Philosophy Through Storytelling

An accessible beginners manual with all you need to run philosophy groups with children or adults.

Whether you work with school pupils, students or adults, philosophy offers the opportunity to develop thinking skills that have both personal and academic application. This practical manual contains detailed guidance and a set of short stories for running philosophy groups.

• Ideal for use in schools, the sessions can be used in a variety of environments, and with participants of all ages from five to 95.
• In each session, the participants start with a warm-up, examine a key stimulus, generate questions from that stimulus, agree to focus on one question and share, challenge and develop views on that question. Finally they consider how well the process went, warm-down and end the session.
• Using this approach to philosophy is an excellent way to challenge thinking and to encourage interaction, as some participant responses show: 'It's much more worth listening to than I expected', 'It is great to hear what others think and believe', and 'I feel I know the people in my group much better.'
• Particularly ideal for schools using the P4C (Philosophy for Children) method and for adult special needs group leaders.

This accessible manual helps you to introduce philosophy to your group and will change how you and your students think about themselves and others.

Please note accompanying question and discussion cards by the author are also available from Speechmark.

Contents

A4, wire-o-bound book

Reviews

"Pauline Purcell has encapsulated the essence of Philosophy for Children in this delightful collection of stories that accommodates a range of abilities across the Primary Phases. The theme of this practical book is underlined by the opening quote: I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think (Socrates). The essential aim of Philosophy for Children is the development of an atmosphere in which children feel free to question, to probe their own thinking and the thinking of others, including the teacher’s. No-one has a ‘right’ answer but, equally, no-one has a ‘wrong’ answer. The emphasis is on exploring the reasoning behind the questions and examining possible answers; the underlying objective being to listen and respond in a collective atmosphere of enquiry.

The class is arranged in an inclusive circle and the lessons are broadly divided into: pre-session games, establishing the ground rules of discussions, warm-up questions, the lesson stimulus with the generation of key questions, the negotiated decision about the main focus of the lesson, and strategies for ending the lesson with wind-down suggestions.

The pre-session games are delightful and easy to implement from the step-by-step guidelines.

A vital part of the group activity is that the class itself sets the rules for the discussion – the teacher scaffolding and mentoring the rules until the group can function independently with the minimum of guidance from the teacher.

The resource also has a collection of 25 Philosophical Discussion Cards with pictures and questions to provoke discussion. In addition, there is a collection of 57 Philosophical Question cards with: What if ---? questions, Which would you choose? questions, and, What is ---? questions. For example:
• What if --- there were no computers?
• Which would you choose --- money or friends?
• What is --- courage?

I found this resource delightful and easy to implement in the classroom. I recommend it to all teachers and parents.

NOTE: additional training courses are available through SAPERE: see www.sapere.org.uk"

Belle Wallace - Past President, SAPERE