PHIL 292.001 – Field Work in Philosophy: Introducing Philosophy in Primary and Secondary Schools

Instructor: Michael Vazquez. This course meets TR 4:45 – 6:00 p.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

In this experiential learning course students will have the unique opportunity to combine the philosophical study of ethics with virtual service in the community. Students will master the major ethical frameworks philosophers use to think about the rightness and wrongness of actions, our obligations to others, and moral life more broadly. Students will also learn how to distill complex philosophical ideas and to facilitate productive discussions with a young audience. With this training in ethical theory and pre-college pedagogy, undergraduates will serve as advisors to high school teams in the Triangle area in preparation for the North Carolina High School Ethics Bowl. The ethics bowl competition will sharpen the participants’ ability to reason through complex moral issues, and invite us to reflect on the importance of moral and civic education in our democratic society. Over the course of the semester, undergraduates will develop pedagogical resources on ethics and implement a virtual educational event for our regional partners.

This is an APPLES service-learning course. All service for this course will be conducted online. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Questions can be directed to the course instructor, Michael Vazquez (michael.vazquez@unc.edu).