Argumentation, reasoning, and critical thinking: an educational tool for the development of text analysis skills in university students.

Introduction. Studies in developmental and educational psychology have explored the role of argumentation in knowledge construction processes in education (Rigotti, Greco, 2010; Arcidiacono, 2015; Schwarz, Baker, 2017); in interactional contexts, argumentation hides a learning mechanism that allows people to change their position on a topic, expand and acquire new knowledge, and thus change their point of view. This study aims to demonstrate the role of argumentation as a tool to support and strengthen critical thinking. Methods.The research is of a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory nature 25 university students participated in the research. The students were involved in specially designed activities that required them to use reasoning and argumentation skills in problem-solving situations. Results.The students' answers would show an improvement in their reasoning and argumentation skills between the first and second tests. This would result in the students adopting a different approach to understanding the text, activating a process of transformation of previous knowledge and modes of analysis. Discussion. The analysis of the argumentative responses deliberately adopted an evolutionary orientation, focusing on the process of becoming and understanding how the argumentative skills of the students who participated in the teaching activity were transformed.