Creative and Philosophical Thinking in Primary Schools

Creative and Philosophical Thinking in Primary Schools shows how creative and philosophical thinking can be developed in the everyday classroom. This practical book helps you find better ways to help your children grow educationally

Written by Marie Huxtable, Rosalind Hurford & Joy Mounter

We are taken directly into educational relationships with children and the creative responses of the teachers to their pupils’ needs. The authors’ insights into these responses are used creatively and with philosophical reflection to support the thinking of pupils.

The systematic approach known as Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) is used, which involves the individual asking:

• What do I know about this?
• What is the task?
• How many ideas can I think of?
• What is the best idea?
• Let’s do it!
• How well did I do it?
• Let’s tell someone!
• What have I learned?

Part one describes the authors evolving ideas and practices of creative and philosophical thinking.

Part two gives details about why these are seen as important, how to get going and suggests some ideas on how you might want to develop these practices further.

This publication will help you develop:

• Playful and experimental thinking outside the box
• The ability of your children to pose questions that are important to them and create answers that are reasoned and reasonable
• Children’s awareness and appreciation of themselves and others as knowledge creators
• Children’s confidence and ability to challenge their own thinking and the status quo
• Children’s ability to create options for themselves within constraints and to be open to opportunities
• Children’s learning to learn about themselves
• Teacher’s researching to understand and improve their own practice

We have an educational responsibility to enable our pupils to learn how to recognise the people they are and want to be, to grow in their understanding of a world worth living in and how they might contribute by learning to live their lives as well as they can. Creative and Philosophical Thinking can help you do just that. Read on for a full breakdown of the contents in this inspiring new publication.

Part 1 The Background

• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Creative and Philosophical Thinking and its Evolution in our Practice

Part 2 Developing Children’s Thinking with a Purpose

• Chapter 3. Encouraging Playful and Experimental Thinking Outside the Box
• Chapter 4. Developing the Ability of Children to Pose Questions that are Important to them and to Create Answers
• Chapter 5. Developing Children’s Awareness and Appreciation of themselves and others as Knowledge Creators
• Chapter 6. Children Developing the Confidence and Ability to Challenge their own Thinking and the Status Quo
• Chapter 7. Being Able to Create Opportunities within Constraints, Creating and being Open to Opportunities

Part 3 And then…?

• Chapter 8. Children Researching their World to Create New Knowledge
• Chapter 9. Children Researching Themselves
• Chapter 10. Teachers, Developing your own Story
• Chapter 11. Where We Are and What We Have Learned

The authors describe something of the culture, attitudes, skills and understanding they are trying to develop with their pupils, as well as sharing some of the moments, activities and ideas that they can identify as having worked for them.

Whether this exciting new book challenges or affirms your own practice and theories, we are confident that it will provoke new ideas and offer you something to experiment with. Order today and enjoy the benefits of our 21 day risk-free offer.

This books aims to engage you in creative and philosophical thinking. To embolden you and stimulate your imagination to go beyond its pages into your classrooms and lives, to research your own practice, create your own living educational theory and share your ideas with others so we can all progress.

Help your children grow with a love of learning, to delight in engaging in the learning process to acquire new knowledge, to develop wisdom and to give themselves permission to have fun and play cognitively. Creative and Philosophical Thinking will show you how.

ISBN: 978-1-906517-09-0 

Teach to Inspire
Teach to Inspire is a series of publications that aims to equip adults with the tools they need to teach young people how to live a life of emotional stability and resilience.

The titles are radical, edgy and brilliant, bringing progressive practical solutions based on strong theoretical underpinning to the professional audience.