Experience Philosophy for Children as a Professional Development Practice

Experience Philosophy for Children (P4C) as a Professional Development Practice: An Inquiry Exploring Education and the Flourishing Life

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Time: 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Location: Hanahau'oli School Professional Development Center, 1922 Makiki Street, Honolulu HI 96822

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a worldwide movement that aims to transform the schooling experience by engaging people in the activity of philosophy. Locally, the University of Hawai‘i Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education is the home of philosophy for children Hawai‘i (p4c Hawai‘i). The p4c Hawai‘i approach aids students and teachers in converting traditional classrooms into intellectually safe communities of inquiry. Together, they develop their ability to think for themselves in responsible ways by exploring “big questions” that arise from their interests, experiences, and learning contexts.

In addition to being a progressive education classroom practice used in schools across the world, p4c Hawai‘i can also be used to support the professional development of teachers. In a 2013 study, research demonstrated that when teachers practice p4c Hawai‘i in a professional community of inquiry with their peers, they not only improve their abilities to do philosophy with students, but they also report experiencing a meaningful, productive, transformative, and joyful approach to professional and personal growth. In a professional development context, philosophy becomes “a form of thinking, which like all thinking, finds its origin in what is uncertain in the subject matter of experience, which aims to locate the nature of perplexity and to frame hypotheses for its clearing up to be tested in action” (Dewey, 1916, p. 331). Together in this 4-hour professional development experience, educators will practice p4c Hawai‘i as a tool for wrestling with our most important questions and finding answers through self-reflection and dialogue with colleagues.

Participants will learn more about p4c Hawai‘i from Uehiro Academy faculty by doing p4c Hawai‘i with fellow participants in an intellectually safe professional community of inquiry. The experience will include:

Reading Read Dr. Toby Yos’s article before we meet in person.

Questioning Generate a question you would like to dialogue and think about with fellow participants.

Voting Vote on the question that you would most like to be the focus of our inquiry.

Dialoguing Use the question selected as stimulus for philosophical inquiry, dialogue, and deep listening to support professional and personal growth.

Reflecting Reflect on what was learned from the community and inquiry, make connections and explore next steps.

Lunch will be provided.

Workshop Participants: This workshop is designed for K-12 educators, higher education faculty, and community educators who are interested in exploring how p4c Hawai‘i can be applied to contexts outside of the regular classroom setting. It is also designed for teachers who are interested in interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to education, as well as teachers who want to apply the practice to traditional subject areas and coursework (e.g. Social Studies, English Language Arts, Advisory, etc.) The maximum number of participants is 30.

Workshop Objectives:

Participants will:

• Build an intellectually safe professional community of inquiry.
• Briefly review the history, theoretical and practical frameworks behind the philosophy for children
• Engage in a p4c Hawai‘i Plain Vanilla philosophical inquiry as professional development practice
• Reflect on experience and brainstorm future applications
• Enjoy fellowship and connection

Workshop Agenda

9:30 am - 10:00 am Sign In

10:00 am - 10:30 am Welcome, Agenda, Overview of p4c Hawai‘i [Amber & Ben]

10:30 am - 12:30 am Plain Vanilla Inquiry

• Intellectual Safety
• Introductions
• Questions
• Vote
• Inquiry
• Reflect

12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Reflection

• Share out about Plain Vanilla Inquiries
• So what? How might you apply what you learn today to your particular teaching context?

2:00 pm Pau

About the Presenters:

Dr. Benjamin Lukey received his doctorate in comparative philosophy from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His interests in philosophy of disability, comparative philosophy, and philosophy for children (p4c) have developed from his broader goal of including more voices in philosophical discourse. Since 2007, he has been part the p4c Hawai‘i initiative at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, piloting and developing a Philosopher in Residence project at Hawaii public high schools. Dr. Lukey continues to support p4c Hawaii teachers and students at Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate School, Kailua High School, Waikiki Elementary, Ka’elepulu Elementary, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He is currently Associate Director for the UH Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education.

Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau is a Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Director of Curriculum and Research at the Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education, Director of the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, and Co-Director of the Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy MEd Interdisciplinary Education, Curriculum Studies program. A former Hawai‘i State Department of Education high school social studies teacher, her work in education is focused around promoting a more just and equitable democracy for today’s children. Dr. Makaiau lives in Honolulu where she enjoys spending time in the ocean with her husband and two children.

Dr. Chad Miller is the 2012 Hawaiʻi Teacher of the Year, a National Board Certified teacher, and is currently an Associate Specialist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Institute for Teacher Education. Dr. Miller also serves as the Director of Teacher Development at the University’s Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education and in this dual role, he teaches instructional methods courses, as well as courses grounded in the Philosophy for Children (p4c) pedagogy in the College of Education to teacher candidates and graduate students, alike. He also serves as a Philosopher in Residence, where he supports teacher candidates and veteran K-12 teachers as they incorporate the activity of philosophy into their classroom practice through the use of the “Philosopher’s Pedagogy.” Regardless if he is thinking about the environmental implications of “driving” clouds with third graders, the cyclical nature of violence and drug abuse with sophomores in their Language Arts classes, or the value of living the “examined life” with undergraduates, Dr. Miller finds himself participating in extremely meaningful and rigorous philosophical inquiries with students and teachers each day with the aim of creating more thoughtful and compassionate communities.

Dr. Thomas “Toby” Yos is an Assistant Specialist with the University of Hawai‘i Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education. Arriving at the University of Hawai‘i in 1991, Toby studied under philosophy for children Hawai‘i founder Dr. Thomas Jackson and received a doctoral degree in Philosophy. Since that time Toby has been working in Hawai‘i’s schools. Over the course of the past three decades he has mentored hundreds of teachers and done p4c with thousands of students.

Host or Publisher Hanahau'oli School Professional Development Center