JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES (J.C.S.)
Year:2008 | Volume:2 | Issue:7|Papers Count:7

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of narratives on the enhancement of philosophizing and questioning skills. In particular, this study was concerned with the effects of the Qur'anic stories on the improvement of questioning skills in relation to religion. A randomly selected sample of 60 high school students (Year 1) took part in the study. Data were collected through a pre-test, post-test design, using the MQOS questionnaire including 49 items to test 5 dimensions (change and uncertainty, complexity, globalization, transformation, internal motives).Results indicate that questioning skills among participants were significantly above the average. Comparison of means suggested that the dimension of internal motives was ranked highest compared to the globalization skills as the lowest one. Narration was found to be effective in developing questioning skills and its dimensions with the exception of transformation.

Philosophy for Children' program that Mathew Lipman and his colleagues have developed is now known in our society and has led to thinking and research in this regard. Thus, to consider the challenges that are in front of this program can lead to the richness of these researches. Three challenges are in front of this program:philosophical, psychological, and educational. The philosophical challenge is due to the point that philosophy is mainly dependent on the history of philosophy and thoughts of preceding philosophers. This dependence should of course be along with critique, but this dependence cannot be denied anyway. Hence, philosophizing cannot be reduced to the methods of thinking. Psychological challenge is rooted in the approaches of developmental psychology that emphasize on phases in human thinking. Accordingly, abstract methods of philosophizing cannot be used in the period of childhood. Educational challenge is related to basic cultural values that might be shaken in the process of philosophical interrogations. The philosophical challenge requires that teaching philosophy to children emphasize on an amalgamation of method and content. The psychological challenge makes us cautious as to looking for more investigations on the periodical characteristic of thinking. And finally, the educational challenge requires that criticizing cultural values, being necessary in active education, is not started from foundational issues of culture. The period of childhood can only be fitted to interrogation of low level cultural issues and values and leave the foundational cultural issues to philosophizing in higher ages.

This paper was aimed at exploring the capability and relevance of the program of Philosophy for Children in developing essential skills including reasoning, research, and interpretation skills among Iranian children and adolescents. To this end, using analytical method, the underpinning assumptions, structure and components of the program of Philosophy for Children were examined. Further, findings of some related research projects conducted in Fars province were considered.This paper addressed three main questions and accordingly, results suggested that the program of Philosophy for Children is capable enough to develop reasoning skills among Iranian children. Secondly, the program is able to promote moral character among students through research skills. Thirdly, the program is able to reasonably develop interpretation skills in order to achieve the values and behaviors on which it is based.

Philosophizing has been considered for decades in the world as a way of development of mental faculty whereas in Iran it has captured attention only in the very last decade. The so-called program of Philosophy for Children has initially emerged in US and then, spread over the world. The program has had great achievements during such a short period of time. Nevertheless, it has been subject to some theoretical challenges notably the possibility of teaching philosophy as it really is to children. This paper reviewed the background of such challenges and through the juxtaposition of philosophizing and philosophy as an academic discipline along with arguments for and against the program, concluded with some suggestions as to the way of teaching philosophy to children, mainly based on relevant experiences in Iran. 

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of Philosophy for Children courses on the development of reasoning and thinking skills among children and adolescents. In this study, qualitative methods were mainly used, including case study and observation made by teachers, tutors and parents along with a survey completed by participants and their parents. The course consisted of eleven consecutive sessions using Sharp-Lipman inquiry cycle and modified version of Philip Cam's stories. Results showed the improvement and enhancement of thinking skills among children, including reasoning, differentiation between apparently similar issues, sound evaluation and judgment, and critical thinking.