This study provides a critical interrogation of the perceptions held by the undergraduate Philosophy of Education students at an open and distance learning institution, towards African philosophy. The study is premised on famed Kenyan philosopher, Odera Henry Oruka‟s classification of African philosophy into four trends: ethno-philosophy, philosophic sagacity, nationalist-ideological philosophy and professional philosophy. These trends confirm that African philosophy is more than traditions, culture or ubuntu, and more complex than the students make it to be. The study makes a link between the students‟ flawed perceptions of African philosophy with their lack of critical thinking skills. The study has attempted to answer questions such as why students have flawed perceptions of African philosophy; how critical thinking assists in changing their perceptions of African philosophy, and what role can the education system play in equipping students with critical thinking skills. The study‟s findings show that undergraduate Philosophy of Education students conflate African philosophy with African people‟s traditions and cultures, and with ubuntu. Students perceive that African philosophy lacks reason and rationality - key elements of critical thinking. The study‟s findings show that students lack critical thinking skills. The study notes that the way students are taught makes a large contribution to their perceptions and lack of critical thinking skills. The study makes the following recommendations. Firstly, to deal with the problem of students‟ conflations, the study recommends the introduction of the principles of African philosophy, namely, ubuntu, communalism and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the school curriculum, and to emphasise these principles in the curricula of higher education institutions. Secondly, the study recommends the introduction of philosophy for children (P4C) in schools. It is envisaged that P4C will assist learners to acquire critical thinking skills at an early stage of learning. Thirdly, the study recommends the teaching of critical thinking skills at universities. Finally, the study recommends that in- service training be made an integral part of teachers‟ and lecturers‟ professional training, to bring them up-to-date with new ideas and methods of teaching. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This thesis examines some of the different kinds of metaphors employed in our pedagogical practices. By using the Four Pillars of Philosophy for Children, an alternative metaphor for teaching philosophy is put forth as a viable alternative to the traditional options. This is what we can reasonably call the Rhapsode Metaphor.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on the topic of Global development education using the pedagogical approach of Philosophy for children. The main objective is to develop its own proposal of educational materials. Which will deal with the possibilities of using this theme to the first grade of primary school. The theoretical part is divided into two parts, the first is characterized by Global development education and the second the Philosophy for children. In the practical part we are shown three draft their own learning activities, which are fully capable of being put into teaching practice of geography at 1st level of basic education, especially for 4th and 5th grade.

The diploma thesis focuses on the description of the current state of Czech education. First of all, it represents the objectives and concepts of elementary education in the Czech Republic and brings closer to the requirements of the Framework Education Programmes. It describes closer the importance of key competencies and objectives of the educational field Citizenship Education. In the next part the diploma thesis introduces a program Philosophy for Children, whose principles correspond to a great extent with the objectives of elementary education, and therefore it seems to be a suitable tool for educating and education pupils. The empirical part will then offer a specific model of teaching built on the basis of Philosophy for Children and will assess its suitability for achieving the objectives of the educational field Citizenship Education.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-01-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:36:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 urel_apj_me_mar.pdf: 442054 bytes, checksum: 729319bb62e901878f9bd553fff1af6d (MD5) / A pesquisa pretende abordar o problema que se refere à perspectiva abordada pela Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo no que tange à escolha da temática ética para as oficinas de filosofia para crianças. Problema que nos leva a buscar um caminho que nos indique como pensar esse tema pelo viés do sujeito e não pelas finalidades estabelecidas pela educação escolarizada. O objetivo primeiro desta dissertação é analisar a Oficina de Enriquecimento Curricular Filosofia para o Ciclo I do Ensino Fundamental, na busca pelos elementos que dificultam a realização dessas oficinas nas escolas públicas do Estado de São Paulo. Para tanto, entendemos que nossa primeira preocupação é analisar a concepção de Educação à qual o projeto está vinculado, no sentido de compreendermos o que motiva a elaboração desse projeto. Nossa pesquisa se caracteriza metodologicamente pela análise documental, com base em autores da Filosofia da Educação. Escolhemos como objeto de pesquisa os documentos que propõem a oficina de filosofia para crianças. A partir da concepção de Ética explícita nos documentos, buscamos uma possibilidade da proposta dessa temática aliada ao conceito de Cuidado de si, perspectivado por Michel Foucault. Analisamos, também, a palavra experiência por meio de Jorge Larrosa, ao qual acreditamos ser possível uma possibilidade de abertura para pensarmos como o cuidado de si indicaria uma disposição ética do sujeito a si e aos outros / The objective of the present dissertation is to approach the debatable perspective taken by São Paulo State Secretariat of Education when choosing the theme ethics for its Philosophy workshops for children. In order to do so, it seems necessary to encounter an approach that leads to the consideration of the topic in the light of the Subject instead of the purposes established by formal education. The main aim of the study is to analyze the Workshop of Curricular Enrichment – Philosophy in the first stage of Brazilian Fundamental Education (i.e. students aged 6 to 10 years), seeking elements that hinder the accomplishment of these workshops in public schools in São Paulo state. Firstly, the concept of Education to which the project is affiliated is analyzed in order to understand the motivation behind the project‟s elaboration. The research‟s methodology consists of document analysis based on authors who specialize in Philosophy of Education. The study‟s corpus comprises the documents utilized in the philosophy workshops for children. The study proposes the conflation of the conception of Ethics presented on the documents with the concept of Care of the Self, as devised by Michel Foucault. The word experience was also analyzed as per Jorge Larrosa, offering a possibility to consider how the Care of the Self may indicate an ethical disposition of the Subject toward itself and toward others

Abstract The study analyzes the theoretical basis of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) program elaborated by Matthew Lipman. The aim is, firstly, to identify the main philosophical and pedagogical principles of P4C based on American pragmatism, and to locate their pedagogization and possible problems in Lipman's thinking. Here the discussion is especially targeted to the thinking of John Dewey and George H. Mead as well as Lev Vygotsky, whom Lipman himself names as the most pivotal sources for his own thinking. On the other hand, the study aims at opening up new perspectives and thematizations on P4C from the viewpoint of the continental tradition of thought. The essential principles of P4C connected with reasonableness and judgment are ultimately interpreted as a neo-Aristotelian effort to contextualize philosophy by tracing it back to moderation, the man's ability to consider and solve problems that he meets in practical life kata ton orthon logon – by doing right things in the right place at the right time in the right way. This phronetic idea of 'humanizing modernity' combined with the evolution of the adult-child concept is argued to be one of the conditions for the possibility of P4C, yet leaving unsolved the basic problems involving pedagogical action as such. John Dewey's ideas arising from the critique of the modern philosophy of consciousness, focusing on the significance of philosophy in practical human life and linked to the basic nature of human knowing and intellectual growth and, further, to the ideal of a democratic community, are shown to form the main intellectual sources of P4C. Dewey's philosophy as a general theory of education means a solid linking of the concepts of experience and inquiry to the practice of education. This is based on the naturalistic conception of man according to which man is built in dynamic transaction with his environment, experiencing the true meanings of his ideas in the consequences of his actions as he tries to solve problematic situations. So, inquiry as a method of reflective thinking forms the basis for education based on intellectual growth. A condition for it is a context meaningful for the child in which the paradigm of inquiry can be realized authentically. It is therefore important in education to provide circumstances that stimulate the child's curiosity, initiating a process of inquiry that further enables, through the formation of reflective habits, the development of a democratic community. The purpose of the pedagogical interaction taking place in the process of inquiry is to produce educative experiences for the child, making the pedagogical relationship vanish at the same time. The idea is that in pedagogical action the child's subjectivity, his desire and impulses are adapted to the tradition, yet generating at the same time a prospective, reflective habit, thus freeing the educatee to think intelligently for himself. The study shows the articulation of these principles in Lipman's practical effort to convert the classroom into a community of inquiry, but it also argues that the above-mentioned Bildung theoretical core problem of pedagogical action, related to its paradoxical special characteristics to produce autonomous subjectivity, is not thematized. In connection with this issue, the educational thinking of Kant and Hegel is discussed especially from the viewpoint of philosophy teaching. To provide a new perspective for the discussion, the study outlines the community of inquiry as an 'educative space' from the viewpoints of the pedagogical relationship typical of hermeneutic pedagogy and of non-reflective functional structures and phenomena based on pedagogical intuition that are linked to it. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksessa eritellään Matthew Lipmanin kehittelemän Filosofiaa lapsille (P4C) ohjelman teoreettisia perusteita. Tarkoituksena on ensinnäkin identifioida P4C:n amerikkalaiseen pragmatismiin palautuvat filosofiset ja pedagogiset pääperiaatteet sekä paikallistaa niiden pedagogisoituminen sekä mahdolliset ongelmat Lipmanin ajattelussa. Tällöin tarkastelun kohteena on erityisesti John Deweyn ja Georg H. Meadin ajattelu sekä lisäksi Lev Vygotsky, jotka kolme Lipman itse nimeää oman ajattelunsa merkittävimmiksi lähteiksi. Toisaalta tutkimuksessa pyritään avaamaan P4C:lle uusia näkökulmia ja tematisointeja mannermaisen ajatteluperinteen näkökulmasta. P4C:n keskeiset järkevyyteen ja arvostelukykyyn liittyvät periaatteet tulkitaan viimekädessä uusaristotelisena pyrkimyksenä kontekstualisoida filosofia palauttamalla se kohtuullisuuteen, ihmisen kykyyn harkita ja ratkaista käytännöllisessä elämässä kohtaamiaan ongelmia kata ton orthon logon – tekemällä oikeita asioita oikeassa paikassa oikeaan aikaan oikealla tavalla. Tämä 'modernin inhimillistämisen' froneettinen idea yhdistyneenä aikuinen-lapsi käsitteen evoluutioon argumentoidaan P4C:n yhdeksi mahdollisuusehdoksi, joka jättää kuitenkin pedagogiseen toimintaan sinänsä liittyvät perusongelmat ratkaisematta. John Deweyn modernin tietoisuusfilosofian kritiikistä nousevat, filosofian merkitystä ihmisen käytännöllisessä elämässä korostavat näkemykset, jotka liittyvät inhimillisen tietämisen ja älyllisen kasvun perusluonteeseen sekä edelleen demokraattisen yhteisön ideaaliin osoitetaan P4C:n keskeisiksi intellektuaalisiksi lähteiksi. Dewey'n filosofia yleisenä kasvatuksen teoriana merkitsee kokemuksen ja tutkimuksen käsitteiden kiinteää kytkemistä kasvatuksen käytäntöön. Tämä perustuu naturalistiseen ihmiskäsitykseen, jonka mukaan ihminen rakentuu dynaamisessa transaktiossa ympäristönsä kanssa kokien ideoidensa todet merkitykset toimintansa seurauksissa pyrkiessään ratkaisemaan ongelmallisia tilanteita. Tällöin tutkimus reflektiivisen ajattelun metodina muodostaa perustan älylliseen kasvuun perustuvalle kasvatukselle. Sen ehtona on sellainen lapselle merkityksellinen konteksti, jossa tutkimuksen paradigma voi toteutua autenttisena. Kasvatuksessa on siten tärkeää luoda olosuhteet, jotka stimuloivat lapsen uteliaisuutta käynnistäen tutkimuksen prosessin, joka edelleen mahdollistaa reflektiivisten tapojen muodostumisen kautta demokraattisen yhteisön kehittymisen. Tutkimuksen prosessissa tapahtuvan pedagogisen interaktion tarkoituksena on tuottaa lapselle kasvattavia kokemuksia häivyttäen samalla pedagogista suhdetta. Ajatuksena on, että pedagogisessa toiminnassa lapsen subjektiviteetti, hänen halunsa ja impulssinsa sovittuvat traditioon generoiden samalla kuitenkin tulevaisuuteen suuntautuvaa, reflektiivistä tapaa vapauttaen näin kasvatettavan ajattelemaan älykkäästi itse. Tutkimuksessa osoitetaan näiden periaatteiden artikuloituminen Lipmanin käytännöllisessä pyrkimyksessä muuntaa koululuokka tutkivaksi yhteisöksi, mutta samalla kuitenkin argumentoidaan, että mainittu pedagogisen toiminnan sivistysteoreettinen ydinongelma liittyen sen paradoksaaliseen erityisluonteeseen autonomisen subjektiviteetin tuottamiseksi ei tematisoidu. Tämän kysymyksen yhteydessä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan Kantin ja Hegelin kasvatusajattelua erityisesti filosofian opetuksen näkökulmasta. Uutena avauksena tutkimuksessa hahmotellaan tutkivaa yhteisöä 'kasvattavana tilana' hermeneuttiselle pedagogiikalle ominaisen pedagogisen suhteen ja siihen kytkeytyvien ei-reflektiivisten, pedagogiseen intuitioon perustuvien toimintarakenteiden ja ilmiöiden näkökulmasta.

Magister Educationis - MEd / In this study I researched the effectiveness of a ‘Thinking Schools’ initiative at a local primary school between April 2010 and September 2011. I looked at how the school began the journey, what has changed in the school, the contextual factors that have influenced the process and what has sustained the school’s progress. As background to the study I discuss the importance and relevance of learned intelligence as explained by Vygotsky, thinking skills and cognitive education, and the whole school approach as opposed to individual teacher initiatives, as introduced by Burden in the United Kingdom. A local adaptation of Lipman’s ‘Philosophy for Children’ was the focus of this study, as it was chosen by the school as the starting point on their road to becoming a Thinking School. A qualitative research approach was used, using a constructivist paradigm and case study methodology, following the guidelines established by Stake (1995) and Yin (2003). The participants included the principal, together with selected teachers and learners and a curriculum advisor. Data collection took the form of interviews and a rating scale. The study found positive changes in teacher and learner thinking, supported by the ethos and stability of the school environment. The major challenge was that not all stakeholders were involved.

L’objet de cette thèse porte sur l’éducation aux valeurs à l’école primaire à travers un dispositif articulant des pratiques littéraires à celles de la philosophie pour enfants. Partant de l’idée que dans l’élaboration du jugement moral l’affectivité précède le travail de la raison nous avons voulu vérifier le rôle essentiel joué par l’imagination et l’empathie. Dans cette perspective, la littérature constitue une médiation privilégiée. Cette recherche s’appuie sur des séances menées dans des classes de cycle 3 à partir du mythe platonicien L’anneau de Gygès et s’attache à répondre à deux hypothèses principales : 1ère hypothèse : La discussion à visée philosophique, lorsqu'elle s'amorce à partir des fictions littéraires, développe chez les élèves, grâce au ressort de l'empathie envers les personnages de fiction et à la médiation de l'enseignant, des exigences éthiques et une capacité de réflexion approfondie sur les valeurs. 2ème hypothèse : Le rôle médiateur de l’adulte et la qualité de ses gestes professionnels est une des clés de ce développement. L’enjeu est de mettre à jour les conditions qui favoriseraient « la formation de la personne et du citoyen » afin que la littérature mérite de figurer dans le pilier « Culture humaniste » du socle commun de l’école primaire. / The objective of this thesis concerns the education of values at the primary school through a system combining literary practices to those of the philosophy for children. Guided by the idea that in the elaboration of moral judgement, the affectivity precedes the work of the reason, we wanted to verify the major role played by the imagination and the empathy. In this perspective, the literature held a privileged place in the mediation. This research is based on sessions organized in classes in the 3rd cycle as from the platonic myth : ‘the Ring of Gygès’ and tries to answer to two main hypotheses : 1st hypothesis : when the discussion with philosophy aims begins with literary fictions, the pupils tend to develop ethical requirements and a capacity of deep thinking on values thanks to the empathy they have for the fictive characters and the teacher’s mediation. 2nd hypothesis : the mediation played by the adult and the quality of his professional gestures is one of the key of this development. The issue is to demonstrate the conditions which would favour the ‘education of the person and the citizen’ in order that literature deserves to appear in the pillar ‘Humanist Culture’ of the common teaching of the primary school.

Actuellement au Québec, une majorité d’électeurs ont exprimé leur mécontentement vis-à-vis du système politique actuel. Les citoyens déclarent être privés de contrôle et ressentir un manque de choix réel dans le processus politique. À l’ère du populisme croissant, cela représente une préoccupation urgente pour assurer la vitalité de notre démocratie. L’objectif de ce mémoire est d’aborder la question de l’engagement civique et de la transformation sociale et politique à partir d’une évaluation critique de la Philosophie pour enfants (PPE). La question de la recherche peut être formulée ainsi : « Comment la Philosophie pour enfants peut-elle aider à répondre aux aspirations non satisfaites qu’une majorité de citoyens ressentent à l’égard du système politique actuel ? » Afin de répondre à cette question, nous évaluons la valeur et le potentiel démocratique de la PPE à travers une théorie sociale et politique radicale. Nous nous éloignons des philosophies politiques plus « traditionnelles » pour nous intéresser au programme politique de « démocratie expérimentale » développé par Roberto Unger pour montrer comment il peut offrir un moyen d'envisager la PPE comme un moyen de perturber la simple reproduction de la structure sociale et de la rapprocher d'une activité qui le transforme à travers l'expérimentation et l'engagement collectif. Pour ce faire, nous argumentons que les pratiques et les fondements théoriques de la PPE peuvent être considérés comme compatibles avec une telle vision démocratique. Nous soutenons néanmoins que son potentiel démocratique est limité par le manque de l’aspect pratique ainsi que par l'absence de soutien institutionnel capable de permettre l'expérimentation et la collaboration collective. / Recently in Quebec, a majority of eligible voters have expressed their discontent with the current political system. Citizens say they experience disempowerment and feel a lack of real choice in the political process. In the age of rising populism, this represents a pressing concern to ensure the vitality of our democracy. The purpose of this thesis is to engage with the issue of civic engagement and social reform from the standpoint of Philosophy for children (P4C). The research question can be formulated as such: “How can P4C contribute to an effective response towards the unsatisfied aspirations that a majority of citizens feel toward the current political system?” In order to answer this question, we assess P4C’s democratic value and democratic potential through a radical social and political theory. We depart from more “traditional” political philosophies and direct our attention to Democratic Experimentalism developed by Roberto Unger to show how it can offer a way to envisage P4C as a means to disrupt the mere reproduction of the structure of society and bring it closer to an activity that transforms it through experimentation and collective engagement. To do so, we examine how P4C’s practices and theoretical underpinnings can be said to be compatible with such a vision of democratic life and how nonetheless its democratic potential is limited by the lack of practicality and the absence of institutional support capable of enabling experimentation and collective engagement.