Nicola O’Riordan Teaching and Learning Consultant for InclusionEast Riding of Yorkshire

Philosophy for ChildrenChallenging students to think

Workshop Aims

•Provide a brief overview of the principles, origins and aims of the P4C approach

•Explore the benefits of P4C for pupils

•Give delegates an opportunity to experience a ‘community of enquiry’

The Principles of P4C• Education is the outcome of participation in a teacher-guided

community of enquiry, among whose goals are the achievement of understanding and good judgement

• Students are stirred to think about the world when our knowledge of it is revealed to them to be ambiguous, equivocal and mysterious

• The disciplines in which enquiry occurs are assumed to be neither non-overlapping nor exhaustive; hence their relationships to their subject matters are quite problematic

• The teacher’s stance is fallibilistic (one that is ready to concede to error) rather than authoritative

• Students are expected to be thoughtful and reflective, and increasingly reasonable and judicious

• The focus of the educational process is not on the acquisition of information but on the grasp of relationships within and among the subject matters under investigation

• (Lipman, 2003, pp18-19)

The Origins of Philosophy for Children

Professor Matthew Lipman

Socrates - “I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”

Vygotsky - “What the child can do in cooperation today, he can do alone tomorrow”

Dewey - “An education that emphasises community,

communication and intelligent enquiry, and a reconstructiveattitude can best serve the citizens of an ever-changing

world”

Aims of Philosophy for Children

• Develop cognitive ability and emotional intelligence

• Help children become more reasonable thinkers and problem solvers

• Promote dispositions and qualities such as curiosity, creativity and wisdom

• Develop philosophical conceptualisation

The Development of Thinking Skills

Higher order

thinking skills

Middle order thinking skills

Lower order thinking skills

Multi-dimensional thinking:The 4 C’s of P4C

Criticalquestioning/reasoning

Collaborativeresponding/supporting

Caringlistening/valuing

Creativeconnecting/suggesting

P4C

Exploring the 4 C’s of P4C• Active listening • Asking questions to clarify, extend or challenge

own or others thinking • Generating alternative viewpoints• Making comparisons• Sharing experiences to support the views of

others• Changing ideas after listening to others• Connecting ideas together• Checking personal understanding• Making distinctions• Asking for evidence• Speculating• Building on each other’s ideas• Giving reasons for viewpoint

What are the benefits of P4C?

• Week by week consolidation & extension of vocabulary• Over learning of vocabulary for SEN & extension for

G&T• Peer modelling & support• More dominant children learn listening skills• Higher order thinking skills are practised in a safe

environment• Provides language for effective communication• Develops critical thinking• Teaches the correct terminology for debate• Speaking, thinking and listening skills are transferred to

other lessons (Observations from Marshlands Primary School Feb 2009)

What are the benefits of P4C?• A chance to hear the views of everyone in their class and recognise

the range of experience and interests that others bring to the group• Opportunities to develop empathic thinking, so that students feel as

well as think• Opportunities to sustain their thinking and think more deeply,

making new connections with previous ideas, concepts and knowledge

• A time to practise skills of turn-taking, active listening, waiting, working with people who are not necessarily close friends, using different volumes of voice, daring to speak in front of the class

• An arena where students can try out their ideas and dare to be intelligent

• A lesson where students who do not yet have fluent literacy skills can be successful

(Observations from Goole High School Feb 2009)

The structure of an Enquiry

1. Preparation

2. Presentation of stimulus

3. Thinking time

4. Question making

5. Questions - airing

6. Question choosing

7. First thoughts

8. Building

9. Last thoughts

10. Review

Establishing ground rules

• What rules do you need to establish as a group to ensure that enquiries can run smoothly?

• Think-pair-share

Enquiry 1

• Ask good questions to provide a focus for the enquiry

• Give reasons or evidence to support arguments and judgements

• Clarify concepts through making connections, distinctions and comparisons

Connections

Bi-associations: Choose 2 random pictures

Think of a connection

Tri-associations:

Choose 3 random pictures

Think of a connection

The United States is the only country still openly using the death penalty against child criminals, Amnesty International has claimed. Worldwide, 34 child offenders are recorded as having been executed since 1990, 19 in America, said the human rights group. A spokesman for the group said: “The USA promotes itself as a global human rights champion, yet it accounts for 13 of the 19 known executions of child offenders reported since 1998.”

Review

• How did it feel to be part of a community of enquiry?

• Are there any issues which need to be addressed to make the enquiry run smoother next time?

• Did you ask good questions to provide a focus for the enquiry?

• Did you give reasons or evidence to support arguments and judgements?

• Did you clarify concepts through making connections, distinctions and comparisons?

Any further questions?

Nicola O’Riordan Teaching and Learning Consultant for InclusionEast Riding of Yorkshire

Philosophy for Children