DEMO: Teaching the 21st Century Student

4.1.3

Argumentation skills

What & Why

ARGUMENTATION is the act or process of reasoning in support of an idea, action, or theory. People argue to justify a belief or a decision, convince others about strategies, solutions or plans, or to influence the behavior of others. Argumentation usually occurs during

discussions,negotiations, orpresentations in the formof adialoguebetween two opponents or opinion groups. The ability to identify and understand both explicit and implicit goals and arguments of different opinion sides is instrumental in understanding argumentation. This assumes a set of skills following a general structure.

Good argumentation skills rely on politeness and respect. To secure a civ- ilized debate, the arguing parties should follow rules that include:

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