Effect of Philosophy for Children Curriculum on Life Skills Development in Fifth Grade Students Attending Public Elementary Schools in Behbahan

Document Type : Scientific- research

Authors

1 M.A. in Educational Management, Islamic Azad University, Behbahan Branch, Behbahan, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of educational science, Behbahan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran.

3 Bsc in Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of philosophy for children (P4C) in the development of life skills in elementary school students. The research method was semi-experimental using pre-test and post-test with control group. The statistical population involved all the fifth-grade male students in public elementary schools in the city of Behbahan, Khuzestan, Iran, in the academic year 2022-2023, whose number was1409. Using the available sampling method, 60 students who scored lower on the life skills scale were selected and randomly divided into two experimental (30 people) and control (30 people) groups. In the next step, the experimental group was taught philosophy for 12 sessions of 45 minutes. The data collection tool was Saatchi et al.’s Life Skills Scale (2010). To analyze the data, univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance methods were used. According to the results, the use of philosophy for children has a positive and significant effect on the development of life skills (P<0.001, F=74.073), self-awareness skills (P<0.001, F=49.792), empathy (001 P<0.00, F=27.996), relationship management skills (P<0.001, F=84.163), communication skills (P<0.001, F=45.082), stress management and emotional management skills (P<0.001, F=46/441), goal-setting skill (P<0.001, F=40/492), problem solving skill (F=60/400, P<0/001), decision making skill (F=35/571, P<0/001) =), creative thinking skill (P<0.001, F=24.805) and critical thinking skill (P<0.001, F=65.750) in the considered students.

Introduction

The correct education and training of children is one of the most important bases for the excellence of any society, because students are the great assets of society and the origin of society’s advancement in the future (Jaafari, Samadi and Qaedi, 2015). Therefore, among the formal educational stages before entering a university, the primary school period is a very important period in terms of its effect on the growth, upbringing and development of children’s personality, and this period has also been called the period of information, discipline, creativity and the emergence of general talents (Shahmohammadi, 2020). Students, as active members of the society, should be able to perform their multiple tasks effectively and benefit from life skills in which all the elements are formulated correctly (Karimi Firouzjaei, 2017). However, despite the profound cultural changes in lifestyles, many students lack the necessary skills to face life issues. Life skills are based on the principle that children and adolescents have the right to be empowered and should be able to defend themselves and their interests against life’s challenges, and can also provide the context for adaptation and useful behavior as well as a positive and cheerful life for themselves and for others. Philosophy for children is a golden key that can help the development of the most important inner aspect of a child, which is thinking (Gandomani et al., 2011). According to Lipmann, the main goal of the program is teaching philosophical thinking to children in order to help children learn how to think (Hines, 2015: 13). In general, it should be noted that teaching philosophy as an appropriate method for the all-round development of a child has been in the focus of attention of educational thinkers for several decades, and with the help of the life skills training program, critical and creative citizens can be raised. This requires thinking and judgment, which in turn will be possible from teaching philosophy.

Research methods and tools

The research method was semi-experimental using pre-test and post-test with control group. The statistical population consisted of all the 1409 fifth-grade male students in public elementary schools in the city of Behbahan, Khuzestan, Iran, in the academic year 2022-2023. Using the available sampling method, 60 students who scored lower on the life skills scale were selected and randomly divided into two experimental (30 people) and control (30 people) groups. In the next step, the experimental group was taught philosophy for 12 sessions of 45 minutes by the method of reading stories using the book Life Skills Training by Refaghat-Khajeh (2020) including 20 stories from the classic books of Iran. The data collection tool was Saatchi et al.’s Life Skills Scale (2010).This inventory has 40 items and measures 10 dimensions of life skills.
To analyze the data, in addition to descriptive indices, univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests were used. Analysis of research data was done using Spss software, version 26.
 

Findings

The results showed that the use of philosophy for children program has a positive and significant effect on the development of life skills (P<0.001, F=74.073), self-awareness skills (P<0.001, F=49.792), empathy (001 P<0.00, F=27.996), relationship management skills (P<0.001, F=84.163), communication skills (P<0.001, F=45.082), stress management and emotional management skills (P<0.001, F=46/441), goal-setting skill (P<0.001, F=40/492), problem solving skill (F=60/400, P<0/001), decision making skill (F=35/571, P<0/001) =), creative thinking skill (P<0.001, F=24.805) and critical thinking skill (P<0.001, F=65.750) in the considered students.

Results and Discussion

The results of this research are consistent with the results of Harandi et al. (2022), Shahmohammadi (2021), Karadag and Demirtash (2018), and Greenberg (2017), regarding the effectiveness of teaching philosophy to children on improving life skills and their components.
Concerning the effect of teaching philosophy on the development of students’ life skills, it can be said that philosophy is the first step and the most fundamental measure for children to gradually get rid of mental laziness and helps to improve thinking in children, so that the children can predict and realize successful relationships and organize and direct their lives in this way. Therefore, in addition to the necessity of philosophy for children, philosophy education and philosophizing are needed for all levels (Naji, 2011). The students participating in the philosophy education program, by discussing their beliefs and thoughts, have gained a clearer view of their abilities, feelings and capabilities.
The stories whose heroes and anti-heroes are animals, in an indirect way through visual expression and space creation, introduce children to the parallel and overlapping realms of ‘reality and imagination’ in order to open their psychological knots and show them the dimensions of their existence. Children fearlessly rediscover their characteristics in these fictional creatures. As such, children are helped to develop their self-concept, experience and integration into the surrounding culture. On the other hand, by awakening the child’s inner forces and indirectly informing him/her of obstacles and contradictions as well as their possibilities and talents, it helps children to attain deep thinking and do inquiry about life problems and values from a humanity perspective, in such a way that children can adjust their thoughts in order to achieve a valuable goal (i.e., getting closer to the truth) and approach life issues critically and creatively, and hence they can solve their life problems better and more effectively. When education is presented in the form of intellectual-philosophical stories (for example, the story of the predatory lion and the clever rabbit in Kalileh and Damneh and the alert child in Sandbadnameh), students can express the storyline and define the problems using their real-life experience and mental abilities and deep understanding in difficult situations and in facing problems. Accordingly, the students can realize and formulate problems, find many possible solutions, evaluate them and decide on the best and most effective one based on the decision-making process, while considering the consequences of each of these solutions. In this context, they learned how to act in a correct way and solve problems.
 
 
 
 

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Main Subjects

References

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Thinking and Children
Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 28
Autumn and Winter 1402
March 2024
Pages 27-49

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