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. The four C’s of P4C
Collaborative
Caring
Critical
Creative
Community
Inquiry
of
8. Need generalised rules and structures as a guide
Quality management systems can be very helpful
If something goes wrong, blame the system or senior people
Little personal responsibility in this context
Novice: rule-governed behaviour
Beginner: hungering for certainty
Starting to notice patterns
Wishing things were more predictable
Looking for “the book” or “the expert” to provide the answers
Feel limited personal responsibility
9. Efficient and organised
Can assess relative importance and urgency
Can readily describe and explain actions
Feel personal responsibility for outcomes
Competent: planned & analytical
Proficient: strategic and able to read context
Seldom surprised, have learned what to expect
Have organised knowledge into wise sayings
Sometimes forget to explain complexities of the big picture to
analytical competent colleagues
Rapid, fluid, involved, intuitive type of behaviour
10. Highly intuitive, based on huge store of wisdom
Great capacity to handle the unexpected
Highly nuanced behaviour, very context specific
Often there are no words to describe expert
performance, and often it is subconscious anyway
Hard to fit this into quality systems
Performance drops if generalised rules are imposed
Usually does not make for good teaching of novices,
but great for teaching competent people
Expert: right thing at the right time
11. Facts and Concepts
Fact Paris is the
capital of France
Concept (Capital) cities
Knowledge
Understanding
14. Example question starters
What is … playing?
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 …
15.
16. Socratic questions
Are you saying that …?
Can you give us an example of …?
Why do you say that …?
What reasons support your idea?
Are you assuming that …?
What would happen if …?
How could we look at this in a different way?
What alternatives are there to this?
Wouldn’t that mean that …?
What are the consequences of that?
Clarify
Reasons
Assumptions
Viewpoints
Effects