Teaching Philosophy Statement (original) (raw)
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In this essay, I describe how I improved my skills as a postgraduate tutor in philosophy through learning some theories of learning.
PLOS ONE
An important aim of teaching philosophy in Dutch secondary schools is to learn about philosophy (that is, the great philosophers) by doing philosophy. In an earlier study published in PLoS ONE, we focused on the relationship between student learning activities and teacher behavior by analyzing eight lessons. Correspondence analysis revealed that doing philosophy was more effective in some lessons than in others. We replicated this finding in the current study, using 10 new lessons, and elaborated on the relationship between the likely causes for doing philosophy effectively. The data suggest that conducting a dialogue in the form of a philosophical discussion is sufficient for achieving an effective lesson, whereas the teachers' guidance being shared with the students is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving an effective lesson.
Doing Philosophy Effectively: Student Learning in Classroom Teaching
PLOS ONE, 2015
An important aim of teaching philosophy in Dutch secondary schools is to learn about philosophy (i.e., the great philosophers) by doing philosophy. We examined doing philosophy and focused specifically on the relationship between student learning activities and teacher behavior; in doing so, a qualitative cross-case analysis of eight philosophy lessons was performed. The effectiveness of doing philosophy was operationalized into five learning activities comprising rationalizing, analyzing, testing, producing criticism, and reflecting, and scored by means of qualitative graphical time registration. Using CA we find a quantitative one-dimensional scale for the lessons that contrasts lessons that are more and less effective in terms of learning and teaching. A relationship was found between teaching by teachers and doing philosophy by students. In particular we found students to produce a higher level of doing philosophy with teachers who chose to organize a philosophical discussion with shared guidance by the teacher together with the students.
Philosophy-in-action in university teaching
Canadian Journal of …, 1994
Fourteen professors expressed their "traditional," "humanist," and "critical" philosophies about teaching and learning when they engaged in dialogue with us and each other. The relationship between their philosophy of teaching and
On the Possibility to Teach Doing Philosophy
The purpose of this paper is to clarify and evaluate the possibility of teaching doing philosophy. Using analysis as a main method, I argue that philosophizing, as an activity, has different levels, some of which are connected with specifically philosophical abilities. By analyzing John Rudisill's minimal conception of " doing philosophy, " I demonstrate that many philosophical practices, such as the interpretation, analysis, and critical assessment of arguments and presuppositions, as well as the application of simple philosophical concepts, do not need a background of specifically philosophical abilities. However, other philosophical practices, including the application of sophisticated philosophical concepts and the development of novel approaches, need such a background. I show that specifically philosophical abilities are: (1) high ability of abstract thinking, (2) high motivation to achieve intellectual autonomy, and (3) capability to feel " philosophical astonishment. " I also argue that there is a real possibility to teach doing philosophy, although students without specifically philosophical abilities will successfully learn only basic levels of philosophizing. Consequently, careful selection of prospective students for philosophy courses is important. Moreover, I claim that the possibility of teaching doing philosophy highly correlates with a teacher's expertise in the pedagogical approaches and techniques of philosophy teaching. The results of my research provide to philosophy teachers information to help them choose proper methodology and raise teaching effectiveness.
Teaching philosophy vs. teaching to philosophise
If to do philosophy is to ask questions of a special kind about central human problems and then to grapple with them in a rigorous way, most people can in principle learn how to philosophise. This means that, unlike most academic disciplines, philosophy has two legitimate manifestations: the professional practice of philosophical inquiry, with reference to the canon of historical philosophical works, and the amateur practice of philosophical inquiry, without reference to previous philosophy. In this article I distinguish between these two expressions of philosophical practice and explore their educational applications.
Teaching how to teach philosophy: aims, challenges and insights
We are facing an exciting transformation in the discipline of philosophy, where philosophical inquiry is spilling outside the university and into high school classrooms. This shift has been prefigured by movements that promote philosophical engagement in earlier grades, such as Philosophy for Children (P4C), which have steadily gained ground in the recognition of young peoples' ability to engage in philosophical inquiry at a range of early ages. In this paper we discuss how we have begun training teachers in how to teach secondary Philosophy.
Teaching philosophy and philosophical teaching
2016
This piece maintains that, despite 50+ years of successful practice and development, Philosophy for Children (henceforward, P4C) is undervalued-but that, suitably represented , it may yet become the most important agent of educational change of the 21st century: a change that is essential, if not existential, given the challenges facing humanity. The recommendation is to present P4C not so much as a specialised practice, but rather as the basis for a general pedagogy, suitable for teachers of any subject or age. This pedagogy is given the name 'Philosophical Teaching-and-Learning' (PTL), because its 6 interweaving strands draw on the tradition of philosophy itself-as well as on P4C practice. The article gives an overview of, and rationale for, the pedagogy, then focuses particularly on the 6th strand-'virtues-valuing'-as being the most encompassing, but also the most exigent. If every teacher, pre-service and in-service, were introduced to P4C and then committed to developing these strands-especially the 6th one-in their teaching, humanity might just have the makings of an educational system fit for purpose.
A Critique of Methods in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Philosophy
Teaching & Learning Inquiry The ISSOTL Journal, 2016
The goal in this article is to offer a vision for a scholarship of philosophical learning that philosophers find plausible and helpful and that utilizes our disciplinary skills and knowledge to produce useful insights into how students learn philosophy. Doing so is a challenge because philosophers typically and historically conceive of our work as being properly done in the proverbial armchair, that is, done without being tied to empirical data. To begin, I look at three common types of philosophy pedagogy research and I show ways that each can be done well and the limitations of each. Ultimately, I argue that, while useful and revealing in some ways, the techniques typically fail to illuminate where philosophy students are in learning the habits, dispositions and skills that are most typically associated with the discipline. Arguing that to understand students in these ways requires observation, and thus, non-armchair methods, I briefly explore the use of think alouds, arguing that they offer one viable path to a scholarship of learning in philosophy that would allow philosophers to both observe and to use our own disciplinary skills to make the thinking of our students visible in ways that will help us be clearer about how student and expert thinking differs so we can better determine how to help them improve.