At the end of what has felt like a very long term battling with a new spec, I wanted to set my students a homework that would:

• Be interesting,
• Consolidate their learning,
• Challenge them to achieve higher marks in the exam and …
• Easy to mark!

Answer: Facebook profiles for any Philosopher, Scientist, Atheist etc covered so far.

The results were brilliant! I received work that was funny, engaging and showed deeper understanding of the key figures.

Here are some examples:

Facebook profiles:

Fact Files:

And my favourites…

Tinder (dating) Profiles:

Continue reading “Philosophers meet Social Media: Homework get creative!” →

Preview of Lesson Plans

Read Einstein’s Quote: what does it mean? – Share

Look at Peterson quote – discuss.

Beat the teacher: How many religious experiences can you think of? Go round room

What are the strengths and weaknesses of religious experience?

Hand out A3 tables for on-going completion.

Watch Toronto Blessing clip on YouTube – discuss thoughts. What questions might this raise about God? Read Biblical passage about speaking in tongues – link to TB as part of evaluation. Read extract in booklet and complete first part of table.

Continue reading “Religious Experience: God and the World” →

Preview of Lesson Plans

1. What is the definition of natural and moral evil
2. Write down as many examples of each
3. Do you all agree with what is in the moral/ natural columns?

PP: Problem of Evil (slides 1-5 covering the Logical and Evidential Arguments)

Using your phones research recent examples of natural and moral evil:

• Source of information e.g. BBC news online
• Date
• Statistics
• Rundown of situation

Share in pairs

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Preview of Lesson Plans

PP: What is God like? Discuss answers

Draw perfect island – stick on the board.

What are the potential problems with this argument?

Read original texts in booklet from Anselm and Gaunilo: write down one quote from each.

Who do you think is more convincing: Anselm or Gaunilo– why?

Continue reading “Ontological: Argument based on reason” →

This was the second essay writing task I set my new spec students for homework. The task: write their first full essay, including introduction, main paragraphs and conclusion. In order to support them through this I provided a part a) answer written by a student from the previous year that showed A grade explanation (something along the lines of ‘Explain the Prime Mover and it’s relationship to the Four Causes’). Students had the option of using the provided answer as a framework to add their own evaluation, introduction, conclusion and links to the question or they could just answer it themselves from scratch.

Here is an example of an  introduction (see Let me ‘Introduce’ myself: Writing an Introduction):Here is an example of a main paragraph (I recommend that students highlight/ underline their links to the question and their strengths and weaknesses as seen below):

Continue reading ““Aristotle’s Prime Mover does not work as an explanation for the universe”: Student answers” →

This was the first essay question I set for my new spec students. The task: to write an introduction, a five paragraph plan and write two paragraphs in full following the set structure (please see The Four Steps to Teaching A01 & A02 Effectively).

In class (with my support  and feedback) the students:

• practised writing their introductions,
• wrote a plan for the five paragraph themes,
• practiced one paragraph following the structure

For homework they had to type up the introduction with two full paragraphs and a plan (please see Plato for the lesson plan leading up to this activity).

These are some examples of the work produced. Each example is answering the same question and my comments can be seen as footnotes.

Introduction:

Continue reading “‘Critically assess the effectiveness of Plato’s arguments for understanding reality’: Student answers” →