St. Marguerite’s Retreat House
Mendham, NJ, August 4-11, 2012

This workshop is geared toward both novice and experienced graduate students, teachers, professors and others from around the world who have interest or experience in using the Philosophy for Children curriculum and methodology. In this workshop participants will experience and practice facilitating a “Community of Philosophical Inquiry” with adults, cultivate a “philosophical ear” by learning to recognize philosophical dimensions of experience and philosophical issues in texts, enhance their awareness of effective dialogic practices through the use of various forms of assessment and practice using Philosophy for Children curriculum materials. Time will also be dedicated to exploring some of the theoretical dimensions of Philosophy for Children, community of inquiry pedagogy, and philosophical curriculum construction.

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February 19-20, 2013 Loyola University

ANNOUNCMENT/CFP

The second PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) Conference will take place in conjunction with the APA 2013 Central meeting and will be held February 19-20 at Loyola University in New Orleans. The conference theme is PLATO and Pedagogy: The Evolving Field of Pre-College Philosophy. Sessions will include invited speakers as well as submitted papers. Possible topics for submitted papers include, but are not limited to: How can philosophy reach a wider pre-college audience? How might pre-college philosophy contribute to improving K-12 education generally? Can philosophy fit into the framework of established K-12 educational institutions? How can we ensure that pre-college philosophy curricula have integrity? What do teachers need in order to teach philosophy well at the high school, middle school, and/or elementary school levels? What is needed to ensure that teachers have access to the training, resources and collaboration necessary for pre-college philosophy to grow and thrive?

Papers from professors, graduate students, teachers and others interested in the field are welcome. Papers will be blind-refereed and the authors will be informed whether their papers have been accepted in October 2012. Papers should be no longer than 3,000 words and must be submitted by email attachment no later than August 31, 2012, to info@plato-apa.org. Other inquiries about the conference may also be sent to that address.

SECOND PLATO CONFERENCE STEERING COMMITTEE
Steve Goldberg
Mitch Green
Roberta Israeloff
Jana Mohr Lone
Wendy Turgeon

Articles on topics such as (but not limited to) the following are welcome:
· general methodological issues related to teaching philosophy at the high school level
· the challenges and rewards of introducing particular philosophical topics to this age group
· the value of preparing students for humanistic inquiry in college by reaching them during their time before college
· the contribution of philosophy to the cultivation of students’ critical reasoning skills
· the issues involved in creating entirely new, philosophically-based high schools
· the potential value of service learning college courses or internships that involve outreach to high schools through the medium of philosophy
· case studies (including either quantitative or qualitative assessment) of initiatives that have incorporated philosophy into the high school curriculum
· discussion of strategies that may be efficacious in overcoming institutional barriers to supporting philosophy classes in high schools.

Submissions from high school, college, and university faculty as well as independent scholars are welcome and should be prepared for blind refereeing. Submitted manuscripts should be no more than 8,000 words.

Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2012. Accepted papers will be published in mid-2013. Submissions should be made via the journal’s online submission system, at http://www.teaching-philosophy.com/. Please indicate that your submission is for the Special Issue on High School Philosophy.

There is now an email list affiliated with PLATO. This is an open discussion list for exchange among those with interests in the development and practice of pre-college philosophy, with particular emphasis on developing this field in the United States.

To join the list, subscribe at: http://lists.futurenode.com/mailman/listinfo/plato-apa_lists.futurenode.com/