Hello Scrawl Nation! For this week’s episode, Scrawl welcomed Creation Museum founder Ken Ham and science educator Bill Nye into the studio. FULL DISCLAIMER: Ken Ham and Bill Nye were not actually guests on Scrawl Radio.
As you may know, the Creation Museum hosted a debate between Ham and Nye on February 4th. Both of the speakers hoped to spark a broader discussion about the role of creationism in science and in science classrooms in the United States. Nye argued that creationism does not work with the current scientific knowledge, while Ham argued that scientists have unfairly portrayed creationists and skewed facts to make the creation theory seem less credible.
While the Internet lit up with discussions about these issues, Scrawl decided to take a look at how both these speakers used words to make their case. Instead of talking about science or faith, we took clips from the debate and analyzed their rhetorical strategies. What type of language did they use? How did they rely on ethos, pathos, and logos?
Furthermore, we played our favorite game, What Kind of Debate Are You? The goal of this game is to help our listeners learn about different types of debates. There are many different formats that have different rules and procedures. Knowing about these types of debates can be very useful when thinking about writing.
If you want to learn more about different rhetorical strategies for debate, then check out this episode!
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Original Air Date: 2-7-14