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1. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
John Immerwahr The Case for Motivational Grading
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Is it legitimate to use grades for the purpose of motivating students to do things that will improve their learning (such as attending class) or is the only valid purpose of grades to evaluate student mastery of course skills and content? Daryl Close and others contend that using grades as motivators is either unfair or counterproductive. This article argues that there is a legitimate use for “motivational grading,” which is the practice of using some grades solely or primarily for the purpose of encouraging student behaviors that are likely to improve learning.
2. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
William J. Rapaport A Triage Theory of Grading: The Good, the Bad, and the Middling
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This essay presents and defends a triage theory of grading: An item to be graded should get full credit if and only if it is clearly or substantially correct, minimal credit if and only if it is clearly or substantially incorrect, and partial credit if and only if it is neither of the above; no other (intermediate) grades should be given. Details on how to implement this are provided, and further issues in the philosophy of grading (reasons for and against grading, grading on a curve, and the subjectivity of grading) are discussed.
3. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Kevin Zanelotti Enhancing Student Learning through Web-Based Assignments
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Technology’s impact on pedagogy has been profound, but while resources such as PowerPoint and class management software make teacher’s jobs easier it is not always clear that technology enhances student learning. This essay presents several web-based assignments that make use of current technology to enhance both student learning and appreciation for philosophical analysis. A web-page creation assignment is introduced that demonstrates how traditional textual analysis can be situated in a unique online context that facilitates greater student engagement and learning. The essay also introduces two novel uses of wikis. A collaborative assignment involving Wikipedia is presented, while the second proposed use of the wiki allows instructors to “close the loop” connecting work done in and outside of class. The latter use of wikis allows instructors to gauge student reactions to a reading before class in order to maximize time spent in class discussing that reading.
4. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Shane Ralston Deliberating with Critical Friends: A Strategy for Teaching Deliberative Democratic Theory
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Standard methods for teaching Deliberative Democratic Theory (DDT) in the philosophy classroom include presenting theories in the historical order in which they originated, by theorist (or groups of theorists) or in various thematic categories, including criticisms of the theories. However, if Simone Chambers is correct and DDT has truly entered “a working theory stage,” whereby the theory and practice of deliberation receive equal consideration, then such approaches may no longer be appropriate for teaching DDT. I propose that DDT be taught using the Critical Friends (CF) discussion protocol. This protocol enables high quality deliberation in the context of a supportive intellectual community. The key advantage of my proposal is that the CF pedagogical framework empowers students to conceive DDT through the lens of their own and others’ deliberative practices. By referring to a rather than the strategy, this proposal does not specify the single right way to teach DDT, but suggests one among a field of possibilities.
5. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Jeremiah Conway Friendship and Philosophy: Teaching Plato’s Lysis
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This article examines four contributions made by Plato’s Lysis to a philosophy course on friendship. These contributions are: first, the dialogue’s portrayal of the messy variety of friendships in ordinary life; second, the tension between what it clarifies about friendship through argument and what it reveals through setting and the behavior of its characters; third, how the dialogue focuses attention on aspects of friendship that often receive little attention in contemporary life—how friends talk with each other and friendship as a vehicle of moral cultivation; fourth and finally, the connection Plato recognized between friendship and the pursuit of philosophy. Friendship is not merely another topic for philosophy to investigate. The pursuit of wisdom is both enhanced by and exemplified in friendships of character. Philosophy has need of friendship, and friendship, as it deepens, inclines to philosophy.
reviews
6. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
J.M. Dieterle The Fetal Position: A Rational Approach to the Abortion Issue
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7. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Monica Greenwell Janzen The Ethics of Trade and Aid: Development, Charity, or Waste?
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8. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Shawn Loht The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought
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9. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Richard Nunan Philosophy Through Film, 2nd ed.
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10. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Emer O’Hagan The Lost Art of Happiness
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11. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Seamus O’Neill Philosophy in the Middle Ages: the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions, 3rd ed.
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12. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Simon Scott Gilles Deleuze: Affirmation in Philosophy
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13. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Stuart Silvers What Place for the A Priori?
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14. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Michael Tiboris Theories of Human Nature
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15. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Jack Russell Weinstein Reviving the Left: The Need to Restore Liberal Values in America
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16. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 4
Volume 34 Index
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articles
17. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 3
Scott Seider, Jason Taylor Broadening College Student Interest in Philosophical Education through Community Service Learning
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The Pulse Program at Boston College is a community service learning program that combines academic study of philosophy and theology with a year-long community service project. An analysis of the Pulse Pro­gram during the 2008–09 academic year revealed that participating students demonstrated a significant increase in their interest in philosophy; a greater likelihood of enrolling in additional philosophy coursework; and a deeper interest in philosophy than classmates not participating in service-learning. Interviews with participating students revealed that the Pulse Program highlighted philosophy’s relevance to the “real world” as well as the useful role that philosophy can play in reflecting upon the social issues raised by students’ community service experiences.
18. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 3
Ramona Ilea, Susan Hawthorne Beyond Service Learning: Civic Engagement in Ethics Classes
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In this essay, we describe a form of civic engagement for ethics classes in which students identify a community problem and devise a project to address that need. Like traditional service learning, our civic engagement project improves critical thinking and expressive philosophical skills. It is especially effective in meeting pedagogical goals of engaging and expanding student agency and independence while connecting class materials with individual students’ interests. The project can be adapted to a variety of ethics classes and institutional settings. We demonstrate its effectiveness by examining student projects and class evaluations, as well as reporting our own observations, with emphasis on the skills that students develop. We also address details of implementation and answers to theoretical and practical objections. Although students often find this project challenging, they also see it as deeply rewarding; they have been impressed with their own performance and the skills they develop.
19. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 3
John Rudisill The Transition from Studying Philosophy to Doing Philosophy
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In this paper I articulate a minimal conception of the idea of doing philosophy that informs a curriculum and pedagogy for producing students who are capable of engaging in philosophical activity and not just competent with a specific domain of knowledge. The paper then relates, by way of background, the departmental assessment practices that have played a vital role in the development of my department’s current curriculum and in particular in the design of a junior-year seminar in philosophical research required of all majors. After a brief survey of the learning theory literature that has informed its design, I share the content of this junior-year seminar. In the paper’s conclusion I provide some initial data that indicates our approach to curriculum and pedagogy has had a positive impact on student achievement with respect to reaching the learning goals associated with “doing” as opposed to “merely studying” philosophy.
20. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 34 > Issue: 3
Toby Schonfeld, Erin L. Dahlke, John M. Longo Pre-Test/Post-Test Results from an Online Ethics Course: Qualitative Assessment of Student Learning
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Although online education is becoming increasingly commonplace in health professional education, methods to evaluate student progress and knowledge base adequately remain uncertain. This paper describes a project that attempted to assess whether or not an online course was an effective way to teach applied ethics to students preparing for the health professions by qualitatively analyzing responses to a pre-test and post-test administered to students in the course. While previous studies have reported various findings regarding the success of online ethics courses, our study failed to demonstrate that students gained a greater understanding of key concepts in ethics—respect for autonomy, decisional capacity, informed consent, and role of the provider. Our findings demonstrate the need for better subjective methods of evaluation and raise questions regarding the efficacy of current models of online ethics courses for health professional students.