Philosophy for Children
This year the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, with the help of a three-year grant from the Squire Family Foundation, was able to expand its Philosophers in the Schools program both locally and regionally. The program sent UW graduate and undergraduate students, as well as the Center's staff, into six different primary and secondary schools, where they facilitated philosophy classes that reached over 500 young people. The Squire grant is supporting stipends for graduate students, transportation costs for UW students to get to and from local schools, improvements to the Center's website, and the development of a departmentally-based philosophy for children library.
Other activities of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children this year include:
The Center's staff published several articles about pre-college philosophy, and gave talks about philosophy for children at conferences in San Diego, Cincinnati, and New York City. Education Director David Shapiro is working on a new book, tentatively titled, Exercising the Mind: Classroom Activities for Doing Philosophy with Young People, which is expected to be published in 2012. Director Jana Mohr Lone is also working on a book. Her book is geared toward parents, and is about ways to engage in philosophical inquiry with children. It is titled, Wondering Aloud: The Philosophical Child. Director Jana Mohr Lone appeared on the Seattle National Public Radio station, KUOW, in the show "The Conversation," with Ross Reynolds. The podcast of this show is available at http://depts.washington.edu/nwcenter/resourcestalkradio2.html.This program resulted in invitations to give classes and workshops for school districts in Olympia, Bellingham, and Orcas Island! Program Director Sara Goering gave a TEDx talk about philosophy for children this spring, which was very well received. Please take a look at it at http://plato-apa.org/new-tedx-talk-on-philosophy-for-children/