The effectiveness of multimedia of philosophy for children on K-6 students’ problem solving

One of the most suitable methods whose main purposes is to teach problem-solving skills is Philosophy is for children. The interest in teaching thinking skills dates back to the late 1960s, when Professor Lippmann was teaching philosophy at Columbia University (New York) and realized that his students lacked the power of judgment and clear reasoning. After a while, he realized that it was too late to strengthen the thinking power of these students. Strengthening these abilities should have been done in their childhood. In other words, when these students were in childhood and adolescence, they had to start a series of special courses in critical thinking or problem solving or any other skill related to formal and non-formal logic. Different educational content can be provided to learners with various tools from books and lectures to the Internet or even computers. Given the importance of philosophical content for children and considering the capacity of new technologies such as multimedia and metamedia, it is possible to use them to provide effective and continuous learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia of philosophy for children on K-6 students’ problem solving in Javanroud town.

Method and Materials: 

To attain this aim, researchers used quasi pre-test and post-test experimental method with experimental and control groups. The statistical population included all the sixth grade elementary school students in Javanroud town studying in academic year of 2016-2017. Sixty students were selected through randomized cluster sampling to represent the experimental group (30 students) and control group (30 students). The instruments used in this study was Heppner's problem solving. Both groups were given a pretest, and at the end of the course a posttest was administered. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics including covariance analysis.

The findings showed that multimedia of philosophy for children is effective on improving the assertiveness.

Other researchers are advised to study the effectiveness of teaching philosophy to children in the context of technology on other important variables in education. It is also suggested that similar research be conducted in other educational levels. The most important limitations of the present study were the limited statistical population to sixth grade elementary school students. Also, the mere use of questionnaires and not using other methods of data collection such as observation and interviews are other limitations of this study.