Primary Years Philosothon

The Primary Years Philosothon was held at the Ian Potter Gallery as part of the National Gallery of Victoria's Australian focus. 120 students in years 4 to 6 from 12 different schools came together to collaborate philosophically.

Students from different schools were grouped together and walked around to three chosen artworks. At each site, a group of ten students and a facilitator participated in a philosophical community of inquiry about the big ideas that students were struck by in the artwork.

After the three communities of inquiry, students returned to their school groups for a debrief and to collect all the ideas each student had been discussing in their various philosothon groups.

Reflection of Primary Years Philosothon:

Lloyd Street Primary School

"The aim of the Philosothon is to promote deep thinking by bringing together students from different schools from years 3-6. We considered how the deep thinking is like shallow and deep water thinking. Shallow water thinking is observing what is there. Deep water thinking includes slow, conscious, reflective thinking. " - Chloe, level 3

"Some of the deep thinking and BIG IDEAS we explored in our groups were: Culture, British settlement, rights, freedom, beliefs, equality, women's rights, identity, responsibility and belonging." - Will, level 3

"It was a great day and lots of fun. Everyone did lots of philosophical thinking inspired by artwork. We shared our ideas with confidence. We saw artwork that was really engaging and told stories." -Valentino, level 3

Mentone Grammar

Something that stuck with me was... "how to think beyond what you see and how to inquire about anything. How to think in depth about what I see." - Year 4 student.

Philosophy is important... "so you can dive deeper into a question and expand your knowledge and creativity" -Year 6 student.

Philosophy is important ..."because it really gets you to think hard, and use deep thinking over shallow thinking more regularly." - Year 6 student.

King David School

"I felt that my perspective was challenged on a range of different issues." - Michelle, Year 6

"When we discussed equality, it was interesting to understand other people's points of view." Amielle, Year 5

"I found it interesting how women had to stay at home while their husbands worked. It just doesn't seem fair." Lucy, Year 4

"What rights do we actually have as humans?" Eva, Year 5