Slides used in Ås on the 24th and 25th Sept, and at Gallions School on the 26th Sept 2012

1. P4C in with 3 – 6 year olds
www.p4c.com www.challenginglearning.com

2. The aim of a thinking
skills programme
such as P4C is not to
turn children into
philosophers but to
help them become
more thoughtful,
more reflective, more
considerate and
more reason-able
individuals
P4C – Created by Matthew Lipman

3. Challenge with young children

4. Collaborative
Caring
Critical
Creative
Community
Inquiry
of

5. Typical format for P4C (with Reception onwards)
1. Sit in a circle
2. Warm-up game
3. Story (or other stimulus)
4. Identify the concepts
5. Create (philosophical) questions
6. Vote for the best (or favourite) question
7. Share first thoughts
8. Ask for reasons
9. Check for understanding
10. Create cognitive conflict around the concept
11. Compare the concept with other concepts
12. Draw conclusions

6. The Gruffalo
By Donaldson & Scheffler

8. This is a self-portrait by Aelita Andre

10. What P4C does is give
children the intellectual,
social and emotional tools
that they need to think
well, to think judiciously
and reasonably and, by
means of the classroom
community of inquiry,
foster the care,
commitment and courage
to act on their thinking.
P4C with young children – A M Sharp

11. P4C programme by Lipman
Elfie (5 – 7) General Reasoning and Enquiry
Kio and Gus (5 – 10) Exploring Nature
Pixie (5 – 10) General Reasoning and Enquiry
Harry (9 – 12) General Reasoning and Enquiry
Lisa (12 – 15) Ethical
Suki (13 – 16) Expression, Writing, Poetry
Mark (14 – 17) Sociological

13. One way to summarise P4C …
Not all of our questions
answered …
… but all of our answers
questioned

14. Facts and Concepts
Fact Paris is the
capital of France
Concept (Capital) cities
Knowledge
Understanding

15. Example question starters
What is …
How do we know what is …
What if …
Always or never
When would …
What is the difference between …
Is it possible to …
Who decides what is …
Should we …

16. If A = B then
Does B = A?
Friend Play with
Play with Friend
For example …
Wobblers (If A = B)

17. If I wear
this hat, I
am Bob
I’m not Bob if
I just have a
name badge
Cognitive conflict is key to critical thinking

18. ANALYSE
ANTICIPATE
APPLY
CAUSAL-
LINK
CHOOSE
CLASSIFY
COMPARE
CONNECT
CONTRAST
DECIDE
DEFINE
DESCRIBE
DETERMINE
DISCUSS
ELABORATE
ESTIMATE
EVALUATE
EXEMPLIFY
EXPLORE
GENERALISE
GIVE
EXAMPLES
GIVE
REASONS
GROUP
HYPOTHESI
SE
IDENTIFY
INFER
INTERPRET
ORGANISE
PARAPHRA
SE
PREDICT
QUESTION
RANK
REPRESEN
T
RESPOND
SEQUENCE
SIMPLIFY
SHOW HOW
SOLVE
SORT
SUMMARISE
SUPPORT
TEST
VERIFY
VISUALISE
A selection of thinking skills

19.  Standing up game
 Repeat what
someone else said
 Paraphrase what
someone else said
 Add to what
someone else said
Creating a Community of Inquiry
From www.p4c.com
P4C Craft

20. “It is utterly false and
cruelly arbitrary to put
all the play and learning
into childhood, all the
work into middle age,
and all the regrets into
old age”
Margaret Mead
(anthropologist)

21. @JamesNottinghm
Facebook.com/ChallengingLearning
ChallengingLearning.com
james@p4c.com
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