Philosophy for Children (P4C) An introduction to Philosophy for Children (P4C) Monday 24th April 2017 Ed Pawson ed.pawson@exeter.anglican.org

TEDxOverlake - Dr. Sara Goering - Philosophy for Kids: Sparking a Love of Learning

Philosophy for Children (P4C) P4C aims to encourage young people to think critically caringly creatively collaboratively P4C builds a 'community of enquiry' where participants create and enquire into their own questions, and 'learn how to learn' in the process

Key Question: What is distinctive about P4C? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh28kEL23q0 Typical questions: Why do people treat animals like slaves? Does luck exist? Key Question: What is distinctive about P4C? Learning a language to enable them to disagree with each other respectfully

3 Ideals in P4C Communication Thinking Questioning

P4C: some issues and ideas Lessons don’t always need to be content-based There are times when we need to give children permission to go off on a tangent Use working walls to create thought-provoking stimulus Get children to interact outside the normal boundaries: Pupil to pupil Parent to child Class to class School to school

Classroom practice Be a facilitator, not a leader: Play netball, not ping pong! Be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage! Practice constructing ideas together, as a class, rather than “rubble thinking” How to model a discussion that leads on, sequentially, point by point Give every student a lego brick A question is posed and one student starts by giving a response to the question, laying down their lego brick on the table A second student responds to the first statement by leading on or arguing back against the first statement. They now lay down their brick adjoining the first The process continues … Develop this further, by designating different colour bricks for different types of response: white for agree red for disagree yellow for point of information etc

Developing the linguistic skills of discussion and dialogue Help students to start to evaluate different types of input and clarify the different sorts of comment that can be made. This enables them to start to identify the processes of dialogue and to notice the way a discussion is constructed. Before speaking, state your aim: “I’m going to agree with …., because …” “I’m going to move the debate on, by ….” Try to encourage communal, collaborative thinking, trying not to get pulled back over the same ground again and again. Ask students to respond to current points, not keep coming back to ideas already raised and moved on from. eg comment A …. followed by comment B …. followed by comment C … Don’t be drawn back by someone who wants to make a further comment on A, but move on to D

Why is listening important? What does it mean to be a good listener?

Developing listening skills Volunteer (the one who doesn’t listen!): clipboard, big pen and 3 badges Record the listening in the class End of lesson give awards to the 3 best listeners, referencing the evidence

Developing listening skills Ask students to sit back to back Give one member of the pair a picture or diagram They then have to describe it to their partner The partner has to draw it for themselves, from the description (no looking!)

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What does progress mean in thinking and dialogue? There are many ways to show progress in thinking and dialogue skills, but here are 5 indicators to define development. The process starts with a question, and the outcome could be one of the following. The students now: have lots more questions have totally changed their minds still think what they originally thought, but with better understanding have many different perspectives are confused, but enriched (a good confusion)

https://vimeo.com/216011129

Philosophy for Children Creating a Community of Enquiry Students asking open, genuine questions Exploring what makes a question philosophical? Democratically choosing a question to explore Creating a “community of enquiry” Developing reasoning skills Encouraging interaction and reflection Teacher becomes facilitator Valuing of student voice, creating environment for dialogue

Classroom tips for creating a community of enquiry Re-arrange the room into a circle To speak, open your hand on your knee The present speaker will choose who will respond to her/him Encourage responses to points: thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs wobble! Explore meta-learning by getting students to observe the process of the debate: Arrange two concentric circles of chairs Those in the inner ring will conduct the debate Those in the outer ring will observe the process Who contributes, who dominates, who holds back? Swap groups

Philosophy for Children Creating a Community of Enquiry Developing good skills and attitudes Sit in a circle This emphasises equality and democracy Agree that listening is a vital skill Be prepared to offer your views Respect other people’s viewpoints … … but be prepared to challenge them Let your teacher become the “guide on the side”, not “the sage on the stage”

Developing the question It is important to choose the right question or picture stimulus

Creating a Community of Enquiry Look at the picture Describe what you see What questions does it raise? Share and record the questions The questions need to be philosophical They need to make sense even if the picture where not there When you have listed all the questions, you vote Choose the one you want to debate as a class

The Kitten and the Lion Should you always try to be the best you can be? Can you be anything you want to be? Do others see you as you see yourself? Can we predict the future? Do we always see the truth? Does the mirror ever lie? Is bigger always better?

Questions raised from the Sumo picture Is appearance everything? What is normal? When should you give up? Does size matter? Should you base personality on appearance? What is the point of fighting a battle you know you can’t win?* Is there a difference between an aim and an objective? Should you look up or down on your enemies? Is any obstacle in life too big to overcome? Can man move mountains?   * Question voted for by the community of enquiry

Discussion tips In your discussion, play netball with ideas, not ping-pong! Don’t practice “rubble-thinking”; try to make every point move on, constructing new ideas To speak, open your hand on your knee The speaker chooses who will respond to her/him Before speaking, state your aim: “I’m going to agree with …., because …” “I’m going to move the debate on, by ….”

Now start the debate!

Useful resources for P4C What is P4C? http://www.sapere.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=162 The Philosophy Man (Jason Buckley) http://www.thephilosophyman.com\ Sign up for Jason’s weekly email They are GREAT resources! Gallions School http://www.gallions.newham.sch.uk/page/?pid=41 Sea of Faith: Religion and Philosophy Club http://www.sofn.org.uk/solaritylearningresources/index.html

Video material for P4C Embedding P4C within English https://vimeo.com/216011129 P4C at Gallions Primary School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh28kEL23q0 TEDxOverlake - Dr. Sara Goering - Philosophy for Kids: Sparking a Love of Learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DLzXAjscXk