ThesisPDF Available

An Evaluation of the 'Philosophy for Children' programme: The impact on Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills

Authors:
A preview of the PDF is not available
... Katılımcı öğretmenlerin öğretmen rolündeyken doğruları söylemeleri ve öğrencilerini yönlendirmeleri gerektiğini düşünürken, kolaylaştırıcı rolünde ise her düşünceyi kabul etme ve doğru-yanlış kategorisine sokmaksızın tepkiler vermeleri gerektiğini düşündükleri görülmektedir. Lipman da çocuklarla felsefe eğitiminde öğretmenlerin çocuklara kendi görüşlerini dayatmamaları gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır (Ventista, 2019;Wartenberg, 2009). Glina (2013), öğretmenlerin sınıflarındaki uzman rolünden ayrılarak, kendilerini de tartışmanın bir parçası olarak düşünme çukuruna girmeleri gerektiğini, aynı zamanda tüm öğrencilerini tartışmaya katmak için teşvik etmeleri gerektiğini belirtmektedir. ...
... Yapılan araştırmalar başarılı bir şekilde gerçekleştirilen Çocuklar için felsefe (P4C) uygulamalarının çocuklarda yaratıcılık, sebep-sonuç ilişkisi kurma, özgüven duygusu, dil gelişimi, eleştirel düşünme becerileri ve matematik becerilerinin gelişimini desteklediğini göstermektedir (Gür, 2011). Araştırmalar felsefi sorularla uğraşmanın, çocukların önemli kavramları keşfetmelerini ve olaylara farklı bakış açıları geliştirerek, çok yönlü düşünmelerini destekleyerek öğrenme ve düşünme becerilerinin geliştirilmesine önemli katkılarda bulunduğunu vurgulamaktadır(Gregory, 2008;Ventista, 2019). Araştırmada ulaşılan bu bulgular Çocuklar için Felsefe yaklaşımının çocuklarda demokratik tutumlar kazandırma amacıyla kullanılabileceğini gösteren bilimsel çalışmalarla da desteklenmektedir (Burgh ve Yorshansky, 2011; ...
Article
Full-text available
Bu araştırmanın temel amacı, “P4C: Küçük Çocuklar, Büyük Fikirler” eTwinning projesini uygulayan öğretmenlerin proje sonunda görüş ve değerlendirmelerini ortaya koymaktır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırma, nitel araştırma türlerinden olgu bilim (fenomenoloji) araştırması olarak desenlenmiştir. Araştırmanın odağını oluşturan projenin uygulanması, 2020-2021 öğretim yılının ilk döneminde kasım ve aralık aylarında toplamda altı hafta olarak Bartın, Burdur, Eskişehir, Elazığ, Giresun, Siirt ve Zonguldak illerinde il merkezinde bulunan anaokulu ve ilkokula devam eden öğrenciler üzerinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Projenin uygulama sürecinin ardından araştırma için gerekli olan nitel veriler yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler ile elde edilmiş, yanı sıra öğretmen günlükleri ile desteklenmiştir. Araştırmada elde edilen nitel verilerin analizi betimsel analiz yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmada yapılan analizler sonucu ortaya koyulan bulgulardan uygulanan Çocuklar için Felsefe (P4C) yaklaşımına dayalı eğitim etkinliklerinin öğrencilerde düşünme ve iletişim becerilerinin gelişimi yönüyle oldukça etkili olduğu diğer yandan empati, hoşgörü, saygı gibi önemli değer alanlarına yönelik kazanımlara ulaşılmasına da katkı sağladığı anlaşılmaktadır
Article
Full-text available
This study investigated the effect of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) Approach, one of the most effective ways to help children who enjoy thinking and questioning from an early age, gain thinking skills, and make sense of what they think, on primary school students' attitudes towards science and problem-solving skills. The Philosophy for Children implementation process was carried out for 7 weeks and 3 hours in each lesson, 21 hours in total, with the experimental and control groups selected from 4th grade students studying in a public school in Haliliye district of Şanlıurfa province. This process was conducted using a mixed-methods research method. This study preferred to use the explanatory sequential mixed research method, as it collected qualitative data after analyzing quantitative data. The study employed a quasi-experimental design in the quantitative dimension, incorporating a pretest-posttest control group. The qualitative dimension of the study employed a case study for in-depth data analysis. The variables related to the effect of the Philosophy for Children approach on primary school students' attitudes towards science and problem-solving skills were carefully examined, and the findings were interpreted. The findings concluded that the Philosophy for Children Approach, through its activities and practices, positively influenced the 4th grade students' attitudes towards science and problem-solving skills
Article
Full-text available
2010 το Ολοήμερο Σχολείο με Ενιαίο Αναμορ-φωμένο Πρόγραμμα αναβαθμίζεται παιδαγωγικά και εισάγεται η καθολική εφαρμογή του σε όλα τα δημοτικά σχολεία (Θωίδης & Χανιωτάκης, 2012). Αποτελεί, συνεπώς, κεντρικό κομμάτι του σχολείου και ως αποτέλεσμα είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό να μελετηθούν οι διδακτικές πρακτικές που θα μπορού-σαν να εφαρμοστούν σε αυτό. Είναι σημαντικό να ενισχυθεί η αποτελεσματι-κότητα του μαθησιακού έργου στο ολοήμερο πρόγραμμα και να μπορούν να πραγματοποιούνται καινοτόμες παρεμβάσεις, με γνώμονα την ενίσχυση της μαθησιακής επίδοσης. Επειδή ο σχολικός χρόνος και οι πόροι είναι περιορι-σμένοι, προκύπτει η ανάγκη να μελετώνται και να ελέγχονται οι πρακτικές για την αποτελεσματικότητά τους (Ventista, 2019), προκειμένου να εφαρμόζονται οι πιο αποτελεσματικές, τόσο στο πρωινό πρόγραμμα, όσο και στην ολοήμε-ρη εκπαίδευση. Η παρούσα έρευνα στοχεύει να εντοπίσει αποτελεσματικές σχολικές πα-ρεμβάσεις και διδακτικές προσεγγίσεις για το Δημοτικό Σχολείο, προκειμέ-νου να προτείνει πιθανές εφαρμογές αυτών των αποτελεσματικών σχολικών πρακτικών στο Ολοήμερο Δημοτικό Σχολείο στην Ελλάδα. Αξίζει να διευ-κρινιστεί ότι ως «αποτελεσματικές» ορίζονται οι σχολικές παρεμβάσεις που έχουν ελεγχθεί πειραματικά, δηλαδή σε σύγκριση με κάποια άλλη διδακτική προσέγγιση, και έχουν αναδειχθεί ως ικανές να αυξήσουν περισσότερο την επίδοση των μαθητών/τριών. Επομένως, προκειμένου οι σχολικές παρεμβά-σεις να κριθούν ως αποτελεσματικές ή μη, απαιτείται να δοκιμαστούν συ-γκριτικά σε μία πειραματική ομάδα μαθητών/τριών και μία ομάδα ελέγχου (Ventista, 2021). Η παρούσα έρευνα δίνει έμφαση στη μελέτη πρακτικών που επιτυγχάνουν μάθηση μέσω της αλληλεπίδρασης, που είναι κι ένας από τους στόχους της
Article
This study examines the effects of teaching philosophy for children (P4C) on the development of non-cognitive skills among students. Although the main focus of modern schooling is on attainment, non-cognitive skills and attitudes are still within the scope of modern education. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia introduced a new policy to teach critical thinking and philosophy in its public schools in 2017. Although the effects of teaching philosophy on cognitive skills have been well-researched, fewer studies have studied the effects the teaching philosophy has on non-cognitive skills. The current study is the first to explore this issue in the Saudi educational context. This paper presents findings from a quasi-experiential design using 28 students in a Saudi elementary public school. An experimental group of sixth-graders participated in Philosophy for Children (P4C) sessions for 3 months, while the other group of sixth-graders did not receive any philosophy-related training. To collect data, the researchers used a survey designed for non-cognitive outcomes. The results show that the P4C group ranked higher in measures of communication, sociability, self-confidence, determination, willingness to try new things, happiness, and solving problems. On the other hand, the results show that the P4C group lagged behind in terms of empathy, democracy, and diversity compared to the experimental group. However, the differences are minor, and the sample is small. Nonetheless, the results are promising in indicating that P4C can improve students’ non-cognitive skills.
Article
Full-text available
Teacher quality, its effect on students' outcomes, and the association of these with economic growth, is the core of recent discussions in Latin America given the region's weak results in international learning assessments. This paper investigates whether there is an effect of philosophy on the outcomes of critical reading for students in B. Ed. programs in Colombia. Relying on exact matching combined with propensity score matching with regression adjustment, we use national data from Colombia to show that students in B.Ed. in philosophy outperformed students in other B.Ed. in critical reading test (0.401-0.124 SD), and, importantly, with higher effects observed for students with lower prior academic achievement (0.44 SD). This suggests that philosophy can help to narrow educational outcomes of students whose socioeconomic conditions are disadvantageous, contributing to social justice in education.
Article
Bu çalışmada Ortaokul Öğrencilerine Yönelik P4C (Çocuklar İçin Felsefe) Farkındalığını belirleyebilmek amacıyla geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçek geliştirmek istenmiştir. Çalışma kapsamında nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden Tarama (Survey) deseni tercih edilmiştir. Çalışmanın örneklemini 2021-2022 eğitim-öğretim yılında Şanlıurfa Siverek İlçesinde merkez ortaokulda öğrenim gören 176 ortaokul öğrencileri oluşturmaktadır. Veri toplama aracı 54 maddeden oluşan taslak bir farkındalık belirleme ölçeğidir. Ölçekte geçerlik sağlamak amacıyla kapsam ve yapı geçerliği incelenmiştir. Güvenirlik için ise Cronbach Alpha katsayısına bakılmıştır. Kapsam geçerliği bazında uzman görüşü dikkatle alınmıştır. Yapı geçerliği kapsamında açımlayıcı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizi hesaplanmıştır. Açımlayıcı faktör analizi (AFA) sonucunda 18 madde ölçekten çıkarılarak iki faktörden oluşan ölçek doğrulayıcı faktör analizi (DFA) ile doğrulanmıştır. Doğrulayıcı faktör analiz sonucu ölçeğin RMSEA değeri 0,078, NFI değeri, 0,96, CFI değeri 0,98 IFI değeri 0,98 olarak Cronbach Alpha güvenirlik katsayısı ise 0,949 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Sonuç olarak Ortaokul Öğrencilerine Yönelik P4C (Çocuklar İçin Felsefe) Farkındalık belirlemeye yönelik 36 maddeden oluşan geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçek geliştirilmiştir. Değişen Dünyanın gerektirdikleri ile beraber günümüzde popülerlik kazanan P4C yalnızca ortaokul düzeyiyle sınırlı kalmayıp; lise öğrencilerine, öğretmenlere ve hatta yetişkinlere yönelik ölçeklerle içerik ve uygulamalar daha da geliştirilebilir. Geliştirilen ölçeğin öğrencilerin P4C (Çocuklar İçin Felsefe) farkındalığını belirlemek amacıyla öğretmenler tarafından kullanılması önerilmektedir.
Article
Full-text available
Philosophy for children is the application of a philosophical approach to education in order to train students who develop reasoning and judgment skills. The main purpose of this approach is to stimulate philosophical research through group discussion and questioning. This approach also aims to provide students with skills in which they question and deepen their own and other students' questions, ideas. Religious education applications are expected to facilitate students to internalize their understanding, values and beliefs. It is impossible to say that the transfer-based approach provides these gains. Philosophy for children is a dialogue-based application based on student participation. It is expected that this application, in which structured texts are used as facilitators, will make important contributions to the understanding, substantiation and internalization of abstract religious concepts and beliefs, in particular. Taking advantage of the creative, critical, attentive and collaborative understanding of philosophy for children in religious education can make various contributions to religious education, especially in terms of developing religious reasoning skills. This study has been prepared in order to address the possible contributions of these principles and practices of the philosophy approach to religious education for children. In this context, after the P4C approach is introduced, its contributions to religious education and possible limitations will be discussed.
Thesis
Full-text available
Avec la diffusion d’information de façon imminente au moyen d’Internet, le partage d’opinions radicales, et la quantité grandissante de fausses nouvelles en constante propagation, la toile de fond du contexte sociétal n’a jamais été aussi opportune pour proposer une nouvelle forme d’éducation qui inclut la mobilisation et le développement de la pensée sous toutes ses formes, englobant la pensée critique. Cela dit, malgré un engouement pour une éducation qui favorise la pensée critique, plusieurs enseignantes se disent perplexes quant à l’idée de faire un enseignement de la sorte. Plusieurs recherches sur le programme de philosophie pour enfants montrent que la communauté de recherche philosophique est une approche pédagogique qui mérite d’être considérée pour la formation de la pensée critique, particulièrement par son accent sur la co-construction de sens et l’articulation de la pensée. Or, peu d’études ont été réalisées sur la manière dont les enseignantes s’y prennent pour créer un climat axé sur la mobilisation et le développement de la pensée critique lors des communautés de recherche philosophique. De plus, l’appropriation des conduites enseignantes dialogiques recommandées pour animer une communauté de recherche philosophique dans la littérature pédagogique sur le sujet n’a pas été explorée de façon empirique. En d’autres mots, la communauté de recherche philosophique semble être une approche pédagogique prometteuse pour le développer de la pensée critique des élèves du primaire, mais qu’est-ce que les enseignantes font pour que cela soit le cas ? Le présent projet explore les conduites enseignantes dialogiques, c’est-à-dire les stratégies d’enseignement, de deux enseignantes du primaire lors de l’animation de communautés de recherche philosophiques dans le but d’étudier comment celles-ci contribuent à la mise en œuvre d’un environnement axé sur le développement de la pensée critique et ses dimensions socioaffective (co-construction de sens) et cognitive (articulation de la pensée). Pour ce faire, j’ai observé et analysé de manière plutôt inductive les conduites enseignantes des participantes lors de deux communautés de recherche philosophique. Parallèlement, j’ai effectué des entretiens d’explicitation avec les enseignantes afin d’explorer comment elles décrivent leurs actions lors de l’animation et vivent cette expérience. Cette démarche, mélangeant mon observation des communautés de recherche philosophique à l’explicitation des enseignantes de leurs actions, m’a permis de mieux comprendre les conduites enseignantes dialogiques employées dans la création d’un environnement d’apprentissage à la pensée critique afin de les décrire. En m’appuyant sur des extraits des entretiens d’explicitation et des communautés de recherche philosophique, quatre conduites enseignantes dialogiques ont été identité dans l’animation des participantes. Pour la dimension cognitive, soit la création d’un climat axé sur l’articulation de la pensée, les conduites enseignantes dialogiques identifiées sont la sollicitation des raisons et l’aide à définir. Pour la dimension socioaffective, c’est-à-dire la mise en place d’un milieu où les élèves s’engagent dans un processus de co-construction de sens, les conduites enseignantes dialogiques identifiées sont la reformulation et la clarification des idées des élèves ainsi que l’invitation à la considération des points de vue d’autrui. La présentation de mon projet de recherche qualitatif s’inspire des modèles de Bourgeois (2016), Karsenti et Demers (2011) et Gagnon (2012) et se divise en cinq chapitres. Le premier chapitre présente la problématique à l’étude, soit l’animation de communautés de recherche philosophique, et inclut une mise en contexte, la présentation de l’état des connaissances (recension des écrits), l’exploration des concepts clés (cadre conceptuel), ainsi que la formulation de la question et de l’objectif de recherche. Le deuxième chapitre décrit la méthodologie utilisée afin de répondre à ma question de recherche en plus de justifier les techniques employées pour la collecte et l’analyse des données. Le troisième chapitre propose une synthèse des résultats issus d’une analyse effectuée dans une démarche semi-inductive. Le quatrième chapitre comporte la discussion, c’est-à-dire l’interprétation des données en fonction de l’état des connaissances. Finalement, la conclusion, qui se veut essentiellement une synthèse du projet et de la connaissance produite, forme le cinquième chapitre.
Article
Bu çalışmanın amacı, çocuk felsefesi ile ilgili çalışmalar temel alınarak, çocuklar için felsefenin neden önemli olduğunu teorik bir zeminde belirlemektir. Günümüzde çocuklar için felsefenin önemli olduğunu ileri süren çalışmalarla çocuk felsefesi eğitimine dikkat çekilmektedir. Çocuklar için felsefenin kurucusu olarak kabul edilen Matthew Lipman, üniversitedeki öğrencilerinin düşünsel yetilerinin eksikliklerinden yola çıkarak felsefe eğitiminin çocukluk döneminde alınması gerektiğini ileri sürmüştür. Bizim eğitim sistemimizde de çocuklar felsefe eğitimi ile geç yaşlarda tanışmaktadırlar. Bu da felsefe eğitiminin amacına ulaşmasında sorunlar yaratmaktadır. Başta Lipman olmak üzere birçok düşünüre göre çocuklar felsefe ile erken yaşlarda tanışarak, felsefi düşünmeyi kazanmalıdırlar. Felsefi düşünme ile sorgulayan, merak eden çocukların eleştirel düşünme becerilerinin geliştirilmesi hedeflenmektedir. Çünkü insanlar, çocukluk döneminden sonra soru sormaktan, sorgulamaktan vazgeçerler ve meraklarını da yitirirler. Çocuklar için felsefe eğitimi ile onların düşünen ve üretken bireyler olarak yetişmeleri istenmektedir. Sokrates yıllar önce öğrencilerine ‘Okuduklarınızı ve duyduklarınızı değil, kendi öz düşüncelerinizi, kendi içinizde olup bitenleri söyleyin. Başkalarının ağaçlarından meyve yeme alışkanlığından sıyrılarak, kendi bahçenizin fidanlarını yetiştirin. İşte o zaman, meyve yemenin zevkini tadacaksınız’ diye söyleyerek eleştirel düşünmenin öneminden bahsetmektedir. Aslında yıllar önce Sokrates’in doğurtma yöntemi ile temelleri atılan çocuklar için felsefe eğitimi, pek çok alanda ve okul öncesinden başlayarak ileriki yaşlarda da gereklidir.
Article
Full-text available
It is a pleasure to be able to thank the editors of Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften for inviting me to write this paper about the Philosophy for Children program, with which I have been associated since it began at the end of the 1960's
Article
Full-text available
A plethora of evidence suggests that creativity can be enhanced following training. In the United Arab Emirates, where creativity and innovation are overtly promoted, especially among young adults, university students complete a semester-long course in creativity as part of their undergraduate degrees. The effectiveness of this course, however, remains undetermined. Thus, we examined, using a sample of 133 participants who completed the 13-week program, whether improvements to creative production, creative self-efficacy (CSE), and neuro-executive functioning would emerge. Pre to post-test differences were assessed and substantial improvements to originality, elaboration, and fluency were observed. CSE was enhanced. However, neuro-executive functioning remained unchanged following the program. These results contribute to the literature attesting to the efficacy of training in creativity skills.
Article
Full-text available
This study aimed to examine the impact of teaching philosophy for children in developing critical thinking and self-efficacy among students. The current study had a statistical population constituting of all female first-grade junior high school students in Khash in the academic year 2017-2018. Among these students, a corpus of 54 students (27 people assigned to an experimental group and 27 people assigned to a control group) was selected as a sample using a convenience sampling method. The experimental group was taught philosophy; however, the control group did not receive any training. To collect data, Sosu Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and Muris et al. Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents were used. For data analysis, using descriptive statistics, means and standard deviations were calculated and by applying inferential statistics, initially, differences between pretest and posttest scores were calculated and these differences between the scores obtained by the control and experimental groups were determined by conducting an independent t-test. Results indicated that there were significant differences in components of critical thinking, critical thinking, and self-efficacy between these two groups. In other words, teaching philosophy for children had a positive impact on increasing self-efficacy, critical thinking, and its components (critical openness and reflective skepticism).
Book
A Guide for Educators to Critical Thinking Competency Standards introduces an authoritative assessment system to ensure successful and consistent integration of critical thinking skills in every type of educational program. The critical thinking competency standards articulated in this guide serve as a resource for teachers, curriculum designers, administrators and accrediting bodies. As part of the Thinker’s Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
Article
This paper presents the results of a systematic review of international studies to establish whether explicit teaching of critical thinking is effective in enhancing the critical thinking skills of English language learners in higher education and to identify the most promising approaches. A search of 12 electronic databases supplemented by other sources yielded more than 1794 studies. Only 36 met the pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. A range of approaches were tested and almost all claimed to be effective, but only explicit instruction in general critical thinking skills was found to have the best evidence of effectiveness. However, because most of the studies were small-scale and/or methodologically flawed, the evidence is not strong enough to be conclusive. Evidence for the other approaches was even weaker. These findings suggest that research in this field is still rather immature and more large-scale, replicable robust studies are needed to advance the field.
Article
Due to potential theoretical and societal implications, cognitive training has been one of the most influential topics in psychology and neuroscience. The assumption behind cognitive training is that one’s general cognitive ability can be enhanced by practicing cognitive tasks or intellectually demanding activities. The hundreds of studies published so far have provided mixed findings and systematic reviews have reached inconsistent conclusions. To resolve these discrepancies, we carried out several meta-analytic reviews. The results are highly consistent across all the reviewed domains: minimal effect on domain-general cognitive skills. Crucially, the observed between-study variability is accounted for by design quality and statistical artefacts. The cognitive-training program of research has showed no appreciable benefits, and other more plausible practices to enhance cognitive performance should be pursued.
Book
A must-have resource for researchers, practitioners, and advanced students interested or involved in psychometric testing. Over the past hundred years, psychometric testing has proved to be a valuable tool for measuring personality, mental ability, attitudes, and much more. The word 'psychometrics' can be translated as 'mental measurement'; however, the implication that psychometrics as a field is confined to psychology is highly misleading. Scientists and practitioners from virtually every conceivable discipline now use and analyze data collected from questionnaires, scales, and tests developed from psychometric principles, and the field is vibrant with new and useful methods and approaches. This handbook brings together contributions from leading psychometricians in a diverse array of fields around the globe. Each provides accessible and practical information about their specialist area in a three-step format covering historical and standard approaches, innovative issues and techniques, and practical guidance on how to apply the methods discussed. Throughout, real-world examples help to illustrate and clarify key aspects of the topics covered. The aim is to fill a gap for information about psychometric testing that is neither too basic nor too technical and specialized, and will enable researchers, practitioners, and graduate students to expand their knowledge and skills in the area. Provides comprehensive coverage of the field of psychometric testing, from designing a test through writing items to constructing and evaluating scales. Takes a practical approach, addressing real issues faced by practitioners and researchers. Provides basic and accessible mathematical and statistical foundations of all psychometric techniques discussed. Provides example software code to help readers implement the analyses discussed.
Article
For decades, researchers have tried to understand how to guide students to both pursue and excel in a career in the fields science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Recently, creativity has been recognized as being important in STEM-based fields and some researchers have even suggested a shift from STEM to STEAM to account for the artistic side of science (Boy, 2013; Henriksen, 2014). Creative capacities augment scientific endeavors given the role these capacities play in problem-solving and innovation. Our work focuses on identifying a method to improve both creativity and spatial abilities, as spatial ability predicts the likelihood to succeed in a STEM field (Wai et al., 2009). Some scientists found that making computer games provides students with an introduction to computer science and technology through an engaging, self-driven platform. While this technique has been successful in sparking interest in STEM careers (Javidi & Sheybani, 2010; Robertson & Howells, 2008), little research has been conducted on how it impacts STEM success. We examined if game-making could lead to cognitive improvement in creativity and spatial abilities in addition to its attitudinal effects. Using a longitudinal, pretest/post-test design, we found that making levels in Portal 2 improved creative and spatial abilities over a control. Participants who made levels also reported being more interested and confident in a variety of STEM-related activities. We conclude that game-making can be used as an engaging way to not only encourage students to pursue, but prepare them to succeed in STEM careers.