Classroom · Politics & civics
Lose the vote. Win the debate.
Two sides argue a motion while your class votes before the first speech and again after the last. Then every vote walks from where it started to where it ended, and the side that gained more ground moves the room, whether or not it won the vote.
- Up to 600 people
A practice run with fictional students. No real classroom or join code is created.
Try an answer on the phone. Lead the lesson from the screen.
On their phone
You are presenting
Setting up the room…
Lesson deck
Teach it as a ready-made lesson
Hook, how it works, the live activity and takeaways. Edit anything.
The classroom debate
A ready-to-teach lesson deck: a hook, how it works, the live activity and takeaways for the debrief.
6 slides · 1 activity
Debate topics for students, by level
Thirty motions a class can argue from its own experience, kept clear of party politics, each worded so the room can vote For, Undecided or Against. The lesson opens on the first; to run another, change the motion, one line of the lesson's wording, before you start.
Middle school
- Homework should be optional.
- School should start an hour later.
- Every student should learn to cook.
- Zoos do more good than harm.
- School uniforms should be required.
- Summer holidays should be shorter.
- Books are better than their films.
- Students should choose where they sit.
- Video games should count as a sport.
- Every classroom should have a class pet.
High school
- Phones should be banned during the school day.
- Schools should move to a four-day week.
- Coursework should replace final exams.
- Social media does teenagers more harm than good.
- Students should be allowed to use AI for homework.
- Learning a second language should be compulsory.
- Personal finance should be a required class.
- Group projects should be graded individually.
- Junk food should be banned from school canteens.
- Everyone should take a gap year before university.
University
- Universities should abolish grades.
- Lectures should be recorded and optional.
- Space exploration is worth what it costs.
- Every exam should be open book.
- Artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it destroys.
- Remote work is better than working in an office.
- Every degree should include a programming course.
- Self-driving cars should replace human drivers.
- Attendance should never count towards a grade.
- An online degree is worth as much as one earned on campus.
What it teaches
Students see that a vote is a snapshot and persuasion is a flow: the final margin hides how many minds changed, and in which direction. They trace where the undecideds went, set each side's net gain against the final vote, and explain how a side can lose the vote and still move the room.
- Persuasion
- Deliberation
Debrief, while the boards are still up
- 01
Which side won the final vote, and which side moved the room? Why can those be different?
- 02
How many people changed their minds, and how far did the final margin move? Where did the rest of the movement go?
- 03
Where did the undecideds go, and what did the room say weighed most in its final vote?
- 04
If the debate was a draw, the moves cancelled out, the room drifted to Undecided or nobody moved at all, what does that say about the speeches, or about the motion?
- 05
Which speech do you think changed the most minds? What would you need to measure to know?
How it works
- 01
Add it to your library
Sign up free and pull the activity from Decka's built-in classroom catalog — one click copies it into your own library, ready to run from Decka or inside PowerPoint.
- 02
Students join by QR
Everyone scans from the projector and plays in their phone's browser. No app, no account, nothing to install.
- 03
You run the room
You move the activity phase by phase: collection closes, the boards resolve on the big screen, and the debrief happens while the results are still up.
A classroom debate the room votes on twice
This is an audience-vote debate in the style Intelligence Squared made famous: two sides argue a motion, and the audience votes For, Undecided or Against before the first speech and again after the last. Choose two or three speakers per side; they argue rather than vote, so they do not scan the code. Each side opens, rebuts and closes against its own timer on the big screen, with questions from the floor between, and the room's opening vote stands beside the speakers throughout.
After the second vote and one question about what weighed most, the verdict plays in three presses. The second column lands beside the first and marks who won the vote. Then every vote walks from where it started to where it ended: the people who held slide straight across, and each crossing lands with its count. Last, each side's net change prints, in people and in points of those who voted twice, and the side that gained more ground is stamped as having moved the room. A draw, moves that cancel out, a room that drifted to Undecided and a room where nobody moved each get their own words, so the board never claims a result the votes did not produce.
Only people who voted both times are in the flow and its net changes; anyone who voted once is counted under the board, never dropped. The screen shows counts, never names, and each phone shows only its owner's own path. The tally of what weighed most comes last, for the debrief.
Try the screen-and-phone preview with fictional classmates, who vote through the same runtime as the lesson. You run the projector's steps and play one student's phone, casting that student's votes yourself, and you can run it again once it ends. The classmates are illustrative, not observations of a real class.
FAQ
Classroom debate questions, answered
Do the speakers vote?
No. Pick two or three speakers per side before class. They argue rather than vote, so they do not scan the code; everyone else is the audience and votes twice.
When does the room learn how the debate is judged?
At the verdict. The room is told only that it votes now and again after the closing speeches, so nobody has a reason to vote tactically the first time. Tell your speakers privately that the side which gains more ground moves the room.
Can I change the motion?
Yes. The motion is one line of the lesson's wording, shown on every step that names it, and each speech's timer is a setting. Pick one from the topic bank on this page, or any motion your class can argue from its own experience.
Does anyone see how I voted?
No. The board shows counts only, never names, and each phone shows only its owner's own path. In a small class a lone mover is still a count of one, the same exposure as any tally.
What if someone votes only once?
Only people who voted both times are in the flow and the net changes. Anyone who voted once is counted under the board rather than left out silently.
How long does it take?
Six timed speeches and a timed round of questions from the floor, two votes and a final question; the saved default shows under the headline as "About N min", and every timer is a setting you control before you run it.
Do students need an app or an account?
No. Students scan a QR code from the projector (or open a link) and play in their phone's browser. Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for.
Does it work in PowerPoint or Google Slides?
In PowerPoint, yes: open the Decka add-in on a slide and choose the Classroom tile. Google Slides is not supported yet; there you present from Decka itself. Students play from their phones either way.
How many students can play at once?
Up to 50 participants per live activity on the free plan, 150 on Pro, and 300 on Badass.
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