iServi News | 11 December 2020 | Term 4, Week 9
This week, students in my Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences class, were involved in a speaking competition where they had to give a persuasive presentation on a chosen topic. The learning activity was inspired by the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition which was founded by the University of Queensland and is held globally in over 200 universities.
The purpose of the competition was to enrich students’ critical thinking, inquiry, communication and creativity skills. It challenged students to consolidate their ideas and research, to explain their thesis effectively and concisely in three minutes. Students were also required to create a single visual aid to convey and complement the message of their speech.
Some of the theses presented by the students included:
- Child beauty pageants in the USA should be banned.
- Veganism limits you to other cultural food experiences if you travel the world.
- Gender neutrality in uniforms: Females should be allowed to wear trousers and males have untucked shirts.
- Was the Ancient Roman empire the most important civilisation?
- All secondary school students should have a compulsory gap year before studying at university.
- Reality T.V. shows have a negative impact on society.
- People would not survive without technology.
The following criteria was used to decide the winner of the competition:
- Comprehension – Did the presentation help the audience understand the thesis?
- Engagement – Did the presentation make the audience want to know more about the topic?
- Communication style – Was the importance of the topic communicated in a way that was appropriate to the audience?
Congratulations to Ruby Pawlowski (SA1), Nhi Vu (AN5) and Ella Carington Smith (SM7) for winning the competition with their presentation ‘The centrality of the teacher – How their passion and practice impacts students’ perspectives of school subjects’. Well done to all teams for their efforts in the speaking competition.
Dr Katie Thiveos
Teacher
