Philosophy for Children

“Thinking was something that had to be taught much earlier, before thinking habits entrenched, so that by the time a student graduated from High School, skilful, independent thinking would have become a habit” (Fisher, 2003, p. 26). – Matthew Lipman

 

Matthew Lipman taught philosophy at Columbia University. Here he became disappointed with his class as there were many young adults who were unable to reason effectively. Due to this disappointed he decided that philosophical inquiry needed to start early on in their childhood. At Montclair State University, Lipman established the IAPC, Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, in 1972. As well as this he published a book, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery. This book was intended to help adults teach philosophy to their own children or students (Enable Training and Consulting, 2011).   

 

How is Philosophy for Children taught?

These lessons usually start with a recommended two hour session each week, which may include reading an extract from a novel or a video. This will then be followed by questions raised by a majority of the students and discussions of their chosen topic. The teacher usually extends the discussion by asking further questions from a discussion plan (Fisher, 2003). The discussions continue through their own path as children’s thoughts and ideas begin to agree or disagree with one another. The children are also required to give a reason for their point of view (Philosophy4Children, 2013).

 

Creative writing, art-work or mind-mapping may also be included as follow-up activities for the children’s discussion. These activities encourage children to develop their creative thinking and judgement, as well as ‘Community of Inquiry’, which is a special sense of community (Fisher, 2003). 

 

Below is a video showing an example of Philosophy for Children:

                                                                                                      (Trust, 2013)

What types of thinking does Philosophy for Children develop?

“Philosophy applied to education for the purpose of producing students with improved proficiency in reasoning and judgement” (Fisher, 2003).

 

Philosophy for Children aims to move children from the routine to the reflective, as well as helping them move from unconsidered to considered, and everyday thinking to critical thinking (Fisher, 2003).

 

The table below shows the improvements made through Philosophy for Children (Fisher, 2003):

Elements of thinking
Everyday thinking	Critical thinking
Guessing	Estimating
Preferring	Evaluating
Assuming	Justifying
Associating/listing	Classifying
Accepting	Hypothesising
Judging	Analysing
Inferring	Reasoning

Outcomes for Children:

Philosophy for Children teaches children to be able to think before they speak as well as give reasons for what they are saying. They learn to value their views and the views of others; not taking other people’s views or opinions personally. Philosophy for Children also teaches children to respect and negotiate with others, along with learning not to be fearful.  We must take into account that they help improve a child’s independence by enabling them to think and speak for themselves. Philosophy for Children can also impact on other areas of the curriculum, for example, creating stories in English or creating a presentation (Philosophy4Children, 2013).

 

Weaknesses of Philosophy for Children:

Many teachers say the weakness of this programme seems to be that they cannot see a “clearly defined developmental progression within the great number of skills and topics presented in the teacher’s manuals” (Fisher, 2003).  

 

Benefits of Philosophy for Children:

Below I created a mind-map to show the benefits of the Philosophy for Children sessions (Philosophy4Children, 2013):

                                                                                                         (bubbl.us, 2013)

References

bubbl.us, 2013. bubbl.uk. [Online]
Available at: https://bubbl.us/
[Accessed 27 December 2013].

Enable Training and Consulting, I., 2011. KidsThinkAboutIt. [Online]
Available at: http://kidsthinkaboutit.com/?p=1673
[Accessed 27 December 2013].

Fisher, R., 2003. Philosophy for Children: Teaching children to think. In: Teaching Thinking. Bath: Continuum, p. 26-50.

Philosophy4Children, 2013. Philosophy4Children. [Online]
Available at: http://www.philosophy4children.co.uk/home/p4c/
[Accessed 27 December 2013].

Trust, D. M., 2013. YouTube. [Online]
Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeveNmuEQcU
[Accessed 27 December 2013].