The role of argumentation in intellectual development of children

Argumentation, as a necessary skill which is formed in the process of learning oratory, facilitates the child’s intellectual development – transition from simple fantasizing through egocentric mindsets to objective position in the solution of a task. The theoretical basis of this hypothesis were the ideas of J.Piaget, research of Perre-Clermont, T.Zittun, B.Schwartz and others, as well as the cultural-historical theory of L.S.Vygotsky, Elkonin-Davydov’s theory of developing education, P.Y.Galperin’s theory of formation of mental activity, theoretical and experimental works of G.A.Zukerman. The research was carried out in Moscow children’s art school named after M.A.Balakirev. Children aged from 9 to 12 participated. Egocentric and objective statements of children in the course of oratory classes were analyzed. These positions were correlated with the quality and logic of arguments usage from the point of view of rhetorical argumentation theory. The research allowed to identify how decentration, i.e. child’s transition from egocentric position to viewing the problem on the basis of objective criteria, occurs in the process of discussion,

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