# Doing Philosophy Effectively: Student Learning in Classroom Teaching

## TL;DR

This study explores how effectively students learn philosophy in Dutch secondary schools by analyzing classroom activities and teacher behavior.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a new method to assess the effectiveness of doing philosophy in classrooms through five learning activities and teacher-student interaction.

## Key findings

- Lessons with shared guidance during philosophical discussions led to higher student engagement in doing philosophy.
- A one-dimensional scale was developed to measure the effectiveness of philosophy lessons.
- Teacher behavior significantly influences the level of student learning activities in philosophy.

## Abstract

An important aim of teaching philosophy in Dutch secondary schools is to learn about philosophy (i.e., the great philosophers) by doing philosophy. We examined doing philosophy and focused specifically on the relationship between student learning activities and teacher behavior; in doing so, a qualitative cross-case analysis of eight philosophy lessons was performed. The effectiveness of doing philosophy was operationalized into five learning activities comprising rationalizing, analyzing, testing, producing criticism, and reflecting, and scored by means of qualitative graphical time registration. Using CA we find a quantitative one-dimensional scale for the lessons that contrasts lessons that are more and less effective in terms of learning and teaching. A relationship was found between teaching by teachers and doing philosophy by students. In particular we found students to produce a higher level of doing philosophy with teachers who chose to organize a philosophical discussion with shared guidance by the teacher together with the students.