Ruimte om te denken
| PhD ceremony: | drs. E.A. (Eva-Anne) le Coultre |
| When: | July 13, 2023 |
| Start: | 16:15 |
| Supervisor: | prof. dr. J.J.H. (Jeroen) Dekker |
| Co-supervisor: | dr. W.A.J. Meijer |
| Where: | Academy building RUG |
| Faculty: | Behavioural and Social Sciences |
How do philosophy teachers make their students think? That is what this research into 'Room to think' is about, in which eight experienced philosophy teachers are portrayed. Based on excerpts from their lessons in the senior years of havo and vwo, we get a glimpse into the classroom, where students are discussing philosophical questions, such as: Are body and mind separate? Do you have to live stoically? What is Art?This research provides a number of clues to education in thinking, drawn from John Dewey and Hannah Arendt. To get into the 'thinking mode' something is needed that breaks through the 'routine mode'. This requires both liveliness and concentration, which means a double task for the philosophy teacher: both to create order and to shake things up. In order to chart the actions of philosophy teachers, a framework has been constructed in which teacher balance between two poles: learning philosophy (explaining what other philosophers have come up with) and learning to philosophize (making students think about philosophical questions themselves). It was investigated how these eight philosophy teachers relate to these poles and what that looks like in their lessons. The conversation in class is crucial in this: thinking takes place in dialogue. To practice that dialogue in your own head, it helps to conduct the dialogue in philosophy class.