Philosophy for Children in Remote Aboriginal Classrooms
Abstract
The Philosophy for Children programme was developed during the 1970s and 1980s to address the low level of thinking skills exhibited by university and high school students in the United States. A programme of studies in philosophy for children from grade one upwards was based on eight novels with accompanying instructional manuals to assist the teacher in extracting the philosophical issues from the novels as children choose them. This programme is relevant and appropriate for use as part of the English curriculum in a remote Aboriginal school in Australia: whether the school has a bilingual or bicultural program in place or not, Philosophy for Children is fitting as it makes thinking skills explicit. Basing it on a concept of a community of inquiry is very supportive to people from a non-English speaking background. The programme of Philosophy for Children brings in subjects from all curriculum areas, thus encouraging the recently supported integrated approach, but is particularly useful for language learning and understanding.
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