P4C – Philosophy for Children
The reflections of Danish philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and N. F. S. Grundtvig on child development, education, and knowledge provide many insights that are still relevant today and will illuminate the relationship adults form with children. The thoughts of Kierkegaard and Grundtvig on education are very similar to the efforts of P4C (Philosophy for Children) studies, which are very active today, to separate from traditional education. In the workshop, the ideas of these philosophers was put forward in a discussion environment, and the pedagogical and philosophical ideas of these philosophers on education was applied.
P4C is a process that aims to develop thinking and community skills. It is a method and pedagogy of inquiry with children or communities. As the 4 Cs of P4C point out, a Caring, Critical, Collaborative, and Creative thinking process and a community state are experienced in this process. The aim here is to activate the children’s minds that evaluate situations, reason, and judge. The aim is not to convey a common judgment or definition to the mind. In other words, the priority in this workshop process is not to fill the mind, but to make it work, to enable children to learn to think and make judgments with quality.
The event consisted of two sessions. The first session was a P4C workshop with a group of 10-15 children aged 8-10. The following session was held with the parents of the children. Parents were informed about Kierkegaard and Grundtvig’s ideas on education and knowledge, and an environment was provided where parents could evaluate these concepts in their relationship with their own children.
At the end of the activity, both children and parents were encouraged to engage in the process of inquiry on knowledge and education, and they saw that there are alternative ways to traditional education processes, which can be as valuable as traditional ways. In addition, an intellectual study was made on the basic concepts of the Danish philosophers Kierkegaard and Grundtvig, whose thoughts are still influential in the world. Along with all this, lifetime access to this application will be provided as the entire event will be professionally recorded. There will also be an English translation of the edited video recording.
