From Anecdotal Exchange to Critical Dialogue in Kindergarten: A Case Study in Italy Based on Habermas’ Construct of Rational Behavior

The objective of this study was to investigate preschool-aged children’s rational behavior and dialogical critical thinking and analyze different types of dialogical exchange about mathematics among 5-years-old children. Based on a two-part theoretical framework, one referred to Habermas’ construct of rational behavior and the second to Daniel’s model about typology of dialogical exchange among peers, the study shows that a dialogue containing all three components of the rational behavior can be reached by children just when the dialogue is a critical dialogical type. This happens when children show spontaneous and complete justifications, with a critic approach and this allows children to reach a modification of the initial idea as a common solution. Considerations about teacher’s role are presented.