This lesson plan can be used on its own or as an accompaniment to the Arnold Lobel Frog and Toad story, “The Garden.” Divide students into groups of 3-4. Ask each group to come up with 2-3 examples of the following three cases: See Discussion Questions tab for discussion prompts.
Part 1: Have each person think of a dream they’ve had recently. After giving them a moment to think, go around in a circle and have each person share a bit about their dream. (Elementary school students may get exceptionally excited about sharing their dreams and may want to share an enormous amount of detail … Dream Activity
Have each person write down on a piece of paper: Once everyone has their statements, then have them pair up to talk about their claims, and why they put them in the category they did. This should get them started on a conversation about the difference between belief and knowledge. Then have the group come … Belief and Knowledge
A NOTE FOR TEACHERS: I’m interested in helping young people think skeptically and philosophically about concepts like knowledge, belief, evidence, fact, and theory. I developed the Vinland Map exercise for this purpose (in a philosophy of science class for gifted teens); I then wrote Noises in the Night as a way of starting similar conversations … Noises in the Night
I developed this exercise in a series of Critical Thinking and Philosophy of Science classes. It can raise a huge range of issues about knowledge; testing and confirmation bias; skepticism and how not to be gullible; the relationship between scientific and historical and common sense thinking; the relationship between key concepts like fact, belief, theory, … The Vinland Map Exercise
Many students, even those who are quite young, are aware of the rapid pace at which technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are developing. This lesson entails an exploration of what the world might look like if all human jobs become automated, or done by robots. Are there jobs that humans can do that a robot … Robots at Work
Materials/Preparation: Before the session, write the names of various beings and things on note cards with one per note card. Examples include: CarrotsFlowersCarsFireDollsWaterDirtA squashed bugRabbits In the session: If the students are in a circle on the rug, place three pieces of paper in the middle of the circle. Write “Alive” on one, “Not Alive” … Alive/Not Alive
The full lesson plan is available as a PDF in the Lesson Attachment area above. Our whole education is organized around “buckets” of knowledge: “2+2 = 4” (math bucket); “Hydrogen is an element but water isn’t” (chemistry bucket); “Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809” (history bucket). But philosophy (and especially epistemology, the study of knowledge) … What do you know? An Exercise about What Knowledge Is
Are We Living in a Simulation, and What Would it Mean if the Answer is Yes? The purpose of this lesson is to explore the nature of reality and how we know whether or not anything is real Begin the lesson with the two short embedded videos to get the students thinking and engaged in … Are We Living in a Simulation?
This lesson plan can be used either in a classroom or online. Plot Summary: In the short Pixar film, Piper, an adult sanderling bird encourages their baby to join the other birds in finding food along the beach as the waves roll in and out. The baby bird bravely rushes forward only to find their … Piper
PLATO is part of a global UNESCO network that encourages children to participate in philosophical inquiry. As a partner in the UNESCO Chair on the Practice of Philosophy with Children, based at the Université de Nantes in France, PLATO is connected to other educational leaders around the world.
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