Collaborative Inquiry through Philosophy for Children (P4C) Cultivating thinking, questioning and discussion. Paul Southwell, Nick Martin and Nicole Jaggers Radford 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)
A short history of P4C… From p4c.com
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
P4C at Radford
What does P4C look like?
Broad structure of P4C‌
1. Setting the scene: Community of Inquiry 2. Stimulus
3. Identifying and exploring concepts 4. Asking questions 5. The discussion 6. Reflection
1. Community of Inquiry
Cooperation, care, respect, safety
Understanding, meaning, truth, values
2. Stimulus
3. Identifying and exploring concepts
Ask three questions
In a word… Traffic Lights
Ask three questions…
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?
Bridget…
“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)
David…
“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)
In a word…
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”
Traffic Lights
4. Asking questions  The Question Quadrant
The Question Quadrant
Goldilocks!
Sort in any way you like
Questions about stealing
Questions about eating
Story World
Argue
Agree
Our World
Using the Question Quadrant
5. The discussion Essential Agreements
Thinking Tools Role of facilitator
Essential Agreement for P4C 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
Thinking Tools 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…”
The Role of the Facilitator Ensure focus is on thechildren Not to give own opinion
Keep discussion moving
Speaker in Australian House of Representatives
Ensure everyone has a say
Provide depth with questions
6. Reflection 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?
P4C in Action 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?
Agreement We build on each others’ ideas
Tool You think… But I think… Because…
P4C and PYP 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.
Central Ideas 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
Who We Are
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?
Year 6 Self 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 2 Beautiful ? 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?
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
Year 5  Recognising and valuing the similarities and differences between religious beliefs and traditions Lead to a discussion on IDENTITY
Identity
Why do people treat people differently because of how they look? 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
Journaling the discussion
Year 4
Inquiring into cultures and developing respectful relationships between people lead to a discussion on judging others.
Do some people not like who they are?
Year 4: Do some people not like who 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
Why do we judge people?  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
Where We Are In Place and Time
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?
Memories, past, discrimination
How We Express Ourselves
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?
Perfection, perspective, uniqueness
How the World Works
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?
properties
How We Organise Ourselves 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?
Fairness, democracy, freedom
Sharing the Planet
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?
Sustainability, conflict, diversity
ACTION 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.
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 discussions they 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
P4C
Teaching children HOW TO THINK NOT
WHAT TO THINK!
Where to for further info‌
ibapp4c.weebly.com
Thank you… 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)