Peter Worley’s children’s Storythinking Handbook “Once Upon an If” (2014) is a central methodological tool for the Water Drop.
“The Concept box is a general technique for helping children develop their own discussions around central concepts (fairness, love, punishment etc.) without the need for task questions. It broadens out and then focuses in.
Isolating concepts in various ways is standard practice in many approaches to doing philosophy with children. The first part (the broadening-out part) of this procedure is called concept fishing […]. The second part (the focusing-in part) I call concept funnelling and it encourages the children to identify central concepts.
I find this a particularly useful way of approaching poetry and stories but it can be just as fruitful with all kinds of other stimuli.”
– Peter Worley
Additionally, Worley’s research on open and closed questions will be combined in conversation with children to maintain focus while also inviting them to think outside of the box. This is done to allow children think critically about the stories they have been told, for example, allowing them to break free from adults’ interpretations to re-interpretate them on their own.
