Abstract:

The use of new active teaching strategies has been promoted in higher education to increase motivation and favour in-depth knowledge learning, as well as to contribute to develop fundamental professional skills. Numerous researchers mention the benefits of the debate as a pedagogical tool. Debating can improve students’ engagement in learning and promotes critical thinking through development of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

This work describes the actions carried out to introduce structured debate in the classroom as an active learning strategy for undergraduate and master's degree students in the Food Science and Technology area. Pre-debate, debate and post-debate activities structured in methodology and time were proposed. All activities required individual and cooperative work and forced students to work autonomously, but always with the support and guidance of the faculty. The activities were integrated within the seminar sessions scheduled in the subjects of General Physics (first year of the Degree in Food Science and Technology) and Food Process Engineering for Functional Foods Development (Master Degree in Food Science and Engineering) at the Universitat Politècnica de València during the academic course 2022-23. Although the activities were widely accepted by the students, their impact was highly conditioned by the stage of education, being notably more profitable in the case of master’s students. The adequacy of the performed activities is discussed, and new improvement actions are proposed.

Keywords:

Active learning, professional skills, motivation, critical thinking.