Because I love etymology, I’ve always introduced philosophy to my gifted students as a “love of wisdom” (Greek ~philos and sophos). We spent some time exploring words related to those roots. My students especially loved the origin of the word “sophomore!” (see also “A Greek Root is Worth 1,000 Words”)
If you work with intellectually gifted kids, you might be interested in Philosophy for Kids: 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything (affiliate link). It’s a great introduction to philosophy– what it is and why it has value – for students grades 4 and up. But, more importantly, it makes philosophy accessible and FUN. In the book are activities and teaching tips that accompany some “deep” questions pondered by philosophers over time. You can use the book in many ways with your students. I used several of the questions for Socratic Dialogue with my fourth through eighth-graders and usually could connect our discussion questions with what we were reading or studying. For example, my fifth graders read The Giver (affiliate link) and there are several questions that spark lively discussions that can easily relate to the novel such as “How can you tell when you know something?” or “Should you really listen to the opinions of others?” Hey, students also are intrigued by The School of Athens, the painting featured on the book cover. They love trying to guess who is featured in that painting! Click on the link and scroll down to see a list of all the figures in the painting!
There are other great resources that entice kids into pondering things on a deeper level. Children’s books can spark philosophical discussions, too (check out this site). Preteens and teens especially love to argue, and since there is no right answer to these questions, philosophical discussions cannot help but enhance your teaching of logical thinking, articulation, and persuasion. These podcasters even found a way to think of puns as philosophical (you can probably only enjoy that talk if you are a 5 on the Enneagram – a deep thinker and investigator)!
Finally, if you’ve never heard of the KIDS PHILOSOPHY SLAM for students, you can check out their archives (they stopped hosting this a couple of years ago). In our district, nearly all GT elementary students entered year after year, and we had dozens of winners over the years. What a cool accolade: to be named “Most Philosophical Fifth Grader!” So exciting!
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