The Impact of Teaching Philosophy for Children on Critical Openness and Reflective Skepticism in Developing Critical Thinking and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the impact of teaching philosophy for children in developing critical thinking and self-efficacy among students. The current study had a statistical population constituting of all female first-grade junior high school students in Khash in the academic year 2017-2018. Among these students, a corpus of 54 students (27 people assigned to an experimental group and 27 people assigned to a control group) was selected as a sample using a convenience sampling method. The experimental group was taught philosophy; however, the control group did not receive any training. To collect data, Sosu Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and Muris et al. Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents were used. For data analysis, using descriptive statistics, means and standard deviations were calculated and by applying inferential statistics, initially, differences between pretest and posttest scores were calculated and these differences between the scores obtained by the control and experimental groups were determined by conducting an independent t-test. Results indicated that there were significant differences in components of critical thinking, critical thinking, and self-efficacy between these two groups. In other words, teaching philosophy for children had a positive impact on increasing self-efficacy, critical thinking, and its components (critical openness and reflective skepticism).

Students’ critical thinking skills based on gender and knowledge group

“…It is a way to prepare students to be able to compete globally in facing the 21st century challenges (ŽivkoviĿ, 2016). To prepare generations for future challenges, special skills such as critical thinking skills needed to be taught (Rahdar et al, 2018). Critical thinking is an effective pedagogy in creating learning that involves students in class dialogue and enhancing their thinking (Dehghayedi & Bagheri, 2018;Dewi et al, 2019).…”

How to teach critical thinking: an experimental study with three different approaches

“…When Kurnaz (2017) compared the effect of general and immersion approaches on CT skills, the general approach was more effective than the immersion approach in enhancing CT skills ( η 2 = 0.23). Also, there have been many other experimental studies which concluded that the general approach (Arı, 2020 ; Eldeleklioğlu & Özkılıç, 2008 ; Karadağ & Demirtaş, 2018 ; Rahdar et al, 2018 ; Zulkifli & Hashim, 2020 ), the immersion approach (Bağ, 2020 ; Fung & Howe, 2012 ; Reed & Kromrey, 2001 ; Yuan et al, 2008 ) and the mixed approach (Ku et al, 2014 ; Plath et al, 1999 ) enhances CT. Although there have been several experimental studies of the effectiveness of these approaches, there is no consensus about which approach is more effective (Cáceres et al, 2020 ; Larsson, 2017 ).…”

Existential Therapy for Children: Impact of a Philosophy for Children Intervention on Positive and Negative Indicators of Mental Health in Elementary School Children

“…Given the fact that children spend the majority of their time in a school setting, school-based programs have been suggested as a promising option to promote well-being and increase basic psychological needs satisfaction, while preventing the development of negative indicators of mental health such as anxiety and depression in youth [ 14 ]. Namely, philosophy for children (P4C), a school-based approach that aims to develop children’s capacity to think by and for themselves, has shown promise in its ability to positively influence well-being and to prevent anxiety and depression [ 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

“…A handful of quasi-experimental and correlational studies analyzing the psychological outcomes of P4C have emerged with time. These studies have shown, overall, that P4C has a positive effect on psychological outcomes such as self-efficacy, critical openness and relative skepticism [ 17 ], but also self-esteem [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], resilience and happiness [ 15 ]. Despite the growing evidence of P4C’s impact on non-cognitive properties, the available literature remains quasi-experimental and thus lacks rigor to provide solid and valid evidence-based data supporting its implementation in school settings to foster greater well-being in children.…”