Philosophy For Children P4C Richmond Primary School Hinckley 01455 637266 www.office@richmond.leics.sch.uk

What is P4C? A curriculum developed by Professor Matthew Lipman in the 60s Aim to encourage children (and adults) to be more reasonable – ready to reason and be reasoned with An emphasis on the importance of questioning or enquiry in the development of reason

Community of Enquiry This involves a group collaborating together to grow in understanding of The material world The personal and ethical world around them Participants sit together so that each person can see and hear all of the others Ground rules for working together are agreed

Ground Rules Listen carefully Avoid interrupting or dominating Respect one another and don’t ridicule Silence is accepted Those who are reticent are encouraged Etc………………………………………………

Stages Warm up games Provide and present a stimulus as a starting point for questions – text e.g poems, story, newspaper report; objects, music, pictures, sculptures, film Thinking time – individually or with a partner Formulate a question Display questions Make connections between questions Pick out philosophical themes Vote for a question Person asking the chosen question explains why they asked the question Discussion and debate Agreed response to the question

Questions asked using the Building Song as a stimulus 1.If there is nothing there does that mean there is a big hole in the earth? 2.Is trust something that can be built? 3.What does nothing look like? 4.How do you know when you are building the wrong stuff 5.What does nothingness smell like? 6.Is nothing something? 7. Why is happy a feeling? 8. How can you build something when nothing is there? 9. What are they building? 10. What is nothing?

Questions contd 11.Can you trust your family? 12. Why is music slow and fast? 13. If you can’t see anything does that mean nothing is there? 14.How do you build something on nothing? 15. Is blackness nothing? 16. Why is love so important? 17. How old is nothing? 18. Is nothing something you can touch and feel? 19. Can you see trust in you? 20. Can you trust someone you don’t know?

Explanations given: “You can always see something but when you’re dead you can’t see anything unless you believe in God.” “There is always something there or something happening.” “Nothing is a word that is used to explain that something that was there is now gone, but there will never be nothing at all.”