Our Work

Current Projects:
For the 2024-2025 school year, the UNT philosophy with children (pwc) program is taking place in a local Dention ISD elementary school. Currently, doctoral student Shoshana McIntosh is designing and implementing an environmentally focused pwc program in 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Curriculum development will take place through the spring semester with plans to continue the collaboration the following year. Her work is funded by a year-long fellowship from the Philosophical Learning and Teaching Organization.

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about philosophy with children and our current programs programs, please contact shoshana.mcintosh@unt.edu

Past Projects:
Environmental Explorers Summer Camp (Summer 2019)
The description of the Environmental Explorers Summer Camp by the Onstead Institute

Early Childhood Education:
At the Koan School, a private non-profit school in Denton, Texas, Travis Wright, Rika Tsuji and Benn Johnson are experimenting with the development of a philosophy with children program. They lead classes weekly, wherein the students' ideas about philosophical matters are explored without traditional references to philosophical canon or technical jargon. We also implemented the p4c Hawaii model of evaluation of dialogues.

High School Education
At the Koan School, Rika Tsuji and Benn Johnson have led philosophy for children sessions weekly with high school students, investigating questions provided by the students. They have examined personal identity, the legitimacy of authority, gender essentialism, whether there are fundamental differences between humans and animals, and more.

P4C with Engligh-Language-Learners (ELL)
Rika Tsuji and YMCA Osaka Tennoji Language Center (Japan) collaborated together to have a philosophy with children session with those who speak and learn English as a second language in May, 2018. The students had never had philosophy discussion classes prior to the session, and yet they came up with many interesting questions related to the weekly class topic "health and safety."

Rika Tsuji and Miyagi University of Education has collaborated to have p4c sessions for ELL. Some students of MUE formed a student club called philosophy with students in MUE (p4s MUE) after our first experimental session. Along with Dr. Taketo Tabata and Dr. Yasushi Kobayashi in MUE, we have been working on p4c with ELL sessions online by using the app ZOOM since the first session. We are hoping to connect with students in other parts of the world through p4c dialogues.

Biocitizen School
Rika Tsuji and Benn Johnson have been teachers at Biocitizen School, in Northampton, MA, a summer camp which implements a new form of "field environmental philosophy," to educate students about their environments through "deep biotic immersion".

Local Public Schools
Dr. Adam Briggle and others also occasionally work with local K-12 school teachers in the Denton public school system to incorporate philosophical dialogues in their classrooms. They have taught lessons on the tragedy of the commons, animal ethics, and social justice.