What Do Experiments in Philosophy Teaching Look Like? (guest post)

Created
Thu, 02/02/2023 - 00:29
Updated
Thu, 02/02/2023 - 00:29
“There is room to think creatively about how to improve learning and love of philosophy via innovation in pedagogy.” That’s Russell Marcus, professor of philosophy at Hamilton College, and Catherine Schmitt, an undergraduate at Hamilton studying philosophy and neuroscience, writing about the experiments in philosophy teaching they’ve facilitated as part of the Hamilton College Summer Program in Philosophy (HCSPiP). In the following guest post, they share some observations about successful philosophy teaching innovations, and invite readers to share their own. What Do Experiments in Philosophy Teaching Look Like? by Russell Marcus and Catherine Schmitt We often think of innovations in our philosophy teaching in terms of introducing new content. Student learning, though, may depend as much on how we teach as it does on what we teach. Moreover, since few of our undergraduate philosophy students will continue on to graduate work, and since philosophy departments are widely under pressure to justify our curricula and classes, attention to improving the classroom experiences of our students is essential. And diversifying our discipline may be a matter not only of broadening the kinds of texts we produce and study but also of how we manage classroom discourse.  So, what do experiments in philosophy teaching look like? The Hamilton College Summer Program in Philosophy (HCSPiP) was developed on the principle that there is room to think creatively about how to improve learning and love of philosophy via innovation in pedagogy. We offer instructors a uniquely unrestricted platform to experiment: no content requirements, no prescribed classroom structure, and no grades. To three instructors each year, we provide twenty eager undergraduate students, three graduate student tutors, and the opportunity to try something new. The courses selected for the program have varied widely in content, more and less familiar: democracy in Athens, argument mapping, personal identity, existentialism, philosophical methods, comedy, discourse in the digital age, racial and gender violence.  More important: they have allowed us to explore new ways to engage students. The magic of the program lies in the countless number of ways a course might be taught and the multitude of lessons and new ways to teach that participants and instructors might leave with. After three successful years of the program, we’ve compiled a list..