El debate como herramienta educativa. Experiencia didáctica para la reflexión y transformación social

Raúl Maján-Navalón; Lidia Sanz-Molina; Alba Angulo-Aragonés

doi:10.24197/eduva.3114

Debate as an educational tool. A Pedagogical Experience for Reflection and Social Transformation

Authors

Raúl Maján-Navalón

Universidad de Valladolid

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3354-0803

Lidia Sanz-Molina

Universidad de Valladolid

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1910-2771

Alba Angulo-Aragonés

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24197/eduva.3114

Keywords:

Academic debate, University Social Responsibility (USR), Transversal competencies, Critical thinking, Public speaking, Argumentation, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Rhetoric, Debate-based learning, Teaching innovation, Active methodologies, Metodologías activas, Transferencia del conocimiento, Knowledge transfer, Higher Education, Debate tournaments, education

Synopsis

The RSUVa Debate Club is a pilot initiative led by Tierra Sin Males at the University of Valladolid (Soria Campus) that uses academic debate as a tool for learning and transformation. The program connects courses across degrees around University Social Responsibility—SDGs, equality, sustainability, citizenship—and strengthens transversal competences: critical thinking, public speaking, active listening, and teamwork. The methodology blends workshops in rhetoric and argumentation, guided preparation of positions, responsible source searching, and moderated debates. Assessment draws on pre/post surveys, rubrics, observation, and qualitative analysis.
Findings show strong student appreciation and perceived gains in speaking confidence, discourse structuring, and empathetic listening; they also reveal barriers—stage anxiety, limited time, large cohorts—and improvement opportunities—curricular integration, progressive practice, formative feedback, and safe spaces. The book systematizes theoretical framework, instructional design and instruments, reports data and lessons learned, and proposes a transferable model adaptable to university and pre-university contexts. It concludes with practical recommendations for instructors and administrators, sample rubrics and tournament formats, and a roadmap to consolidate academic communities that are more critical, dialogic, and committed to social justice and sustainability. Evidence also indicates gains in ethical reasoning and civic engagement within classroom communities across courses and cohorts.

Chapters

Introduction
Project description and justification
Theoretical Framework
Project Objectives
Methodology
Analysis
Findings
Dissemination of Experiences
Conclusions
Appendices
References

Raúl Maján-Navalón, Alba Angulo-Aragonés

Author Biographies

Raúl Maján-Navalón, Universidad de Valladolid

Raúl Maján Navalón is the General Manager of the NGO Tierra Sin Males, leading cooperation and education projects in Spain, El Salvador, Colombia and Guinea-Bissau, fostering university–government–civil society partnerships and managing annual budgets of around €0.5 M. He has coordinated photovoltaic-powered drinking-water access projects (AECID, Jutiapa), education and water initiatives in Guinea-Bissau, and teaching-innovation programmes such as ArteSanos, Hijas de la Tierra, and the Rural Cooperation Lab. He serves as a PRAS lecturer at the University of Valladolid (Soria Campus), is a PhD candidate in Transdisciplinary Research in Education, and holds a Master’s in Psychopedagogy. His recent outputs include the handbook ArteSanos (2025) and publications on rural women and climate change, and on renewable microgrids in vulnerable contexts. His interests span peace education, global citizenship and teaching innovation (academic debate and applied AI), with a strong focus on gender, quality and measurable impact.

Lidia Sanz-Molina, Universidad de Valladolid

Lidia Sanz Molina holds a PhD in Political Marketing, Actors and Institutions in Contemporary Societies from the University of Santiago de Compostela and a degree in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the Soria Campus of the University of Valladolid (UVa). Her work focuses on topics such as the Culture of Peace, Education for Social Transformation and Global Citizenship, Intergenerational Projects, and service-learning. She is a founding member of the UVa's Urban Agenda 2030 Chair for Local Development.
She coordinates EntrEdades, an intergenerational co-creation and community participation project, and is a member of Tierra sin Males (Land Without Evil).

References

"La evidencia científica reconoce que las universidades generan una importante contribución al desarrollo de la sociedad y a la consolidación de un desarrollo sostenible a través de su Responsabilidad Social" (p. 4)

"Un debate formal anima a los participantes a analizar críticamente los argumentos presentados (tanto los propios como los de la oposición), y a evaluar la validez de las evidencias y fuentes utilizadas" (p. 21)

"A través de este proyecto, los estudiantes han practicado estas habilidades de comunicación, pensamiento crítico y argumentación; lo que contribuye directamente a su desarrollo integral y los prepara mejor para los desafíos del mundo real." (p. 49)

"La metodología aplicada en el Club de Debate RSUVa puede adaptarse y replicarse en distintos contextos educativos que busquen promover la reflexión crítica y el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas" (p. 49)

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Published

April 17, 2026

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Details about this monograph

ISBN

978-84-1320-377-5