Philosophical ethics in early childhood: A pilot study

Abstract

The Philosophical Ethics in Early Childhood (PEECh) project aims to advance knowledge of preschool children’s (ages 3-5) ethical understanding and explores the effectiveness of philosophical discussion of children’s literature and extension activities for fostering ethical development in early childhood. In this article we discuss results of our ethics education study with preschool children, including pre-post measurement of experimental and control groups and a 12-week educational intervention focusing on the themes of fairness, empathy (perspective-taking), personal welfare and inclusion versus exclusion of peers. As compared to our control group, study results demonstrated significant developments in our experimental group’s ability to respond to ethical questions, increased use of emotion markers, and increased use of justification terms in support of responses.

Çocuklarla Felsefe Programının Çocukların İnsani Değerlere Yönelik Tutumları Üzerindeki Etkililiği

“…In addition, the diaries filled by the children at the end of the philosophical conversations and focus group interview conducted on the day when all activities were completed, revealed positive changes in the attitudes of children towards values. It was observed that the results of the study were compatible with the studies investigating the usability of philosophy with children for moral, value and citizenship education (Akkocaoğlu Çayır & Akkoyunlu, 2016;Burroughs & Tuncdemir, 2017;Cam, 2014;Garrat & Piper, 2011;McCall, 2017;Splitter, 2011). For example, in their study conducted to investigate the effect of philosophical discussions on the ethical understanding of preschool children aged between 3-5 years, Burroughs and Tuncdemir (2017) applied a 12-week education program on topics such as justice, empathy, personal welfare and participation.…”

“…It was observed that the results of the study were compatible with the studies investigating the usability of philosophy with children for moral, value and citizenship education (Akkocaoğlu Çayır & Akkoyunlu, 2016;Burroughs & Tuncdemir, 2017;Cam, 2014;Garrat & Piper, 2011;McCall, 2017;Splitter, 2011). For example, in their study conducted to investigate the effect of philosophical discussions on the ethical understanding of preschool children aged between 3-5 years, Burroughs and Tuncdemir (2017) applied a 12-week education program on topics such as justice, empathy, personal welfare and participation. It was determined as a result of their studies that the participants' ability to respond ethical questions, the use of emotional markers and their justification expressions for the answers increased.…”

“…Children, who are not left to stay on their own, grow up as active citizens without being left vulnerable in the ruthless world (McCall, 2017, p. 189). According to the common opinion in the related literature, philosophy/thinking education with children provides significant gains in many areas such as critical thinking, reasoning, reading, mathematics, concentration, collaboration, self-esteem, self-confidence, reducing bullying, communication and interpersonal relationships (Akkocaoğlu Çayır & Akkoyunlu, 2016;Burroughs & Tuncdemir, 2017;Cam, 2014;Garrat & Piper, 2011;McCall, 2017;Splitter, 2011).…”

Effects of philosophical ethics in early childhood on preschool children's social–emotional competence and theory of mind

“…Moreover, children need to learn about the ethical dimensions of their lives for navigating relationships with others, being self-aware, and acquiring a better understanding of their own and others' emotions. Even if socially and emotionally literate children can 'decode' others in social settings, their social and emotional education alone does not prepare them to make ethical decisions (Burroughs & Arda Tuncdemir, 2017).…”

“…In a previous study of the PEECh program and intervention (Burroughs & Arda Tuncdemir, 2016, 2017 positive results were demonstrated for a PEECh preschool experimental group in the areas of increased verbalization (i.e., an increased ability to respond to ethics-focused questions); increased use of justification terms in support of responses to ethics-focused questions (i.e., use of terms, such as 'because' and additional supporting reasons for answers); increased emotion recognition (i.e., increased use of emotion markers in response to relevant questions calling for emotion recognition, empathy, and perspective-taking); and increased perspective-taking and inclusion of peers as seen in child interviews and as reported in participating teacher interview responses.…”