What Students Gain From Learning Ethics in School
Published On: May 24, 2019Excerpt: The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School is devoted solely to teaching ethics to primary and secondary school students.
Read the full article on KQED News Mind/Shift
Saigon International School Professional Development Conference
Published On: April 29, 2019Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone gave the keynote address at the Saigon International School's Professional Development Conference on November 16, 2018. She discussed questions and philosophical inquiry.
Read the full article on Saigon Teacher Professional Development Conference Website
Philosophy for Children: Reclaiming the Discipline Outside of Higher Education
Published On: April 19, 2019Excerpt: Colorado College concluded this year’s Philosophy Colloquium Talks with a lecture from Dr. Jana Mohr Lone on March 28.
Read the full article on The Catalyst
UW Creates Certificate of Mastery in Philosophy for Children
Published On: April 12, 2019Excerpt: The Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington is now offering a Certificate of Mastery in Philosophy for Children.
Read the full article on Daily Nous
How to win at civil debate
Published On: April 10, 2019Excerpt: For an American teenager today, there are precious few examples of positive, collaborative civil discourse in online media or the entertainment industry. But for motivated high school students in Seattle, there’s the High School Ethics Bowl, a six-year-old competition sponsored by the University of Washington’s Center for Philosophy for Children.
Read the full article on Experience Magazine
Alone Together: Sound Effect, Episode 171
Published On: March 5, 2019Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone takes a deeper look at Frog and Toad, and why Frog wanted to be alone, on the podcast Sound Effect.
Read the full article on KNKX Sound Effect
CONGRATULATIONS! State championship for Chief Sealth International High School Ethics Bowl Team
Published On: February 12, 2019Excerpt: Congratulations to the Chief Sealth International High School Ethics Bowl Team, which just won the state championship! Their proud coach, social-studies teacher Matthew Baudhuin, sent the news and photos.
In Polarized Times, the Ethics Bowl Embraces the Gray Areas
Published On: March 10, 2018Excerpt: There are times in life when the answers aren't black and white. Your friend is getting married, and asks you to be best man--but you don't approve of his fiancee. Should you speak up about your reservations? Should you be quiet and agree to be best man?
Read the full article on KNKX
Playdough to Plato
Published On: March 3, 2018Excerpt: The center-guided classroom talks are tinged with favors of Descartes, Confucious and Kant and have recently covered topics such as race, human rights and fairness. “Because they are so new to the world,” says Lone, “children really wonder a lot. Often they’re asking what we think of as philosophical questions without the context of these thousands of-years-old conversations.” - page 20
Read the full article on UW Columns
No Narrow Thing podcast – Episode 10 Philosophy for Children with Jana Mohr Lone
Published On: January 3, 2018Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone, director and founder of University of Washington's Center for Philosophy for Children and founding president of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO) joins Dustyn and Whitney to discuss philosophy for children: what does philosophical education for children look like? What would a world be like where everyone was a little more philosophical? How do you navigate difficult topics like violence and religion with children?
Read the full article on No Narrow Thing
Can we (Or Should We) Teach Children Philosophy? with Jana Mohr Lone
Published On: December 29, 2017Excerpt: The questions we tackle today are: “Do you have to be a grownup to study those questions? Can kids think about them? Should kids think about them?” Plug in and listen as we discuss how teaching kids philosophy could impact the entire world.
Read the full article on Paul Gibbons
Playdoh’s Republic: Children as Natural Philosophers
Published On: December 19, 2017Excerpt: Why were we born? Is life just a dream? What makes something wrong or right? Children often ask questions like these — sometimes to the exasperation of their parents. But children really want to know why the world is the way it is. And they want to know how we know. Maybe that's because they're open, curious and inquisitive — they're natural philosophers. In this episode of IDEAS, the Big Questions — and even some attempted answers.
Read the full article on CBC Radio Ideas with Paul Kennedy
Philosophy Bakes Bread Radio Show — Philosophy for Children
Published On: April 17, 2017Excerpt: In this thirteenth episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, co-hosts Dr. Anthony Cashio and Dr. Eric Thomas Weber interview Dr. Jana Mohr Lone of the University of Washington on the topic of philosophy for children.
Read the full article on Philosophy Bakes Bread
Why Not Ask Why?: Fostering Philosophical Questions in the Young
Published On: April 7, 2017Excerpt: By and large, today philosophy is not part of the standard American educational curriculum. It is generally regarded as one item in a long list of specialized academic disciplines which intellectually-minded people pursue, but which are of limited interest to the non-specialist.
Read the full article on Crossroads Cultural Center, New York City
How Do We Talk to Our Kids about Political Issues that are Stressing Us Out?
Published On: April 1, 2017Excerpt: No matter where we fall on the issues, our kids are bound to pick up on our agitation. How can we alleviate their fears while still being truthful? And just how upfront should we be? Local experts offer some guidelines for parents to help our children understand the world and offer some reassurance.
Read the full article on Seattle's Child
Lt. Governor Dives into Complex Issues with High School Ethics Bowl Champions
Published On: March 16, 2017Excerpt: All topics were fair game for debate on Thursday, when Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib met with Washington’s 2017 High School Ethics Bowl champions. Students from first-place finisher Seattle Academy, as well as award winners Chief Sealth High School and Rainier Beach High School, stopped by the lieutenant governor’s office to debate various ethical perspectives on a multitude of complicated subjects.
Teach Kids Philosophy, It Makes Them Better at Math
Published On: January 3, 2017Excerpt: The nature of truth. Theories of fairness. The essence of bullying. These are big, weighty subjects, and apparently 9- and 10-year-olds just eat them up. As in, according to a Quartz piece by Jenny Anderson, placing grade-schoolers in weekly philosophical discussions has surprising effects on their academic performance.
Read the full article on New York Magazine
UW philosophers explore racial inequity with young students who are living it
Published On:Excerpt: A long-running philosophers in schools program has focused on racial inequity and social justice issues at a campus with clear divisions between race and class.
Read the full article on The Seattle Times
A grade-school philosophy teacher shares the most profound things kids have ever said
Published On: September 27, 2016Excerpt: As a philosophy teacher to grade-school students, Jana Mohr Lone is no stranger to getting her mind blown.
Read the full article on Business Insider
Schools Aren’t Teaching the Most Important Subject for Kids
Published On: August 27, 2016Excerpt: Not too long ago, Jana Mohr Lone was at an education workshop in her hometown of Seattle when someone gave her a note.
Read the full article on Business Insider
Schools are Finally Starting to Teach Kids Philosophy
Published On: March 10, 2016Excerpt: Schools are generally taught to teach kids what to think, but what if they taught them how to think instead?
Read the full article on Tech Insider
The Philosophical Child
Published On: February 19, 2016Excerpt: From time to time, we all ponder life’s most difficult questions. “Is there a god?” “How can I live a good life?” “What happens when you die?”
Read the full article on New Books Network
Dear Moms & Dads: Stop Underestimating Your Children
Published On: November 13, 2015Excerpt: The room was filled with parents eager to hear what Dr. Jana Lone, director for the Center for Philosophy for Children, had to say about understanding their philosophical children.
Read the full article on The Whole U
Do-It-Yourself
Published On: September 26, 2015Excerpt: Sound Effect is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by KPLU's Gabriel Spitzer.
Read the full article on KNKX
Schools are starting to teach kids philosophy – and it’s completely changing the way students think
Published On: July 31, 2015Excerpt: America may be great at many things, but education isn't one of them. It's here that standardized testing creeps behind students like a shadow and where fun experiments take a back seat to rote memorization.
Read the full article on TECH Insider
Someone Saved My Life: Sound Effect, Episode 28
Published On: July 18, 2015Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone is the Director of the University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children. She explains to Gabriel Spitzer how the book “Four Feet, Two Sandals” reveals the dilemmas of saving lives and poses questions about how we value one another.
Read the full article on KNKX
How you talk to children about death – life’s final act
Published On: June 13, 2015Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone discusses engaging children in conversations about death on KPLU's Sound Effect
Read the full article on KNKX
12 Best Philosophical Picture Books for Kids – And How to Get the Most Out of Them
Published On: March 27, 2015Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone list her 12 favorite picture books for inspiring philosophical conversation with children. Listening to stories being read aloud, an experience many of us had when we were children, is conducive to creating an open and relaxed atmosphere for thinking about deep and fundamental questions.
Read the full article on patheos.com
Innovators Among Us: Preparing Students for Life after Graduation
Published On: May 13, 2014Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone and Sara Goering help UW students think deeply, from multiple perspectives, and with an open-minded spirit of inquiry. In turn, their UW students help K-12 children do the same.
Read the full article on Provost Report Series on Trends and Issues
Ethics Takes Center Stage at Competition
Published On: March 19, 2014Excerpt: Should college athletes be paid? To what extent should politicians’ sexual indiscretions be forgiven? Is it ethical to arm rebels in countries where we're not at war? These sorts of ethical questions have no easy answers, as high school students discovered at the first annual Washington State High School Ethics Bowl, held on the University of Washington campus in February.
Read the full article on UW Perspectives
UW philosophers help small children ponder life’s big questions
Published On: March 13, 2014Excerpt: Most people think of philosophy as a subject for college, not kindergarten. But University of Washington philosopher Jana Mohr Lone believes young children benefit just as much from discussing big questions about life.
Read the full article on Seattle Times
At Seattle Elementary, Philosopher Helps Kids Explore The ‘Why’ Questions
Published On: February 18, 2014Excerpt: Students at Seattle's John Muir Elementary School are trying to answer life's big questions. Along with reading and math, the school's curriculum includes philosophy.
Read the full article on KNKX
High-School Ethics Bowl a First for Washington State
Published On: February 1, 2014Excerpt: In the first Washington State High School Ethics Bowl, 100 students spent their Saturday discussing topics from the legalization of marijuana to forgiving political sex scandals to supporting research on genetically engineered meat.
Read the full article on Seattle Times
Someone You Should Know: Jana Mohr Lone
Published On: November 24, 2013Excerpt: Jana Mohr Lone doesn't have answers for kids, just many questions. As the founder and director of the University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children, she is committed to bring philosophy into young people's lives.
Read the full article on ParentMap
Experts: ‘Selfie syndrome’ not necessarily narcissistic
Published On: October 23, 2013Excerpt: A lot of young people seem to be obsessed with taking pictures of themselves and posting it to Instagram and Facebook. But some experts say, it doesn't mean they're narcissistic or vain - in fact, it's perfectly normal.
Read the full article on KOMO News
Are the humanities really in decline?
Published On: July 14, 2013Excerpt: The Heart of the Matter” attempts to further the conversation about the importance of humanities. The report “calls on parents, teachers, scholars, the media and the public at-large to join a cohesive and constructive national discussion of these issues.” We spoke with several academics in an attempt to do just that.
Read the full article on Metro New York
SheSource Online Braintrust
Published On: July 1, 2013Excerpt: SheSource is an online braintrust of female experts on diverse topics designed to serve journalists, producers and bookers who need female guests and sources.
Read the full article on SheSource
Encouraging critical thinking in K-12 schools
Published On: May 30, 2013Excerpt: Are thoughts real? When professor Jana Mohr Lone's four-year-old son started asking such questions, it prompted her to consider how critical thinking and dialogical skills are taught to young children.
Read the full article on UW Front Porch
Philosophy and Children: The Art of Questioning
Published On: May 11, 2013Excerpt: Almost all very young children are alive with questions; they seem to naturally recognize that this is the way to investigate and understand the world. At some point, however, most children absorb the message that questions are often not particularly welcome. They learn that having a question means that there is something they should have already grasped but have not.
Read the full article on ParentMap
Raising a Philosophical Child
Published On: January 24, 2013Excerpt: Children grow up full of questions and wrestle with deep, thoughtful issues—What does it mean to be good? Why do people die? Who am I? That's natural, says Jana Mohr Lone, director of the UW's Center for Philosophy for Children and faculty at the University of Washington's Department of Philosophy, because to mature emotionally, kids must develop their desire and ability to think abstractly about themselves and their experiences. But as parents, how do we answer those questions?
Read the full article on Seattle Town Hall