An innovative middle and high school curriculum for acquiring thinking skills through philosophical inquiry workshops. The program offers a new group study and discussion methodology, fostering the art of questioning and the development of critical thinking.
The program is an ORT Israel and the Daniella De-nur publishing house initiative that developed a pedagogical program based on a series of books titled “Talking Philosophy” by philosopher Oscar Brenifier. The program is a game-changer in that it considerably strengthens the teachers’ impact in the classroom – it turns them from being just an information provider to a facilitator and a partner in the debate.
As part of the program, the ORT Network Research and Development Administration developed an extensive teacher guide which is one of its kind, a 60-hour lesson plan booklet, as well as a teacher training and teaching method course for middle school teachers in the ORT Israel Network.
Two complementary pedagogical elements are the foundation of the program: the discussion and the question. Through these two, the learner will develop a complex worldview and formulate a moral stance regarding himself and his environment.
The Program presuppositions:
- Philosophical education, which puts the question at the center, develops the student’s independent, in-depth and critical thinking.
- Philosophical education that deals with everyday questions of every student enables the development of a worldview, the ability to exercise moral judgment about local and global issues, and allows the student to construct meaning to an inner world and self-identity.
- Philosophical education, centered on discussion / dialogue, develops the ability to express and listen as well as the sense of belonging and solidarity with the group of learners.
- The method can be applied in the classroom to any subject being taught.