Our focus is on building a thinking culture across our school. We want our students to not only think, but know how to think effectively. Children participate in weekly Philosophy lessons incorporating philosophical inquiry to enhance their critical & creative thinking, and ethical understanding.
Philosophy is about life. It’s about being engaged with life. It is about being in the world. Asking ethical questions allows us to reflect on how our actions affect the world. It allows children a space to make sense of the world and meaning in their lives. Children are naturally curious and full of wonder and philosophy is the perfect forum to explore these wonderings.
What is philosophy?
Philosophy for children is a teaching approach that centres on teaching thinking skills and the ability to question and reason. It is a student-led, inquiry-based approach to learning. There are 4C’s of philosophical thinking:
- Critical: respectful disagreement, look for evidence, challenge ideas, point out faults
- Creative: new ideas, expand on other’s ideas, be different, make connections
- Collaborative: building on ideas, working with others, everyone involved, share ideas
- Caring: listening to other’s ideas, participating, respect, encouraging, waiting your turn
Rather than teach philosophy, we try to do philosophy with children by creating spaces for them to explore the questions that interest them.
Why do philosophy?
Now more than ever, students need to become engaged in the world as skilled thinkers, as citizens in a democracy, and as global citizens. In this complex and confusing world, how can we help children to be not only knowledgeable but wise?
Young children display a natural sense of inquiry and curiosity. They get a great deal of satisfaction – even joy - from investigating what they find puzzling. The sheer satisfaction, the joy of finding out, of getting to the bottom of things … it is this experience which nourishes children’s curiosity, which keeps it alive. Children are wide open to life’s philosophical mysteries such as why the world has the colours it does, the meaning of life, friendship, happiness, family, why people are mean to other people, what is responsibility, is zero a number, what is freedom, to name just a few.
By doing philosophy, children:
- learn how to think independently
- better express their own perspectives
- challenge and build on each other’s thinking
- make clearer sense of their own views and ideas
- develop the confidence to speak their minds
- develop a sense of responsibility for their opinions and actions
- become aware of the ethical issues that touch their lives, and
- begin to develop their own values and principles.
Philosophical inquiry leads to positive outcomes for children including improvement in reasoning, critical thinking, creativity, questioning, communication skills, self-esteem, emotional regulation, and confidence.
What does a philosophy lesson look like?
Some of the simplest questions we ask are also the most difficult to answer as there may be more than one valid point of view. A philosophical Community of Inquiry provides a forum for children to search for meaning together. Children are given a stimulus, such as a question, video, or story problem, and then asked to:
- respond with their ideas
- build on the ideas of others
- generate further questions
- ask questions, sort arguments, and explore alternatives
Because philosophical questions are not the kind where there is always a settled and definitive answer, the teacher is not the expert. Instead, they co-enquire with children. The content of the discussion is considered less important than the quality of the reasoning, and the role of the teacher is to develop higher level reasoning through guiding questions.
Differences are welcomed and can be explored. Above all, children try to understand each other. They are free to disagree respectfully with another’s idea. They work together to consider questions from diverse points of view.
Through voicing their thinking together, and using the language of inquiry, students learn how to think reasonably. This helps them develop greater respect for difference and deeper empathy for other people’s experiences. They also become more attentive to each other, more fair-minded in their interactions, and more skilled at cooperating and negotiating.