You are walking along and find a box. Inside this box is a magic ring. It’s magic because if you put it on, it will change you into something completely different. Task questions 1: If the ring could turn you into a FISH (for the rest of your life), would you put it on? If the ring could turn you into a GIANT, woul...

The Philosophy This is a slightly different session in that we are asking the children to consider an argument directly, and it is a continuation of the first Magician's Tricks stories. It is important that the first story is run so that the children are prepared for this argument. To find out more about Avicenna you can hear podcast o...

The Philosophy You can hear an 'In Our Time' and 'Philosophy Bites' about Avicenna here: http://philosophybites.com/2007/09/peter-adamson-o.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00855lt In a colourful career Avicenna proved the existence of god, amalgamated all known medical knowledge into one big book and establish...

The session around this story invites the children to devise their own story- telling techniques and will allow them to explore the concept of ‘story’ itself. Explain to the children that they will be given a special task this week: to tell a story to someone else. Explain that they could tell whichever story they like but, to mak...

Stimulus Get hold of some sheet music (e.g. an Etude by Fernando Sor or a famous song) Show the class the sheet music. [Optional] Play or sing them the piece of music [if you can play an instrument or sing]. [Optional] Play them the song from an MP3 player. [Optional] If the class know the song, have them sing it. Task Question W...

DO: Put a pile of something, e.g. books in the middle of the circle and explain that the children should imagine it’s huge!  It’s a mountain. DO: Will need to use actors from around the circle for next bit, potentially all children in the group, so helps to go around the circle and take children one by one… SAY: The...

BACKGROUND The basis for this story is one of the ten commandments: do not covet your neighbours goods. So we are told not to look jealously at what our peers have. The exact original meaning, and the best translations from the ancient sources, are a bit murky. For example, it is said by some analysts that those goods might include slaves, or...

There was once a man who desired to know. He was very bookish and spent most of his time buried in a book. One day, he turned to his wife and said, ‘I have studied much and I know a great deal, but there is one thing that eludes me: truth. I have decided to leave and search for truth. ‘Good luck!’ said his wife. Task Ques...

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...