By Leo Igwe
I will be making an online presentation on philosophy for children (p4c) in Africa at the SOPHIA Network Meeting in Malta in May. I will discuss the topic: Techno-Questionstorm: Can Machines Enhance Philosophy for Children in Africa? There is a need to change how children are educated in Africa and philosophy for children can play a huge role in this process.
P4C is a cultural and educational movement that fosters reasoning and argumentative skills in infants. Children think and can think. But too often there are no spaces, no adequate facilities for them to exercise their curiosity and inquisitiveness. P4C encourages children to think for themselves and with others. In this case, we will explore how technologies can enhance reasoning abilities and tendencies in children. Technologies are already with us. They are impacting every aspect of human life and profoundly transforming how humans do things, how humans travel, communicate, read, research, and learn, and yes how humans think.
I coined the term techno-questionstorm to highlight how technologies would impact the project and process of doing philosophy with children. Questionstorm is P4C operationalized and stepped down for primary schoolers in Nigeria. It makes the generation of questions or interrogation of ideas the main focus or exercise.
As questionstorm, philosophy for children sets out to nurture and nourish children’s curiosity and inquisitiveness. P4C aims to capacitate and facilitate children’s ability to explore and challenge assumptions and propositions. Humans censor, control, or try to limit spaces and opportunities for expression and exercise of children’s curiosities in homes, communities, and classrooms. Parents and guardians, teachers and educators police the minds and thoughts of children. The cultural situation has negatively impacted the intellectual development of children. This situation will change with access and availability of technologies. Technologies will broaden and extend children’s facility to question and interrogate ideas. Technologies can enable critical thinking abilities and sentiments. However, access to technology is not even. Some children have more access to technology than others. That means some technology gap applies. This technology gap implies some thinking, questioning, and interrogative difference; some variations in abilities and capacities to technoquestionstorm. How African governments and people manage this gap, and their ability to narrow it, will determine the transformative impact of philosophy for children in the region.
Leo Igwe is a member of the International Council of Philosophy for Children, and director of the Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation.