Practices of philosophy for children in multigrade classes: A case study

Philosophy emerged centuries ago, which is the starting point of today's scientific fields; It is a deep concept that has settled in all areas that concern human life such as language, management, education and continues to interact with these areas and science. Philosophy, on the other hand, can be expressed as philosophizing, thinking philosophically, looking philosophically, and there are more than one thinking skills and mental processes in it. While human beings are separated from all living things as a thinking being, their thinking skills should be developed from childhood. Humanity has reached its present level of development by using its thinking skills and by reflecting on its own ideas. Thinking skills are of great importance in order to adapt to today's world and move it to better levels. Humanity has reached its present level of development by using its thinking skills and by reflecting on its own ideas. Thinking skills are of great importance in order to adapt to today's world and move it to better levels. In order for these skills to be transformed into behavior, they must be developed from childhood. Philosophy program for children can be defined as activities that will develop thinking skills from childhood. Philosophy for Children "P4C" for short covers four basic thinking skills. These; creative thinking, critical thinking, collaborative thinking and attentive thinking. Philosophy for children is a thinking process that leads to a philosophical problem by attracting the attention of children with a stimulus in a free inquiry environment. The study was designed as a case study from qualitative research methods. The aim of the study is to reveal the relationship between philosophy and education and in this context, how to apply philosophy to children in a combined classroom environment by integrating it with the Life Studies and Social Studies course. Throughout the research, "How is the application of philosophy as a method for children in 3rd Grade Life Studies and 4th Grade Social Studies courses in multigrade classes? How does the philosophy for children program contribute to students in terms of thinking skills?" The answer to the question has been sought. The study continued with 5 students in 3rd and 4th grade combined in Yıldızeli district of Sivas province. A 10-week program has been created on the root values common to the 3rd Grade Life Studies and 4th Grade Social Studies courses. It has been observed that students progress in terms of philosophical thinking skills in philosophy practices for children whose core values are questioned. According to the research findings, it was concluded that philosophy practices for children in the multigrade classroom contributed to the students' thinking skills. Keywords: joint class, philosophy for children, thinking skills