Higher Teacher Education: Raising Awareness toward Constructing Teaching Philosophy Statements

This article focuses on exploring whether teacher educators and teacher students at higher teacher education programs have constructed their teaching philosophy statements, how they implement such philosophy statements, and how they develop and evaluate the contents of the teaching materials related to the courses they are instructing. By following the qualitative case study methodology, the author employed semi-structured interviews with twenty teacher educators and fifteen teacher students from one state higher education institution in Yemen. With the employment of thematic network analysis techniques, the findings report on the lack of awareness concerning the teaching philosophy statements construction, the random process of designing and evaluating teaching materials, and the lack of teaching aids for realizing the teaching philosophies of those with developed teaching statements. For practical implementation, university leaders and administrators are recommended to establish a program that focuses on the professional development of the teaching faculty with a focus on highlighting and providing useful knowledge on the ‘teaching philosophy statements’ construction and ‘materials design and evaluation’ processes. Keywords: teaching philosophy, teacher education, higher education, curriculum design, Yemen

Translating Monastic Lessons to Teaching Undergraduate Biology

My participation in the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI) has afforded me considerable means to enrich my teaching at the undergraduate level. Here, I discuss how I translated lessons learned from working with Tibetan Monks to teaching in a primarily undergraduate institution, including: 1) introducing each course with a challenge to the assumptions made as “Western scientists” 2) using the unique monastic pedagogy of debate to facilitate classroom scholarship, and 3) embracing compassion as a central tenet to engage and empower student learning, which has become the cornerstone of my teaching philosophy. In addition, I brought undergraduates with me to participate in ETSI, and the experience had a profound effect on their educational and career paths. These experiences with the Tibetan monks transformed my teaching and continue to inform how I approach undergraduate education.

The Hows and whys of philosophy of science teaching: a comparative analysis

What makes teaching philosophy of science to non-philosophy students different from teaching it to philosophy students, and how should lecturers in philosophy adapt to an audience of practitioners of a field of study that they are reflecting on? In this paper we address this question by analyzing the differences between these student groups, and based on this analysis we make suggestions as to how philosophy of science can be taught to non-philosophy students in an effective and attractive way. Starting-point is the observation that not only the background knowledge and interests of these students but also the aims of the respective courses will differ. We present a comparative analysis of the demands and conditions for teaching philosophy of science to the different types of students, focusing on learning objectives and didactic approaches. Next, we apply our analysis to a concrete example, the role of values in science, and discuss how this may be taught to either philosophy students or non-philosophy students. Finally, we discuss an alternative format for teaching philosophy to non-philosophy students.

Освоение и развитие философской культуры в условиях её модификации

The article reveals the intellectual and educational potential of philosophy, the ways of translation of philosophical culture, the examples of teaching philosophy in its classical and post-classical version. The characteristics of the philosopher’s personality is given, its role in the spiritual and intellectual environment is revealed and the ways of its formation are specified.

Slipping Out Over the Wall

This chapter explores Mary Midgley’s unconventional career, and her contributions—through her interests in biology and animal behavior (ethology)—to her friends’ project of reimagining ethics. The connection between Midgley’s work and that of Anscombe, Foot, and Murdoch is often missed because Midgley began writing much later in life. Midgley left her academic career early to follow her husband to Newcastle, where she stayed home, raising their three boys and reviewing books for the BBC. In the mid-1960s, she began teaching philosophy at the University of Newcastle, free from the stifling atmosphere of Oxford. Linking her interest in ethology to ethics, she eventually wrote Beast and Man, raising questions about rationality, instinct, and the sorts of goods—the sort of ethics—toward which humans’ animal nature points. Sadly, Foot never regarded Midgley’s work as “proper philosophy,” though Midgley’s insights could have addressed Foot’s most pressing philosophical worries.