Critical thinking and democracy?

Readers,

Can any of you point me to work linking critical thinking and democracy? I'm particularly interested in work that proposes that education in critical thinking is a particularly apt or essential goal for education in democratic societies. Thanks!

Announcing new Wilson Prize for essay on philosophy teaching

REMINDER: The submission deadline is October 1, 2015.

Teaching Philosophy is pleased to announce a new essay prize, the Arnold Wilson Prize. Details here and below the fold.

Call for abstracts: 'Our Obligations to Adjuncts'

Call for Abstracts: 2016 Pacific APA Session

“Our Obligations to Adjuncts”

Organized by the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy

Deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015

The American Philosophical Association (APA) Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy invites abstracts for its upcoming session, “Our Obligations to Adjuncts,” planned for the 2016 Pacific Division Meeting of the APA on March 30-April 3, 2016, in San Francisco, CA. 

According to the AAUP Research Office, non-tenure-track faculty now comprise more than 70% of the professoriate (http://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/Faculty_Trends_0.pdf). In the humanities, the most recent data from the Delphi Project suggest that 46.2% of all humanists teach part-time, while 22.2% teach full-time, but off the tenure track (http://faqs.thechangingfaculty.org/). We suspect these numbers are on the rise. In this session, we’re calling upon the philosophical community to think about these statistics and the individuals hidden behind them.

The Committee is particularly interested both in presentations from ethicists and social-political philosophers who might use their expertise to think about our obligations to contingent faculty and in presentations from department chairs at institutions with particularly humane adjunct policies. In the spirit of active learning, the Committee asks that presenters not read a paper, but plan a more interactive way to engage their audience of peers.

CFA: Teaching students to read philosophy

Call for Abstracts: Central APA Session

“Teaching Students How to Read Philosophy”

Organized by the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy

Deadline: Monday, September 14, 2015

The American Philosophical Association (APA) Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy invites abstracts for its upcoming session “Teaching Students How to Read Philosophy,” planned for the 2016 Central Division Meeting of the APA, March 2-5, 2016, Chicago, IL. With this session, we are interested in exploring challenges and techniques associated with teaching students how to read philosophy’s dense, antiquated, and/or translated texts. The Committee is particularly interested in fresh approaches to this problem and in pedagogical strategies that instructors have employed successfully in the classroom. In the spirit of active learning, the Committee asks that presenters not read a paper, but plan a more interactive way to engage their audience of peers.

Philosophers' Magazine -- on teaching

The Philosophers' Magazine, a well-known UK publication, will focus its next issue on teaching. Preview below the cut:

AAPT: Workshop on Teaching and Learning in Philosophy

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT)

“To Improve The Quality Of Instruction In Philosophy At All Levels”

Teaching & Learning in Philosophy: Dallas/Ft.Worth

Location:                     North Texas University, Denton, TX

Date:                           Saturday, September 26, 2015

Time:                           9am – 5pm

Application Deadline: August 15, 2015

Description

Participants will read some of the best literature regarding how learning happens, how to design maximally effective courses, and how to improve classroom practice. The goal is not only to provide tips, although we will provide some. Rather, the seminar is designed to enhance participants’ ability to make effective pedagogical choices. The interactive sessions provide opportunities for participants to reflect with colleagues on how to individualize evidence-based best teaching practices to one’s own idiosyncratic teaching contexts. Participants will learn how to identify and select challenging and transformative learning objectives and how to design and assess sequences of learning activities to make the achievement of those goals highly likely. 

Comments from Past Participants

“The seminar shifted and honed the way I think about and practice teaching in substantial ways”

“Inspiring, fascinating, and incredibly helpful”

“A must for anyone who cares about students”

“An intensive boot-camp for learner-centered education”

“Not at all like the typical (mostly useless) “teaching orientation” that most graduate students get”

APA session: The philosophy major

The APA Committee on Teaching Philosophy is seeking participants for a panel on the philosophy major, to be held at the Eastern Division meeting (January 2016, Washington D.C.). The deadline to volunteer is August 10. More details here.