| Teaching
Ideas and Units - Beaut Ideas
Using Texts to Ask Philosophical Questions (1)
A
P4C Strategy adapted by Jenny Morgan (Albuera Street School)
Introduction
TEXT: The
Bunyip of Berkeley Creek by Jenny Wagner (Puffin)
THEME: Philosophical questions on existence and identity
STORY
OUTLINE: The bunyip in the story is worried about who he is. When he meets a scientist who tells him that bunyips don't
exist, he begins to worry about whether or not he actually
exists!
LEVEL: Infant/Primary
FOCUS: Oral language, philosophical discussion, looking beyond the text, asking questions
Process
1.
Before reading the story explain to the audience that you will be looking
beyond the text for big ideas or unanswerable questions - questions that
have puzzled thinkers since the beginning of time. Explain that this is
thinking philosophically: thinking about things that do not have one answer
and which give greater depth of understanding about the world we live
in
Tell
students that during the discussion, they should focus on:
- listening
to the opinions of others
- giving
reasons for their thoughts
- taking
turns to speak
- agreeing
or disagreeing with the IDEAS expressed and not the person
Encourage
the students to jot down questions that come to their minds for sharing
at the end of the reading
2.
Read the story aloud to the students.
3.
At the end of the story, ask for questions and put these questions on
the board. Always include the name of the questioner for this gives ownership.
Include all questions - it is sometimes surprising to see how some of
the most basic looking questions can be quite meaningful. Find any questions
that may have a common thread and link them on the board.
Begin
discussion on the most popular question first. Often not all questions
will be answered, though most are often addressed incidentally. Questions
can also be addressed during the next lesson, but sometimes that can be
a bit of a drag. It is often better to explore another text on a similar
theme.
If
questions are slow to come or discussion doesn't fire the following is
a guaranteed discussion starter:
If
something exists it.............
Students
usually begin with "some thing that exists....moves, eats, talks, has
a heart, can be seen...." and the conclusion is that people, animals,
rocks, the sky, the world, the Universe all exist because they meet one
of the criteria. Usually, the students will raise the issue of Santa Claus
or ghosts or bunyips. Do they exist? Now there develops a broadening of
thinking and often the conclusion will be: "if you believe in something,
it exists". When this happens, thinking has gone from the concrete to
the abstract.
Types
of Questions Students Ask
- How come
the bunyip didn't look at himself in the mirror to see what he looked
like?
- Why did
the bunyip want to know what the others saw?
- Why does
the man talk to something that doesn't exist?
- Did the
bunyip look horrible?
- Who am
I?
- How come
the animals talk?
Other
Questions the Teacher Can Ask
(in
the unlikely event the students don't have any!)
- Do we
need to know what we are to know who we are? (the bunyip was asking,
"what am I?")
- Does what
we look like affect who we are?
- Does what
we look like affect our behaviour?
- What is
it that makes something handsome?
- What is
it that makes something ugly?
- Do we
depend on the opinions of others to know who we are?
- Do we
have friends who are like us?
- Do we
have friends who are not like us?
- Do we
celebrate differences?
- Do we
try to be like others or do we try to be different from others?
- How different
can we be from each other?
Now
there is potential to discuss racism, multiculturalism, stereotyping,
behaviour, bullying... almost anything... depending on which way you lead
it!
HINT:
keep your opinions out of the discussion because there are times when
they may be misconstrued as indoctrination. As teacher you are facilitating
the students exploration of their thinking, not yours.
Follow
Up Activity
Students
write down name and age and list their favourite things: toys, books,
television programs, activities, friends, thoughts.
Ask
students to identify which things tell most about them and who they are.
(adapted
from Books into Ideas Tim Sprod Hawker Brownlow1993, page 85)
Other
Texts on Theme of Existence
There's
a Sea in my Bedroom by Margaret Wild
The
Dream Dragon by Y Winer
Stickybeak
by Maurice Gleitzman
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