Getting Started

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Choosing and sharing stimuli, preparing for inquiry

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES of different using different kinds of stimuli such as: dialogues, stories, images and objects to stimulate questioning and inquiry? What criteria might guide your choices? In this section, our contributors share their suggestions and experiences to help you choose suitable material.

Having chosen a stimulus, how will you share it with your group and encourage some initial thinking and understanding? Will you establish 'ground rules' or reviewable procedures to prepare them for the discipline of inquiry? And what considerations will you give to the environment and to seating arrangements.

Read on or consider becoming a contributor to share your ideas.

Title Category Author Createdsort icon
Community of Enquiry Framework
A simple framework for those beginning to use communities of enquiry 		Getting Started Anonymous 29/09/2009
Ideas for writing
Ideas to get children writing. The writing easily into inquiry. 		Getting Started, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 26/09/2009
Writing and thinking booklet for pupils
A booklet to encourage children to care for their thoughts through writing. 		Getting Started, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 26/09/2009
Would you dare?: a nursery question board activity
An activity to get young children to consider generalisations and 'if ... then' situations. 		Getting Started Sara Stanley 24/05/2009
Voting cards for opinions in the early years
The following routine helps young children to keep opinions consistent and link reasons with opinions 		Getting Started Sara Stanley 04/05/2009
A P4C Inquiry Planner
A useful framework to help you plan and assess your p4c sessions. 		Getting Started Steve Bramall 08/03/2009
Creating rules for dialogue
A great ways to establish rules for dialogue with children -- make them a topic of inquiry. Useful suggestions and materials. 		Getting Started, Notes and Activities Steve Bramall 06/03/2009
Rhymes about asking and telling
A couple of rhymes to ecnourage children to share thoughts and questions and to understand 'questions' and statements' 		Getting Started, Notes and Activities Steve Williams 04/02/2009
Michelle Whitworth's tips for using stimuli
Tips for different ways of presenting and using a wide variety variety of stimulus material for p4c 		Getting Started Michelle Whitworth 03/02/2009
Making an Evilometer
A concept stretcher, warm up activity or stimulus for a p4c session 		Getting Started, Notes and Activities Jason Buckley 03/02/2009
Using pupil-devised questionnaires to stimulate p4c
Creating and analysing questionnares can be a useful stimulus for philosophical questioning. Samples and advice are provided. 		Getting Started, P4C Articles Robyn Spencer 26/11/2008
Goodies and baddies in the nursery
A recorded dialogue to show how young children use, through play, their knowledge and understanding of fairy tale characters and how their conversation can help me to develop their thinking. 		Getting Started, P4C Articles, Dialogues Sara Stanley 26/11/2008
You Choose: involving parents in p4c
The item describes a way to involve the parents of very young children in the critical and creative thinking of p4c. 		Getting Started Sara Stanley 22/10/2008
A nursery question board
Introducing the philosophical skill of making a choice and giving a reason with children in nursery. 		Getting Started, Reasoning Concepts Sara Stanley 08/10/2008
The benefits of using written dialogues
Benefits of choosing a written dialogue as a stimulus and of having pupils write dialogues 		Getting Started, Scripts and Dialogues Steve Williams 06/09/2008
Listening Skills: 10 practical tips
Ten practical suggestions to improve listening in your classroom. 		Getting Started Will Ord 14/08/2008
Stimuli: 10 things to consider
Ideas about choosing appropriate stimuli 		Getting Started Will Ord 13/08/2008