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Amechanon, Vol. I / 2016-2018, ISSN: 2459-2846

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sensitivity , presenting questions to them as a living, breathing, vigorous space that
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fosters creativity, caring, and concern .

A Community of Inquiry provides a framework in which children can think and talk about
problematic issues with support from adults and children is vital. The Philosophy with

Children approach, argue Lipmann, Sharp and Oscanyan involves the view that children’s
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questions tend to be extraordinarily sweeping in scope and grandeur . According to the
three, among the questions the children ask is also the following question «What happens
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to people when they die? It raises issues of enormous metaphysical importance» .

Haynes and Murris have argued that «The Community of Inquiry pedagogy is not about a

return to child-centredness: neither teacher nor pupil is at the centre. The search for better
understanding and justified beliefs through collaborative reasoning and dialogue are at the

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centre» . Splitter and Sharp have suggested a different concept by arguing: «A
community of Inquiry is at once immanent and transcendent: it provides a framework

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which pervades the everyday life of its participants and it serves as an ideal to strive for» .

The children/adolescents in the Community of Inquiry presented at length the texts from

the sites they managed or which they posted on. They listened to the opinions of others
and discussed among themselves, in open dialogue, their feelings towards their dead

relatives.

In the next sections, I would like to offer my interpretations, according to some categories,
concerning the issue of the body following the discussions among the participants of the

communities.

194 Lone, J.,M., «Teaching pre-college philosophy: The cultivation of philosophical sensitivity», in:
Lone, J.,M., & Israrloff, R., (Eds.), Philosophy and education: Introducing philosophy to young people,
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012, pp. 12-22.

195 Wartenberg, T.,E., Big ideas for little kids: teaching philosophy through children’s literature,
Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2009.

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Lipman, M., Sharp, A.,M., & Oscanyan, F.,S., Philosophy in the Classroom, Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1980.

197 Ibid., p. 29.

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Haynes, J., & Murris, K., Picturebooks, pedagogy and philosophy, New York: Routledge, 2012, p. 4.

199 Splitter, L., & Sharp, A.,M., Teaching for Better Thinking: The Classroom Community of Enquiry,
Melbourne: Acer, 1995, pp. 17-18.

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