Newsletter 11.2015

A C3 Framework “Talk Story” Session with Professor John Lee

On Wednesday, November 18, 2015, Associate Professor of Social Studies at North Carolina State University, will be available to answer your questions during a special “talk story” session about the College, Career & Civic Life C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standarads (click on this link to see a copy of the C3 Framework), which was officially adopted by the Hawaii State Board of Education in September of 2015. Dr. Lee is one of the lead writers of the C3 Framework and co-director of the C3 Teachers Project. If you have questions for Dr. Lee and you would like to think with others about how to meaningfully engage students and teachers with the C3 Framework in Hawaii this event is for you!

Light pupu and wine will be served, and participation is limited. If you are interested in attending please RSVP to Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau at the University of Hawaii Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education by November 13, 2015. Her email address is amakaiau@hawaii.edu. Also, feel free to forward this information on to other colleagues who might be interested.

To see a flyer, click here.

Newsletter 10.2015

Hanahauoli School Offers After School p4cHI Club

For the first time ever, Hanahauoli School will offer a p4cHI club for its students. In this after school experience students will have the opportunity to engage in the activity of philosophy with their peers and Dr. Makaiau who will be the club facilitator. To do this, they will build an intellectually safe community of inquiry where they can wonder about themselves and about the world. Together, they will develop their abilities to think for themselves in responsible ways by exploring “big questions” that arise from their interests, experiences, and a variety of resources (e.g. texts, videos, pictures, etc.). The learning goals of the club are:

1. Define and practice Intellectually Safety in our community of inquiry.
2. Use a Community Ball to mediate turn taking.
3. Listen, think, and dialogue during Plain Vanilla philosophical inquiries.
4. Identify and apply the seven reasoning tools of The Good Thinker’s Tool Kit.
5. Write and share questions, responses, reflections, and evaluations.

Hanahauoli School Parent Enrichment Program

Hanahauoli School is a small progressive elementary school located on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Much like the worldwide Philosophy for Children movement, the school is strongly rooted in the work of John Dewey, and in this year’s 2015-16 Hanahauoli Parent Enrichment Program Dr. Makaiau will have the opportunity to share with the Hanahauoli School community her scholarship about the history of Hanahauoli’s founding and the philosophy for children Hawai‘i approach to teaching and learning.

In October of 2015 the school’s Hanahauoli School Parent Enrichment Program will provide the school’s parents with a special opportunity to “talk story” with an expert panel about Hanahau‘oli’s founding, the philosophy of progressive education, and the unique benefits of learning at Hanahau‘oli. The program will include presentations, questions from the audience, and a facilitated dialogue with Hanahau‘oli School alumni. Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau will draw from the memoirs of her great great aunt Sophie Judd Cooke to give an introduction to the history of Hanahauoli’s unique beginnings. Her talk will be guided by the following question: What is the story behind Hanahauoli School’s founding? Dr. Hunter McEwan will accompany her on the expert panel. He will draw from years of scholarship and research in the Department of Educational Foundation at the University of Hawaii to explain the philosophy of progressive education, the theories of progressive educator John Dewey, and Dewey’s link to Hawaii. His talk will be guided by the following questions: What is progressive education and why is it important? Why was the philosophy of progressive education important to those who founded Hanahau‘oli and what about this philosophy of learning is most relevant today? Their presentations will be followed by a question, answer, and dialogue session with Hanahauoli School alumni. This event is closed to the public.

In November of 2015 the Hanahauoli School Parent Enrichment Program will offer a book discussion on Loving Learning: How Progressive Education Can Save America’s School by Tom Little and Katherine Ellison – In this book discussion session, participants will share and explore questions that arose while reading this year’s parent enrichment book. Dr. Makaiau will facilitate the inquiry using the p4cHI Plain Vanilla inquiry strategy. This event is also closed to the public.

Talking about Ethnicity and Inequality in Public Education

The leadership of the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) is collaborating with the University of Hawaii Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education and the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education to facilitate an open and frank teacher discussion about ethnicity, inequality and social justice in Hawaii’s K-12 public educational institutions. We know that academic and community leaders are doing important intellectual and political work on race, class and privilege in Hawaii, but we need to do more to make this part of the work of educators in the public school system. We believe that by creating spaced for “critical conversations” in the larger education community, we can have a greater impact in how teachers understand and engage in public education issues in Hawaii.

This even will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2015, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at The University of Hawaii Campus Center. It is designed for current HIDOE teachers, UHM COE pre-service teachers, an UH COE faculty and staff. The proposed agenda is:

Talking about Ethnicity and Inequality in Public Education

I. Registration: Check In and Assignment of Break Out Groups

II. Welcome: Dr. Amy Perruso of HSTA, Dr. Patricia Halagao of the UH Manoa COE and Hawaii State BOW, & Dr. Amber Makaiau of the UH Uehiero Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education

III. Opening Remarks & Purpose: Corey Rosenlee & Dr. Amy Perruso of HSTA

IV. Outlining the Structure of the Program: Dr. Amber Makaiau of the Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education

V. Panel Presentation: Each panel member will give a 20 minute presentation and answer clarifying questions from the audience.

• Dr. Jon Okamura
• Dr. Earl Hishinuma
• Dr. Ku Kahakalau

VI. Small Group Break Out: Groups made up of 12 HIDOE Teachers/ COE Teachers and One Uehiro Academy HIDOE Teacher Facilitator

• Introducitons
• Questions
• Vote
• Inquiry
• Reflect

VII. Possible Solutions and Continuing the Dialogue:

In this format, the panelists will lay out the context and main issues for the first hour. The we will move into smaller group for inquiry discussions, organized around the philosophy for children (p4cHI) deliberative inquiry model, for about an hour. Finally, we will conclude the morning’s work by coming back to the whole group discussion organized around the question of “what is to be done?”

Please register for the even via the link provided on the attached flyer. We have room for 100 participants. If you have any questions about the event you can email Dr. Amy Perruso (amyathomas@hotmail.com) or Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau (makaiau@hawaii.edu).

Perspectives for a Diverse Hawai’i: A Formative Evaluation

Teaching Tolerance: Perspectives for a Diverse Hawai’i

Japanese Researchers Engage in Peace Education at the Uehiro Academy

Dr. Tanaka – Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Gifu University, Dr. Yoshio Sumoto – Social Studies Educator, Faculty of Education Gifu University, Dr. Atsuko Morikawa – Associate Professor, Faculty of Contemporary Culture/Department of Child Development and Education, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng of the Matsunaga Peace Institute and Ceeds of Peace, Lisa Tayor of Ceeds of Peace, and Uehiro Academy Director of Curriculum and Research Dr. Amber Makaiau

On September 4, 2015 a group of Japanese researchers (Dr. Tanaka – Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Gifu University; Dr. Yoshio Sumoto – Social Studies Educator, Faculty of Education Gifu University; and Dr. Atsuko Morikawa – Associate Professor, Faculty of Contemporary Culture/Department of Child Development and Education) had the opportunity to meet with renowned peace educators Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng and Lisa Taylor. The group discussed peace education efforts in Hawaii in Japan, including the Hawaii based Ceeds of Peace initiative. p4cHI is a featured practice in the Ceeds of Peace online tool kit (http://ceedsofpeace.org/toolkits/).

Japanese Researchers Visit p4cHI Science Class at KHS

Dr. Tanaka – Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Gifu University, Dr. Yoshio Sumoto – Social Studies Educator, Faculty of Education Gifu University, Dr. Atsuko Morikawa – Associate Professor, Faculty of Contemporary Culture/Department of Child Development and Education, KHS p4cHI teacher Heidi Unten, and Uehiro Academy Director of Curriculum and Research Dr. Amber Makaiau

On September 3, 2015 a group of Japanese researchers (Dr. Tanaka – Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Gifu University; Dr. Yoshio Sumoto – Social Studies Educator, Faculty of Education Gifu University; and Dr. Atsuko Morikawa – Associate Professor, Faculty of Contemporary Culture/Department of Child Development and Education) had the opportunity to participate in p4cHI inquiry with p4cHI teacher Heidi Unten’s ninth grade physical science class. The focus their inquiry was, “I get it-a square universal dwelling is stable, but if you can have a circle home that is stable, then why not?” Previous to this Plain Vanilla inquiry the students had conducted a number of labs (e.g. about the correlation between shape, total area, and convective heat transfer) to help inform them as they planned and built “universal dwellings” in small groups. During the Plain Vanilla inquiry the students drew from the findings of their labs to support their thinking. This inquiry was an excellent example of how the p4cHI approach to education can be used to promote deep thinking in science.