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Debate kit Grade 6 Careers & CTE

Wrendale's One New Job: A Water Careers Debate Kit

A grade 6 debate kit on whether a water district should hire a conservation coordinator or a third pipe repair worker, with two-sided evidence and role notes.

Objectives

  1. Students will state a claim about a staffing choice and support it with named evidence.
  2. Students will describe the training route into two different water-sector jobs.
  3. Students will compare the benefits and costs of each hire for customers and for crews.

Vocabulary

Water main
A big underground pipe that carries drinking water beneath the streets to a neighborhood. Smaller service lines branch off it to reach each building.

Also: conservation coordinator, distribution license, rebate, claim

Teacher overview

This is a two-team structured debate that runs across two class sessions, with one session for preparation and one for the rounds themselves. Students argue over how a small water district should spend the money it has for one new employee. The question is genuinely contested, because saving water and fixing pipes both protect the same supply, and the two jobs are entered by very different training routes. The kit supplies evidence for both sides and a rubric for scoring.

Wrendale's One New Job: A Water Careers Debate Kit — Grade 6 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Resolution & Background

Resolution: The fictional Wrendale Water District has money for one new job this year. It should hire a water conservation coordinator rather than a third pipe repair worker.

Background. Wrendale is a fictional town that runs its own small water district. Next year's budget has room for one new full-time job, and two departments have asked for it.

The first request is for a water conservation coordinator. That worker would run rebates on efficient toilets and showerheads, teach classes in the schools, and help customers find leaks at home. Most people in this job hold a two-year or four-year degree. Many study science, writing, or a water program, and some earn a certificate in water conservation later.

The second request is for a third pipe repair worker. The crew now has two workers, and they dig up broken mains, change valves, and turn the water back on. Most crew members start right after high school and learn the work on the job. They then earn a state distribution license by passing an exam, and some later move up to crew leader.

Both jobs protect the same water. One saves water before anyone uses it, while the other stops water from leaking out of broken pipes. The district cannot pay for both this year.

Roles. Split the class into two teams of equal size. One team argues for the coordinator, and the other argues for the repair worker. Each team picks an opening speaker, two evidence speakers, and a closing speaker. Three students judge and score with the rubric below, and one student keeps time. Each opening runs four minutes and each evidence speech runs three minutes. Teams then huddle for two minutes before each closing, which runs three minutes.

Evidence File

Case for hiring the conservation coordinator

  1. Home leaks waste about 180 gallons a week, which is close to 9,400 gallons a year. A coordinator can show every customer in town how to find those leaks, while a repair crew reaches only the streets where a main has already broken. (Source: EPA WaterSense Fix a Leak Week.)
  2. The average US household uses about 300 gallons of water a day. Roughly 70 percent of that use is indoors. Rebates on indoor fixtures reach that large share. (Source: EPA WaterSense.)
  3. Water that is never used costs nothing to pump or treat. The summer peak in the fictional Wrendale district would drop, so the plant would run fewer extra hours.
  4. The coordinator also runs school programs. Those programs build interest in water jobs among students who will soon be old enough to apply.

Case for hiring the third pipe repair worker

  1. The ASCE 2025 Report Card gave US drinking water a C- and wastewater a D+. Those grades say drinking water pipes need attention and sewer pipes are in poor shape. (Source: the ASCE 2025 Report Card.)
  2. A water main breaks somewhere in the US about every two minutes. Water lost from a broken main runs into the street, and no amount of care at home stops that loss. (Source: ASCE Report Card talking points.)
  3. EPA says $625 billion is needed for drinking water over 20 years. About two-thirds of that need is in distribution pipes. (Source: EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey.)
  4. The crew in the fictional Wrendale district has only two workers, so it must call a contractor for breaks at night. A third worker would let the crew take its own night calls and finish repairs sooner.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Rubric
Criterion Emerging Developing Proficient Advanced
Claim States no clear position on the resolution States a position but drifts from it during the speech States a clear position and holds to it throughout States a clear position and returns to it in the closing with added force
Evidence use Offers opinion with no evidence card named Names one evidence card without explaining it Names at least two evidence cards and explains how each supports the claim Names at least two cards, explains each, and shows why they outweigh the other team's strongest card
Careers knowledge Cannot describe either job Describes the duties of one job only Describes both jobs and names the training route into the side being argued Describes both jobs, both training routes, and explains why that route matters to the district's choice
Delivery and response Reads without responding to the other team Responds to the other team in general terms Answers a specific point the other team raised Answers specific points and adjusts the team's own reasoning in the closing

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a one-page card for the fictional Wrendale debate holding only the strongest two pieces of evidence for their side, each rewritten in one sentence. Provide the sentence starter "Our team believes Wrendale should hire ____ because ____." Let them speak from written notes.

Extension

Ask students to propose a third option the fictional Wrendale board did not consider, such as one part-time hire in each role, and to argue it against the winning side using the same evidence cards plus one reason of their own.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "conservation," "rebate," "distribution," and "claim" with a picture card and a one-sentence meaning for each. Provide a two-column note sheet with the fictional district's two jobs at the top so students can sort evidence as they listen. Allow team huddles in a shared first language.

Extensions

Have the class hold a mock board meeting in which the judges announce the fictional Wrendale decision and each team writes a short letter to the district explaining what it will watch for over the next year. Students can also look up which of the two jobs their own local utility lists as open and report what the posting requires.