Argumentation and Education

Objectives

1. Learning the fundamentals of dialogue-based teaching methods.
2. Learning the most important tools of argument-based teaching.
3. Learning to use the different methods of dialogue- and argument-based teaching methods.
4. Developing lesson plans based on an argument-based method.
5. Learning the fundamentals of argumentation theory.
6. Learning and using the argumentative tools for assessing student’s writing.

General characterization

Code

02108346

Credits

5.0

Responsible teacher

Chrysi Rapanta

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 140

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

• Erduran, Sibel, Shirley Simon, and Jonathan Osborne. 2004. “TAPping into Argumentation: Developments in the Application of Toulmin’s Argument Pattern for Studying Science Discourse.” Science Education 88 (6): 915–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20012.
• Kuhn, Deanna, Laura Hemberger, and Valerie Khait. 2014. Argue with Me: Argument as a Path to Developing Students’ Thinking and Writing. New York, NY: Wessex Press.
• Muller-Mirza, Nathalie, and Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont. 2009. Argumentation and Education: Theoretical Foundations and Practices. Dordrecht: Springer.
• Rapanta, Chrysi, and Fabrizio Macagno. 2016. “Argumentation Methods in Educational Contexts: Introduction to the Special Issue.” International Journal of Educational Research 79: 142–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2016.03.006.
• Walton, Douglas. 2006. Fundamentals of Critical Argumentation. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Teaching method

The classes will be based on four types of methods: explanatory presentations, activities in small groups, lecture simulations by the students (individually and in groups) and works developed by the students. The theoretical contents developed and presented during the classes will be used by the students in specific individual and group activities.

Evaluation method

Continuous assessment - 1. A final test on the theoretical contents of the course(50%), 2. The development of a lesson plan previously proposed to the teacher(20%), 3. A presentation – namely a short class in which the students use the methods learnt (30%)

Subject matter

The course will be divided into two macro-areas mirroring the two dimensions of argument-based teaching, namely the dialogical teaching methods and the theoretical grounds of argumentative dialogue. The classes will be divided in theoretical classes concerning the foundations of argumentation theory and methodological/practical classes on the argument-based teaching methods. Specific contents:
• Fundamentals of argumentation theory
i. The concept of argument
ii. The dimensions of argumentative dialogue
iii. The types of argument
iv. Fallacies
• Fundamentals of argument-based teaching.
i. The most important contemporary teaching methods
ii. The most important dialogue-based teaching theories
iii. The instruments of argument-based teaching
iv. The “argue with me” curriculum and approach

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: