The If Machine: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom

Peter Worley

Dec 2010 · Bloomsbury Publishing

About this ebook

Each session in this practical book offers an imaginary situation, followed by a series of questions to encourage children to challenge key philosophical ideas such as values and ethics, gender and identity, and existence and beauty. All the enquiries have been tried and tested, and a handy star system is included to indicate the difficulty level of each one. With a comprehensive introduction and key sections on the philosophy behind the experiments, this book also includes an online teacher's resource to guide practitioners through using the sessions to best effect in the classroom.

About the author

Peter Worley teaches philosophy in schools every week. He is a Resident Philosopher at 6 state primary schools in London and he is the founder and CEO of The Philosophy Foundation (www.philosophy-foundation.org), a charity that specialises in philosophy in primary and secondary schools, based in the UK. Peter has over 20 years' experience in teaching and regularly gives talks and presentations about philosophy in schools. He is a Fellow of the RSA and is a Visiting Research Associate at King's College London.

Tamar Levi is an author and illustrator based in London, UK and has her own website: www.TamarLevi.com. Tamar is also researching a PhD in English and Creative Writing at Roehampton University, UK.