In 2001, Dr. Thomas Jackson, or Dr. J as the author and her colleagues affectionately call him, spoke to the faculty at Waikiki Elementary. He described philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i and encouraged them to try P4C if something about it "resonated" with them. In the beginning, Dr. J held a p4t (philosophy for teachers) after-school seminar…

When the author was first introduced to philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i, it made her cringe. She wasn't sure what it was all about, but it reminded her of a miserable past experience of sitting in a circle. Sitting in circles is the sort of activity that she tries to avoid in life. She was told that Dr. Thomas Jackson, aka Dr. J, would guide…

The author was involved in philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i for many years during her graduate studies. It was her first introduction to "teaching," or, more accurately, the facilitation of philosophical inquiry. What she would call the "p4c pedagogy" has become infused into her undergraduate teaching. The Good Thinker's Toolkit, the model of…

Ever since Thomas Jackson introduced philosophy for children (p4c) to Hawai'i in the mid-1980s, one of the defining characteristics of his p4c Hawai'i program has been its commitment to working with classroom teachers in Hawai'i's public schools. Part of the program's mission has been to find every way possible to support these teachers, both in…

NCLB has created a climate where teachers feel increasingly pressured to ensure their students pass the test, with the result that they allocate less time for purposeful and authentic learning experiences (Kohn, 2004). Thus, rote memorization is favored over inquiry. Teachers must aim to create a classroom environment that recognizes and values…

"How come your students are so engaged?" "What are the reasons your students perform so well on the Hawai'i State Assessments and Advanced Placement Exams?" "What makes the student experience in your classrooms so different?" "How do you use philosophy to teach language arts and social studies?" "The students are always talking about your class.…

With the advent of communicative language teaching in East Asia, the idea of learner autonomy has become a topic of discussion and a goal among language teachers. The idea of autonomy raises important questions that need to be further explored, particularly in terms of students taking responsibility for learning. While examining the English…

Murasakino High School is a municipal senior high school located in the northern part of Kyoto, an ancient capital city of Japan. With a little over one thousand students studying in three grades (from fifteen to eighteen years of age), Murasakino has a distinctive scholastic tradition that makes it different from other high schools in Kyoto. Over…

There is growing interest by schools and universities in understanding Asian societies and cultures. One way of deepening this interest productively is through the imaginative use of cinema. In this article, the author explores how cinema can be a window into the dynamics of contemporary Asian societies and cultures. Through "aesthetic…

In this article, the author shares how she uses Chinese film in her Chinese language and culture classes. She demonstrates how Chinese films can help students "navigate the uncharted universe of Chinese culture" with reference to several contemporary Chinese films. She describes how intensive viewing of films can develop a deeper and more nuanced…

Over the past several decades film and video have been steadily infiltrating the philosophy curriculum at colleges and universities. Traditionally, teachers of philosophy have not made much use of "audiovisual aids" in the classroom beyond the chalk board or overhead projector, with only the more adventurous playing audiotapes, for example, or…

Stories are important resources in the repertoire of the teacher. Storytelling is a powerful way in which to communicate experiences and to explore ideas. Using stories, the teacher takes her students on journeys of discovery that introduce them to new vistas of lived experience. In this article, the authors describe how they have used "digital…

In this article, the author describes a three-month study he conducted in Ellen Hino's classroom during writing workshop. The major purpose of the study was to look at the ways this native-born teacher responds orally to students who share her own bidialectical background. Most of these students are Native Hawaiian and speak a nonprestigious…

For the past six years the authors have been working together on a major study of early childhood education in China, Japan, and the United States. This study, "Continuity and Change in Preschools in Three Cultures," is a sequel to "Preschools in Three Cultures," a book by Joseph Tobin, David Wu, and Dana Davidson that was published in 1989. In…

A paradigm shift is occurring in the approach to teaching in the education system of American Samoa. This shift can be characterized as the movement from a traditional, teacher-centered approach to a constructivist, student-centered approach. One factor that has contributed to this shift arises from the training of teachers through the University…