Page - 21 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

INTRODUCTION TO THE PEACE CURRICULUM 21 In Philosophy for Children, the teacher is seen as someone who guides the students through philosophical dialogue and enquiry. The teacher is a driver. He or she must drive - and explain how to drive - but must not decide where the car is going. This driver must guarantee progress in developing the skills related to complex thought, and be a model of questioning. He or she must guarantee a formal structure of reasoning and thought, discussion and enquiry, and help develop, express and research those resulting ideas. The manual may prove valuable in doing all of that. The manual contains three types of resources: Leading ideas, discussion plans, and exercises. We will now briefly explain how to use those resources. Leading Ideas We will start by explaining the leading ideas, since they are very different from the other types of resources in the manual. The idea is simple; they are brief philosophical explanations which should help the teacher better understand the different concepts or philosophical ideas that pop up in the story. This resource is not a brief philosophical essay. It merely intends to clarify the way we focus on the given topic and to give a few clues so that the teacher may reflect on the topic and explore all the different concepts involved. Reflecting on the topic beforehand is very important if we want to help the students explore these concepts on their own, or in groups. Discussion Plans and Philosophical Exercises These are lists of questions aimed at encouraging inquiry and use of specific skills. At first sight they may seem similar, since they are both lists of questions chosen according to some criteria. If we want to understand why they are useful, we must try to understand their meaning and use. Our discussion plans and exercises are tools used to bring out the students’ creativity and to help them think for themselves whilst cooperating with the general enquiry, which involves the whole community. There are, however, important differences between these plans and the exercises, espe- cially regarding their aims and the methodology used. While the usual goal of discussion plans is to get a dialogue started and to help the community to build that dialogue, the exercises focus on more specific aspects. The exercises should not be used to open free dialogue. They should be used to clarify and to delve into certain concepts, skills, procedures, etc. Finally, we must insist on the idea that both these resources are fundamentally used to work on developing thinking abilities. We must, therefore, bear this in mind when adapting or using resources not included in this manual or a non-philosophical approach. Discussion Plans A philosophical discussion plan usually consists of a list of questions which generally deal with a specific concept, relation, or problem. The questions may form a series, with each question building on the previous one, or they might form a circle or spire where each question focuses on the topic from a different point of view. The basic idea is that the questions should help build up a dialogue and set a structure for that dialogue. These questions open a series of short dialogues that attempt to clarify or explore a specific part of the question or concept in the story. The aim is not to move forward as if it was just a questionnaire, but rather to explore the different topics and points of view. This means that after each question and answer, we should question that answer and ask follow-up questions in order to construct a mini dialogue which favors philosophical dialogue in the community. We may say, as a general rule, that the questions in the discussion plans usually go from easy to difficult, from specific to general, from concrete to abstract, from every-day local cases