What’s Global Education?

“Enabling young people to participate in a better shared future for all is at the heart of global education. Global education promotes open-mindedness leading to new thinking about the world and a predisposition to take action for change. Students learn to take responsibility for their actions, respect and value diversity, and see themselves as global citizens who can contribute to a more peaceful, just and sustainable world”

Global Perspectives: A framework for global education in Australian Schools Commonwealth of Australia, 2008

The following slides provide ideas to consider in using a ‘community of inquiry’ approach including strategies to develop questions with students and a process for facilitating discussion of those questions.

How do we give students a voice?

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our touch, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience which reveals the human spirit.  e.e. cummings

TOOLS FOR CREATING ‘COMMUNITIES OF INQUIRY’

‘School of Athens’ Raphael

Herbert and Harry by Pamela AllenThe Miser and his Gold by Aesop

Stimulus Material

Question Quadrant:Consider the stimulus material and write two questions in each quadrant

Comprehension questions: the answer is

in the text

Imagination or literary

speculation questions …

what if?

Factual knowledge questions:

an established

answer exists

Philosophical or inquiry questions with no

established answer,

independent of the text

Textual Questions: questions based on the text

Intellectual Questions

Open QuestionsClosed Questions

Original idea: Phillip Cam, 20 Thinking Tools

What questions should I ask?

Open questions: where there is no accepted or established answer. E.g. What is beauty?

Closed questions: where there is an accepted or established answer. E.g. What is the capital city of Australia?

Summary and Definition Questions: what? who? when? how much? how many? what is an example of?

Analysis Questions: how? why? what are the reasons for? what are the types of? what are the functions of? what is the process of? what is (are) the problems or conflicts or issues? what are possible solutions or resolutions to these?

Hypothesis Questions: if x occurs, then what happens? If x had happened, then what would be different? what does theory Y predict?

Evaluation Questions: is x good or bad? correct or incorrect? ethical or unethical? what are the advantages or disadvantages of x? what is the best solution to the problem? What type of question is most appropriate here?

Excerpted from Millett, S and Tapper A (2008) Philosophy and Ethics: a resource book for Units 1A and 1B.

Source: Millett, S. and Tapper, A. (2008). Philosophy and Ethics 1A-1B. Impact Publishing. www.impactpublishing.com.au

Rules for taking part in a philosophical community of inquiry

1. Listen to other people... Listen for understanding: Try to work out

what someone might be meaning, don’t just take the apparent or the literal meaning.

Listen charitably. This means that you should give people the

benefit of the doubt. Help clarify what they might be meaning by asking further questions.

Pay careful attention to the flow of conversation and keep track of it.

Use the conversation to gain multiple viewpoints or perspectives.

2. Build on what others say...

Use phrases such as: ‘I disagree with X because…’; ‘I agree with what Q says, and want to add on to what she said…’; or ‘I would like to suggest a different way of looking at that…’ etc.

Try to bring together the ideas of several people into a synthesis, for example, ‘I would like to take what P said and add it to what B said ... when we do that, we see the problem is really about w and not z’.

Offer counter-examples and, where possible, counter-arguments that demonstrate you have been listening carefully.

Invite others to build further on what has been said so far.

3. Respect other people’s ideas...

Respect others’ right to express an idea, but note that showing respect for an idea does not mean that you have to agree with it.

Allow others the time they need to think and give them opportunities to speak.

Show respect by using the principle of charity. That is, think the best of people’s ideas; think what a person might be meaning, then seek to clarify what she or he actually meant before offering alternatives or counter-arguments.

Play the ball and not the player.

4. Be prepared to think...

Take time to think carefully. Philosophy is primarily concerned with concepts. Concepts are difficult to evaluate, analyse or define.

There may be no single right answer, but some answers are better than others.

Tools for discussion

ask for examples, offer counter-examples consider alternatives make distinctions (how is this different from that?) work out appropriate criteria (eg. what are the things that these have in common?) allow some ‘waiting time’. Some people take longer than others to form their answers or

their questions. Allow enough time for everyone to contribute move from concrete examples to abstract concepts request reasons (are these reasons good reasons? are they relevant to the situation?) watch for contradictions (is the statement made by x consistent with her earlier

statement?) identify assumptions make inferences (move from reasons to conclusions). Has the class seen the

implications of what has been said? Has the class correctly inferred what the statement implies?

self-correct (if someone gives you good reasons to change your mind, then change it. If you want to change the wording of a question, then change it) focus on the issue: have we lost track of what we were discussing?

Source: Cam, P. (1993). Thinking Stories 1: Teacher Resource Activity Book. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger

TalkListen Learn

Everyone has the same roles

‘Listen’ by Keith Persch

Final questions

‘Have we arrived at some kind of answer to the question?’

‘Have we increased our understanding of the question?’

‘Have we explored alternatives?’ ‘Did we make any important distinctions or

uncover assumptions?’

Source: Cam, P. (1993). Thinking Stories 1: Teacher Resource Activity Book. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger