Philosophy for Children?“How to develop critical thinking skills in Alberta’s students? Take a world-recognized curriculum and innovatively adapt and extend it, as Philosophy for Children Alberta is doing.” Philosophy is one of the most ancient and prestigious of the disciplines but it is too often thought to be too difficult and uninteresting for children (and indeed, for many adults). Yet, consider how many philosophical issues are typically encountered by children as young as four or five:
As you will have noticed both these questions and their many possible variations still provide puzzles for many adults. Since it is the exploration of such questions that frames our experiences and defines much of the meaning in our lives and is a natural conclusion that we should empower children and youth to navigate these ideas as early as possible. The Philosophy for Children Program gives students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 the opportunity to explore the questions that they are already discussing amongst themsleves. This exploration is structured so that it promotes a skill set that is important for both critical thinking and living in communities. |
P4CA News
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What Value Does Philosophy for Children Provide?Philosophy for children improves critical, creative and rigorous thinking. Participants develop their higher order thinking skills and the attitudes and dispositions necessary for good thinking. They improve their communication skills and their abilities to work with others. Specifically these include: Cognitive Skills |
What’s So Special About Philosophy for Children?Philosophy for Children is often described as a thinking skills programme or a course in critical and creative thinking. While it is true that philosophy for children does improve students? critical and creative thinking skills, calling it a “thinking skills” programme does not do it justice. It does much more as well. Philosophy for children builds on the students’ own wonder and curiosity about ideas that are vitally important to them. The subject matter of Philosophy for Children is those common, central and contestable concepts that underpin both our experience of human life and all academic disciplines. Examples of such concepts are: Truth, reality, knowledge, evidence, freedom, justice, goodness, rights, mind, identity, love, friendship, rules, responsibility, action, logic, language, fairness, reason, existence, possibility, beauty, meaning, self, time, God, infinity, human nature, thought. Going beyond the simple exploration of concepts the Philosophy for Children Program teaches students important ethical values necessary to navigate our increasingly multi-faith, multi-national, and multi-valued world. Ethical values are integrated into philosophy for children in two ways. First, the ethos of the community of inquiry both requires and develops a range of ethical values that are essential to participation in a society in which there exists a plurality of values. These “democratic” values include tolerance, respect for others, taking all ideas seriously, caring for the procedures that govern collaborative inquiry, and willingness to listen to alternative viewpoints. Secondly, ethical questions are often the subject of inquiry. Ethics is a central area in philosophy and many of the purpose written materials stimulate philosophical exploration of concepts such as good, bad, fairness, rules, rights, duty, friendship, and empathy. |
