The Effect of Philosophy for Children (P4C) Curriculum on Formulating Question Skills of Children with Special Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The philosophy for children approach is a method of developing critical thinking in children through philosophical dialogue. Questioning skills, which are an important stage of critical thinking, is an intellectual process that takes place in order to make an experience meaningful. Asking questions is one of the oldest learning-teaching tools used in the inquiry process. Children with special learning disabilities (SLD) have various distinctive features in terms of cognitive and social development. The development of high-level thinking skills, which includes a whole set of cognitive skills such as thinking, knowing, perceiving, reasoning, making decisions, following a thought, remembering, summarizing, generalizing, predicting, and inferring, is not yet sufficiently developed in young children with special learning disabilities. Simon (1979) suggested that using the “Philosophy with Children” approach would be effective in improving the cognitive and social skills of children with SLD. Accordingly, in this study, it was investigated effectiveness of Philosophy for Children curriculum on the question-formulating skills of children with SLD. In the research, one group pre-test post-test random experimental design, which is one of the quasi-experimental designs, was used. The applications were implemented for one hour, once a week for ten weeks. The study group consists of 13 children who are in the 2nd and 3rd grade and diagnosed with SLD. The data were collected with the "interview form containing the philosophical inquiry text and questions" and the audio recordings of the training sessions. The inductive data analysis method was used in the analysis of the obtained data. The findings indicated that, the "Philosophy with Children" curriculum improved the level of questions that children with SLD create in their philosophical inquiry processes.

Keywords

• philosophy for children (P4C)
• philosophy with children (PhwC)
• philosophical inquiry
• formulating question
• learning disability

Çocuklar için Felsefe Öğretim Programının Özel Öğrenme Güçlüğü Olan Çocukların Soru Oluşturma Becerileri Üzerine Etkisi

Öz

Çocuklar için felsefe yaklaşımı, felsefi diyalog yoluyla çocuklarda eleştirel düşünmenin geliştirilmesi yöntemidir. Eleştirel düşünmenin önemli bir aşaması olan sorgulama becerisi, bir deneyimin anlamlı duruma getirilmesi için gerçekleşen entelektüel bir süreçtir. Soru sorma ise sorgulama sürecinde kullanılan en eski öğrenme-öğretme araçlarından biridir. Özel öğrenme güçlüğü (ÖÖG) olan çocukların bilişsel ve sosyal gelişim yönünden çeşitli ayırt edici özellikleri bulunur. Düşünme, bilme, algılama, muhakeme etme, karar verme, bir düşünceyi izleme, hatırlama, özetleme, genelleme, yordama, çıkarsama gibi bir düzü bilişsel beceriyi kapsayan üst düzey düşünme becerilerinin gelişimi özel öğrenme güçlüğü olan küçük yaştaki çocuklarda henüz yeterince gelişmemiştir. Simon (1979) ÖÖG olan çocukların bilişsel ve sosyal becerilerini geliştirmek amacıyla “Çocuklarla Felsefe” yaklaşımının etkili olacağını öne sürmüştür. Bu doğrultuda, bu çalışmada Çocuklarla Felsefe yaklaşımı doğrultusunda hazırlanan öğretim programının ÖÖG olan çocukların soru oluşturma becerileri üzerindeki etkisi araştırılmıştır. Araştırmada yarı deneysel desenlerden tek grup ön test son test seçkisiz deneysel desen kullanılmıştır. Uygulamalar on hafta süresince haftada bir gün birer saat şeklinde uygulanmıştır. Çalışma grubu, 2. ve 3. sınıf düzeyinde olan ve ÖÖG tanısı almış 13 çocuktan oluşmaktadır. Veriler “felsefi sorgulama metni ve sorularını içeren görüşme formu” ve eğitim oturumlarındaki ses kayıtları ile toplanmıştır. Elde edilen verilerin analizinde tüme varımsal veri analizi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Bulgulara göre “Çocuklarla Felsefe” uygulamalarının ÖÖG olan çocukların felsefi sorgulama süreçlerinde oluşturdukları soruların düzeyini geliştirdiği görülmüştür.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Çocuklar için felsefe (P4C)
• çocuklarla felsefe (PhwC)
• felsefi sorgulama
• soru oluşturma
• öğrenme güçlüğü

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