This exercise attempts to give students the opportunity to formulate rules that they themselves would choose to be governed by. It explores the rules that they, as a community, would agree upon. And it tries to implement these rules in the classroom setting so as to test their viability in the crucible of real-world experience. … One Rule Game
Materials Needed: Notecards Pens/Pencils The Game: This is a very simple game that is meant to encourage students to feel empathy—or at least, think about feeling empathy—for their fellow students. And if empathy has any role in moral development (as we think it does), then this exercise, although very simple, is a useful one. Step … How Did You Feel? Exercise
One of the important things that the study of philosophy teaches us is how to examine the world from a variety of different perspectives. When we read and study the writings of classic and contemporary philosophers, we are given new ways of looking at the world that broaden our own perspectives on reality. Consequently, it’s … Different Perspectives Game
What is Difference? Difference is an easy-to-learn, fast-to-play, negotiation game that is designed to promote philosophical discussion about inequity both inside and outside of the game. Set-up Divide the class into groups of exactly 3 students each. Each group consists of a green, purple, and yellow player. Each group is given player cards at random … Difference: A Philosophy Game
What is an allegory? Explain to the students that an allegory is a kind of story in which what happens is being compared to something else that is similar and unstated. Activity Read the Allegory of the Cave together. Ask: What do you think the Allegory of the Cave is being compared with? Then break … The Allegory of the Cave (in Plato’s Republic)
The Matrix In the film, the humans trapped in the Matrix are like the people in Plato’s cave. They see only what the machines want them to see, but they believe they see reality as it really is. They accept what their senses tell them as all that exists. Neo suspects that this is all … The Matrix & The Experience Machine
Four Ethical Dilemmas Lying: A girl is taken to a carnival by her dad. It is her tenth birthday and he’s promised her that she can choose any 5 rides. But as they approach the gate, he discovers that he’s forgotten his wallet. This is the last day of the carnival and it’s too far … Ethical Dilemmas
This activity begins by grouping students into groups of three or four. Each student is handed a blank index card and each group is handed an index card on which is written one of the following questions: Do you have to see, hear, or touch something in order to believe it exists? Are you responsible … Big Questions and How We Answer Them
Introduction: George Saunders’ “Escape from Spiderhead” is a dystopian short story that portrays a controlled pharmacological environment in which scientists experimentally manipulate the desires and emotions of human subjects. Students are confronted with the question of whether the chemical cocktails produced by our brains grant greater freedom than Spiderhead. Sanders’ riveting story is thought-provoking and … Escape from Spiderhead
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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