Project Title

Philosophy for Children

Overview

The purpose of this project is to implement, describe, and evaluate a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in North Springs Primary School. It is the first stage of a four stage DBR cycle that ultimately looks toward developing technologies and design principles for P4C programmes. Thirty years of implementation and study indicate that P4C programmes have a remarkable influence on primary students’ skills in critical, creative, and caring thinking. Concerns about these skills have been expressed with increasing intensity by the Ministry of Education, the staff at North Springs, and public commentators. Ours goals span the traditional three area of phronesis, techne, and episteme: (a) We will develop and implement a P4C programme which enhances students thinking skills in a demonstrable manner, (b) we will look to the development of a computer support for collaborative argumentation (CSCA) system that will scaffold the students’ and teachers’ dialogue in this unconventional environment, and (c) we will explore implications for learning theories within the learning sciences, a field which has largely ignored problems in humanities and social science instruction.

Project Reference

LSL 8/05 LR