing debate skills in the first weeks of school by having students make and share arguments as a warm-up routine. It’s just five minutes or so. The roll-out looks something like this:

1. I post one or more debatable questions on the board for students to debate. The first time I do this, it might be something silly like: What is the best pizza topping? The following day I might slide into content with a question like: What is the best way to start graphing a line?

Any teacher can tell you of the struggle to get students to stand up and talk in class (especially in math!), but introduce a debatable question and suddenly even your quietest students start leaning forward. There’s something magnetic about a prompt that invites an opinion. It taps into curiosity (and a bit of healthy competition).

2. Then, I talk to students about how to state their argument. I’m a stickler for a good sentence frame to propel student discourse. I was initially resistant to sentence frames early in my career. As a secondary math teacher, something about them felt too childish, too scripted. However, after some encouragement, I gave them a chance, and I’m so glad that I did. 

One of my biggest “aha” moments came when I borrowed this sentence frame from the debate world: “My claim is___, my warrant is ___.” For example: “My claim is that dogs are the best pets, and my warrant is that they are cuddly and cheer me up when I’m having a bad day” or “My claim is chocolate is the best ice cream flavor, and my warrant is the chocolate mixed with the creamy goodness of ice cream make the perfect combination.” That’s it. Short and simple, but effective. In fact, I have posters of the sentence frame hanging on all four walls in my classroom.

This single frame lowered the barrier to entry, and gave students a clarity on how to enter the conversation. It made debate feel accessible — especially for those who were nervous about speaking publicly.

3. I then let students quickly practice what they are going to say. With a prompt posted and a sentence frame (briefly) introduced, I have students either turn and talk to a partner for a moment or write their argument on an index card. This gives them that moment to think and rehearse what they are going to say.

4. Then, I have a handful of students stand and share their argument. I might ask for volunteers or randomly call on a few students. It really depends on the personalities in the classroom. At this early stage, the focus is just on sharing an argument. Over time, students can start to respond to each other more. 

So, given a debatable prompt, students prepare a claim and a warrant with a partner or in writing. Then I ask for a few students to share their arguments with the class. I am constantly amazed at how often even reluctant speakers suddenly step into the conversation with confidence. Want to see an example in action? Check out this PBS video of my old classroom in NYC.

And this is just the beginning. Once a routine is established, we can grow our debate skills in various ways. Students may create written arguments as part of a set of questions to complete for classwork or homework (or on assessments). Students may verbally debate with partners or debate with the whole class. I have even had students more formally debate in teams as a project grade for a particular unit. The sky’s the limit!

Tips for Getting Started 

I now work with teachers all around the U.S. (and Canada!) to develop debatable moments in their classrooms, and the most important pieces of advice I usually share are:

• Start fun – This is always one of my biggest pieces of advice to teachers when starting any new routine or using a new tool in class. Focus on the routine first. Layer in the content later. So I always start with one or two (brief) debates about something fun. You can see some examples in my blog: 50 Fun Questions to Debate.
• Keep it simple and consistent – I only use one sentence frame to make it easy to remember. You can change it however you like, just keep it short and sweet.
• Don’t start from scratch – You are welcome to create your own questions, but remember that there is sooo much already out there: in your textbook, on the internet, and of course, on my website. If you want a quick starting point, I like to share my 3 Ways to Activate DebateMath, which offers plenty of ready-to-use examples. 
• Don’t give up – Any new endeavor can have some bumps along the way. If you feel stuck, reach out to a colleague (or message me!) and together we can brainstorm ideas about what may or may not work. You can also read more in my book, check out my online course, or get monthly ideas by signing up for my e-mail list. 

Why Arguments Matter More Than Ever

Part of the beauty of mathematics (like all subjects) is in the nuance. Not everything has one solution. Not everything is right or wrong. So, let’s lean into the beauty of multiple interpretations and give students questions that ask them to think and justify. This is why I believe that debate has a real place in math class (as well as others).  

In fact, I think this is more important now than ever. I believe debate is a skill we all need to work on more. If we want students to feel that they have a voice, we have to help them learn how to use it. If we truly want students to see the world and our choices as complicated and nuanced, we have to focus less on the answer and more on the arguments. When we teach kids to form arguments, listen to others, and revise their thinking, we’re preparing them for a world that is rarely black and white. If we want students to see math — and society — as complex and nuanced, to see the elegance of the gray area, then we have to stop centering the answer and start centering the argument. Debate routines help us do just that. They build a classroom culture where reasoning matters, where ideas evolve, and where every student has something valuable to contribute.

To learn more from Chris Luzniak, visit his website, Debate Math, or get his book, Up for Debate!