Academic Papers

You can check the following categories in PhilPapers, which is a comprehensive library of papers in philosophy operated by the global academic philosophy community. Plenty of those are freely accessible.

If you scroll down you will also find a rich list of general resources in P4C like books and articles. Before the periodicals you also find a list with quantitative & qualitative research regarding the effects of philosophical inquiry in school. Some things to keep in mind when looking at these studies:

Is it quantitative or qualitative or mixed?
What tests did they use? Are these tests validated? Do they measure what they are intended to measure?
Was the sample big enough? What could have been other variables influencing the results?

Bibliographic Categories

Philosophy for/with Children: Aesthetics

Philosophy for/with Children: Community of Inquiry

Philosophy for/with Children: Educational Theory and Practice

Philosophy for/with Children: Ethics

Philosophy for/with Children: Metaphilosophy

Philosophy for/with Children: Religion and Spirituality

Philosophy for/with Children: Political Philosophy

Philosophy for/with Children: Reasoning

Philosophy for/with Children: Specific Philosophers

Philosophy for/with Children: Introductions

Philosophy in Schools

Philosophy for/with Children Misc.

Childhood

Books and Articles

Astington, Janet Wilde, 1993, The Child’s Discovery of the Mind Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Cam, Philip, 1995, Thinking Together: Philosophical Inquiry for the Classroom, Sydney: Primary English Teaching Association and Hale & Iremonger.
Cam, Philip, 1993 (1994, 1997), Thinking Stories 1, 2, and 3: Philosophical Inquiry for Children, Sydney: Hare & Iremonger.
Cam, Philip, 2006, 20 Thinking Tools, Camberwell, Vic.: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Cam, Philip, 2012, Teaching Ethics in Schools, Camberwell, Vic.: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Costello, Patrick J.M., 2000, Thinking Skills and Early Childhood Education, London: David Fulton Publishers.
Costello, Peter R. (ed.), 2012, Philosophy in Children’s Literature, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
DeCesare, Tony, 2012, “Contributions of High School Philosophy to Ethical and Democratic Education,” Teaching Ethics, 13(1): 1–16.
DeHaan, Chris; MacColl, San; and McCutcheon, Lucy, 1995, Philosophy With Kids, Books 1–4, Melbourne: Longman.
Dewey, John, 1991, Reconstruction in Philosophy in John Dewey, the Middle Works, 1899–1924, vol. 12, Jo Ann Boydston (ed.), Carbondale: Southern Illinois Press.
Ennis, Robert, 1987, “A Conception of Critical Thinking–With Some Curriculum Suggestions,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, Summer: 1–5.
Facione, Peter (ed.), 1989, “Report on Critical Thinking,” American Philosophical Association Subcommittee on Pre-College Philosophy, University of Delaware
Fisher, Robert, 1998, Teaching Thinking: Philosophical Inquiry in the Classroom, London: Cassell.
Gaarder, Jostein, 1994, Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy, New York: Harper, Straus and Giroux
Gopnik, A., Kuhl, and Meltzoff, A., 1999, The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells us About the Mind, New York: Perennial Books.
Gopnik, Alison, 2009, The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life, New York: Picador.
Goswami, Usha, 1998, Cognition in Children, East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
Gregory, Maughn, 2000, “Care as a Goal of Democratic Education,” Journal of Moral Education, 29(4): 445–461.
Gregory, Maughn, 2008, Philosophy for Children: Practitioner Handbook, Montclair State University, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.
Gregory, Maughn, 2009, “Ethics Education and the Practice of Wisdom,” Teaching Ethics, 9(2): 105–130.
Haynes, Joanna, 2008, Children as Philosophers, 2nd. ed., New York: Routledge.
Kohlberg, Lawrence, 1981, The Philosophy of Moral Development: Essays on Moral Development (Volume 1), San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Kennedy, David, 2005, The Well of Being: Childhood, Subjectivity, and Education, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Lewis, Lizzy and Nick Chandley (eds.), 2012, Philosophy for Children Through the Secondary Curriculum, New York: Continuum.
Lipman, Matthew, 1974, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, Upper Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.
–––, 1976, Lisa, Upper Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (Montclair State College).
–––, 1988, Philosophy Goes to School, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
–––, 1991, Thinking in Education, New York: Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition, 2003.
–––, 2008, A Life Teaching Thinking, Montclair State University, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.
Lipman, Matthew (ed.), 1993, Thinking Children and Education, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.
Lipman, Matthew; Sharp, Ann M.; and Oscanyan, Frederick (eds.), 1978, Growing Up With Philosophy, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Lone, Jana Mohr, and Roberta Israeloff (eds.), 2012, Philosophy and Education: Introducing Philosophy to Young People, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishers.
Lone, Jana Mohr, 2012, The Philosophical Child, New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Matthews, Gareth, 1980, Philosophy and the Young Child, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
–––, 1984, Dialogues With Children, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
–––, 1994, The Philosophy of Childhood, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
–––, 2000, “The Ring of Gyges: Plato in Grade School,” International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 14(1): 3–11.
McCall, Catherine, 2009, Transforming Thinking: Philosophical Inquiry in the Primary and Secondary Classroom, London: Routledge.
McCarty, Marietta, 2006, Little Big Minds, New York: Tarcher/Penguin.
McPeck, John, 1985, “Critical thinking and the ‘Trivial Pursuit’ Theory of Knowledge,” Teaching Philosophy, 8(4): 295–308.
Murris, K., 1992, Teaching Philosophy With Picture Books, London: Infonet Publications.
Partridge, F.; Dubuc, F.; Splitter, L.; and Sprod, T., 1999, Places for Thinking, Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Phillips, Christopher, 2001, The Socrates Cafe, New York: W.W. Norton.
Pritchard, Michael S., 1991, On Becoming Responsible, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
–––, 1985, Philosophical Adventures With Children, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
–––, 1996, Reasonable Children, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
–––, 2000, “Moral Philosophy for Children and Character Education,” International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 14(1): 13–26.
–––, 2005, “Ethics in the Science Classroom: Science Teachers as Moral Educators,” in Thomas Wren and Wouter van Haaften (eds.), Moral Sensibilities and Moral Education: III, London: Concorde Publishing House, pp. 113–132.
Reed, Ronald, 1983, Talking With Children, Denver: Arden Press.
Reed, Ronald, and Sharp, Ann M. (eds.), 1992, Studies in Philosophy for Children: Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Reed, Ronald, and Sharp, Ann M., 1996, Studies in Philosophy for Children: Pixie, Madrid: Ediciones De La Torre.
Sasseville, Michel, 1999, “The State of International Cooperation in Philosophy for Children” (UNESCO Meeting, Paris, March 1998), in Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy for Children, 7(1): 57–79.
Shapiro, David, 2012, Plato Was Wrong: Footnotes Doing Philosophy With Young People, New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Sharp, Ann M., 1991, “The Community of Inquiry: Education for Democracy,” Thinking, 9(2), 1991, pp. 31–37.
Sharp, Ann M. (ed.), 1994, , “Women, Feminism, and Philosophy for Children,” Thinking, 11(3/4) (Special Issue)
Splitter, Laurance and Sharp, Ann M., 1995, Teaching for Better thinking: The Classroom Community of Inquiry, Hawthorn, Vic.: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Sprod, Tim, 1993, Books Into Ideas, Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow Education.
Sprod, Tim, 2001, Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education: The Community of Ethical Inquiry, London: Routledge.
Sprod, Tim, 2011, Discussions in Science: Promoting Conceptual Understanding in the Middle School Years, Camberwell, Vic.: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Turner, Susan M. and Matthews, Gareth (eds.), 1998, The Philosopher’s Child, Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Vanseileghem, Nancy and David Kennedy (eds.), 2012, Philosophy for Children in Transition: Problems and Prospects, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Wartenberg, Thomas E., 2009, Big Ideas for Little Kids, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Weinstein, Mark, 1989, “Critical Thinking and Moral Education,” Thinking, 7(3): 42–49.
White, David A., 2000, Philosophy for Kids, Waco, Texas: Prufrock.
Wilks, S., 1995, Critical and Creative Thinking: Strategies for Classroom Inquiry, Armadale, Vic.: Eleanor Curtain.
Worley, Peter and Tamar Levi, 2011, The If Machine: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom, London: Continuum.

Quantitative & Qualitative Research (in progress)

Arter, J., & Salmon, J. (1987). Assessing higher order thinking skills: A consumer’s guide. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Camhy, D.G. & Iberer, G. (1988). Philosophy for Children: A research project for further mental and personality development of primary and secondary school pupils. Thinking. 18-25.
-RESEARCH: executed during 1984-1986, it doesn’t mention randomization but does have control groups, pre-post test. In primary schools: “Wortschatztest [WST 1-3],” “Sinnverstehendes Lesen [SVL 3]” and “Aufgaben zum Nachdenken [AzN 4-5]);” In secondary schools the “New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills” and the creativity test by Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, “Mit Worten kreativ denken”
-RESULT: The results show a positive effect on reasoning skills and flexibility (creative thinking).

Fair, F., Haas, L., Gardosik, C., Johnson, D., Price, D., & Leipnik, O. (2015a). Socrates in the schools from Scotland to Texas: Replicating a study on the effects of a philosophy for children program. Journal of Philosophy in Schools, 2(1), 18–37.
-RESEARCH:.12-14 years, Cognitive abilities test CAT (…they replicated the Topping & Trickey 2007 study
-RESULT: grade 7 showed significant gains but not grade 8 the reason probably being that grade 8 didn’t implement it as long. However, the gains were described as “a meaningful impact”.

García Moriyón, F.; Colom, R.; Lora, S.; Rivas, M.; Traver V. (2000). “Valoración de ‘Filosofía para Niños’: un programa de enseñar a pensar.” Psicothema. Vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 207-211.
-RESEARCH: It evaluates the impact of P4C in three high schools of Madrid. The results suggest an improvement of the experimental group in general cognitive ability, but not specific cognitive abilities or personality. Their follow-up test was less successful.

García Moriyón, F.; Colom, R.; Lora, S.; Rivas, M.; Traver V. (2002). La evaluación de la inteligencia cognitiva y la inteligencia emocional. Madrid: De la Torre.
-RESEARCH: The book explores questions related to research on the implementation of the program and offers a guide to future evaluations. The authors include the results of their first research (2000) and of a replication done two years later. In the replication, the Experimental Group does not improve more than Control Group.

Garcia-Moriyon, F., Rebollo, I., & Colom, R. (2005). Evaluating philosophy for children: a meta-analysis. Critical and Creative Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, 17(4), 14–22.

Gillies, R.M., Nichols, K., Burgh, G., & Haynes, M. (2014). Primary students’ scientific reasoning and discourse during cooperative inquiry-based science activities. International Journal of Educational Research, 63, 127–140.
-RESEARCH: primary school year 7 BUT, mean age is 12.5 which could be middle school in other countries.
-RESULT: they ask more questions.

Gorard, S., Siddiqui, N., & Huat See, B. (2015). Philosophy for children: Evaluation report and executive summary. Millbank: Education Endowment Foundation. Retrieved from https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Support/Campaigns/Evaluation_Reports/EEF_Project_Report_PhilosophyForChildren.pdf.
-RESEARCH: Randomized, Primary Years 7-11 (from age 11).
-RESULT: progress in reading and maths, with the biggest positive impact among disadvantaged pupils. P4C had a positive influence on students’ confidence to speak, listening skills, and self-esteem.

Maire, H., Auriac-Slusarczyk, E., Slusarsczyk, B., Daniel, M., & Thebault, C. (2018). Does one stand to gain by combining art with philosophy? A study of fourth-year college (13/14 years of age) philosophical writings produced within the PreCPhi/Philosophemes corpus. Journal of Education and Learning, 7(4), 1-19. doi:10.5539/jel.v7n4p1
-RESEARCH: No control group.
-RESULT: “Philosophical, cognitive, creative and reflective performance increased significantly”

Meir, S. & McCann, J. (2017). An evaluation of P4C. In B. Anderson (Ed.), Philosophy for Children, Theories and praxis in teacher education (pp. 83-92). Routledge, London & NY.
-RESEARCH: primary and secondary but study has challenges. No strong quantitative data, only teacher reports and not many details.

Millett, S., Scholl, R. & Tapper, A. (2019). ‘Australian Research into the Benefits of Philosophy for Children’ in Philosophical Inquiry with Children The Development of an Inquiring Society in Australia (Eds. Burgh & Thornton). 199-214.
-RESEARCH: META-analysis, overall a positive effect on ‘thinking skills’

Murris, K. (1992). Beetle crushers lift the lid on mindless behaviour. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, 10, 30-38. DOI: 10.5840/thinking19921027
-RESEARCH: 10-year olds, cognitive skills, qualitative (she interprets a CPI from the perspective of cognitive and social skills)

Nichols, K., Burgh, G., & Kennedy, C. (2017). Comparing two inquiry professional development interventions in science on primary students’ questioning and other inquiry behaviours. Research in Science Education, 47(1), 1–24.
-RESEARCH: Years 6 & 7 (11-13 years old). Method: videotaping
-RESULT: Inquiry behaviours such as questioning and verbal inquiry.

Shipman, V. (1983). The New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills (Revised 1985). Totowa, NJ: New Totowa Board of Education.

Slade, C, Marie-France, D, Splitter, L, Lafortune, L, Pallascio, R and Mongeau, P (2002) ‘Are the philosophical exchanges of pupils aged 10 to 12 relativistic or inter-subjective?’ Critical and Creative Thinking : the Australasian Journal of Philosophy for Children, 10 (2). pp. 1-19. ISSN 1325-7730
-RESEARCH: take note that they analyze transcripts by self-developed criteria.

Sprod, T.J. (1997). Improving Scientific Reasoning through Philosophy for Children: An Empirical Study. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, 13, 11-16. doi: 10.5840/thinking199713215
-RESEARCH: Year 7 (first year of high school, ages 11-12), Mixed quantitative/qualitative “experimental class and a matched control group”
-RESULT: positive effect on scientific reasoning but considers itself more of a pilot study for future research.

Topping K.J. and Trickey, S. (2007a). ‘Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive effects at 10–12 years,’ British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77: 2271–2288.
-RESEARCH: 10-12. Cognitive Abilities Test.
-RESULT: Intervention pupils showed significant standardized gains in verbal and also in non-verbal and quantitative aspects of reasoning, consistent across intervention schools. Boys and girls made significant gains. The highest quartile of pre-test ability showed the smallest gains. Controls did not gain in any aspect.

Topping, K.J., & Trickey, S. (2007b). Collaborative philosophical inquiry for schoolchildren: Cognitive gains at 2-year follow-up. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(4), 787–796.
-RESEARCH:“The significant pre-post cognitive ability gains in the experimental group in primary school were maintained towards the end of their second year of secondary school.”… “The study provides evidence of maintained cognitive gains” […] “although the pupils had transferred to secondary school and experienced no further such intervention in the meantime.”

Trickey, S., & Topping, K.J. (2004). ‘Philosophy for children’: A systematic review. Research Papers in Education, 19(3), 365–380.RESEARCH: Both primary and secondary… “outcomes by norm‐referenced tests of reading, reasoning, cognitive ability, and other curriculum‐related abilities, by measures of self‐esteem and child behaviour, and by child and teacher questionnaires. All studies showed some positive outcomes.”
-RESULTS: Positive effect on ‘thinking skills’.
-NOTE: They also have a useful section on what to take into account when looking at the effectiveness of critical thinking programs through an empirical lens.

Ventista, O. M. (2018). A Literature Review of Empirical Evidence on the Effectiveness of Philosophy for Children, In Parecidos de familia. Propuestas actuales en Filosofía para Niños / Family ressemblances.Current proposals in Philosophy for Children (Eds. Garcia Moriyon, F., Robles, R. & Duthie, E.. Grupo Anaya S.A.: pp. 448-461.
-RESULT (meta-study): Positive effect on reasoning skills after analyzing several studies. Does not clearly separate primary and secondary. Some details seem to be missing.

Youssef, C., Campbell, M., & Tangen, D. (2016). The effects of participation in a PFC program on Australian elementary school students. Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, 37(1), 1–19.
-RESEARCH: Year 6 (with an age range of 10-12 years), Test of Reading Comprehension, The Self-Description Questionnaire. They actually discuss these scales in terms of validity etc.
-RESULT: “In summary it was found that students’ reading comprehension improved but their interest in mathematics and self-esteem decreased, while development of their pro-social behaviour and emotional well-being remained relatively unchanged compared to students who did not participate in the COI.”

Periodicals

Analytic Teaching: The Community of Inquiry Journal, Viterbo College, La Crosse, WI.
Childhood and Philosophy: Journal of the International Council of Philosophical Inquiry With Children.
Critical & Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy for Children, The Federation of Australian Philosophy for Children Associations (FAPCA).
Questions: Philosophy for Young People, published by the Philosophy Documentation Center, Bowling Green State University. Inaugurated in Spring 2001 with the support of the American Philosophical Association and the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children.
Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, Montclair State University, NJ.

Other Internet Resources

Bibliographic Categories

Books and Articles

Quantitative & Qualitative Research (in progress)

Periodicals

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