A Study of the Similarities and Differences between Hegel's Educational Philosophy and the Program of Philosophy for Children (P4C)
Hamid Talebzadeh and Farzad Haji Mirzaie
Hegel's philosophy is considered to be one of the most influential philosophical schools of the modern period. In order to understand the reason behind this view, it is useful to cast a glance at some other recent philosophical trends such as phenomenology, existentialism, Marxism, and pragmatism (Dewey and Pierce) in order to observe the traces of Hegel's affirmative approach therein. Not only is his philosophy extremely noteworthy as a systematic school of thought, but his educational philosophy is of great importance, which has unfortunately remained unknown to many of us. Hegel himself was a teacher at gymnasium (high school) and paid great attention to education and training. He also believed that students must be mentally involved in the process of philosophical thinking, and instructional materials must be in harmony with the daily life of children and adolescents. Hegel's dialectics is also considered to be a very good tool for spreading "critical thinking" among students. On the other hand, the fascinating program of Matthew Lipman, the founder of the Program of Philosophy for Children in America, has been in use for several decades. Before his death, through introducing a new program for teaching philosophy to children, he managed to create a new trend in education and training which has turned into one of the modern methods for teaching critical and creative thinking in today's world. Employing Hegel's philosophy, particularly in the fields of philosophical education and training could be of great help to the Program of Philosophy for Children. The present paper explores the similarities and differences between Hegel's philosophy and this program. Hegel's dialectics is not merely a method; rather, it is the same as philosophy and can be used in the community of enquiry as introduced in the P4C Program. However, Hegel's intended educational system is by no means child-centered, and he emphasizes that teachers play an extremely central role in the process of learning. In fact, the educational system intended by Hegel is "school-centered", and school is an absolute manifestation of Hegelian philosophy in the field of education and training.
Key Terms: similarity, dissimilarity, philosophy for children, education and training, dialectics, community of enquiry
Teaching Philosophy to Pre-School and Primary School Children
Murtada Isma'ili Kartiji
The correct training of children during the first years of their life plays a very important role in preventing certain learning problems or decreasing them. Moreover, it results in life-long benefits for both families and society, for example, reinforcing moral values, encouraging sociability, and prompting social mobilization. Philosophy for Children attempts to disseminate philosophy among children for the purpose of teaching logical reasoning and judgment to them within the framework of this discipline. Philosophical inquiry in classes at primary school or nursery school provides children with the chance of becoming familiar with their own world and discover what is valuable and praiseworthy therein. The main job of a teacher is to prepare children for learning. Previous studies indicate that this task begins during the preschool period or even before that. Therefore, a new program called "Philosophy for Children" has been initiated in order to introduce philosophy into school curricula. This Program employs some types of practice and tasks in the class in order to teach children how to think. By using this program, trained school teachers can encourage children to think more profoundly about the ideas behind their school work.
Key Terms: child, thinking, judgment, reasoning, philosophical thinking
An Assessment of the Purposes of the Program of Teaching Philosophy to Children in Islamic Thought
Hesam al-Din Khal'atbari and Zahra Aqa J'afari
This study aims to assess the purposes of the Program of Teaching Philosophy to Children based on Islamic philosophy. Accordingly, the researchers have initially tried to explore and clarify the various angels of thinking and intellection in Islamic philosophy. Then, after introducing the Program of Teaching Philosophy to Children and its goals, they have reviewed and evaluated these goals based on the place of reason in Islamic philosophy. The findings of this study indicate that this program is a valuable endeavor reinforcing the growth of philosophical thinking in children and adolescents. However, the execution of the above-mentioned program in our country, where the divine and monotheistic worldview has penetrated each of its pillars, will create some harmful effects if some necessary changes are not made in its fundamental principles. This is because these principles have been devised based on the Western materialistic worldview, which does not correspond with Man's perfectionist and truth-seeking primordial nature and is, rather, standing at a huge distance from the transcendent purposes of creation.
Key Terms: teaching philosophy, child, intellect, Islamic thought, purpose
A Study of an Appropriate Method of Using Philosophy for Children (P4C) in Iran
Ahmad Akbari, Maliheh Akbari, and Zeynab Ejlali
Some of those who are interested in the Program of Philosophy for Children (P4C) in Iran have tried to pave the way for using it for Iranian children by translating Lipman's works. However, the translated works, such as Bahreini's translation of Lisa, have some cultural problems. Another group has tried to rewrite Lipman's stories in a way to decrease their cultural load. In this regard, we can refer to Sa'id Naji's Leila, which has been written in 11 chapters and 29 parts based on Lipman's Lisa. In this book, Iranian names have replaced the foreign ones in order to strengthen the connection between the story and children. However, it is difficult for Iranian children to communicate with some of the stories. Hence, it is necessary to employ other methods in order to create appropriate stories for Iranian children. For instance, if we can replace some parts of the novel of Lisa with certain Iranian stories, it might be more fruitful. For example, instead of the story of Pablo's Death or the question of if we can kill animals, we can use the story of "The White Cat" in Sandbadnameh or the story of "Shaykh Garakani and the Cat". The writers of this paper believe that this strategy might increase children's interest in reading the related stories.
Key Terms: philosophy for children, philosophical story, community of enquiry
Impacts of the Program of Teaching Philosophy for Children on the Skills of Meaningfulness, Tolerance of Ambiguity, Harmony, and Drawing Conclusions in the Development of Students' Critical Thinking
Hossein Qamari Givi, 'Ali Khaliqkhah, 'Ali Rezaie Sharif, and Fatemeh Zadkhust
This study aimed to explore the impacts of the program of teaching philosophy to children on the skills of meaningfulness, tolerance of ambiguity, harmony, and drawing conclusions on the development of students' critical thinking. The research sample consisted of 42 female fifth graders studying at a primary school in Ilam in 2013-2014 chosen based on the convenient method of sampling. The program of teaching philosophy was implemented in the experimental class but not in the control class. The required data was collected by means of the Measurement of Critical Thinking Questionnaire developed by Robert H. Ennis. The statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20 (SPSS 20) was used to compute the required descriptive statistics. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance was also run in order to compare the performances of the two groups at the end of the experiment. The results indicated that there was a meaningful difference between the two groups in terms of the main variables of the study (critical thinking skills). In other words, the teaching of philosophy increased the students' critical thinking ability and its related skills.
Key Terms: teaching philosophy, critical thinking, meaningfulness, tolerance of ambiguity, harmony, drawing conclusions
Impact of the Nativized Program of Philosophy for Children on Increasing the Self-Efficacy, Happiness, and Optimism of Female First-Grader High School Students
Reza 'Ali Nowruzi and Monireh 'Abedi
The purpose of the present research was to examine the impact of the nativized Program of Philosophy for Children on increasing the self-efficacy, happiness, and optimism of female first-grader high school students. The research design employed to collect the data was quasi-experimental. The systematic random sampling method was used to choose a sample consisting of 80 students. Sixty of them were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 20 of them to the control group. The data were collected by administering the Children's Self-Efficacy Scale, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, and the Life Orientation Test (LOT) to both groups. The results indicated that there were no meaningful differences between the two groups in terms of the constructs measured by these instruments. Then the Program of Philosophy for Children was implemented in the experimental group for six 80-minute sessions. At the end of the treatment, the same three instruments were administered to both groups in order to check the effects of the program. The statistical analysis of the data through using the statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 18) revealed that there was a meaningful difference between the self-efficacy and optimism mean scores of the experimental and control groups at p<0.05. In other words, the experimental group had significantly outperformed the control group in terms of these two constructs. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups' happiness mean scores at p<0.05 after the treatment. Therefore, the researchers suggest that the nativized Program of Philosophy for Children significantly increases the students' senses of self-efficacy and optimism, while it has no such effect on their sense of happiness.
Key Terms: Philosophy for Children, happiness, self-efficacy, optimism
A Comparative Study of the Views of Multi-National Teachers on Methods of Teaching Philosophy to Children
Mohsen Farmahini Farahani, Isma'il Kharestani, and Fatemeh Seifi
Given the importance of teaching philosophy to children in recent years, this study compared the views of a number of teachers from America, England, Australia, France, and Denmark concerning the methods of teaching philosophy to children. The comparative-qualitative method was used to collect and analyze the research data.
The obtained results indicated that the most important methods of teaching philosophy to children in the view of American teachers included story-telling, research, discussion, and community of enquiry. In England, teachers preferred the telling of philosophical and real stories in the class; creating a community of enquiry; using music, television, video cassettes, and picture books. Australian teachers advocated story-telling and group research, while French teachers, in addition to story-telling, found painting, asking questions, using the Socratic method, and creating a research community useful for their purpose. Finally, Danish teachers believed that story-telling, dialogs, painting, and watching movies and video films were the best methods of teaching philosophy to children.
Moreover, the findings clearly demonstrated that the teachers in all the target countries use the methods of telling philosophical stories and creating the community of enquiry for teaching philosophy to children. The difference between American and European (English, French, and Danish) teachers is that the former use philosophical stories at the beginning, while the latter start with philosophical questions. Furthermore, in America they use some supplementary activities and practice, while in Europe they mainly benefit from dialogs to teach philosophy to children.
Key Terms: comparative study, methods, teaching philosophy to children, multi-national teachers