Philosophy CommitteeMission:To introduce philosophy into daily discussions

Objectives1) To teach adults to have philosophical discussions with children

2) To promote philosophical thinking in children

Initially established with Dr. Thomas Wartenbergwww.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org

Maria Evans (Principal) Allison Pruitt (2nd grade) Stacy Mascitelli-Morey (3rd grade)

Washington Elementary School staff:

San Jose State University philosophy professors:

Dr Anand Vaidya Dr Carlos Sanchez Dr Karin Brown

Moderators (adult volunteers from Rotary Club San Jose)

Ali Bassiri, MD, ChairPhysician, San Jose

Alida Bray, Vice chairHistory San Jose, Inc

Jorge SpeedeFive Star Legacy Health Care Services

Gary Silver, MDRetired Surgeon

Operations of the Committee

1) Choose a ‘philosophical’ story (The committee)

2) Identify the philosophical questions (SJSU professors)

3) Modify to ‘child’ language (Professors and A Bassiri)

4) Prepare lesson plan (A Bassiri)

5) Finalize plan (The entire committee)

6) Conduct sessions (Moderators)

7) Review feedback (Teachers and Principal)

Sample Session Preparation: excerpt (5 slides)

Step 1: Choose a ‘philosophical’ story (Epistemology)

Lesson plan construction (Morris the Moose):

Step 2: Identify the philosophical questionStep 3: Modify to ‘child’ language

SJSU professors: Can we trust our senses to give us true knowledge?↓

Modified to: How do we know we are right? ↓ (classroom experience)

Modified to : How do we know we are wrong?↓ (classroom experience)

Final version: Why do we make mistakes?

Other examples: Question: What is friendship?Modified to: What are some qualities you want all your friends to have?

Question: What is happiness?Modified to : What makes you happy all the time, even right now?

Question: Can change in perspective on an event change our emotions?Modified to: Will seeing things positively make us happy?

Lesson Plan: “Morris the Moose” (Knowledge)In philosophy, ‘truth’ pertains to what can be shown objectively about the world. ‘Knowledge’ is our awareness of these truths (something can be true but as of yet unknown). In general knowledge requires an objective component ie. others must also see it as true. ‘Beliefs’ and ‘opinions’ are statements that an individual feels is right, but cannot prove. In this story, Morris ‘believes’ everyone is a moose but eventually comes to ‘know’ the truth when he and the deer see their reflections in the water (objective evidence). Objectives:(1) Explore why we make mistakes (2) Discuss how we can minimize mistakes.

Introduction (15 min) (prop: picture of buck and moose) Give a picture of the buck and the moose to every student. Moderator: Suppose I asked you to find out what these two animals are? Are the same or different animals? How would you find out?Discussion (20): Read the whole book. Moderator: Morris is making a mistake but does not realize it. Have you ever made a mistake? What made you realize you were wrong?S: (…some answers, take the wrong backpack) (discussion)M: Why do people make mistakes?S: (don’t pay attention, listen to ‘non-experts’, don’t find out for themselves, etc) (tabulate)M: What can people do to make sure they don’t make mistakes?S: Answers…(look it up in a book, ask someone who’s an expert, etc) (tabulate) Generate discussion about who or what resources constitute appropriate authorityM: What could have Morris done earlier to realize he’s making a mistake? S: Answers… (discussion)

Conclusion (10 min)Go around: “Write down one thing in this whole world that you want to know and how would you go about finding the answer?” (allow 1 min for thought)

Step 4 & 5: Prepare and finalize lesson planStep 6: Moderate session

Step 7: Review teacher feedback

Teacher Feedback of Sessions: Emily’s ArtModerators (circle) Bassiri/Silver Student participation: appropriatecomments:It really was better to have the students on the floor close to each other and you. It seemed to be more personal/intimate and less like a traditional classroom with a teacher up front. I have to apologize for not having put them on the floor. I didn’t see your last email requesting that seating arrangement until after you had already left! Sorry! Also, it is to be expected that students will be shy at the first meeting—especially with a large group of adults sitting in the back watching.

Quality of discussion: appropriate – especially toward the endcomments:As we discussed at lunch, the students had a hard time with the book. Perhaps we could find a simpler book to illustrate fairness. The conversation really increased in quality once you began the second round of questions that were more personal to them and really asking them to challenge their beliefs. I loved their answers.

Props (pictures, etc): distractingcomments:This time it really seemed to be distracting for the students to have the large poster of Emily and Kelly’s work. They focused so much on which one they liked that it seems they forgot the story.

Moderator participation: appropriate for this age and for first sessioncomments:This class really needed a lot of support with the text and simplification of the questions. You really had to work hard to get anything out of them. I suspect you won’t have as hard of a time at the next session as they will know what to expect and know you better as well. I think you did a great job of hanging in there and really trying to ask the questions instead of telling them what to think. One thing I realized that is going to be a …

Session Book Objectives

Session 1: Emily’s Art Objectivity and subjectivity Authority Fairness

Session 2: The Important Book Counterexamples. Disagreement with an ‘expert’

Session 3: Morris the Moose Knowledge Session 4: Little Beauty Language Friendship Ethics

Session 5: Voices in the Park Perception Happiness.

Agenda for the year:

Optimizing sessions: what has worked

1) Place students in a horseshoe format

2) Give everyone their own book

3) Make issues relevant to student’s personal lives

4) Start from specific and advance to abstract concepts

5) Encourage disagreement by counterexample

6) Institute ‘movement’ breaks

Optimizing sessions: what obstacles remain

1) How to engage ‘silent’ students (? Pair sharing)

2) How to get students to debate each other (and not the moderator)

3) How to tailor sessions to different intellectual levels

Future Goals:

1) Involve parents: a) to moderate sessions b) to discuss the books at home

2) Tailor sessions to specific grades

3) Increase the number of sessions

4) Expand to grades 4 and 5

5) Write a ‘how to’ manual for parents