Philosophy for children has long been an element of pedagogical research in which children's philosophizing is treated as a method of their educating. The conducted research shows that philosophical ...reflections of children bring benefits in the implementation of some teaching content or support the social and emotional development of children. This study presents the results of qualitative research carried out to understand the philosophical activity of younger school-age children with different educational needs. The main problem was included in the question: What is the philosophical activity of students of younger school age with different educational needs? Participant observation was used in the conducted research procedure. The results of the research carried out in a group of 15 students of the second integrated grade showed that, in most cases, the philosophical activity of the respondents was very diverse, regardless of their educational needs. The only exception included students with a certificate on the need for special education who attended the philosophy classes in a very limited scope. The conducted research is an example of children's philosophical reflections.
Studies have characterized high school students as bored, alienated, and disconnected with their class and the learning process. In order to address this problem to improve student learning ...engagement, this study explores the impact of philosophical inquiry (PI) on the development of adolescents' academic engagement and adds to the scholarly research on Philosophy for Children (P4C). In determining an appropriate and holistic approach to investigating students' learning engagement and motivation from the perspective of psychology, this study involves multiple forms of data collection, specifically including surveys, student work, focus group interviews, classroom discussions, and reflective notes. Applying a qualitative method, this multiple case study developed a deeper understanding of the classroom contexts, conditions, discourses, tools, and practices that promote positive adolescent learning experiences. The study developed a conceptual framework of student academic engagement in a PI class and summarized reasons why the participants engaged in learning. First, students believed that maintaining a safe and positive classroom environment is a fundamental condition for learning. Second, they reported that asking questions, sharing ideas, listening attentively, thinking deeply, and making connections are the manifestations of an engaging classroom. Third, students reported that they transcended their learning experiences by living a new philosophy that was acquired in the process of the community of inquiry. The study found that PI enhanced social inclusion and active participation of the participant in the learning process.
This paper is an introduction to the dossier on “the present and the future of doing philosophy with children”, which itself drew inspiration from a conference on the same topic that was held in ...University College Dublin on the 24th of June 2022. While the conference aimed at building a case for the importance of engaging pre-college students in philosophical thinking, it also aspired to function as a forum where the participants can critically reflect on the practice of doing philosophy with children. The participants were asked to reflect on 1) the ways in which philosophy prepares children to engage with an increasingly complex world; 2) the future challenges of the P4wC movement; 3) the ways in which and the extent to which P4wC practice contributes to the decolonization of childhood discourses; 4) the ways in which and the extent to which the philosophy with children initiative addresses issues of epistemic injustice and educational and social inequalities. Building on the discussions that took place during and after the conference, the authors in this dossier interrogate the hierarchical opposition between child and adult, and cast a critical gaze on adultist assumptions that prevent Philosophy for/with Children initiatives from achieving their full potential.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Since 1984, the philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai‘i movement, a partnership between the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) and Hawai‘i’s public schools, has experienced success in creating a more ...philosophical schooling experience. UHM’s Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education supports this movement by offering a ‘Philosopher in Residence’ who aids teachers in bringing philosophical inquiry into practice (Lukey 2013). Philosophers in Residence continue to support p4c Hawai‘i at Kailua High School, Waimānalo Intermediate and Elementary School, and Waikīkī, Ka‘elepulu, and Sunset Beach Elementary Schools.
As the movement grows, we continually ask, how can we support teachers in making p4c a ‘living and reliable educational option’ (Lipman 1988, p. vii) with limited resources? One solution is the philoSURFER Internship Project, where pre-college students intern with university Philosophers in Residence and assist kindergarten through to ninth grade teachers in ‘doing’ philosophy with students. Kailua High School started their first philoSURFERS cohort in the fall of 2015, and Sunset Beach Elementary School adapted the model and had their first cohort of philoSURFERS in the fall of 2021. Since 2015, 151 philoSURFERS have supported over 65 teachers and thousands of students at eight schools to engage in philosophical inquiry.
The aim of this academic reflection is to share the lessons the five authors and project coordinators have learned over the last eight years of this school-university partnership for other organisations interested in utilising pre-collegiate students as catalysts for making philosophy an integral aspect of our schools.
Background: Media literacy is one of the essential skills needed by learners in the twenty-first century. Teaching this skill requires adopting methods that stimulate thinking and reasoning among ...learners. This study aims to analyze the effect of P4C on students’ philosophical mentality and learning in a school course entitled Thinking and Media Literacy. Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental method employing the pretest-posttest control group design. The research population consisted of all male students studying in the tenth grade at a school in Arak, Iran, in 2018-19 academic year. The sample comprised 44 students, selected by cluster sampling, and assigned to two experimental and control groups. Data collection was performed using a philosophical mentality questionnaire and a researcher-made learning test. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, mean, frequency and standard deviation were used. Covariance analysis was applied for inferential statistics using SPSS version 23. Results: The statistical results showed that in terms of learning outcomes, the mean score in the P4C group (M=18.06, SD=1.6) was higher than in the conventional group (M=15.7, SD=1.6). There was a significant difference between learning outcome scores in the experimental and control groups (P<0.001). In addition, the mean score of philosophical mentality in the experimental group (M=146.3, SD=8.7) was significantly higher than that in the control group (M=131.8, SD=11.7), (P<00.1). Conclusion: Considering the findings of this study, it is suggested that the prominent principles in P4C programs be used in teaching the Thinking and Media Literacy course.
Picturebooks offer powerful supports for teaching diverse content across different curriculum areas. Research and curriculum resources document their use in inquiry‐based education practices, ...particularly in relation to science and philosophy. There is, however, little theoretical analysis of this use or cross‐curricular comparisons. Applying a systematic literature review process, this paper examines existing empirical research on the use of picturebooks in formal inquiry‐based education contexts. The analysis considers the context in which the picturebooks were used, including curriculum context and class level, the role played by the picturebooks in the inquiries and the value ascribed to the use of picturebooks. The review proposes a framework for understanding and contrasting the varying roles played by picturebooks in inquiry‐based education approaches. This framework involves seven uses: invitations, provocations, mentors, models, resources, touchstones and destinations. Varying benefits are attributed to the use of picturebooks, including their practicality, inclusivity, complexity, aid to cognitive learning, emotional engagement and association with child readers. These benefits emphasise both the accessibility and the complexity of picturebooks. The review proposes that inquiry approaches should attend to picturebook form and content and the interdependency of the two. The review's analysis supports extended use of picturebooks across the curriculum, including in history, geography, citizenship and science education, as well as in interdisciplinary approaches.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Dialogue represents an indispensable pedagogical dimension. In the current educational scenario, it is an extraordinary tool to encourage the active co-construction of knowledge by students and to ...promote transversal skills and metacognitive awareness. Among the different dialogical approaches, Philosophy for Children stands out for the philosophical connotation assumed by the dialogue and for the shared search for deep meanings related to the epistemology of knowledge itself. Just as Matthew Lipman, the author of the proposal, hopes, it can be qualified as a means for a teaching of disciplines that is open to the act of competence and the dimension of transdisciplinarity. This essay, theoretical in nature, aims to bring out the heuristic value inherent in the philosophical dialogue of community, then proposing operational strategies to overcome the transmissive and aseptic dimension of knowledge in favor of its collective structuring starting from the original contribution of each, even in an intercultural perspective.
Background: Attention to children's nutrition is important; since they are the most sensitive and vulnerable group in the community against malnutrition and food shortages. Therefore, this study aims ...to design, implement, and evaluate the effect of educational programs based on (philosophy for children) on thinking skills about healthy breakfast consumption of sixth-grade elementary school students in Yazd. Methods: The present clinical trial study was performed on 120 sixth-grade students of public schools in Yazd. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire in control and experimental groups before and after the educational program. Results: The results showed that the mean score of critical thinking after the intervention (38.7 ± 81.1) in the experimental group (EG) increased compared to before the intervention (29.2 ± 96.4), which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Based on the results, the difference observed in the mean score of critical thinking, caring, and creative thinking of sixth-grade students before and after the intervention in the two groups was significant (P < 0.001). On the other hand, the mean score of students' critical, caring, and creative thinking in the EG increased. In other words, the designed educational program improved all three skills in the EG. The mean scores of critical, caring, and creative thinking of sixth-grade students in the control group (CG) before and after the educational program in two stages were not significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: According to the obtained results, the implementation of philosophy education programs for children raises the level of critical thinking, caring, and creative skills in students to eat a healthy breakfast. Therefore, increasing philosophical thinking in students and improving the studied skills through education, even virtually, can be very valuable and effective.
Both social studies and preschool programs mention freedom as a value. However, in typical social studies curricula, the philosophical perspective is not included and no discussion takes place. In ...the preschool curriculum, freedom is an abstract concept, and the belief that children cannot understand abstract concepts prevails, while value studies are still limited to determining the frequency of values rather than interrogating them. As such, this study aims to explore young children's views on the concept of freedom, how these views changed after their participation in a philosophically oriented activity, and how, consequently, the concept of freedom might be addressed in social studies on a philosophical level. The researchers used an applied qualitative study design, in which 19 children (14 boys, 5 girls) aged 5-6 years were interviewed before and after the presentation of the well-known folk tale “Rapunzel,” along with the question, “… am I free?” An exercise taken from the Philosophy for Children curriculum, "Freedom is similar to…, because…” was used in both pre and post interviews. The study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis as data collection instruments. The data obtained were subjected to descriptive and content analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that before the activity, children tended to discuss the meaning of freedom in the context of its limits (e.g. permission, prohibition, rules), and, following the activity, in the context of positive freedoms (e.g. growth, being independent).
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background: Cognitive distortions and perceived competence play an important role in children's mental health. However, a limited number of interventional studies have been conducted on reducing ...cognitive distortions and improving perceived competence. Moreover, the effect of "Philosophy for Children" program on reducing cognitive distortions and improving the perceived competence (cognitive, social and physical) of orphaned and abused male children has received scant attention. Aims: Current study sought to examine how the employment of "Philosophy for Children" program through enriching digital technologies affects cognitive distortions and perceived competence (cognitive, social and physical) of orphaned and abused male children. Methods: The design of the present study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all 10-12 years old boys living in Azna Welfare organization in the fall of 1399. Thirty children were selected by purposive sampling method. They were randomly divided into experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group had 8 sessions with90-minutes (two sessions per week) of educational intervention (Five-volume collection of porsando, Ghaedi, 2019) but the control group did not receive any intervention. Participants were assessed with the Cognitive Distortion Questionnaire (Abdullah Zadeh and Salar, 2010) and Competence Perception (Harter, 1985) in the pre- and post-test. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P <0.05). Therefore, the findings of this study, in line with other studies, support the efficacy of using digital technologies in the "philosophy for children" program in reducing cognitive distortions and improving perceived competence (cognitive, social and physical, respectively) of children. Conclusions: It can be concluded that the "philosophy for children" program through enriching digital technologies not only can be in line with one of the major goals of the fundamental reform document of education: advantageous use of new technologies in the formal public education system according to Islamic standard system but also can be used as a suitable intervention tool to reduce cognitive distortions and improve the perceived competence of orphaned and abused male children
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