COI P4C AS A TOOL FOR HEALING THE EPISTEMIC CRISIS IN NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

This study is conceived to confront the declining education standard in Nigeria. An investigation into the philosophy guiding the establishment of education was necessary with a view to finding the root of the problem.

COIP4C is an educative approach that helps to stimulate the thinking capacity of children and motivates them in reasoning. With P4C method, everybody is an inquirer or philosopher. The main goal of P4C is to seek for truth and clarity of ideas. No truth is the absolute and this method of educating children in the classroom is what will help to bridge the missing link in the chain of education and that is reasonableness.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The old system of education (pedagogy) was trace back, to the coming of the white missionaries. However, the white men who finally colonized Nigeria bequeathed to us an educational Menu devoid of reasoning. After fifty years of independence, Nigerian education has not yet left the age of uncertainty.

The question which the inquiring mind would like to ask is what is wrong with the previous curriculum, the 6 – 5 – 2 – 3 system?

There was obviously something fundamentally wrong with the old system in the first place. It was not designed to lead the nation to technological development. It was merely aimed at teaching literacy and nothing more. The curriculum created more grammar schools which made children literate in arts to the neglect of reflective, critical creative and caring thinking.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nigeria as a nation suffers from ignorance and deficient Education. Many people lacked the vision and don’t have a genuine mission. People are being misled by all sorts of false doctrines, propaganda and lack of authenticity in life. All this factors hinders human development and lack of human development hinders creativity and national development.

The point of inquiry is what kind of philosophy does Nigerian need to induct in order to pave way for self realization and self actualization?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to address the following issues

1) The need to change from passivity to innovations that are activity oriented.

2) The need for everybody to see that there is leadership potential in him.

3) The need for people to see that good principles in life contribute to national development.

1.4 TARGET AUDIENCE

1) Students

2) Teachers

3) Administrators

4) Politicians

5) Researchers

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) To what extent has over dependence on conventional and traditional practices affected human development?

2) In what ways can cross pollination of ideas be effective in our society?

3) What roles can individual play in the implementation of National/governmental Policies?

4) What can people do to become vibrant and active citizens?

5) How can each person in Nigeria contribute to Nation’s building?

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 MEANING OF COI

Community implies cooperation, care, respect and safety while inquiry connotes a search for understanding, meaning, truth and values supported by reasons. Thus, an exclusive definition that summaries community and inquiry could be as follows: a group of socially bonded and interacting individuals possessing the urge to seek for verities and information which results from each or the combined efforts of perception, learning and reasoning. This is therefore a denotative inference of the ‘Community of Inquiry’.

The Community of inquiry can play a positive role in combating what is perceived to be a drift in society to the idea that opinions can’t be judged and don’t need to be justified. Even young children can come to expect reasons to support claims. The Community of Inquiry is not a mere exchange of opinions where anything goes,

On the contrary, it is a context for discussion wherein people are challenged to justify their opinions regularly. At the same time, the Community of Inquiry contrasts with classroom debate which lay more emphasis on winning the argument rather than understanding the issues in question or the beliefs of other participants. Argument in a community of inquiry is seen as a collaborative effort to come to the best answer to a question.

An ancient Chinese proverbs state: “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand”, With respect to the last part of this statement, Community of inquiry implies involvement, which leads to understanding. Furthermore in a learning context, involvement means that ability for one to posses the skills and attitudes that permits him to seek resolutions to questions while new knowledge is being constructed.

Thus, as described by Mathew Lipman (2003), Community of Inquiry refers to the social and educational interaction between two or more individuals, collaboratively engaging in a purposeful critical discourse and reflection which leads to questioning, reasoning, connecting, deliberating, challenging and developing problem-solving techniques, which all gears towards constructing personal meaning and confirming understanding.

2.2 –GROUND – NORMS GUIDING A COI

In any social or otherwise, entity, unity or system, peace and order are two crucial factors that are envisioned in the mind of the members or individuals that makes up such unit. This is so, as they are both vital components in fostering unity, coherence, understanding and progress of that unit, system or as the case may be.

According to Professor Dicey who laid the foundations of the rules of law in his book ‘Introduction to the law of constitution’ (1885), he wrote that the administrators of a nation or country should rule, or exercise their authority in accordance with the established law of the land, and such established laws should be regarded as supreme. A vivid analysis of the above notion unveils the fact that in a country which could be regarded as a social entity, two factors are mandatory to be in existence. First is an established law or rule while the second is the respect of the law by all members, individuals or citizens of that country. This therefore paves way for peace and order to exist in such a country or unit.

Following this routine, Community of Inquiry which is also a social unit, is not an exception. As a matter of fact, there are rules or ground-norms that govern the activities in a community of inquiry and should be observed and respected by its members or participants. In other words, with out these ground-norms, the concept of Community of Inquiry would just be a mere and abstract concept with no sense of practicability.

Thus, the following are the ground-norms that guide a community of inquiry (Anih 2004).

Ø Paying attentive attention to whoever that is speaking in a COI

Ø Taking turns in all activities especially during reading (in an educational classroom context) or making contributions

Ø Respecting others opinion and their perspective

Ø Giving sufficient reasons to back-up any suggested or raised points rObjection to weak reasoning

Ø Giving counter reasons to object earlier adduced reasons

Ø Accepting the responsibility for contributions made within the context of others remarks.

Ø Building on strong reasoning

Ø Collaboratively engaging in self-correction

Ø Following the inquiry where it leads

Ø Dialoging instead of debating

Ø Cooperating instead of competing

Ø Reasoned contributions instead of rambling

Ø Development of trust and care for others

Ø Demonstration of social behavior and humane actions

Ø Asking follow-up and counter-questions.

Furthermore, the individual, appropriately referred to as the facilitator as will be studied in the next section, that facilitates the COI process should ensure that he or she encourage the participants or students to ask questions that probe for:

Ø Assumptions

Ø Clarifications

Ø Counter-instances

Ø Alternative perspectives

Ø Appropriate contexts

Ø Consequences

Ø Asking open-ended questions

Ø Questions that border on the thinking strategies

According to Anih (1997) the following is the list of the thinking strategies which are to be thoroughly studied, understood and observed by participants and students in a

COI

1. Giving reasons and distinguishing good reasons from bad ones

2. Asking questions

3. listening to others attentively;

4. Drawing distinctions and connections;

5. Understanding relationships; part/whole; means/ends; cause/effect

6. Using analogies;

7. Understanding and evaluating arguments;

8. Identify, questioning and justifying assumptions

9. Striving for consistency;

10. Classifying and categorizing;

11. Formulating and using criteria;

12. Correcting one’s own thinking;

13. Looking for evidence and probability;

14. Problem-seeking;

15. Making (and where appropriate, withholding) valid judgments;

16. Taking all relevant considerations in to account;

17. Showing sensitivity to context;

18. Becoming committed to the value of truth and Inquiry;

19. Respecting persons and their points of view;

20. Clarifying meaning and reading for meaning

21. Defining and analyzing concepts;

22. Speaking confidently and fluently;

23. Constructing inferences;

24. Generalizing from particular instances and experiences;

25. Finding examples and counter-examples;