The effect of philosophy for children (P4C) practices on 4th grade students' creative, critical and reflective thinking skills

The aim of this research is to reveal the impact of P4C practices as a means to improve fourth grade students' thinking skills and to help identify students with high thinking potential in classrooms. This study utilized a mixed-methods design. In the quantitative strand, a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group and pre-post-test measures was employed. In the qualitative strand, a case study design was adopted. The findings revealed a statistically significant difference in post-test scores between the experimental and control groups, favoring the experimental group in terms of creative, critical, and reflective thinking skills. The analysis of difference scores and effect size estimates indicated that the P4C intervention had a substantial positive effect on students' creative, critical, and reflective thinking skills, demonstrating a large effect size. When the post-test and gain scores of the experimental group were compared with those of the BILSEM group-designated as the upper reference group-it was determined that the BILSEM students outperformed the experimental group in the post-test, with the difference reaching statistical significance. In contrast, the pre-test and post-test comparison within the experimental group demonstrated a significant and considerable improvement in students' creative, critical, and reflective thinking skills, with the observed difference reaching statistical significance. Upon examining the progress, it was observed that the P4C practices implemented with the experimental group enhanced their skill levels, bringing them closer to the level of the BILSEM group students. The qualitative results of the study indicated that participants exhibited progress in their thinking, listening, and reasoning skills. Additionally, there was a notable enhancement in their ability to view ideas, events, and issues from multiple perspectives, articulate and justify their viewpoints, and engage in reflective thinking about ideas and cognitive processes. Keywords: Philosophy for children, creative thinking, critical thinking, reflective thinking, social studies, bilsem, primary school.