**6.5. Findings of the active learning debate class**

Throughout this class, the cultural, academic, educational, and social background of each of the nine students had a significant role and impact. Students who were trained and educated in Western countries such as the United States and Europe had completely different set of values, mindset, and understanding of the different debate topics. Their dissimilar culture, societal values, and concerns affected a range of topics, such as how they perceive AI, the role and importance of robotics, how each country's education should be and perceived, and so on. More importantly, what stood out the most was how language, each student's cultural background and style of sharing their knowledge had a significant impact on their participation. For instance, the majority of students who were educated in Western countries were trained to approach their arguments philosophically, providing examples to build their opinions logically. Notable, all of the international students seemed to be very confident to share their opinion without hesitation in comparison to the Japanese students.

Through observation, the Japanese students faced difficulty in sharing their opinions on the basis of philosophy, and the majority of them indicated that they never had the chance to study Western philosophy in depth. Since this class was structured while considering the international backgrounds of students, most cited examples from their cultural backgrounds, relaying how topics are perceived in their home country and the rationales behind this thinking. Initially, Japanese students were reluctant to speak and did not engage as actively in sharing their opinions. However, through this bidirectional communication, as the class went on they shared more and became familiar with the class style, atmosphere, and communicating with each classmate. By the end of the class, the Japanese graduate students in particular became more active in terms of speaking and sharing their thoughts, though still behind their international peers. Nine weeks spent in this active learning style debating class provided a new approach of teaching and learning and changed the way students approached classroom learning and development.

#### **6.6. Student development and outcomes**

Through the nine class sessions, students reached and developed deeper understanding of course concepts. Share their opinions, but also hearing the other students and then changing, adjusting, or think critically, and beginning to consider problems from multiple perspectives. They also gained more confidence and started to feel more open to frankly share their thoughts and opinions with their classmates, whether they were international or domestic Japanese students, the atmosphere of the class changed drastically compared to the first introductory class. This same pattern was found among other students being introduced to active learning discussions, Salemi found, "the more the students participate and get used to the class, students prepare better for active learning classes because they know that they will be asked to contribute, and students will like to talk about class material with their peers using familiar language" [19]. Likewise, in our class, the more the students participated in the class, they were speaking to their peers more in familiar language and sharing terminologies with each other. Discussion among a diverse group of peers revealed the differing approaches individuals take based on their own background and perspective and sharing these in discussion benefited the entire group. Additionally, students benefit from variety in the class atmosphere, learn through each other, and realize that they aid in teaching other students, becoming reflective learners. Students learn from their peers, and they try harder to make them understand more, think in-depth, and explain their arguments in a more logical and persuasive way. This class introduced a new engaging learning atmosphere compared to the typical passive learning style Japanese student experience. Students gain confidence, feel more comfortable in sharing their knowledge and opinions, gain satisfaction from hearing and being involved in the class with their peers, and share their opinions in a more real-world exercise. Students started to be more active in class participation, obtaining the sense of awareness that they played an important role in their learning and had a responsibility for what they said and shared.
