Collaborative Inquiry through Philosophy for Children (P4C)

Cultivating thinking, questioning and discussion.

Paul Southwell, Nick Martin and Nicole JaggersRadford College, Canberra, Australia

Who are more likely to be rich?

Greedy people or people

who aren’t greedy?

Can you be….

Rich and poor at

the same time?

Is there…

Anything bad about

being rich?

Can you…

Deserve to be poor?

Radford College, Canberra

Authorised IB PYP World School

Early Goals of the Junior School

Philosophy is…

Love (philo)

of wisdom (Sophia)

Professor Matthew Lipman (1922 – 2010)

Intellectually energetic, curious, critical,

creative and reasonable.

Institute for the Advancement of

Philosophy for Children (IAPC)

Wrote many ‘novels’ to support P4C

P4C is now practiced in over 30 countries

A short history of P4C…From p4c.com

P4C at Radford

What does P4C look like?

1. Setting the scene: Community of Inquiry

2. Stimulus

3. Identifying and exploring concepts

4. Asking questions

5. The discussion

6. Reflection

Broad structure of P4C…

1. Community of Inquiry

Cooperation, care, respect, safety

Understanding, meaning, truth, values

2. Stimulus

Ask three questions

In a word…

Traffic Lights

3. Identifying and exploring concepts

What were you thinking about when you were listening to the story?

What things did you like about, or agree with, in the story?

What things did you not like, or disagree with, in the story?

Ask three questions…

“Miss Nancy is 96, that made me think about my Great Grandmother who is 96. It made me sad because she’s sick and might die”

DEATH

Why do people have to die? (Bridget)

What happens after you die? (Ilya)

Bridget…

“I didn’t like how no-one explained to Wilfrid what a memory was. It was like they were lying to him”

TRUTH

Should people always tell the truth? (Rafaela)

David…

Can you tell the story in one sentence?

“The caterpillar eats lots then becomes a beautiful butterfly”

Can you tell the story in one word?

“Beautiful”

In a word…

Traffic Lights

The Question Quadrant

4. Asking questions

The Question Quadrant

Goldilocks!

Sort in any way you like

Questions about stealing

Questions about eating

Story World

Agree

Argue

Our World

Using the Question Quadrant

Essential Agreements

Thinking Tools

Role of facilitator

5. The discussion

Be respectful of each others opinions and comments.

One person speaking at a time.

Be honest in your opinions.

Listen to other people.

Use eye contact.

Have a mature and sensible attitude.

Build on others’ ideas

Essential Agreement for P4C

Giving Reasons“…because…”

Giving examples“An example of that is…”

Seeking clarification“What do you mean by…”

Alternative view“What would someone who disagrees with you say?”

Distinctions“How can we distinguish between…”

Thinking Tools

Ensure focus is on thechildren

Keep discussion

moving

Provide depth with questions

Ensure everyone has a say

Not to give own

opinion

The Role of the Facilitator

Speaker in Australian House of Representatives

Summarising the discussion: One person

Small groups

Draw picture

Write in journal

Reflection: Focus rules…Did we allow one person to speak at a time?

Focus Tools…Did we use ‘because’ to give reasons?

6. Reflection

P4C in Action

AgreementWe build on each others’

ideas

ToolYou think…But I think…

Because…

Stimulus: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that type

Eliciting a concept: One sentence, one word

Ask a question:Question Quadrant

Reflection: Last words…

Did we build on others’ ideas?

P4C is not a subject squeezed in ‘after lunch’

P4C is a way of bringing our units of inquiry to life by engaging students in meaningful discussion around issues and concepts of relevance and importance to understanding our Central Ideas.

P4C and PYP

Recent audit of our POI to ensure our central ideas are:

Provocative

Puzzling

Challenging

Require uncoverage

Tapping in to curiosity

Promoting reflection

Requiring higher order thinking

Central Ideas

How do you know who you are?

Can you be different to someone and yet the same?

Is death the end?

How do you know if you are living?

What does it mean to belong?

Is identity different to culture?

How do you know if you know something?

Can we live without values?

Who We Are

Year 6Self esteem and peer pressure

QUESTIONS POSED BY YEAR 6 STUDENTS BASED ON THE STIMUS:

Is it possible to not know who you are?How do we know our identity?Should it matter what people think about how you look?What makes us self conscious?Is what people think about us always correct?Can we ever know who we are?

Year 2Beautiful ? Not Beautiful

Growth, change and death is part of the natural cycle of being human.

Tuning in to the concepts of growth and change, Year 2 investigate the question:What is beauty?

Even if things are fluffy, it’s the heart that makes things beautiful. Even though you can’t see people’s they can still be beautiful, even poor people, they have the biggest hearts. Mia

If you are still able to love things, you are beautiful. Things that are alive and can love are beautiful. Minette

What is beauty?

It doesn’t matter what you look like it is how you care about people. My mum is beautiful not because of how she looks but because she is very caring. Caring makes you popular and that is more important than beauty because if you are beautiful and mean people won’t be amazed at your beauty. Just be nice then everyone would be your friend. John

What is beauty?

Recognising and valuing the similarities and differences between religious beliefs and traditions

Lead to a discussion on IDENTITY

Year 5

Identity

I think that everyone can’t just look at someone and assume they are sad, happy, weird or bad. You can only be them if you know what or how they are feeling. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Oliver

I think we judge people because of their personality. It’s like some people respect kind people. If someone is mean then don’t pay attention to them. Holly

Why do people treat people differently because of how they look?

Journaling the discussion

Inquiring into cultures and developing respectful relationships between peoplelead to a discussion on judging others.

Year 4

Do some people not likewho they are?

Some people don’t appreciate what they have got and don’t know they are loved. Kate

People see how you feel by looking and thinking what you might feel on the inside. Nicholas

I think some people want to change their actions but not always their personality. Georgia

Don’t change who you are even if you are convinced enough by someone. Ben

Year 4: Do some people not like who they are?

Sometimes you need to have a happy face because you are in public but you are really feeling angry on the inside. That means you would need a happy face for people to judge you the way you want them to. Jude

Scan image here drawn by Y4 student

Why do we judge people?

What is memory?

Would cultures exist without memories?

Is it better to change or stay the same?

Is war a matter of choice?

Whose story is this?

Why do people move?

Is history always right?

Where We Are In Place and Time

Memories, past, discrimination

Can we control how we feel?

Can you create without thought?

What is art?

Can a sound be painted?

If we didn’t have art, would it change anything?

What is the meaning of life?

Do we need to express ourselves?

How We Express Ourselves

Perfection, perspective, uniqueness

How do you know if you are living?

How do we know something exists?

Is it real or not real?

Has technology made our lives better?

Are all scientific discoveries good for society?

Is change inevitable?

How the World Works

properties

Should we all be paid the same for contributing to society?

Can you live in a community and still be alone?

Why do only some people choose to act?

Why do we want more than we need?

Is it ok to bend the truth?

Does money make us happy?

Does democracy equal equality?

How We Organise Ourselves

Fairness, democracy, freedom

What is loss?

Who is responsible?

Does everyone’s point of view matter?

Does my behaviour affect others?

Do all actions have consequences?

Should we share our resources with other countries?

What makes you connected to place?

Sharing the Planet

Sustainability, conflict, diversity

P4C creates engagement in our units of inquiry and opens up the minds of our students to everyday issues.

Students are encouraged to reason and consider consequences, which in turn leads to student initiated action in our units of inquiry.

Culminating in deep level of questioning and reasoning as part of EXHIBITION.

ACTION

The aim is that if we use p4c tools in discussions in the classroom, they will become automatic in the students and

will flow out of the classroom into everyday discussionsthey have

We are empowering our students with authentic thinking tools and skills for life!

Kid should walk out of the classroom puzzled- but not totally lost, so that philosophical thinking can continue

in the real world

Guiding the process, not the content

The class culture of thinking will spill out into other areas- It becomes a culture of dialogue.

Michael Walsh

Teaching children

HOW TO THINK

NOT

WHAT TO THINK!

P4C

ibapp4c.weebly.com

Where to for further info…

Dr Phillip Cam (Associate Professor in the School of History and Philosophy

at the University of New South Wales)

Mr Jason Buckley (ThePhilosophyMan.com)

Mr Michael Walsh (Head of History at Radford College and SOPHY Board

member)

Thank you…