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Educational Foundation
Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning
Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning was designed to improve the basic skills of primary and secondary students in urban public schools, by working with their teachers in an integrated process of curriculum and staff development. The major emphasis of Project THISTLE is the preparation of classroom teachers to strengthen the critical thinking abilities of their students, helping them to develop the skills and dispositions to engage in intellectually active, constructive, and reflective encounters with ideas within the content areas. Project THISTLE is a collaborative college-school program developed by Montclair State University and the Newark Public Schools and, in recent years, supported by Montclair State and the Victoria Foundation. Teachers who complete the entire project receive a total of 18 graduate credits, applicable if other standards are met, to a master's degree program. It was initially implemented in l979 and has been in continuous operation since that time.
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The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children
The department is closely engaged with The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy (IAPC), furnishing faculty for its courses and release time for advisement and administrative work. Faculty from the department are also involved in editing and publication of Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children and in other venues of scholarship on the foundations of Philosophy for Children and its effectiveness. Faculty in the department are also called upon nationally and internationally to make presentations in support of IAPC programs.
The IAPC has developed a curriculum in Philosophy for Children ages 3-18 that has been translated into 21 languages and is used in over 43 countries around the world. The IAPC provides a variety of services to prepare teachers to facilitate philosophical inquiry with their students. IAPC prepares professors of philosophy and graduate students with strong backgrounds in philosophy to become adept in teaching philosophy at the elementary at the elementary and high school level, as well as in coordinating graduate programs specializing in philosophy for children throughout the world. The Institute offers two international seminars each summer for the purpose of preparing educators, educational ministers, and philosophers in the community of inquiry approach developed by the Philosophy for Children Institute. The Institute also acts as a consultant to universities in the United States and abroad interested in introducing children's philosophy into the preparation of the future teachers of the country.
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Post-Graduate Visiting Scholar Program in Philosophy for Children
The IAPC has developed a Visiting Scholar Program for philosophers and educators from the U.S. and abroad who wish to study elementary school philosophy with the intent of introducing the curriculum and the methodology into the educational structures of their own country. Scholars may visit for a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of one year. The purpose of this program is to assure visiting scholars attendance at Philosophy for Children seminars, access to Philosophy for Children research, visits to elementary schools using philosophy and library privileges, shared office space and University affiliation during their time at the IAPC. Post-doctoral applications are particularly welcome, but holders of other degrees are encouraged to apply.
http://www.montclair.edu/iapc/
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