Key ideas Rights over our own body. Healthy eating. Self-treatment. Government responsibility. Stimulus Imagine you are in a land when everyone who lives there is nice to each other. If you fall over they help you up. They never hurt each other or shout at each other. One day the people of this land discover a new type of food called sl...

By Steve Hoggins The idea for the characters of Critu and Aris is taken from David Birch’s entries in 'The Philosophy Shop', edited by peter Worley. Ed Weijers and his colleague Eef Cornelisson, who I met through the SOPHIA network, inspired the ‘alive or not alive?’ question. Set up Gather some objects and/...

Thought Adventure no. 20 Equipment needed and preparation: A standard classroom ruler and a less standard, more unique looking item(s). Starting age: 5 years Key concepts / vocabulary: steal, find, borrow, know, intention, property, ownership, permission Subject links: PSHE and all knowledge-based subjects Key controversies: Wh...

Taken from Peter Worley's book '40 Lessons to Get Children Thinking', Bloomsbury September 2015 Equipment needed and preparation: An enclosed non-transparent box, A ball (optional - see below) Starting age: 10 years Key concept / vocabulary: Hypothesis, test, show, demonstrate, true, false, knowledge Subject lin...

If the smallest thing is nothing then the biggest thing must be something. Adam (10-years-old)   1. The Chair Begin by placing a chair in the middle of the room. Now tell them to imagine that the chair is a futuristic machine that shrinks things and people to any size. Describe this as evocatively as you can. Next, inv...

Thought Adventure 42 The perfect friend – thinking about friendship, (perfection and A.I.) This session was put together for teachers asking for sessions for ‘anti-bullying week’ and for PSHE requirements ‘getting on and falling out’. The strategy I took for developing this session was to problematize th...

A two-minute play by Paul Bodin. (Words inside brackets are stage directions only.  They are not meant to be said out loud.) For information on how to use this play in the classroom, take a look at Pete's blog here: https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/blog/dialogues-in-philosophy-with-children   The Science ...