This multi-use interactive philosophy lesson explores ‘Philosophy of Mental Health’: an interdisciplinary field of study that combines views and methods from the philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and moral philosophy in order to analyse the nature of mental illness. We’ve aimed to combine philosophical issues with practical ‘PSHE’ topics to create a fascinating philosophy teaching resource that will help your students to explore the topic of mental health whilst emphasising critical-thinking skills and challenging assumptions. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy with students aged 8-16; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to philosophy of mental health so that young learners can engage in fun and useful philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The nature of the mental illness Different theories as to the fundamental causes of mental illness How lifestyle choices can promote good mental health How to respond to mental health challenges in ourselves and others The role of society and culture in the genesis of mental illness The big question asked in this session is “Why do some people face mental health challenges whilst others do not?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as To what extent is mental illness similar to physical illness? What are the primary causes of mental health challenges? What is the best way to treat a mental illness? What are some ways in which people can manage and reduce the amount of stress they have in their lives? To what extent should people rely on medication to help manage and treat mental health conditions? and How can lifestyle choices impact the likelihood that we develop mental health problems? This resource is suitable for teachers of all school subjects who are looking explore the topic of mental health and mental illness with young people: it is of particular relevant to Psychology Teachers and PSHE Teachers and PSHE Co-ordinators. This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities. With a massive selection of activities designed to trigger philosophical discussions, debates and reflections: you can re-use the resource numerous times with the same group. Aside from a wide range of debate and discussion activities, teachers can also choose from a variety of more substantial activities such as essay writing, poetry writing, and speech writing tasks.

Philosophers and sages have reflected on the nature and significance of death and mortality since ancient times whilst reflecting on the possibility of an afterlife in the face of the mystery of death. According to many philosophers and psychologists: a healthy appreciation of one’s own finitude is essential for living a full life and for striving to live without regrets. Speaking about death and dying is a taboo in our society and yet by failing to speak openly about it we can often exacerbate the fear of death in young minds and feed their anxieties around death. This interactive philosophy lesson allows for open and reasonable discussions about death, mortality, and the possibility (or impossibility) of an afterlife. It is created without a religious or cultural bias or an agenda to persuade or convert students to a particular viewpoint in relation to the afterlife. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore these deep matters of life and death with students aged 8-16; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to death and the afterlife so that young learners can engage in fun philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The nature of the death The benefits of contemplating one’s own mortality Different views about the afterlife Whether or believing in ghosts is justified The value of funerals and honouring the dead Existential psychology Please be careful to time your use of this resource carefully and to deliver it with due sensitivity as some young people might struggle to wrestle with these issues. Please note: this resource discusses a variety of afterlife beliefs (i.e. the possibility of reincarnation, Heaven, Hell and nothingness) and, therefore, will probably involve the analysis and evaluation of religious beliefs. The big question asked in this session is “What are the benefits of thinking deeply about our own mortality?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as: Why do you think people are reluctant to talk about death and dying and that such topics are a taboo in our society? To what extent can thinking about death help us to appreciate and value those around us more? Many people have reported seeing ghosts: to what extent does this prove that ghosts exist? What do you think people experience after they die? How should we live our lives in such a way that we are always ready to die? and To what extent do Near Death Experiences (NDEs) prove that life after death is definitely true?

Help students to protect themselves against misinformation and delusion with this powerful set of resources! In the age of misinformation teaching critical-thinking skills is an essential duty for teachers and schools. Aside from our standard ‘Fun Philosophy Lesson’ which will help you to trigger deep discussions and engaging debates about critical thinking with ease, this download also includes a special ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts’ lesson which is based on recent research that suggest ‘inoculating against misinformation’ is far more effective than trying to undo false beliefs retrospectively. The resource also includes our Logical Fallacy Training Pack which helps students practice their skills at detecting deceptive and manipulative arguments using the power of reason and logic! This philosophy teaching resource pack is of interest to all teachers working with students aged 8-16 and explores topics such as: The nature of critical thinking The value of scepticism Emotional biases in the pursuit of truth Logical Fallacies Reliable vs unreliable sources of information Detecting misinformation online The big question asked in this session is “How do we know if a particular claim is really true?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as: Why is it important to be sceptical about what we read online? What might happen to a person who had absolutely no critical-thinking skills? What are the main sources of bias that influence your ability to wisely discern truth from falsehood? and To what extent is it possible to be 100% certain about anything? Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as: “We can trust that what our parents and teachers tell us is definitely true.” “Our emotions and feelings can get in the way of our rational pursuit of the truth” and “We should be wary of people who hold extreme political views” As with all our resources, this session will help students to develop vital communication, social and interpersonal skills: healthy debates will help learners to practice ‘disagreeing in an agreeable fashion’. This resource is suitable for students aged 8-16; due to the flexible nature of the sessions design it can be used for multiple hour-long sessions or as a short stimulating tutor-group activity. The ‘Fun Philosophy Lesson’ resource uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities.

This thought-provoking philosophy teaching resource focuses on ethics and meta-ethics: instead of focusing on specific moral issues (which is covered in a different session on ‘Applied Ethics’ this re-usable lesson explores the fundamental nature of ethics, the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, the function of moral language, different theories of normative ethics, different ways of thinking about how we ought to live, and deeper issues around the metaphysical status of good and evil. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy with students and is of particular value to teachers who want to nurture the moral development of their students (perhaps in an SMSC or PSHE context) and trigger deeper reflections on the fundamental nature of ‘right and wrong’; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to normative ethics and meta-ethics so that young learners can engage in fun philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The fundamental nature of good and evil Different ways of evaluating the morality of actions Virtue ethics and what it means ‘to be a good person’ Whether or not morality is absolute or relative (e.g. to different cultures and time-periods) The degree to which moral judgements refer to objective facts The degree to which moral judgements are baseless and arbitrary The big question asked in this session is “What is the fundamental difference between good and evil acts?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as: What makes it reasonable to call a specific action “good”? Are there some actions that we can say are always evil in all situations, time periods and cultures? What is the role of empathy in compassion in determining the most morally correct course of action in life? and What is the most important virtue to cultivate in life? Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as: “Some actions are morally permissible even when they create suffering for others.” “Some people are born evil” and “It is impossible to truly know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.” This resource is suitable for teachers of all school subjects who are looking to introduce philosophy, philosophical thinking and critical thinking. The file is a PowerPoint Show: no planning or preparation is required, just run the file and the intuitive menu system will make delivering a powerful philosophy session very easy!

This flexible interactive philosophy lesson focuses on epistemology: the field of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge, different potential sources of knowledge, the difference between knowledge and opinion, and the different ways in which beliefs can be evaluated. The download includes a free bonus resource: a comprehensive teaching pack focused on logical fallacies and critical thinking. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy with students and, aside from referring to more conventional epistemological issues, it also explores to the importance of critical-thinking and how students can detect misinformation online and discern between reliable and unreliable sources of information; we’ve carefully selected the most significant epistemological issues and questions so that young learners can engage in fun philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: The nature of knowledge The difference between knowledge and belief Different ways of evaluating knowledge claims Intellectual virtues Obstacles that arise in the pursuit of truth This philosophy teaching resource also outlines and explains different epistemological views (such as empiricism, rationalism, fideism and scepticism). The big question asked in this session is “Is it possible to know anything with absolute certainty?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical questions such as: To what extent can we rely on the senses as a source of knowledge? How do we evaluate the validity of different beliefs? and What drives the spread misinformation and how can we detect it? Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as: “It is impossible to know anything with 100% certainty" “We should always be sceptical about what others claim to be true” and “One should never believe in something until one has experienced it personally” This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities. Aside from a wide range of debate and discussion activities, teachers can also choose from a variety of more substantial activities such as essay writing, poetry writing, and speech writing tasks. This resource is suitable for teachers of all school subjects who are looking to introduce philosophy, philosophical thinking and critical thinking.

You’ve probably already heard of ‘Think, Pair, Share’ as an effective way to manage classroom discussions whilst promoting individual reflection: such an approach is widely cited as an effective way to engage students in metacognition and metacognitive reflection. This 100+ slide PowerPoint contains over 300 metacognitive reflection questions making it the definitive ‘Think, Pair, Share’ metacognition discussion resource. You can save loads of time by downloading this today, it includes a whole-school license so that you can share it with the other teachers in your school! It’s great for use: During form/tutor time As a starter activity At the end of lessons to make good use of spare time The questions are not subject-specific (although some do refer to literacy and numeracy) and the PowerPoint includes a ‘Randomiser’ slide: this allows you to instantly conjure new metacognitive reflection questions for class discussions and allows you to use this resource many times with the same group! We’ve spent lots of time to make this the definitive Think-Pair-Share metacognition resource: make sure you check out the engaging and colourful design using the preview images above! Thank you for looking at our resources! Make sure to download some of our free samples: just visit globalmetacognition.com We offer a range of whole-school metacognition resources that aim to enhance metacognitive skills and strategies in students aged 11-16. You can download individual resources or buy our ‘Whole School Metacognition Toolkits’ that make establishing a whole-school metacognition initiative easy. Our resources specialise in: Boosting Learning-Power Teaching Metacognitive Skills & Strategies Increasing Metacognitive Power (Intelligence, Memory etc.) These resources are made and distributed in partnership with The Global Metacognition Institute. Find more metacognition resources at globalmetacognition.com Join our Facebook Metacognition Working Group for Teachers & Leaders! https://www.facebook.com/groups/EducationalMetacognition/ Copyright Adam Godwin (2019)