The Effect of Kalileh wa Demneh Stories on Critical Thinking, Reasoning and Questioning Skills of Children by Using "Philosophy for Children" (P4C) Program

The purpose of "Philosophy for Children" (P4C) program is to promote thinking and nurturing new ideas in children. Stories are one of the main pedagogical tools in P4C, which are performed through social research approach. Over the recent decades, the program has gained popularity for fostering thinking skills of children and juveniles in Iran. Given the cultural richness of the classic and contemporary Persian literature, efforts have been made to make use of stories in the P4C program.
The present study aims at assessing the effect of Kalileh wa Demneh stories on improving the reasoning, questioning, and critical thinking (critical openness and reflective skepticism). The study is quasi-experimental and was conducted through field study. The statistical population consisted of all female students inthe sixth elementary grade of Ardestan city and the research sample was a classroom of 32 students selected on a random and purposive basis.
The research device included Robert Fisher’s Scale for Assessing Inquiry, Sosu’s Scale for Critical Thinking Disposition (critical openness and reflective skepticism), and New Jersey Tests for Reasoning Skills. The validity of the scale for assessing inquiry was confirmed by related experts and authorities. Sosu has reported the validity of his scale for critical thinking disposition. The reliability of New Jersey’s scale for reasoning skill was assessed through Cronbach’s alpha and reported to be between 0.84 and 0.94. The data analyses were conducted in two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that there is a meaningful difference between the scores on critical openness, inquiry, and reasoning skill. Besides, there is a meaningful difference between the scores on reflective skepticism of the groups, this means that the P4C program has been effective in increasing the reflective skepticism of the children.