‘Plain Vanilla’ Outline of P4C Session

CONDUCTING A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY SESSION

These notes provide an insight into the nature and process of a community of
enquiry. It is highly recommended that anyone wishing to use this approach
attend training in this area to allow them to provide the best possible
experience for those involved.

See www.sapere.net for details of training.

Environment

All those participating should be seated in a circle to allow each individual

equal access to the enquiry. A flipchart or similar will be needed to record
questions The location chosen for the enquiry should ideally be free from
noise and other distraction.

It is vital that the emotional environment is a positive one. The group must
recognise the need for respect and sensitivity by, and for, all those taking part.
There may be a need for the group to make a shared agreement as to the
process that can be referred to and developed over time.

Stimulus

The starting point for the enquiry is the introduction of a stimulus used to
focus thinking. This would generally take the form of a short story (generally
from a picture book), or an extract from a longer text. This is partly due to the
familiarity most people have with stories, and the importance of a context in
which something happens. Over time a range of stimuli can be explored for
use in sessions. Newspaper articles, photographs, poems, video and posters
have also proved to be very good starting points to focus thinking.

Generating questions

The enquiry will focus around a philosophical question generated by the

group. Once the group have had time to think about the stimulus, and
understand any specific terminology, they are then asked to develop a
philosophical question that arises from their experience of the stimulus. (A
philosophical question may be described as one that is good for developing
thinking and discussion.) It is often beneficial to work in pairs or small groups
to generate an agreed question. This provides additional experience of the
democratic process whilst also promoting the skills that philosophical enquiry
aims to develop.
It may take a number of sessions for individuals to generate philosophical
questions. In some cases it is worthwhile spending time focusing upon the
nature of questions and providing activities to specifically develop
understanding of this.

One technique, suitable for older groups, to help develop questions of a

philosophical nature is to ask the group to generate a question that could be
asked to someone outside of the group, who has not seen the stimulus, but
still focuses upon the issues that they would like to investigate.

With younger groups it is often beneficial to initially accept all questions and
gradually sort these into philosophical and non-philosophical questions as the
group gains experience of the approach. The questions offered by individuals
or groups are then shared and recorded in a manner that allows everybody to
see them (generally on a flip chart with the names of those who created the
question noted alongside).

Time can be taken to investigate similarities between questions and other

possible links between those that have been offered.

Deciding upon the focus for discussion

Once all of the questions have been recorded it is necessary to select one to
provide the focus for the enquiry. This can take many forms but it is widely
accepted that the manner in which this is carried out should be democratic
and involve all members of the group. It has been found beneficial to ask the
group to vote for the question that they feel they “would like to discuss at this
point in time”. This is in contrast to voting for the “best question”, as this may
result in negative self-esteem issues if an individual’s question receives no, or
very few, votes.

The discussion

The discussion is usually started by the individual who generated the question
being given the opportunity to explain their reasons for asking it, and what
their viewpoint may presently be regarding the issues it raises. It is at this
point that the facilitator’s role becomes crucial. The community of enquiry
approach can develop skills and understanding in a wide range of areas. It is
the facilitator’s task to ensure that they are aware of what this development
may be, and also how to encourage this whilst allowing for free thought and a
flowing discussion. It is accepted by many that the aim of the community is to
strive to reach the “truth” in relation to a question (it must be realised that
there may not be one identifiable “truth”). This encourages a rigorous
approach and ensures that the enquiry moves forward towards greater
understanding. The use of Socratic questions at appropriate points can
develop the positive benefits of a community of enquiry.
Concluding a session

At some point it will be necessary to bring the session to an end. It is

important that those involved are given some sense of closure to a session
(this does not mean that thinking about the issues cannot continue after the
session, or in a subsequent enquiry).

One method to achieve a positive end to a session is to allow each individual

in the group to share something they may have gained from the enquiry. This
may be a change of viewpoint, greater understanding of a skill, new learning
regarding the issues discussed or the fact that they don’t feel that they gained
anything in particular.

If the enquiry is to continue it will be necessary to retain the question that

provided the focus for the session. It is also beneficial to encourage
individuals to reflect upon, and make use of, the skills and understanding they
develop in enquiry sessions in their learning and daily lives.

Calum Campbell – January 2005