Capstone: Write Your Case
Build a complete case on a real resolution from real sources. This is your graduation assignment.
You have now covered the format, the speeches, research, case writing, rebuttal, crossfire, flowing, weighing, and delivery. The capstone is where you put it all together: a full case on a real resolution, grounded in real evidence and ready for AI coach feedback.
The resolution
Resolved: The United States federal government should ban the use of generative artificial intelligence in K-12 public schools. This topic has clear Pro ground (academic integrity, child safety, unknown long-term effects) and Con ground (personalized learning, workforce preparation, regulation vs. prohibition). Read all three sources before you pick a side.
Deliverable
Submit a framework and two contentions (each with a tag, link, and impact), and cite at least three real claims from the reading list. Write the case you would read at your first tournament rather than a research paper, and keep it readable in four minutes. Each contention should hold together like this:
What one contention has to contain
- Claim
Tag: banning generative AI in K-12 classrooms protects the development of student writing ability.
- Link
Link: when an assistant can produce a finished draft on request, the drafting and revising work that builds writing skill stops happening.
- Warrant
Internal link: writing ability develops through repeated production and revision, so removing that practice removes the mechanism that develops it.
- Evidence
Evidence: one cited claim from the reading list, with the author, outlet and date you can produce on request.
- Impact
Impact: a cohort that reaches graduation unable to construct an argument in writing, in a labour market that still runs on written communication.
After you submit
The AI feedback scores your work against the case rubric: structure, evidence grounding, tournament readiness, and side consistency. After that, find a tournament, a practice round, or a classroom. Nothing substitutes for your first real round.
Resolved: The United States federal government should ban the use of generative artificial intelligence in K-12 public schools.
This is your capstone. Pick Pro or Con and read all three sources. Turn in: (1) a one-sentence framework, (2) Contention 1 (tag + link + impact), and (3) Contention 2 (tag + link + impact). Use real claims from the reading. You should be able to read this case at a tournament.
Assignment
Capstone: Write Your Case
~25 min
Read before you write
- AI in Education: Guidance for Policy Makers
UNESCO · UNESCO
How international policymakers see the risks and benefits of AI in classrooms.
- Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning
U.S. Department of Education · ED
Official U.S. guidance on where AI helps in education and what guardrails it needs.
- Should schools ban or integrate generative AI in the classroom?
Brookings Institution · Brookings
Covers both sides of classroom AI. Pick your side and build from here.