Reasoning Skills are being taught WAAAAYYY before Primary School!!

In theory, I think reasoning skills SHOULD be taught in primary school, and believe they are being taught. Just the act of going to school involves reasoning skills. So as much as reasoning skills can be “taught”, the most important time for it to happen is in primary school. However, reasoning skills are best learned by example and actual experiences, and I know they are being provided in primary school. This is an example of some “reasoning skills” recommended for children age 6-10 by www.education.com

• Use concrete manipulatives and experiences to illustrate concepts and ideas.

• Supplement verbal explanations with concrete examples, pictures, and hands-on activities.

• Allow time for organized play activities.

• Introduce children to various adult professions, and provide opportunities to practice authentic adult tasks

My wife used to be a Kindergarten Teacher and when I asked her if these are some things that she taught in her classroom, she responded yes to all of them. Reasoning skills are an essential part of human growth, and they should be happening from birth, and should never stop. My two year old is learning reasoning skills every minute of every day, not necessarily because we are teaching him, but he is learning through experience and by the example that my wife and I set for him and the environment we create for him. I know that kids can learn inappropriate reasoning skills and those can be corrected, and should be corrected in primary school. I deal with people on a daily basis who don’t have very mature or developed reasoning skills, so it is definitely important to develop these skills in primary school.

My wife would often gripe about the kids not knowing how to solve conflicts or accomplish a difficult task as a group, and how she didn’t know how to teach them without actually doing it for them. She didn’t feel prepared to teach her students life skills and as a result she ended up dealing with these issues FOR her students, because there were so many other things to teach that there was really no time except to show by example. Reasoning, conflict resolution and problem solving skills need to be addressed more thoroughly in primary school, but even more importantly they need to be taught in the home environment.

However, the ability to develop reasoning skills is based on the person’s level of physical, social and emotional maturity. A standard for teaching reasoning skills cannot be developed in the same way that a standard for math, science or social studies can. Each person develops reasoning skills in their own time and in their own way, and the best teachers can do is provide rich experiences for the students to exercise these skills and for families to let the child appropriately be a part of their adult experiences.