TAFAKKOR VA KUDAK (THINKING AND CHILDREN)
Year:2012 | Volume:2 | Issue:2 (4)|Papers Count:7

Dialogue, because of its ontological aspects has been considered important and many philosophers have believed it to be the best method of philosophical education. The present study attempts to elucidate the major characteristics of dialogue as the most important method of teaching thinking to children in the Philosophy for Children (P4C) Program. As the most effective method in philosophical inquiry, dialogue plays a crucial role in educating children and is the center of attention for understanding the essence of P4C. Thus defining the features of dialogue in philosophical inquiry could facilitate teaching thinking to children. This paper try to explicit the main features of dialogue, based on plato and Gadamer’s approaches.

The present study aimed to examine whether Narrative therapy could decrease behavioral disorder in a group of elementary school boys in Mashhad, Iran who participated based on convenience sampling. Once the schools were chosen, 30 students with the highest scores in their lessons were selected and were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group (n=15). The experimental group was exposed to stories for 12 weeks, each week two sessions. In order to measure participants' behavioral disorders, Ratter's questionnaire was completed for them before and after the treatment. The result of independent samples t-test and covariance analysis at p<0.05 level of significance indicated that Narrative therapy had a significant impact on reducing behavioral disorders of elementary school boys and thus the null hypothesis was safely rejected.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of community of inquiry in social development of a group of elementary school boys who were studying at fifth grade in a private school in Khorram Abad, Iran in the academic year of 90-91. The ultimate aim of the study was to provide educationalists in a position of authority with some suggestions on the implementation of such techniques in classrooms at the same level. Thus from among 10 private schools in district one of Khorram Abad one school was randomly selected which had two fifth grade classes with 30 students in each class. The classes were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. Subsequently, Vinland social growth questionnaire was administered to participants of the study in order to measure their social growth, the results of which showed no significant difference between the two groups prior to the treatment. Afterwards, students in the experimental group participated in philosophy for children program utilizing community of inquiry for 12 sessions, each session lasting for 90 minutes. The results indicated that this program could bring about a significant difference in Students’ social growth including socialization, verbal communication, transferring, and self-commandment.

The purpose of the present qualitative study was to compare children’s and parents’ views on the concept of child and child needs among parents and 6 to 10 years old children in Isfahan, Iran. One hundred parents (50 mothers and 50 fathers) as well as 100 children (50 boys and 50 girls) were selected based on random sampling as participants of the study. The children were selected from among 129940 students within the same age range who were studying in all five educational zones of Isfahan. All participants were interviewed on two clear questions. Chi square used for data analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference between children and parents regarding child concept and child needs at 0.05 level of significance. Also, there was a significant difference between children on the concept of child and child needs. However, the results of the study revealed no significant difference either between mothers and fathers or boys and girls regarding child concept and child needs. Thus it could be concluded that concept formation is different in different ages and being aware of these differences can play an important role in educational planning.

In this paper we assess how pragmatism affects on p4c and how much. The study is done with analytic_deductive method and mainly by evaluating of Clinton Golding views, who is one of the main advocators of close relationship between p4c and pragmatism. In his view pragmatism theoretically and epistemologically supports p4cin the best way. Main questions in the paper are related to the problems: does pragmatism support p4c more than other philosophical theories? Can we recognize pragmatism as the best supporter for p4c? Is p4c affected by pragmatism more than other view point? If we recognize pragmatism affects on p4c, can we find other factors in p4c, which are not in harmonies with pragmatism? In this research we tried to show that pragmatism may be in some way a theoretically and epistemologically supporter for p4c but we cannot be sure that it is the best one, and we cannot be sure that they are in harmony in all the way.

The purpose of philosophy for children program is to enhance reasoning skills, judgment, and distinction ability in children. Thus in order to improve children’screativity, classrooms should be converted into community of inquiry. On the other hand, active models of teaching utilize dynamic ways for teaching new materials. As a descriptive-analytical study, the purpose of the present paper was to examine the relation between community of inquiry and active teaching models. The results signified their relation in terms of goals and methods of achievement. Although community of inquiry and active teaching models differ in content and methods of evaluation, they both aim at activating learners, developing their thinking skills, and promoting their social capabilities. The suggestion is that Iranian educational system should move toward utilizing community of inquiry and active teaching models in order to develop creativity in learners.

Draw-A-Person test is a kind of diagnostic test used to evaluate an individual’s cognitive, interpersonal or psychological function by asking him/ her to draw a person. The aim of the present study was to compare the psychological reactions of exceptional and ordinary children through their performance on this test. In addition to Draw-A-Person test, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-42) was utilized. A total number of 250 students (119 girls and 131 boys) aged between 11 and 13 years selected from districts one and two of Zahedan, Iran participated in this study. Ordinary children were selected through cluster sampling whereas for exceptional children convenience sampling was used. The obtained data was analyzed through Chi-square and independent samples t-test. Results of the Draw-A-Person test indicated a significant difference between psychological reactions of the exceptional and ordinary children.