PANDE

MIC ED
ITION

for thinking about

artagón
By Ellen Duthie & Daniela M

d o a n d w h a t sh ould I be like
to
What do I have e a g o o d teacher?
b e c o m
if I want to
What is school for?

Could a cat be a good

teacher for humans?
What about a robot?
Have you le
arnt
anything so
far today?

Hi there! Yes, you!

Could you be a Would you like
teacher of anything? to go to a school
What of? with no teachers?
What would the school
of your
dreams be like?
What about the school
of your nightmares?

Visual Philosophy for People & Cats

wonderponderonline.com
 Is everything you learn useful in some way?
How do you learn things?
ng? Have you learnt an
Are there different ways of learni ything so far toda
y?
Do you learn anything
Is your learning your responsibility? during your holidays?
Your teacher’s responsibility? Or is it up to you both? How
does it work?
t?
t omething by acciden
g s is it importan ver learnt s
What th in Have you e
to learn?
t
fo r so m eo ne to liv e all their life withou
Would it be possib le s never
ng at al l? W ha t w ould a person who ha
learning anythi e?
Who should decide what is learnt anything be lik
important to learn?
Are there some things
that it is better NOT to learn?
An alien lands at your sc
hool and asks you what
learning means. How
would you explain it?

mputer
arn at home on the co
Would you rather le hers? Why?
or in class with teac Do you think there will come a day when you will
have learnt everything you need?

learn
Ca
ny What things can you
o without any effort?
un by u kno ssible to learn
de What things is it impo
rst hear w so without making an ef
fort?
an t b m
d a ut eth
wo not ing Do some things
rd
of need to be unlear
it? ned?
What, for exampl
e?
Can you
pass
Can you learn with a test w
out understanding? ithout
Can you understa understa
nd without learning nding?
?

Do you sometimes get bored at school?

What can a teacher do
to reduce boredom in the classroom?
What can you do to reduce your own boredom?
This scene is from the book Whatever You Want from the Wonder Ponder Visual Philosophy for All Ages series

Am I doing it right, Mummy?

o u ld y o u li ke to learn What is the difference between

W
to ta m e li ons? Why? educating and taming?
how

tween Can learning

What is the difference be be dangerous?
educating and taming?

If children wish to work, should

Would you prefer going to
work to going to school? they be free to do so?
Why?

Are the lions playing, learning or working?

Is the girl playing, learning or working?
This scene is from the book I, Person, from the Wonder Ponder Visual Philosophy for Children series

Who knows the answer?

Whta makes a good student?

cl as s b eh av e b et ter with a human
Would the
robot teacher?
teacher than with a
This teacher sees everything.
to be
Who would be a better
teacher, Is it a good thing for children
a robot or a person? W
hy? supervised at all times?

One of the students in the scene

Is having date the same as having knowledge? is a robot. Would it make sense
Do computers understand? for a robot to go to school?

Is having date
the same as having knowledge?
Do computers understand?
 hool,
e th e H e a d of your c ers?
If you we r
o u e s ta b li sh for teach
would y dents?
what rules y o u e s ta blish for stu
would
What rules ple
a c h e rs , w h at other peo
Besides te things with?
do you learn

What do y
ou think w
in a schoo ould happ
l w it h en
What are the requirements Would the out teache
re be any rs?
disadvant
to be a good teacher? there by a ages? Wo
ny advant uld
ages?

1 What do you enjoy doing when you are not at school?

2 What did you like and what didn’t you like about school when
you were a kid?

3 When you went to school, were there any teachers you didn’t
like?
What was it about them that you didn’t like?

4 Do you enjoy your work?

5 What is the most difficult thing about your work?

6 What is the most enjoyable thing about your work?

7 Did you ever fail a test?

8 Do your students show you anything?

9 How do you learn how to teach?

10What do you think is the most important thing for your students
to learn?

Think of one more question that will help you get to know your
teacher as well as possible and add it to the questionnaire.
Now interview your teacher!

Sometimes, writing can help you think.

Story / Essay What if you write a story set in a school without teachers?
See what interesting ideas and situations you come up.
 What terr
ible thing you do
What makes forgive a s would y
ou What would u
good frien te asked yo
a good friend? d for? if a class ma n ot
d o so m e th ing you did
to
want to do?
Is there anything
you would never ever forgive even
your best friend for? Have you been treated unkindly
by other children? What did you
do about it?

What would you do if you saw someone

treating someone else badly at school?

e
Have you ever realised that you hav
at did
treated someone else unkindly? Wh
you do about it?

er that grades
Would you rath ew Do you think it would be
ke p t se cr et or that everyone kn or a bad idea for meda
a good idea
were hy? ls to be given
else’s grades? W
about everyone to the students with the
best grades
in class?

What is school for?

(Make a list of all the possible uses a
school may have).

Does your school have

all those uses?
 What good things does your school have?
What things could be improved at your school?
What things can you do to make you
r school better?
Can you do something, even if it’s som
ething very small?
What things
could be improved
in your classroom
and in the school
grounds with money?
What things could be
improved in your classroom
and in the school ground
s
without money?

Which of the rules applied at

your school Are there any rules at your school that you do
do you think are good rules? not quite understand or that you do not like?

Some interesting questions that might help you:

Story / Drawing / Essay
What would the perfect What would the perfect school yard be like?
classroom be like? Who would be your teacher?
or things What would they be like?
What subjects
rn?
would you lea How would the students behave wi
th
How would you learn? each other?
ye s, what
b y a n y ru le s? If you answer is
How wo Would there be?
u
teachers ld the rules would there
behave?
Would there
be a uniform?
What would it be
like?
a
h a t would t
W u
h o o l witho
sc ?
l e s b e like
ru
Story / Drawing / Essay
 My questions about

Write your own questions about school in general or about your school in particular. You can ask questions about school
in a pandemic or about school in normal circumstances. You can include some of your favourite questions from this booklet,
but you can also think of some of your own. You are bound to have some very interesting ones! Your questions can be fun
or serious (or both fun and serious at the same time), hard or easy to answer, with or without drawings to go by their side.
Any way you like! But please, please, please make sure they’re interesting!
 You have a dilemma when you don’t know what
to do. It’s as if to rules clashed.
BOOM!
t
them your test withou
A friend
ac he
as
r
ks
no
yo
tic in
u
g,
to
so
sh ow
that they can copy.
On the one
u
the te
ow it’ s w ro ng to ta lk during tests and yo
hand, you kn you know
it’ s w ro ng to co py . On the other hand,
know ends. It’s hard
at it’ s rig ht to he lp others, especially fri
th
! What will you do?
to know what to do Every day y
ou see one
boy badly b
in the schoo oy treat another
treats you l yard. He ne
bad ver
every single ly but it’s the same th
Somthee ofvirtheus adis too
ults in your life think all this
much and simply refuse to we
fuss
ar a great de
day and he
a
al of care to lways takes
ing
over make sure
her adults in your life teachers do
a mask anywhere at all. Ot n’t see him.
On the one
the
real threat and masks know that
think the pandemic is a very what’s hap
pening isn’t
hand you
erever possible. How you want it
should be worn in public wh to stop, bu
t on the oth
right and
s reliable information you don’t li
confusing! How can you acces ke to tell o
n people a
e r hand
ation yourself? afraid that
to help you understand the situ hard to kno
he might fin nd you are
d out it wa
w what to s you. It’s
do? do! What w
ill you

This booklet is a free downloadable gift from Wonder Ponder.

Do you know our Visual Philosophy for All Ages books?

Wonder Ponder’s Visual Philosophy for All Ages series introduces readers to philosophy’s big questions
playfully and appealingly. Wonder Ponder boxes are designed for children (and adults!) to look at, read
and think about by themselves or with others, in educational, play or family settings.
Also available in spanish and catalá.

Visual Philosophy for All Ages

wonderponderonline.com