$1.35 million gift from Uehiro Foundation funds Philosophy and Ethics in Education

p4cHI-Inspired Philosophers in Residence in Vienna!

p4cHI-Inspired Philosophers in Residence in Vienna!

Following the successful week of workshops, lectures, and meetings in early June conducted by Thomas Jackson and Stefanie Sweeney, Anja Thielman has spearheaded a p4cHI-inspired initiative to train and place university students as Philosophers in Residence in Vienna K-12 schools.

p4cHI goes to Kauai in April 2018

p4cHI goes to Kauai in April 2018.

p4cHI at University of Washington Symposium in May 2018

p4cHI at University of Washington Symposium in May

David Kaniaupio Provides p4cHI PD at St. Theresa School

[Photo will be uploaded soon]

Below is a thoughtful reflection of David’s experience at St. Theresa School:

I was invited to give an introduction to p4c to the teachers of St. Theresa School, by the principal, Bernie Gora.  The goal of the presentation was to achieve two objectives. The first objective was to get the teachers to experience p4c as a student.  The second objective was to give the teachers a sense of what it would be like to implement it in their classrooms.  We began by discussing the importance of establishing community and created a community ball together.  This powerful experience was significant because it allowed the veteran teachers to get to know the new teachers better and also helped to establish an intellectually safe environment.  Following a couple of group activities designed to get teachers to come up with strategies to create a culture of intellectual safety, they learned about the Good Thinker’s Toolkit book.  We spent a lot of time breaking down the reasons for generating inquiry, and discussing ways to encourage elementary school aged children to question and wonder.  From here, we briefly touched on the pillars of p4c and were able to annotate each pillar within their respective groups.  The teachers were tasked to come up with discussion questions based off of their source material, and then shared one question they equally agreed upon to share with the other teachers.  We continued our day by viewing a short clip of an award winning elementary charter school in Georgia and what strategies their school uses to be successful.  The teachers were asked to come up discussion questions they wondered about as they were viewing the clip.  This allowed me the opportunity to showcase what a Plain Vanilla would like in their classrooms.  Each teacher was asked to write down one of their discussion questions on the dry erase board, and then we went around the room and let each person have two votes.  Once we came to a consensus, we formed a circle with our chairs and began a Plain Vanilla discussion using the community ball while maintaining an intellectually safe environment.  We ended our day with a wrap up of what they learned over the 2 day experience, and addressed any questions they had.  Overall, it was very successful, and I was pleased to see and hear numerous teachers working together and assisting each other through the entire experience.  Many of them mentioned how awesome p4c is, and they could not wait to introduce what they learned for their new students this upcoming year!

Inclusion, Diversity, and Intercultural Dialogue in Young People’s Philosophical Inquiry

Teaching Tolerance Annual Advisory Board Meeting

Dr. Amber Makaiau will be attending the Teaching Tolerance Annual Advisory Board Meeting which consists of an important group of teachers, counselors, media specialists, school- and district-level administrators and education professors who volunteer their time to review resources, try curriculum and act as ambassadors for Teaching Tolerance. More information here.

Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO) Conference 2017

Dr. Chad Miller will be attending the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization’s conference (PLATO) in Chicago. More information can be found by clicking here.

Annual Uehiro Academy Summer Japan-Hawai‘i p4cHI Educator Exchange

This summer, Uehiro Academy faculty Dr. Benjamin Lukey, Dr. Toby Yos, and Dr. Thomas Jackson will lead an exchange group of educators to Japan to work with schools, teachers, and students in Sendai and Tokyo. This is the 10th year of what continues to be an increasingly productive exchange between p4c Hawaii and Japan. More information coming soon!

Students at Gifu University Affiliated Junior High School Experiment with p4cHI

In June 2017, students and teachers at the Gifu University, Faculty of Education, Affiliated Junior High School experimented with using philosophy for children Hawai‘i to teach social studies.  The teacher—Yoshihiro Maeda—learned about p4cHI from his advisor, Dr. Noboru Tanaka. The focus of their inquiry was a reflection on history. The students generated questions, voted, and the questions with the most votes were, “Will World War 3 happen in near future?” and “Why did Japan lose WW2?” Students asked further questions and shared their perspectives on the purpose of learning history and about war, history education. To learn more about the school visit: https://www.fuzoku.gifu-u.ac.jp/chu/