Abstract:

The Debate or the art of regulated debate is a methodology recently introduced in the Italian scholastic panorama. Promoted by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and by the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (INDIRE) already starting from primary school, develops critical and divergent thinking, communication skills, of public speaking and listening education; promotes self-esteem and cultural awareness, accustoms them to know how to structure a discourse and support their arguments, to search for and select sources, to be aware and informed citizens.

In October 2014, INDIRE became the promoter, along with 22 "founding schools", of a national movement called "Avanguardie Educative" which today includes more than a thousand enrolled educational institutes that want to experience the various processes of transformation and innovation ; given the educational / educational value of the debate methodology, it was included among the 12 ideas "to be adopted" to be an integral part of the movement.

The research on this methodology includes a large body of empirical studies that expose its repercussions at multiple levels, from the psychological to the social; dismantling, in fact, some traditional paradigms allows, also through the use of cooperative learning and peer education to acquire transversal skills (life skill) related not only to a creative and intelligent use of language and communication, of the art of argumentation but also those knowledge, skills and attitudes that come into play when a competence in behavior must be translated to meet a need of the personal and social environment.

The debate teaches us to go beyond dialectical dialogue by experimenting with new forms of dialogic conversations also through “decision maps “or argumentative maps, thus reinforcing logical and relational skills. It not only allows you to broaden your horizons and enrich your skills, but looking at it in perspective, it is also a trump card in the world of work.

The origin of the Debate is actually traced back to ancient Greece already with Aristotle and then structured in Roman times in the form of ars oratory or rhetoric. In the Middle Ages, and more widely in the period between the XI and XVII centuries, the Debate is identified or assimilated to the form of the "disputationes quodlibetales" understood as a dispute in which the masters did not assign the topic to be discussed but this was chosen by the students or by other masters present at the dispute. But then if it is true that this methodology goes back to ancient times, what is innovation? With this contribution we will try to focus attention on the validity and innovations that this methodology brings into being at an educational / didactic level but also on the need to create evaluation grids related to each academic level also in the university context.

Keywords:

Debate, Life Skill, Methodology Innovation.