Conference Program

In a complex world filled with controversies, fake news, and misleading communication, training students in critical thinking is of utmost importance.

To do so, the “tribunal for future generations,” a debate format created by the French media “Usbek & Rica,” is proposed as an educational tool. In a dramatized way, real witnesses or experts, testifying for the benefit of future generations, are questioned by a “fake” court composed of an attorney, a prosecutor, and the court president. Through cross-examination and the witnesses’ expertise, this format allows exploration of the complexity of the chosen subject, while the staging provides distance and humor to avoid moralistic speeches [1].

This style of debate was previously used in the STEM community during a scientific conference. In front of materials scientists and students, the question “should we keep inventing new materials” was examined through the insights of academics, industry professionals, specialists in the history of materials, and their future prospects with Sci-Fi.

To actively involve students beyond just attending events, a new “Tribunal for the Future Generations” is being launched at the University of Saint Denis within the Bachelor of Technology department. A group of volunteer students runs a one-year program, ending with the creation and hosting of a final event open to the public. The students receive mentorships every two weeks from a team made up of a researcher and a professional speaker. This changes students' roles from passive attendees to active participants responsible for presenting a controversy [2].

The chosen topic was recycling. Indeed, recycling offers hope that we can keep producing new materials without generating waste or extracting additional raw resources. However, behind this appealing idea, and after many decades of practice, the reality still falls short of the promise. Plastics, metals, paper, and construction debris are still, quite frankly, far from being recycled in sufficient volumes to reduce our society's environmental impact. Will this gap likely decrease significantly in the future? Or was our optimism about this industry's potential misplaced from the start? Is recycling the solution we hoped for to build a more eco-friendly planet?

With this project, students explore various aspects of the topic: materials science, industry technologies, public regulation, the economy, and greenwashing. Being on stage at the final event as president of the court, attorney, and prosecutor requires a broad understanding and a critical eye for this complex subject. Soft skills such as eloquence, event organization, communication, and teamwork are also developed [1].

This presentation will outline the project organization over the year, followed by an evaluation of the outcomes through post-event discussions with participating students and audience surveys. Lastly, the potential of this format to promote critical thinking will be discussed.