Argumentative practice in primary school

Abstract

In primary school, one of the most neglected elements is argumentative  practice (Sobrero, 1999). Conversely, oral and written reasoning helps students to develop flexible and reflexive ways of thinking, which could be fruitfully used in many actual situations. As a matter of course, such training path requires years of work, and students produce relevant argumentative papers and oral presentations only at the end of year five. This period of
work with students leads to the assemblage of one competence-oriented didactics, provided with the following key features: heavy reliance on students’ experiences; actuality and authenticity of given assignments; requirement of meta-cognitive work and self-evaluation on behalf of students; coevaluation leading to the development of a matrix, that shall be enriched and modified in order to provide relevant and complete responses to the
actual evaluative needs of the teacher and her students.