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“Hate-fuelled attack on values that unite us all” It shows zero self-awareness that Daily Express ran this headline the day after the white terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch,. This is a newspaper that, when its front page is not about Madeleine McCann or Lady Di, create headlines at random from “Muslim”, “immigrant”, “scrounger”,…

Hello from Tom this week, sharing a debating game that whittles any list of potential answers to one. The World Cup of Every Idea It’s a more serious version of Richard Osman’s “World Cup of Everything”, which I played with family on New Year’s Eve. In the original game, participants choose a category of 16 “things”…

P4C needs both individual boldness to create ideas and group collaboration to explore them. This week, three “snowball warm-ups” to choose from, which develop both those aspects. Snowball Statues “5, 4, 3, 2, 1… pose!” – on “pose!”, each person poses his body into a unique statue, different to everyone else’s. Do this a few…

If you’re coming here from the bulletin, the Powerpoint can be downloaded here. This week’s theme is “evacuees”, a common topic in connection with The Second World War or books such as, “Goodnight, Mr. Tom”. 2.5 million children were evacuated from major cities into the countryside to be safer from the expected bombing. As with…

Here’s a brief Powerpoint to help with this session: The Five Relationships This week’s theme is relationships, focusing on some ideas from Chinese philosophy. Relationships are very important in Ruism (“Confucianism”). Very broadly, Western philosophy emphasises the separateness and independence of individuals, whereas in Ruism, relationships help make you who you are, and their proper…

This week, a provocative starting point for an inquiry on the theme of inventions. r As a warm-up, you might ask what these things have in common: r A clothes peg A wheel A computer A gun r The answer being that they are all inventions. r Follow that up by displaying this statement. r…

Inspired by a visit to Castercliffe Primary Academy where they had a great cross-curricular topic – spies – here are three dilemmas from the world of espionage. Moral dilemmas can be an efficient and engaging route to discussion, and espionage is an interesting test-bed for arguments that “the end justifies the means”. It’s also very…

With a nod to the tradition of New Year’s resolutions, this week, a philosophical experiment in “trying to be good.” It’s inspired by “The Good Place”, an imaginative comedy about the afterlife that features a myriad of philosophical problems. r A central premise of the show is that the positive and negative things you do…

This week, a stimulus on educational ethics that can be used either with children or for professional development. It’s a dialogue between Scout Leaders, trying to plan an obstacle course that will challenge children of different ages and abilities. It raises the question of what sort of equality we should be aiming at in education,…

Happy World Philosophy Day! Or instead of “happy” should that be “perplexing”, “wise”… perhaps there’s a warm-up question in there? This year WPD is Thursday 15th November. I’d like to mark it by inviting your classes to consider a brand-new philosophical word, “nowism”. I’m using it in analogy to racism or sexism, as “acting or thinking as…

This week, a Powerpoint and accompanying script that can be used as a class session or assembly in the approach to the 100th anniversary of World War I. I’ve referred to it as “The Great War”, as I always find it rather poignant that those involved thought of it in such a definitive way. r It’s…

This week, a simple activity to elevate thinking beyond specific examples to a more conceptual level. r Always, Sometimes, Never… r …is a versatile technique to define complex concepts. Often, when faced with such concepts, children’s first instinct is to give examples familiar and personal to them, such as defining ‘Importance’ by talking about what’s important…

This week, an theatrical idea from the chalk-face that promotes careful thinking and clear speaking.   Facilitation-in-Role You might have read about Philosophy-in-Role in previous bulletins – putting children into a dramatic narrative where they make decisions and judgments as characters within the story, rather than as pupils within a classroom. Earlier this summer, we…

In this back-to-school issue (in the UK at least), an idea from Wednesday’s INSET at Winterbourne Junior School for Girls – a new Thinkers’ Game that makes the thinking physical – and doubles up as maths revision! I’ll give the “match report” of this discussion, and then some suggestions for how you could use it…

Starting Positions is our go-to way to getting everyone quickly engaged. It’s simple to set up: Get everyone standing in pairs, with two clear sides, and give a fun, low-stakes question for each side to argue. Then raise the stakes by going from pairs (1v1), to fours (2v2), to eights (4v4), keeping one side arguing…

Is the hole in the polo part of the polo? r …is one of our favourite questions. Humorous and whimsical, it also provokes deeper thinking about identities, properties, and necessities. r For children, a question like this is a wonderful antidote to a year of phonics and feedback. It’s particularly good in the midst of…

This week, a guide for a philosophical assembly, developed from recent visits to Finton House School, London and St. Francis’ School, Wiltshire. r Philosophy Assembly Guide: Humans vs. Computers  r Below is a plan that has a background for the teacher’s benefit, and a suggested script in italics, followed by some tips for facilitation. r…

This week, another episode of “Teacher Soap”. Download it here, or read below. This time, the conversation behind the closed door of the staffroom is about elections for the school council. Is it better to vote for representatives, or, Ancient Athenian style, trust to chance? You could ask that question and explore the nature and purpose…

This week, a resource to get you thinking about what to aim for in P4C, from short segments within a single enquiry to thinking strategically over five years about whole-school P4C. It’s not intended to be an authoritative or comprehensive resource, just a starting point for your thinking. This attachment – click to download – contains both black…

You may have seen a recent viral story picked up by the BBC about a class of second grade students who were asked, “Which invention do you wish had never been created?” – several said the mobile phone, as it distracted their parents from playing with them. r r You could ask the same question of your…

This week, a dialogue between a teacher and her class, as they strive to ‘improve’ a passage of text. While it might draw a grimace of recognition from UK teachers wrangling fronted adverbials, it raises questions of what language is for, and whether the best language to use is purely a question of taste. It’s…

This week, a message from Her Majesty the Queen. Last time we heard from HMQ, she was wondering whether Prince Charles would make a suitable monarch, or if some of her younger subjects might like to audition for the part. r In this royal wedding edition, she wonders if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should forgo Saturday’sextravagant…

Download the message from Her Majesty here: r r You could do the suggested task, perhaps with enlarged postcards, or use the message as a stimulus for our Philosophy Circles enquiry plan – download here. r As it happens, and people are often surprised when I say so, I’m personally rather an ardent monarchist. If…

This week’s bulletin features a “Staff Soap Opera’” dialogue about jobs and responsibilities. It came about through a Philosophic Topic Workshop, for a Year 2 unit on ‘Jobs’ during a recent INSET.  r One of the concepts we thought we could focus on was Responsibility. That led to the question, “In a job, who is your…

Stories are a powerful stimulus for P4C, especially for younger children. Their story-talk is often much more sophisticated and motivated than their other speech. You can develop the foundational skills of sharing of reasons, listening, agreeing and disagreeing by evaluating a character’s choices, or deciding what you would do in their place. But if children…

This week, a freshly-written P4C stimulus that explores what makes something real via the surprisingly problematic concept of money. And for those nervous about the Santa Reality Question arising, a Spot and Stripe video also on the theme of money. r For older children: Is money real?  r This stimulus – download it here –…

Guilt is an interesting concept in ethics, in particular the difference between “feeling guilty” versus “being guilty”. The riddle, story and questions on this theme below are also attached, with a few extra teacher tips. r Riddle r Riddles are great warm-up activity for P4C. Solving them requires intellectual risk-taking and collaborative thinking. The answer to…

What would the world be like if men gave birth? If there was no religion, would people behave better, worse, or the same? If you could alter one thing about the human species, what would it be? r These far-fetched questions raise interesting issues around gender, moral motivation and human nature respectively. But in response…

One approach to real issues is via unreal examples. Tackling real situations straight away can be intimidating for some younger participants. They may feel they know less about the issue than others, and have nothing to contribute. In an imaginary world, nobody is the expert. You can explore ideas in a safe place where everyone…

Tuesday 20th of March is International Happiness Day. You can get some interesting practical resources for children at www.dayofhappiness.net r Happiness is an important concept in philosophy. Here are some suggestions for questions and an attached stimulus for exploring the idea. r Warm-up- “Hello As If” r 1.    Walk around a space at a normal pace, not…

Imagine it’s your weekly staff meeting. The Head starts talking about a contentious new dyslexia initiative mooted on the TV that morning. She turns to you for an opinion.  Your colleagues swivel to you. You don’t really want to give your own thoughts before you hear both sides of the issue. You haven’t had a…

Turn-Taking Tasks, Lifting Listening Levels Teachers often ask, “How can I get them to respond to what others say, not just say their own points?” To respond, you first need to listen, and to understand exactly what the other person is saying. These two games structure turn-taking dialogue for listening and response, rather than just…

This week, a stimulus story, “The Fairest Queen of All” (download here), which uses a fairytale style to explore the ethics of hereditary, communist, free-market and futuristic societies. The queen tries to respond to the complaints she hears about the unfairness of her realm, but someone is always dissatisfied. r Pause Points The story is…

This week, not only an age-old philosophical question for P4C and Maths, but a classroom match-report to give you ideas for facilitating it yourself. r The Stimulus “What could this be?” r …is the question I asked Year 6 at St. Andrew’s Primary School last week, where I’m the Philosopher in Residence. It’s actually the…

This week, a poem that can be used as a stimulus for questions about economics, human nature and the power of people to effect change. It’s by Alice Walker, author of “The Colour Purple” among many other works. Here’s the poem on her website r http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2013/09/we-alone-can-devalue-gold/ r or here’s a video: r https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkW3sACgq58 r r…

This week, two new stimuli in the Zebra-striped format for paired reading that was popular last year. The text is broken up by alternating bands of colour, with one reader being “Yellow” and the other “White”. Grey-striped versions are included in the attachments too. Click here for the original materials and explanation. r In one – “Lazy”…

This week, most us will: r Ask our class for the definition of a word Get them sorting things into categories, or… Instruct them to put things in an order   Some of us might do all three! One of their many strengths is their simplicity. Children will get what we’re asking of them. So…

This week, a convenient way for readers worldwide to access some great video resources originally shown on the BBC, and an invitation to be one of six schools to benefit from our new Philosopher in Residence CPD programme. r What Makes Me Me? r The BBC commissioned a series of animations based on stories by…

I hope you had a good holiday. To kick off the new year, here are some trial examples of a new project, “Philosophy for Readers”. The aim is to publish philosophy stories and dialogues as a series of class-set books, A4 or A5 format, using a stripy alternating presentation that is very readable and in particular…

We hope you enjoyed ‘Rudolph’s Revenge’ last week. This week, in our sign-off edition for 2017, a philosophy through creative writing session, “URNE1”. Your writers continue a series of diary entries about a child who receives an artificially intelligent playmate and has to choose its settings; then use their speculations as a stimulus for enquiry. The…

We are entering the season of the Christmas Special, when familiar TV shows take on a celebratory feel with bigger and brighter versions of their usual offerings. Could you run a “P4C Christmas Special”, perhaps with a whole-school stimulus acted out in an assembly and simultaneous enquiries running across many classes? The attached dialogue, “Rudolph’s…

In the run-up to Christmas, as much in reaction to the consumerism and gluttony as out of piety, there is an increased focus on charity. You might think that charity is one of those unproblematic good things. But in this attached dialogue –  Charity -(also pasted below) set in a school staffroom, explores some of the deeper…

Films can be a powerful and immediate stimulus for philosophical enquiry. For teenagers, you could explore “How should I live?” using Groundhog Day, or “How do I know what is real?” using The Truman Show. At primary level, children’s visual literacy is often more advanced than their written literacy, so films aimed at children promote…

It’s World Philosophy Day on Thursday, so here’s a stimulus that pupils of all ages can enjoy. r Inspired by my recent training in South Africa, the challenge is to create a personal “Constitution” – What are the rules that you would set for yourself, so that in the future, you do the right thing even if…

The concepts of belonging and being lost are common in children’s stories. If you’re a primary teacher, think about your classroom bookshelf – there is probably at least one book about something separated from where it belongs – Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers, for example. Or here’s a poem (with lost line breaks!) from…

We were so privileged to host internationally acclaimed Jason Buckley, talking to us about Philosophy Circles ???????? @makethinkingfun pic.twitter.com/Ju9BqpB8cc — Holy Rosary School (@HolyRosaryJHB) October 27, 2017

Objects play a big role in our teaching. They’re familiar, available, and engaging – 3D beats 2D. They’re also a versatile tool in P4C. In this issue, how we can use objects for warm ups, hands-on stimuli, and in facilitation. Read the P.S. for a two-for-one training offer.  r Warm-up Games  r Pointing At Stuff – many…

Thursday 28th September is www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk, and the theme is “freedom”. Here’s my contribution, a question poem asking which freedoms are most important: physical, psychological or economic. Is it enough to be free from constraints or must you be actively free to make choices for yourself? Display copy attached. Freedom? No walls, no wire, No guards,…

To follow last week’s “Freedom?” poem, here’s a P4C activity exploring the connected concept of “control” in relation to food – The Eatometer. If you used the poem, you may find they reference that discussion – a community of enquiry noticing its own “history”. The Stimulus Like all –ometers, pupils arrange cards in an order.…

This week, a video stimulus inviting thinking about how much we are connected to one another, and an exercise that invites careful thought about borderline cases. Are we “as one”? This video stimulus is a rather magnificent time-lapse of plants growing, set to a new-age, ecological soundtrack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul496wlitY0 The refrain of the song is around us…

This week, a stimulus and some questions about memory, knowledge and truth, approached through the familiar notions of early childhood memories and photographs. Warm up questions in pairs What is your earliest happy memory? What is the earliest picture of you that you can remember being taken? Stimulus There’s an audio stimulus, which you can…

Tidying doesn’t always come naturally to children, but sorting does. r Put a range of pictures or objects in front of them, and ask them to divide them into different groups, and they will generally get straight to work. It’s a simple and satisfying activity. They may spot categories that wouldn’t occur to us in…

Most readers will have another week of holiday left before going back to school. A mathematical/philosophical question – if the pre-term preparation you could do feels infinite, won’t infinity remain the same size if you have another prosecco in the sunshine instead? r When term does start, attached is a philosophical version of the perennial…

This week, two examples of a Traditional Tales resource to explore the philosophical potential of this area o our curriculum. . We know who wrote Harry Potter, and when, and where. However, the origins of ‘Traditional Tales’ are less clear-cut. They’re told and re-told, and passed from generation to generation. They often spawn new interpretations along…

This week, a new pair activity, “Facilitator Facilitatee” which hands over to the children the job of pushing past opinions and initial reasons to make their partner think more deeply. There are two versions of the activity: a Powerpoint for use by groups sitting down, or a PDF of printable cards for use in a…

In a previous issue, we looked at the possibility of robot teachers. This week, as it’s topical, two classroom-ready ideas to provoke thinking about artificial intelligence more broadly. r Could a Robot Replace… r Earlier this week, teachers on our open course created a Thinkers’ Game to tie in with their current topic: Robots. Which…

This week’s theme is assemblies, although the stimuli mentioned could be used for a normal-sized group. Philosophy Assemblies are a great way to embed philosophy as a whole-school practice, but they are very different to normal assemblies. How can you set the right mood, choose the right stimulus and facilitate successfully with such a large…

This week, a stimulus that seeks to go beyond the rough-and-tumble partisanship of election debates to a more profound approach to thinking about a just society. The stimulus and enquiry plan is attached as a PDF here, and there’s an audio version of the stimulus here: r r It’s called “The Us”, and is an…

The stimulus for this article was “Just My Type, A Book About Fonts” by Simon Garfield. He mentions a talk by Beatrice Warde, a grand dame of typography, called, “The Crystal Goblet, or Why Printing Should Be Invisible.” Her thesis was that typography existed to convey ideas, not to draw attention to itself. You can take…

Soon, Year 6 pupils in England will emerge from the long tunnel of SATs, and have two more months to enjoy their primary schools without that pressure. This week, a few story-based “Community Builders” that encourage listening and collaboration. Because story-based talk is especially powerful for younger children, you will find these approaches as enjoyable…

This week, three pick-up-and-go Philosophy Circles plans and an Easter-themed Spot and Stripe video, so you can easily inject some philosophical thinking into your pupils’ first week back. p For Reception, Years 1 & 2: Would it be better to give real eggs at Easter? Spot and Stripe argue whether it would be better to give real eggs…

This week, three summarised enquiry plans for a P4C on Robots, all using video stimuli from news or film. Are there some jobs robots could never do? Who is to blame if a robot car does not allow for human error? Could you ever love a robot? Could a robot love you? Philosophy with Robots Teachers…

I can’t help feeling like a criminal. I’m currently using what crime writers call a ‘burner’ phone: cheap, low-tech handset that’s invariably thrown in a river to avoid being traced. Using it has also created a sense of nostalgia, and I’m clearly not the only one: affection for a bygone era led to this week’s reissuing…

An interesting video stimulus from the BBC this week: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170210-monkeys-lie-to-one-another We’re often presented with examples of behaviour from the animal world that are chosen to compare favourably against humans. This contrasting example has several layers: the selfish behaviour may be out of necessity due to the monkey’s low status – how far can bad actions…

Many around the world have exercised their right to protest in the past week. So in this bulletin, a P4C stimulus to explore the concept of protest itself. It can be used as a stand-alone session, or as part of Citizenship/PSHE. To provide a way in, the attached dialogue raises the idea of having to pay to…

The first episode of our new argument show for EYFS, Spot and Stripe, has been released in time for Christmas. We recorded 39 episodes this week, which are being edited over Christmas ready for inclusion in the Philosophy Circles resources packs. After the class watch an episode, the invitation is for the teacher to get…

  We’re often asked for ideas to deepen pupils’ thinking. For tactics to move their discussions on from interesting chat to richer philosophical dialogue. One way is show a ‘bad example’ of philosophy. Perhaps where a particular skill is absent, or where participants are locking horns on a concept without actually defining it.   It’s…

It’s World Philosophy Day today, and I’m beginning it at the home of my oldest philosopher friend, Jeremy Watkins, who lectures at Queens University Belfast. We grew up in the same village and in the long, winding conversations of ideas we had as children, we were philosophers before we knew the word. We’ve both made…

Like any lesson, a P4C session can drift and lose focus. It can be down to a range of factors, most beyond our control: tiredness, the weather, post-lunch sugar-rushes, post-lunch sugar-crashes . . . There’s also none of those traditional trappings that make up half the battle when it becomes to behaviour: lesson plans, seating…

Imagine your class contained 30 miniature Donald Trumps. The reason I’m inviting you to this nightmare scenario is that a good way of exploring any concept is to imagine its absence. “What would the world be like without lies?” etc. Donald Trump is strikingly devoid of the qualities that P4C develops. I’m not thinking here…