In one of our meetings we came up with the connection between Hans my Hedgehog and the ancient tale of Cupid and Psyche. Working from this we then talked about a PSHE approach to introduce the learning. Philosophy for Children allows the children to have a choice in what they discuss, whilst teachers can scaffold the learning taking place with resources and questioning. Below is a draft of an enquiry we could possibly use when introducing the story of Cupid and Psyche in the classroom, with an intention of later linking this to Hans my Hedgehog.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) Sequence – Psyche and Cupid The summary of Psyche and Cupid can be found here: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_4.htm The session: To show the children a stimulus, for example we discussed a photo stimulus of cupid and a princess. This would draw out any previous knowledge the children may have about cupid during feedback. Use talk partners to allow children to discuss stimulus – feedback to class, teacher may have to give some knowledge about cupid and let the children discuss again. Identify similar ideas, discuss different ideas shared to be certain of ideas- questioning. Give themes, e.g friendship, trust, love etc, to children. Explanation of what each theme means may be required. Which themes do the children think describe the stimulus best? Discuss with talk partners. Feedback to class, hands up/ moving around classroom can be choosing techniques. Important to keep children active and feel as though it is their choice when selecting theme/questions. **At this point with the Hungary Project this may be where we stop to put children into groups of themes for role play/story sack activities.**
Continuing.. Choose Theme as a class, voting process, other adults in classroom if equal. Ask children to think of questions which could be asked around this theme. Teacher to model a question to pupils to demonstrate. For example; What makes a good friend? Can you trust everybody? This may vary depending on year group chosen. Do this as tables and should then have a question per table. Children to be given voting strategy, e.g cubes, buttons, to pace on or by the question they think is the best one and the one they would like to discuss. Once the question is selected a discussion can take place in a controlled circle time. In this circle time ground rules may have be established such as no one should be talking unless you have an object in your hand, (I used a ball to role across the circle). Everyone gets the chance to speak is another, and importantly you do not have to contribute to discussion if you do not wish to. During the discussion the teacher should act as a facilitator guiding the children in sharing ideas and talking with each other. P4C resources and further explanation of sequence can be found at: http://p4c.com/about-p4c http://www.sapere.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=162 http://www.philosophy4children.co.uk/home/p4c/