Developing Children's Critical Thinking through Symbolic Narration: A Case Study of the Chapter 'The Lion and the Bull' from Kalila and Dimna

This research paper, entitled "Developing Critical Thinking in Children through Symbolic Narration: A Case Study of the Chapter 'The Lion and the Bull' from Kalila and Dimna," explores the issue of fostering critical thinking skills in children during middle childhood. Symbolic narration emerges as an effective tool in guiding children toward developing their cognitive and critical abilities. In this context, Kalila and Dimna, with its allegorical literary style, serves as an ideal model for activating such skills, aiming to shape a conscious personality capable of evaluat-ing situations objectively. This study—significant in its subject and original in its approach—employs a case study methodology focusing on the chapter "The Lion and the Bull" to highlight the role of symbolic narration in stimu-lating reflective and critical thinking in children. It also investigates the aesthetic dimension of literary texts, which enables children to uncover the underlying meanings behind events and characters. The study is divided into two levels: the first is a descriptive-analytical level that examines the interaction between the aesthetic and cognitive dimensions of the text and how it fosters critical awareness in children. The second is an inferential level, focusing on the role of storytelling in developing children's skills to analyze and evaluate data be-fore forming judgments.