The Pibid-Philosophy UFOP Experience

Active Learning Methodologies in a Lesson on Hume’s Thought

Abstract

The teaching of Philosophy in Brazilian high schools is marked by conditions that often limit the development of meaningful philosophical practices. In response to this reality, this article presents and analyzes an experience developed with first-year high school students at Escola Estadual Dom Pedro II, in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, within the Philosophy Institutional Scholarship Program for Teaching Initiation (Pibid) at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP). The aim of this paper is to discuss the possibilities of an active teaching method based on a teaching sequence about David Hume and, particularly, on the use of the game Rocambole as a teaching resource. The activity was developed through the reading and discussion of an excerpt from A Treatise of Human Nature, in which Hume presents the mind through the metaphor of a theater, followed by a version of the game based on the concepts of resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. In this experience report, we show that the playful activity encouraged student participation by bringing philosophical concepts closer to everyday experiences. Finally, we argue that active teaching methods, combined with the conceptual rigor inherent in the History of Philosophy, can help create conditions that support and enrich philosophical experiences in high school.