A commonly used teaching method to promote student engagement is the classroom debate. This study evaluates how affective characteristics, as defined in Bloom's taxonomy, were stimulated during debates that took place on a professional ethics module for first year computing undergraduates. The debates led to lively interactive group discussions with a high level of student engagement and participation. Data were collected from observations of affective characteristics during each debate. Results support the view that debating the ethics of familiar topics trigger affective characteristics and are beneficial in developing levels of student engagement, critical analysis, flexibility of thinking and motivation to learn. In relation to teaching professional ethics, stimulation of the affective domain plays an integral part in developing ethical sensitivity--an important component for moral development. The paper supports the inclusion of teaching strategies, which stimulate both the cognitive and the affective domains to ensure a holistic approach to teaching value-based content. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)