The Effect of Philosophy for Children (P4C) Curriculum on Critical Thinking through Philosophical Inquiry and Problem Solving Skills

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of P4C curriculum on 5-6-year-old children’s critical thinking through philosophical inquiry and their problem solving skills. The working group of the study held a total of 40 children who learned at kindergartens of a primary school in Çanakkale, Turkey. The study used a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group. Prepared by asking two experts’ views, the "Philosophy for Children Curriculum" was administered to the children in the experimental group as two sessions per week, for ten weeks, with an average of 40 minutes in total. The study deployed "Critical Thinking Scale through Philosophical Inquiry for Children 5-6 Years Old" and “Problem Solving Skills Scale for Children (PSSS)” as data collection tools. The analysis results showed a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of both groups in terms of the experimental groups’s critical thinking skills through philosophical inquiry within group comparisons. Although the posttest mean score of the experimental group's critical thinking skills through philosophical inquiry was higher than the control group, no statistically significant difference was observed between them. Considering the comparisons of problem solving skills within groups, a significant difference was determined between the pretest and posttest scores of both groups. When the problem solving skills were compared between groups posttest results, a significant difference was noted in favor of the experimental group.