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P4C - Philosophy for Children
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Think of doing philosophy with children. What picture does this
conjure up? Should we imagine classes slaving over the works of
Plato or listening to a lecture on educational philosophy? Think
again.
Whether it is truth or beauty, friendship or fairness, what?s
right or what?s real, philosophy deals with so many things that
children love to discuss. Set these ideas and concerns in stories
and novels written for children. Add to this the procedures of classroom
inquiry based upon the philosophical tools of reasoning and imaginative
exploration. Top it off with a teacher whose role is to develop
and challenge the students thinking. This is the starting point
for philosophy for children.
The students become accustomed
to asking each other for reasons and opinions, to listening
carefully to each other, to building on each others
ideas? - Dr. Matthew Lipman
Traditionally, philosophy is the discipline primarily concerned
with logical, critical and reflective thinking, the development
of reasoning competence and the analysis of meaning. Philosophy
is thinking dedicated to the improvement of thinking. It is both
open-ended and rigorous.
Philosophy taps children?s natural curiosity and sense of wonder.
It engages them in the search for meaning and enriches and extends
their understanding. It strengthens thinking and reasoning skills
and builds self-esteem. It helps to develop the qualities that make
for good judgement in everyday life.
Developed more than twenty years ago by Dr. Matthew Lipman a
philosophy professor at Montclair State College in New Jersey, Philosophy
for Children is an international educational programme taught widely
in many countries. At last count, Philosophy for Children was represented
in some thirty countries around the world - ranging from Austria
to Iceland, Bulgaria to Brazil and Canada to Taiwan - with philosophical
conversations among children taking place in sixteen languages.
Philosophy for children improves critical, creative and rigorous
thinking. Participants develop their higher order thinking skills
and the attitudes and dispositions necessary for good thinking.
They improve their communication skills and their abilities to work
with others.
Specifically these include:
Cognitive Skills Evaluating reasons and arguments
Exploring and analysing concepts Drawing inferences Identifying
underlying suppositions and assumptions Making distinctions
Seeing connections Identifying fallacies Testing generalisations
Formulating questions Clarifying ideas Constructing arguments
Refining and modifying arguments in response to criticism Recognising
implications: theoretical and practical Finding examples and
counter examples Finding analogies and disanalogies Seeing
broader perspectives Formulating and testing criteria Being
consistent Sticking to the point Self correction Co-operative
Skills Listening to others Open mindedness Treating
others? views with respect Building on others? ideas Confident
self expression Being willing to offer criticism Being willing
to accept and respond to criticism Becoming committed to inquiry
Valuing reasonableness Developing intellectual courage
?In the classroom the children
can be successful just by giving immediate responses.
Philosophy gets them to reflect more deeply? -
A teacher
Ethical values are integrated into philosophy for children in
two ways. First, the ethos of the community of inquiry both requires
and develops a range of ethical values that are essential to participation
in a society in which there exists a plurality of values. These
?democratic? values include tolerance, respect for others, taking
all ideas seriously, caring for the procedures that govern collaborative
inquiry, and willingness to listen to alternative viewpoints. Secondly,
ethical questions are often the subject of inquiry. Ethics is a
central area in philosophy and many of the purpose written materials
stimulate philosophical exploration of concepts such as good, bad,
fairness, rules, rights, duty, friendship, and empathy.
?Philosophy teaches
our boys to see past the classroom walls? - A
teacher
The issue of values education has given rise to two contrasting
concerns. First, some people fear that ?values education? is likely
to be authoritarian and didactic and therefore, in the long term,
ineffective. Second, others fear that if children are encouraged
to make up their own minds about ethical values, there will be little
agreement about core values, and that children will adopt a relativist
position on values, according to which all choices for action are
equally ?good? and all immune from criticism. Ethical inquiry in
philosophy for children avoids both these perceived dangers. Exploring
ethical questions in the community of inquiry does require students
to make up their own minds, through dialogue with others, but the
rigorous nature of the inquiry, and the emphasis on assessing reasons
for positions means that, in practice, a community is very unlikely
to come to the conclusion that ?anything goes?. In fact, students
in the community of inquiry typically recreate for themselves -
and own - a stable set of core ethical values which have withstood
the test of careful evaluation.
Higher order thinking skills Independent thinking
Excitement and motivation Increased reading comprehension
Maths and science achievement Increased co-operative skills
Better relationships with peers and parents Personal development
and self esteem Transfer of skills to other areas of study
Skills learnt in the community of inquiry are transferable. Philosophy
for children enables students to make bridges between the various
things they learn, thus making the curriculum more meaningful to
them. Both the co-operative skills and the thinking skills developed
in Philosophy for Children contribute to improved social interactions
and greater social responsibility.
I like Philosophy
because it gives me a chance to discuss new things and
hear other people's thoughts about it - Form
One student
Philosophy for Children is often described as a thinking skills
programme or a course in critical and creative thinking. While it
is true that philosophy for children does improve students? critical
and creative thinking skills, calling it a ?thinking skills? programme
does not do it justice. It does much more as well.
Philosophy for children builds on the students? own wonder and
curiosity about ideas that are vitally important to them. The subject
matter of Philosophy for Children is those common, central and contestable
concepts that underpin both our experience of human life and all
academic disciplines. Examples of such concepts are:
Truth, reality, knowledge, evidence, freedom, justice, goodness,
rights, mind, identity, love, friendship, rules, responsibility,
action, logic, language, fairness, reason, existence, possibility,
beauty, meaning, self, time, God, infinity, human nature, thought.
The central pedagogical tool and guiding ideal of Philosophy
for Children is the community of inquiry. In the community of inquiry,
students work together to generate and then answer their own questions
about the philosophical issues contained in purpose written materials
or a wide range of other resources. Thinking in the community of
inquiry is critical, creative, collaborative and caring.
?In philosophy you
learn how to think, not what to think? - A student
In the community of inquiry students learn to respect, listen
to and understand a diverse range of views. The process of philosophical
exploration in this environment encourages students to take increased
responsibility for their own learning processes and to develop as
independent and self-correcting learners. Students develop the confidence
and intellectual courage to put forward their own views in a group.
Participation in the community of inquiry develops higher order
thinking skills in the context of meaningful discussion.
Philosophy for children achieves these aims by giving students
the opportunity to think for themselves about ideas and concepts
that they themselves select as the ones which are interesting and
worthwhile pursuing.
Examples might be:
What has a mind? How should we treat our friends? Should
we always think for ourselves? What would a fair society be
like? Do we own our bodies? What does it mean to know something?
What counts as a good reason for something?
A typical session consists of a group reading of a source text,
followed by the gathering of students? questions that have been
stimulated by the reading. These questions form the agenda for discussion.
Each reading usually generates enough questions for several subsequent
discussions in the community of inquiry. The students? collaborative
inquiry can be facilitated by the use of appropriate discussion
plans and exercises, which function to maintain focus and encourage
depth of discussion. Purpose written texts are just one possible
source material. Other written material, images and recordings can
also be used to stimulated philosophical inquiry. Drawing and drama
can also be used as a springboard for discussion.
Discussion in the community of inquiry is not just a process
of swapping opinions. Classroom discussion is aimed at the construction
of the best answer to the questions raised. This best answer is
not provided or validated by the teacher. Instead, the class has
the responsibility for both constructing and evaluating the range
of possible responses to a question. Philosophy for children is
not based on the assumption that there are no right or wrong answers.
Instead, it is based on the belief that, even if final answers are
difficult to come by, some answers can reasonably be judged better
- more defensible - than others.
Philosophy for Children emphasises a conversation and dialogue
based process of inquiry. As all participants share their own ideas
so each individual must consider many different perspectives. Many
students have the experience of seeing that what they thought was
obvious is not obvious to people who have different perspectives.
This encourages tolerance of others? ideas, and increases students?
ability to work together.
Philosophy classes could either be a regular part of the teaching
week or be run as a special program with students of any age and
ability. For example, in the primary school, a few hours per week
could be used in doing philosophy for children at first with the
purpose written materials and then with carefully selected children?s
literature or materials from other parts of the curriculum. In the
senior school, classes can be based on stories or exercises from
existing philosophy for children materials, on newspaper articles
or movies, or on current social issues. Students can also explore
philosophical issues related to the standard curriculum.
?It taught me to
think deeper into subjects and I could open up and say
what I thought instead of being afraid of doing so.?
- Standard Four student
While all students benefit from philosophy, two groups of students
are likely to find it especially appealing and useful. Most ?gifted?
students find the chance to engage in philosophical exploration
extremely stimulating. They respond especially well to the intellectual
challenge of engaging with ideas that are common and central to
our lives, but are ultimately contestable. Secondly, those students
who seem to not perform well in the traditional school situation
can respond very well to participation in the community of inquiry.
Since participation is primarily oral, it can be an excellent opportunity
for extension of students who have difficulties with reading and
writing. Because the subject matter of philosophy includes questions
that we all wonder about, students who have difficulty seeing the
relevance of school subjects often become interested in the ?deep?
ideas explored in the community of inquiry. The atmosphere of care
and safety generated in a good community of inquiry provides a space
in which less confident students can try out ideas with the guarantee
that they will be listened to. Cognitive skills acquired through
participation in the community of inquiry can then be transferred
to other areas of study.
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