Reasoning as a Pedagogical Tool: Tolstoy’s Real Happening Stories for Children
- 420 Downloads
Abstract
Viewing Tolstoy’s works from psychological and intellectual perspectives demonstrates his approach to children’s literacy and especially the development of reasoning, which he presents in his writing for children and the stories he includes in his New ABC book (1875a) and four Readers (1875b). This article examines Tolstoy’s reasoning approach in education and its application in his real happening stories for children. Some of Tolstoy’s ideas about upbringing that are expressed in his stories are similar to ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and a Swiss developmental physiologist contemporary to Tolstoy, Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Tolstoy’s real happening stories treat situations that a child might actually experience; they propose and teach scenarios that might influence a child’s or an adult’s thinking about ways to obtain an education. Thus, in Tolstoy’s approach to children’s education, reasoning becomes a pedagogical tool, used to develop knowledge, experience and critical thinking ability.
Keywords
Tolstoy Reasoning Pedagogy Real happening stories EducationNotes
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to Dr. Linda J. Ivanits for her support and engagement throughout the entire process of writing this article.
References
- Archer, R.L., and Frost, S.E., Jr. (Eds.). (1964). Jean Jacques Rousseau: His Educational Theories Selected From Emile, Julie and Other Writings. Great Neck, NY: Barron’s Educational Series.Google Scholar
- Atherton, J.S. (2011). Piaget’s Developmental Theory. Learning and Teaching. Accessed October 18, 2011, from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm#Stages.
- Blaisdell, Bob. (2000). Tolstoy as Teacher (Christopher Edgar, Trans.). New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative.Google Scholar
- Cohen, Adir. (1979). Children’s Literature in the Work of Leo Tolstoy. Journal of Reading, 22(4), 296–311.Google Scholar
- Lehman, Kristin. (1984). Tolstoy’s Fables: Tools for a Vision. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 9(2), 68–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Mitchell, Peter, and Ziegler, Fenja. (2007). Fundamentals of Development: The Psychology of Childhood. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
- Moulin, Dan. (2008). Leo Tolstoy the Spiritual Educator. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13(4), 345–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Orwin, Donna T. (1993). Tolstoy’s Art and Thought, 1847–1880. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
- Piaget, Jean. (1959). Judgment and Reasoning in the Child. Paterson, NJ: Littlefield, Adams & Co.Google Scholar
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1762/1979). Emile, Or On Education. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
- Singer, Dorothy G., and Revenson, Tracey A. (1978). A Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks. New York: A Plume Book.Google Scholar
- Tolstoy, L.N. (1875a). Novaia Azbuka. Moscow: Tipografiia Torletzkogo i Terehova. Accessed April 16, 2013, from http://imwerden.de/pdf/tolstoy_novaya_azbuka.pdf.
- Tolstoy, L.N. (1875b). Russkaia Kniga Dlia Chteniia. Moscow. Accessed April 16, 2013, from http://rvb.ru/tolstoy/tocvol_10.htm.
- Tolstoy, L.N. (1978–1985). Sobranie sochinenii v 22 tomah. Moscow: Fiction Literature. Accessed October 15, 2011, from http://rvb.ru/tolstoy/01text/vol_16/01text/0342.htm.
- Tolstoy, L.N. (1982). Fables, Tales, Stories: A Captive in the Caucasus. Moscow: Russian Language Publishers.Google Scholar
- Tolstoy, L.N. (2002). Classic Tales and Fables for Children. Amherst, MA: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar
- Vygotsky, Lev. (1932). Piaget’s Theory Child Language and Thought. Moscow: Gosizdat. Accessed August 22, 2011, from http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/words/ch02.htm.
- Wadsworth, Barry J. (1996). Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development. White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers.Google Scholar
- Wasiolek, Edward. (1978). Critical Essays on Tolstoy. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall & Co.Google Scholar
- Wasiolek, Edward. (1986). Tolstoy’s Major Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
- Yegorov, Semion. (1994). Leo Tolstoy. Prospects, 24(3), 647–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Zaidenshnur, E.E. (1970). Tolstoi i Russkoe Narodnoe Tvorchestvo. In L.N. Tolstoi I Russkaia Literaturno-obshchestvennaia Mysl’. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar