Abstract
An important aim of teaching philosophy in Dutch secondary schools is to learn about philosophy (i.e., the great philosophers) by doing philosophy. We examined doing philosophy and focused specifically on the relationship between student learning activities and teacher behavior; in doing so, a qualitative cross-case analysis of eight philosophy lessons was performed. The effectiveness of doing philosophy was operationalized into five learning activities comprising rationalizing, analyzing, testing, producing criticism, and reflecting, and scored by means of qualitative graphical time registration. Using CA we find a quantitative one-dimensional scale for the lessons that contrasts lessons that are more and less effective in terms of learning and teaching. A relationship was found between teaching by teachers and doing philosophy by students. In particular we found students to produce a higher level of doing philosophy with teachers who chose to organize a philosophical discussion with shared guidance by the teacher together with the students.
Highlights
Unlike in other countries, in the Netherlands secondary schools can choose to include philosophy as a distinct, optional secondary school subject from the tenth grade onward for pre-university and senior general higher education students [1]
An important aim in Dutch classroom teaching is to learn about philosophy by doing philosophy, an approach advocated by great philosophers such as Plato and Kant, which is the focus of this paper
2 and 4 were more frequently employed in these lessons, and teacher behavior often led to philosophical discussion with shared guidance
Summary
In the Netherlands secondary schools can choose to include philosophy as a distinct, optional secondary school subject from the tenth grade onward for pre-university and senior general higher education students [1]. An important aim in Dutch classroom teaching is to learn about philosophy by doing philosophy, an approach advocated by great philosophers such as Plato and Kant, which is the focus of this paper. The most important learning theory where the student ‘learns by doing’ is constructivism [2]. Tradition sees philosophy as the subject that concerns itself with truth. “What is truth?” is among the most important philosophical questions [4]. In addition to contemplating this question, a method of truth finding must be adopted
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
