PHIL 292.001 – Field Work in Philosophy: Introducing Philosophy in Primary and Secondary Schools
Instructor: Michael Vazquez. This course meets TR 3:30 – 4:45 p.m. in CW 208.
Course Title: Ethics Bowl and Democratic Deliberation
In this experiential learning course, students will have the unique opportunity to combine the philosophical study of ethics with service to 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 how to facilitate productive discussions with a young audience. With this training in ethical theory and pre-college pedagogy, undergraduates will serve as coaches and advisors to new startup high school teams across the country who will be competing in a ‘borderless’ competition event near the end of the semester. This new and innovative UNC program, entitled NHSEBBridge, aims to promote equity and access within the National High School Ethics Bowl and within our education system more broadly. Students will also provide real-time feedback to high school teams and students across the country by planning and administering NHSEBAcademy pedagogy clinics and by holding NHSEBStudio office hours. Over the course of the semester, undergraduates will develop pedagogical resources on ethics, and implement educational events for our partners.
The Ethics Bowl competition will sharpen the participants’ ability to reason through complex moral issues, and invite us to consider the philosophical and civic foundations of education. Students will also reflect on the ways in which our discursive practices can sustain and impede the health of our democracy.
The service component of this course will be conducted online.
Permission of the instructor is required to enroll in this course. Please email michael.vazquez@unc.edu.
Prerequisite: 2 PHIL courses.