An educationalist at the University of Dundee has positively evaluated a method to improve children's thinking skills.
University and Council educational psychologists have systematically reviewed the evidence for the effectiveness of the 'Philosophy for Children' (P4C) programme, first developed in the USA by Matthew Lipman, and carried out in schools in Clackmannanshire.
P4C improves children's thinking skills by getting the children to generate their own questions. It involves pupils and teacher sharing a short story, picture, poem object or some other stimulus. Children then generate their own questions which are discussed briefly by the whole group before one is selected for more intensive discussion. P4C thus involves critical questioning, linking questions, collaborative enquiry, building on each other's ideas, reflecting, problem-solving, decision-making and summarising. In addition to impact on thinking skills, it is inclusive and builds team work skills.
Working with Clackmannanshire Council, Professor Keith Topping of the University of Dundee's Faculty of Education and Social Work has discovered that this project can raise children's IQ by 6.5 points. Keith explains: "Some educators argue that improvement in thinking is impossible to measure. However, this review identified 10 rigorous controlled experimental studies of P4C. These studies measured outcomes by norm-referenced tests of reading, reasoning, cognitive ability and other curriculum-related abilities, by measures of self-esteem and child behaviour, and by child and teacher questionnaires. All studies showed some positive outcomes and a consistent moderate positive effect size (0.43) for P4C on a wide range of outcome measures. This suggests a gain in IQ of 6.5 points for an average child."
Clackmannanshire Council has now implemented the programme across the authority, involving over 100 teachers. The scheme has been found to be cost effective and compares very well with other methods adopted elsewhere in Scotland, which often have limited evidence on effectiveness and cost more per pupil.
Steve Trickey, Senior Psychologist for Clackmannanshire Council said: "P4C is by no means the only programme available for developing thinking skills. However, our work indicates that P4C is effective in relation to all five of the National (Scottish) Priorities for Education."
Contact Professor Keith Topping 01382 464000 k.j.topping@dundee.ac.uk
By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk