Claims and Reasons Game

This is an activity to be done fairly early in the quarter, when students are starting to have some ideas of the general topics they want to approach in their research papers.

The Activity
Split the class into 3 or 4 groups. (The game can get a little unwieldy if there are too many teams.)

Give each group about 5 minutes to come up with as many general subject areas for the research paper as possible (for example: animal rights, campus safety, etc.).

The instructor collects the lists of topics, and chooses one for each round.

In round one, the instructor provides a claim. For example, if he/she chooses “animal rights,” the claim might be something like: There should be harsher penalties for cruelty to animals because ___________________. The groups then have a few minutes to come up with as many unique, viable reasons to go with that claim.

At the end of the round, scoring is done in the style of Boggle, rewarding unique (but valid) angles on sometimes common subjects. Each group slowly lists off their reasons to the class. If another group has listed the same or a very similar reason, it is crossed off. Scoring takes some time because it often opens up discussion about what constitutes and arguable claim/reason. Students are encouraged to challenge reasons they see as invalid and present a case for such.

The group with the most unique, viable reasons wins that round.

The objective can vary in subsequent rounds. For instance, the instructor might list a general topic, such as campus safety, and have the group come up with claims, or provide a claim-with-reason and have groups come up with underlying assumptions.

Because scoring takes so long, it is probably only possible to get through 2 or 3 rounds in a fifty minute class.