Elizabeth_homeschool Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Hi! For folks who have used The Art of Argument in a co-op setting, what is the earliest age you'd recommend using this with? Our co-op has 2 groups (1st-4th grade and 5th-8th). As I've been preparing for this upcoming year, I've started to wonder if 5th grade is too young... (some of the kids may not be processing subject matter on logic-level just quite yet). I've considered having the 5th graders do something else during this time. BUT, I might be surprised at what they're capable of. Appreciate anyone's thoughts on the matter! TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 I haven't used Art of Argument, but did do informal fallacies with both my DC + formal logic with my older DC. Based on my limited experience from the coop we were in this past year, I think 5th grade would be on the young side for logic. I taught a group of 6th-8th and many of them, even the 6th and some of the 7th graders, were still pretty concrete in their thinking. The 8th graders were much more comfortable with abstract concepts. Take that with a grain of salt since I haven't seen Art of Argument. HTH! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeineandbooks Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 I used it last year with 5th and 7th grade. It worked great. I don't think concrete vs abstract thinking is a big deal with this particular program. I did not use the DVDs, but I did put in some time finding ads, memes, clips with fallacies, especially funny ones. The kids seemed to find these a memorable and enjoyable way to identify fallacies "in the wild". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth_homeschool Posted August 1 Author Share Posted August 1 Thank you ever so much @Porridge and @caffeineandbooks! I appreciate this feedback! Gives me hope. I had wondered about the DVD, but it doesn't sound like (nor from the sample I saw) be a good help with the younger thinkers - perhaps the older ones. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 I used the Argument Builder book with high schoolers and thought it made a good base to build my classes on. That said, age and ability varies a lot in our co-op. I teach high school and I would say most of my lessons are more middle school level due to varying academic ability and interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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