Association of Petit Philosophy, Udruga “Mala filozofija”

From 2008. we are implementing our project »Take a look in your own opinion« for children from 8 to 11 years old. In this project we use children’s stories and games that we adjust to this age, but the program itself is not essentially differ from other philosophy programs for children in so far as it makes use of discussions, questions, arguments and counterarguments. Program of this project is held one or two hours per week, which amounts to 35 or 70 hours per year for each group. Teachers use PowerPoint presentations to ask pupils questions related to given themes, and moderate the ensuing discussion, thus guiding pupils towards mutually arrived at conclusions. Twenty-four lessons are scheduled, organized in accordance with the topics determined by the syllabus. One lesson is reserved for topic of the pupils’ choice, together with three extra hours intended for the same purpose. Four lessons are provided for the evaluation process, which includes discussion, debate, writing and reflection. PowerPoint presentations are prepared for each lesson in advance. A leading role in the presentation goes to Sofia the owl, who guides children through the questioning process. There are also Sofia’s friends: Bibica the fish, Pak the crab, Morskic the seahorse, Pez the hedgehog, Ratka the duck, Slavisa the wolf, Bakalarko the cod fish. At the beginning of each school hour teachers determine which students will be reading scripted lines of these animated characters. Most lessons include one or more stories, which are all closely related to the topic, and each lesson topic of Petit philosophy includes one or more stories taken from mythology, literature or philosophy which is directly relevant to the theme. From year 2008. we are implementing this program in three schools. This year (2010) we will be doing this program in 14 schools, public libraries and associations. You can see full program on http://www.petit-philosophy.com/index.php/en/program.html Project »With critical thinking to awareness of harmfulness of corruption among children 8-12 years« is a part of the anti-corruption project of Holcim Croatia. The project, which is similar to project »»Take a look in your own opinion« with children stories, games and animated characters (Sofia the owl, Mile the guinea pig, Malik the buck...). Because of Croatian large corruption problems, our workshops are adjust to pupils age so we can raise awareness about this issue amanog the children. http://www.petit-philosophy.com/index.php/en/korupcija.html Our new project entitled "With education to tolerance, democracy and human rights" is the most complex project so far. The project consists several different programs. - »I among others« - a program for students from fifth and sixth grade of elementary school. The program covers topics of the individual relationships with themselves and the surrounding environment. The course deals with topics individual's relation to the family, through friends, citizens, individuals and groups of other nationalities, faiths, different sexual orientations, and different opinions. Also deals with the themes of identity, globalization and multiculturalism. In the workshops we use Power Point presentation in which appear animated teacher as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle ... - "I have rights, you're right, we've got each other" - a program for pupils from seventh and eighth grade of elementary school. The program deals with issues of human rights in all aspects of individual rights including the right of the people, as well as the species and the grounds of human rights, but also the importance of respect for these rights. Each workshop begins with a case study (which shows a violation of human rights and the consequences of the violation), which introduces pupils to a given topic, to discuss a case example, concludes with a discussion and conclusions about a given topic. In this way, pupils from the concrete, living examples (eg case) can draw theoretical conclusions and become aware of the necessity for respecting human rights. - »From art of tolerance and democracy» program is for high school students. Genuine and quite an interesting program in which through the help of music, film, art,photography and other arts, student become aware of the importance of tolerance and the benefits of democracy. In contemporary music, a lot of musicians singing the 'go to democracy, some were' asked 'about its importance and feasibility, and some have criticized. From different aspects, contexts and examples, students will be able to revive themselves with benefits of democracy and the necessity of tolerance.