The playground of ideas: Developing a structured approach to the community of inquiry for young children

Abstract

The Community of Inquiry is a pedagogy which allows children to participate in collaborative discussion, and has been a key practice of Philosophy with Children since its inception. This chapter presents research findings which support the claim of the educational benefits of this approach, and also considers barriers to participation by all children, especially those who have not developed early communicative competency. I therefore present the Playground of Ideas, which provides a structured discussion framework approach in order to support children’s critical thinking skills and dispositions through collaborative dialogue. Two case studies with children aged 6 and 7 and their teachers indicate that the Playground of Ideas contributes to the development of a classroom culture of dialogue and collaborative thinking.