Introduction to Museum Studies, A503/A403
Elizabeth Kryder-Reid & Larry J. Zimmerman
IUPUI

Moderator's Guidelines

Museum Studies Ethics Bowl Rules and Procedures

  1. In an Ethics Bowl match, each team will be questioned by a moderator on a scenario, which is a fictional ethical scenario or dilemma. Although the scenarios are made available ahead of time, none of the participants will know in advance which of the dilemmas they will be asked to address in the Ethics Bowl competition, nor will they know the questions. No books will be allowed, but team members are allowed to bring simple notes on 3" x 5" index cards. However, a team that reads from a prepared statement may be disqualified at the discretion of the moderator.  Note paper to jot down thoughts is permitted.
  2. At the beginning of each match, each team will be provided with a copy of the scenario to be debated.
  3. The moderator will flip a coin. The winner of the coin toss will choose to go first or second.
  4. The moderator will read the scenario aloud and ask a question about the scenario (these may already be at the end of the scenario).  The moderator will keep time according to the following rules, but is given wide discretion and should not interrupt either teams or judges "in mid-sentence," allowing them to finish an argument.
  5. The team will have one (1) minute to confer, after which one spokesperson for the team may use up to five (5) minutes to respond to the moderator's question.
  6. The opposing team receives one (1) minute to confer, after which it may choose to present a response to the other team's answer and/or pose a question to the other team. The opposing team's response/question, presented by one spokesperson, may not exceed five (5) minutes.
  7. The judges have two (2) minutes to confer. Each judge may ask one question of either team, with the option of one brief immediate follow-up question, also of either team. The entire period for the judges' questions should not exceed sixteen (16) minutes, but they may ask the moderator for extra time if needed.
  8. The teams have one (1) minute to confer after each primary question and two (2) minutes to respond to it. Follow-up questions should be answered after a brief conference (30 seconds or so) and should be answered in one (1) minute. Note well: to encourage participation, different team members must respond to the questions of different judges. However, only one team member may respond to a judge's question. Judges are allowed to address questions to particular team members if they wish. The original spokesperson may not respond to a question unless all other team members have responded at least once.
  9. When the teams are done answering the judges' questions, each team will have one (1) minute to confer, and then have two (2) minutes to make a closing statement or rebuttal.
  10. After the formal round has ended and while the judges are filling out their scoring sheets and writing comments, the audience may ask questions of either team. The moderator will call on audience members with questions.
  11. Each judge will give both teams an overall score of zero (0) to five―five (5) being the highest score―based on these four criteria. Each of the criteria will be rated on a scale from zero to five, five being the highest score, zero being the lowest. When the scores for the four criteria are tallied, a team may receive as many as twenty (20) points per judge or as few as zero (0). A perfect score for a panel of three judges would be sixty (60) points
  12. The tabulators check the scores, fill out the tabulator’s sheet, and report them to the moderator, who announces the highest scoring team and returns the tabulator sheet to the professor.

 

Structure | Rules & Procedures | Judges Guidelines | Preparation | Sample Scenarios  | Scoring Sheets

 

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Credits:

Materials for these Ethics Bowl pages have been adapted from several Ethics Bowl web sites. These include:

Association of Professional and Practical Ethics
Center for Applied and Professional Ethics
The Society for American Archaeology Ethics Bowl