DebateMath Podcast Mini DebateMath Lesson #1
Aug 14, 2025
Mike Flynn, President and CEO of Flynn Education and a former elementary teacher, teams up with Zak Champagne, Chief Content Officer and longtime teacher, for a lively debate over pizza slice styles. Mike champions triangular slices for their fairness and preservation of ‘goodness’, while Zak defends grid cuts for their crust preference convenience and waste reduction. The duo also shares engaging tips on using fun prompts to introduce debate structures in the classroom, turning something as simple as pizza into a learning tool!
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Start Small With Relatable Prompts
- Start debate activities with simple, relatable prompts like pizza or favorite superheroes.
- Use those easy prompts to teach and practice debate structure before moving to complex math topics.
Triangular Slices For Fairness
- Mike Flynn favors cutting pizza into uniform triangular slices to distribute cheese and crust more fairly.
- He argues circular triangular cuts reduce wasted crust and make portions more equal for late arrivals.
Grid Cuts Offer Choice
- Zak Champagne prefers grid-style cuts so people who avoid crust get middle pieces with no crust.
- He frames the square cut as offering more choices and reducing waste for those preferences.