Method
The pedagogy of philosophy for children is diverse. However, many practitioners including those working in the tradition of Matthew Lipman and the IAPC emphasize the use of a community of enquiry method which has roots in the work of philosopher John Dewey. The term "enquiry" is preferred to "lesson" because the emphasis is on the group enquiring together into questions with the teacher as a facilitator rather than the authoritative source of information.
In a typical enquiry, a group would be presented with a thought-provoking stimulus such as a text, image, picture book, or video clip. Some time may be spent identifying the concepts raised by the stimulus, and then participants frame their own philosophical questions in response to the stimulus and vote for the one they wish to explore. The ensuing discussion usually takes place in a circle, with the teacher/facilitator intervening to push the thinking to a deeper level but aspiring to allow the discussion to follow the emerging interests of the group.
Read more about this topic: Philosophy For Children
Famous quotes containing the word method:
“Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best 20-20 hindsight. It’s good for seeing where you’ve been. It’s good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can’t tell you where you ought to go.”
—Robert M. Pirsig (b. 1928)
“There is no method but to be very intelligent.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“We have not given science too big a place in our education, but we have made a perilous mistake in giving it too great a preponderance in method in every other branch of study.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)