Spring 2010 | Return to Newsletter Home

PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN

This has been a great year for the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children! The Center just received a three-year grant from the Squire Foundation for our Philosophers in the Schools program. This program, begun in 1999, educates graduate and undergraduates students about ways to introduce philosophy into pre-college classrooms, and then sends these UW students into Seattle public schools to conduct philosophy sessions, at no cost to the schools. The Squire Foundation grant provides funds for a summer workshop for teachers that will take place this June; graduate student involvement in the program; materials and website support; and three years of transportation for UW students to reach local schools.

For the first time this year, the program included three quarterly Philosophy for Children seminars. As a result, we have been able this year to send approximately 20 UW students into eight different local schools. These students ran philosophy sessions on a variety of topics, including the nature of courage, time, knowledge, identity, ethics, art, and freedom.