Research Information System
t" INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION , Ankara, Turkey, 9 - 12 October 2019, pp.125-126, (Summary Text)
One of the main problems of humankind is not knowing how to think. When people direct their attention to countries in which
democracy is not accurately implemented and human rights are ignored, it is mostly seen that public adheres to the rules
without questioning and does not critically evaluate what is happening neither in the country nor in the world. Alkın-Şahin and
Tunca (2015) state that it cannot be expected from people who depend on an authority figure about what to think, what to
believe, how to behave or even laugh to understand themselves, society or the universe. Probably no discipline has more to
do with thinking than does the discipline of philosophy. To put it in other words, philosophy and thinking are interwoven and
the development of thinking skills is the main interest of philosophy (Beyer, 1990). Mental actions such as reasoning,
questioning, and evidence-based thinking are features of philosophical thought. Philosophical thinking can be gained to
children through philosophy education for children (Akkocaoğlu Çayır, 2015). Philosophy for children is the introduction of
philosophical thought to children at an early age (Tepe, 2013). Gülenç (2006) states that philosophy education should be given
at an early age in order to be efficient. It is of great importance in the upbringing of children as individuals who think
independently and critically as intended by contemporary education (Abrami, et al., 2008). Trickey and Topping (2004), who
searched the researches in the field of philosophy for children between 1970 and 2002, revealed that philosophy education
improves children's self-confidence and skills like reading, critical thinking, problem solving and questioning. Philosophy for
Children is an educational program introduced by Matthew Lipman in the 1970s to uncover the relationship between children
and philosophy and develop their thinking skills. It has been applied in approximately 80 countries since its development in the
United States (Ndofirepi and Cross, 2015). Ankara Children's University is the first institution who prepared Philosophy for
Children program in Turkey. The program is designed for primary and secondary school students. There are also some other
institutions who conduct similar philosophical programs for children. However, the lack of access about how these programs
are implemented is a crucial problem to be addressed. So in this study it is aimed to evaluate how these two different philosophy
education programs are implemented and clarify what needs to be done to foster efficiency according to the views of
stakeholders.The first program evaluated was the Philosophy for Children Program held in Ankara Balâ Köseli Secondary
School on March 16, 2017. It was first applied to a group of 22 students consisting of 5th and 6th grade students and then to
the other group of 24 students consisting of 7th and 8th grade students. Each implementation lasted for two hours, so it was
four hours in total. The second program evaluated was the Philosophy Activity with Children held in Ankara Philosophers’
Association between 6-28 May 2017, for a total of 16 hours. These programs were selected because of their convenient
accessibility and proximity to the researcher. Hence, convenience sampling was employed in the research. The first study
group consisted of 46 participant students and the instructor. The second group consisted of 12 students, nine instructors and
seven parents. Five of the instructors were philosophy teachers and the students were from 2nd to 6th grades. Qualitative
research methods were applied. Focus group discussion was made with students and one-in-one interviews were conducted
with instructors. Additionally, observation was made throughout the process and the views of seven parents were taken through
feedback form. The data was analyzed with content analysis. The majority of the instructors (n = 6) stated that they achieved
the targeted gains. When the opinions of the trainers who stated they were partially successful were examined, it was found
that this was due to reasons such as lack of time, lack of such activities and lack of familiarity with the students. All of the
instructors stated that the four-week period needs to be extended, whereas there were different opinions about the two-hour
daily practice period. When the opinions of the instructors who wanted to increase the duration of the program were taken into
consideration, it was noticed that all three instructors conducted the program with drama method. The students were more
active in those days and requested to continue the activities at the end of the day. Moreover, an instructor who is a philosophy
teacher at high school stated that she is alien to children and their interests and needs due to their age group; therefore, a
group of experts including guidance counsellor and program development specialist should participate in preparing programs.
The children stated that the program helped them question the views of both their selves and others and build relationships
between concepts. They also learned empathizing.