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Showing posts with label kids sites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids sites. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Use of philosophy to develop thinking skills in schools


This pictures reminds me the time, when our grandmother used to tell us bed time stories. I was really addicted to those stories and I am not in doubt that that addiction converted in 'love for book reading", which is still have roots in me, although I am a teacher now. In our reception year classes, there is a conversation class, which I mostly utilize to talk with children and many times tell them stories. Their age level is around 4 to 5 years, and my story telling session is most interesting period for them. Involvement in story telling and then conveying them the moral of the stories helps a lot in character build up.

For teachers, using children's literature can be a way to teach philosophy to elementary school children. Children's books raise deep philosophical issues and children love to think about them.

Why we are talking and concerned about philosophy in schools?

Let's have a look at definition of "Philosophy" from "The College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University":

"philosophy, among other things, is self-conscious inquiry into the meaning of puzzling and contestable concepts. In ancient times philosophy was known as a search for wisdom or meaning, and many of the concepts philosophers have thought about for thousands of years are ones we use to structure our daily experience. “What is justice?” “What is beauty?” “How can I be sure of what I know?” “What is the right thing to do?” “What is real?”

"Philosophy is also known for the cultivation of excellent thinking. One of the most ancient branches of philosophy is logic, which includes informal logic, or “critical thinking.” But philosophy is not only an intellectual pursuit. Philosophers have tried to improve their thinking in order to better explore the philosophical dimensions of experience, such as the ethical, political and aesthetic dimensions, and in order to improve their judgments and actions within these dimensions. Philosophy helps us learn to recognize, for instance, the ethical problems and possibilities in our experience, to think through them carefully, to make sound ethical judgments and to take appropriate action. This is why for thousands of years people have practiced philosophy, not only in universities but also in business offices, reading clubs and coffee houses."

Why ‘Philosophy for Children’?

"The last thirty years’ experience in doing philosophy with children and adolescents has shown us that they are not only capable of doing philosophy but need and appreciate it for the same reasons that adults do. Children think constantly, and reflect on their thoughts. They acquire knowledge and try to use what they know. And they want their experience to be meaningful: to be valuable, interesting, just and beautiful. Philosophy offers children the chance to explore ordinary but puzzling concepts, to improve their thinking, to make more sense of their world and to discover for themselves what is to be valued and cherished in that world.

The advent of Philosophy for Children also coincides with the recognition that emerged in the third quarter of the 20th century that children are capable of thinking critically and creatively, and that a major aim of education should be to help children become more reasonable—the “fourth R”. And as reading and writing are taught to children through the discipline of literature, why not make reasoning and judgment available to them through the discipline of philosophy? However, these benefits don’t come from learning about the history of philosophy or philosophers. Rather, as with reading, writing and arithmetic, the benefits of philosophy come through the doing—through active engagement in rigorous philosophical inquiry."



Read the full report here

* Philosophy in schools

* Philosophy for kids provides materials to use in doing philosophy with children.




* This site "Philosophy for children" (philosophical questions from children's stories) has been created and is maintained by "Professor Thomas Wartenberg" of the Department of Philosophy at "Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts".

* Philosophy for kids-educators page
* Resources and links
* Kids page

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!


"Ask for Kids" (formerly known as Ask Jeeves for Kids) is an educational based search engine.

* Ask for Kids allows kids to ask questions and perform web searches, such as "When did Hawaii become a state?" or "What's it like to live in space?"or even "Convert 122 inches into feet" in the same way they would ask a parent, friend or teacher.

* The home page provide you with a picture of a pile of books with the names: Dictionary, Thesaurus,Almanac,Biography,Science,Clip art,Astronomy,World Atlas,Math help and history. So easily you can search for your subject.

* You can click on the link "Fun & Games", if you have finished searching and now want to relax, and play some online free games.

Why "Ask for Kids" was created?
In their own words:

"Kids have great imaginations and are curious by nature. That's why Ask for Kids has created a fast, easy, and safe way for kids to find information and answers online. Ask for Kids is primarily an educational Web site that kids can use for homework help and research for school projects.

Each Web site included in Ask for Kids is carefully selected by an editor. We include only "G-rated" pages and those written specifically for children. We select sites for the quality and depth of their content, and for safety. This criteria extends to the content of the pages presented on the Ask for Kids search results page, as well as the content of pages directly linked to on those results.

Ask for Kids focuses on modernizing its search engine technology, and giving kids tools that would make their searches experience better and more satisfying
."
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