Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects:
The case of Ethnic Studies at Kailua High School
Amber Strong Makaiau
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
amakaiau@hawaii.edu
Abstract
This article examines the impact of using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school
subjects (Lewis & Sutcliffe 2017) through the case study of Ethnic Studies at Kailua
High School. Conducted in a multicultural setting, the participants in the study are 89
high school students and data comes from their course assignments. A constructivist
approach to grounded theory methods is used to analyse data. Findings reveal how two
facets of the philosopher’s pedagogy helped engage students and positively impact
their personal and academic development. They are: (1) the seven-part inquiry process
and (2) the community of inquiry. In the article’s conclusion, using the philosopher’spedagogy to teach Ethnic Studies is presented as an important means for developing
student engagement and carrying out the aims of multicultural, culturally responsive,and social justice approaches to schooling.

Key words
community of inquiry, culturally responsive teaching, ethnic studies, multicultural
education, Philosophy for Children, social justice education

Introduction
In 2004, the National Academies’ Committee on Increasing High School Students’
Engagement and Motivation to Learn published a comprehensive study regarding thestate of the American public high school. They reported,
The instruction typical of most urban high schools nevertheless fails to engage
students cognitively, emotionally and behaviorally … most subject matter appears
disconnected and unrelated to students’ lives outside of school. Students spend
much of their time passively listening to lectures or doing repetitive, formulaic

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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)tasks. Instruction and tasks are commonly very easy or impossibly difficult for
many students, and getting right answers is stressed over understanding.
(National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine 2004, p. 213)
As a result of this type of instruction, the report concluded, ‘it is common [that] fewer
than half of the ninth graders who enter [American public schools] leave with a highschool diploma’ (p. 2).
At the time that this study was published, I was entering my fourth year as aprofessional educator and I was experimenting with using Philosophy for Children(P4C) to teach social studies at a small public high school in the state of Hawai‘i.
Determined to find solutions to many of the issues outlined in the report above, I was
deeply concerned about questions related to equity and engagement. I wondered: In thecontext of the American public education system, what might an engaging school orengaging classroom look like? How can American public high school teachers
successfully engage all of their students in meaningful ways? Could the activity ofphilosophy have a positive impact on student engagement in the American public highschool setting?
In this article I show how the development of a ‘philosopher’s pedagogy’ (Makaiau &Miller 2012, p. 8) helped me find possible answers to these questions, and I describe
how I used this approach to teaching and learning to create an innovative high school
Ethnic Studies course. I also report on the formal study I conducted to examine theimpact of the philosopher’s pedagogy on student learning in Ethnic Studies (Makaiau2010). This includes the study’s findings, which reveal how two facets of thephilosopher’s pedagogy helped to engage students and positively impact their personal
and academic development. They are: (1) the seven-part inquiry process and (2) thecommunity of inquiry. In the article’s conclusion, I expound on the ways in which thephilosopher’s pedagogy can be used to teach school subjects like Ethnic Studies, andwhy this approach is an important means for developing student engagement andcarrying out the aims of multicultural, culturally responsive and social justiceapproaches to schooling.

The philosopher’s pedagogy
The ‘philosopher’s pedagogy’ (Makaiau 2010, pp. 55-62; Makaiau & Miller 2012, p. 8) is
the term I use to describe both the theoretical and practical dimensions of using
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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)philosophy to teach ‘school subjects’ (Lewis & Sutcliffe 2017, pp. 202-203). It wasdeveloped out of my own biographical journey as a professional educator, and it isdeeply embedded in my positionality as a qualitative researcher who is interested inlearning more about its impact. Its origins lay in the progressive writings of John
Dewey, the activities outlined in Matthew Lipman’s early P4C program, and Thomas
Jackson’s philosophy for children Hawai‘i (p4cHI).
Dewey (1916) helped to articulate what I see as an essential connection between
education and philosophy:
If we are willing to conceive education as the process of forming fundamental
dispositions, intellectual and emotional, toward nature and fellow men,philosophy may even be defined as the general theory of education. (p. 328)
In an effort to bring Dewey’s theory to life, Lipman created P4C in the 1970s. At thetime, he wanted to adapt the academic discipline of philosophy to ‘enlist the social
impulses of the child by creating classroom communities of inquiry’ (Lipman 1988, p.
110) from kindergarten to 12th grade. P4C, he explained, ‘will cease to treat children as
passive blotters whose education consists merely of learning of inert data and will
instead stimulate their capacity to think’ (Lipman 1988, p. 110). By the mid-1980s P4C
had gained international recognition as a growing movement in education with several
centres around the world and thousands of individual practitioners. Among thesecentres is the University of Hawai‘i Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in
Education, which is the home of Thomas Jackson’s philosophy for children Hawai‘i(p4cHI).
I met Jackson in 1999. I was a pre-service teacher in the College of Education and I was
searching for examples of actual classroom practices that matched my theoretical beliefs
about education, teaching and learning – beliefs based on education for democracy(Dewey 1916; Adams, Bell & Griffin 2007) and social justice (Freire 1970; Nieto 1996;
Oakes & Lipton 1999), through culturally relevant (Gay 2000; Castagno & Brayboy 2008),
learner-centered (Dewey 1897, 1938; Schiro 2008), and social constructivist (Vygotsky1978) approaches. As I sat in Jackson’s Introduction to Philosophy for Children course, I
saw first-hand how the key strategies of p4cHI (Jackson 1984, 2001, 2012) could bring allof these theories to life and I began to envision how accessible and useful philosophy
could be in the context of the mainstream public high school classroom that I wasteaching in. This is when I started experimenting with, reflecting on, and modifying

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Jackson’s p4cHI strategies to develop what Chad Miller and I now refer to as thephilosopher’s pedagogy.
Recently highlighted in a review of the ‘number of ways in which Matthew Lipman and
Ann Margret Sharp’s original’ P4C program has ‘been adapted to respond to thecomplex and sometimes conflicting demands of twenty-first-century education’, Lizzy
Lewis and Roger Sutcliffe (2017) describe the philosopher’s pedagogy by explaining
how it focuses
more on teacher dispositions and skills than on pupil ones (though the strategies
and foci are not, or course, mutually exclusive). It is the espousal of an approach toteaching that certainly sees a place for developing pupils’ own readiness to inquire
philosophically; but it calls for teachers themselves to become more thoughtful,reflective, reasonable and considerate in their own instruction and their dealings
with pupils. (p. 205)
They elaborate that it is ‘probably better not to think of it as a model within the
curriculum but a model for the curriculum, whatever shape the curriculum might take’and they conclude that ‘this idea(l) of philosophical teaching may, in the end, provide
the best model for the advancement of P4C and philosophy in the curriculum, since it
can underpin all of the other models and strategies’ (p. 205).
Described extensively in a number of other articles and book chapters (Makaiau 2010,2013, 2015, 2016, 2017; Makaiau & Miller 2012; Makaiau & Lukey 2013), thephilosopher’s pedagogy is an overall approach to teaching and learning that can beused to incorporate the activity of philosophy into a variety of subject areas (e.g.
History, Geography, Science, English Language Arts, Health, etc.) across grade levels
and age groups. Grounded in a fundamental connection between education andphilosophy, it is defined by a set of six interconnected teacher commitments. While thesix commitments of the philosopher’s pedagogy are unpacked, contextualised andexpanded on in Makaiau and Miller (2012), they can be summarised as follows:
The first is that the teacher must live an examined life. Secondly, the teacher mustsee education as a shared activity between teacher and student. Thirdly, theteacher and students must re-conceptualize the ‘content’ of the discipline as areflection of the interaction between the classroom participant’s beliefs andexperiences and the subject matter being taught. This connects with the fourthcommitment: that the teacher must hold, with Dewey (1916), the view that7

Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)philosophy is ‘the general theory of education.’ Fifth, teachers, and students, must
make philosophy a living classroom practice. And finally, teachers must be willingto challenge contemporary measures for classroom assessment. (Makaiau & Miller
2012, p. 11)
By no means is this a closed set of criteria, instead, the philosopher’s pedagogy is ratherorganic in nature – a work in progress that continues to develop the more I read, teach,research, reflect and participate in professional communities of inquiry.
In the remainder of this article I want to highlight the ways in which the philosopher’spedagogy has helped me engage high school students in the academic discipline ofEthnic Studies. Established in the late 1960s at the height of the American civil rights
movement, the purpose of Ethnic Studies is to provide students with the resources tolearn about the history of all ethnic groups through the words of the people who lived
through those histories. An important site for the activity of philosophy, Ethnic Studies
provides students and teachers with rich opportunities to explore democratic ideals
such as social justice, multiculturalism, self-determination and civic action. In thesection to follow, I describe the history behind my opportunity to experiment withusing the philosopher’s pedagogy to teach Ethnic Studies at a small public high schoolon the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

History of Ethnic Studies at Kailua High School
In 2004, a colleague – Kehau Glassco – and I were commissioned by the Asian/PacificIslander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) at the University of Hawai‘i at
Mānoa to design and teach an Ethnic Studies course for the students of Kailua HighSchool (KHS). In the state of Hawai‘i, public high school students are required to takefour credits of social studies. Out of these four credits, the students must select two halfcredit social studies elective courses. Decisions about what social studies electives areoffered to students are made at the school level. Ethnic Studies is one of the half-creditsocial studies courses that schools can choose to offer to their students.
KHS is a small American public high school located on the windward side of the
Hawaiian Island of Oahu. In general, the students from this school tend to self-identify
with two main communities: Waimanalo and Kailua. Although these two communities
are close in proximity, they do not share a common intermediate or middle school. It is
at KHS that students from the more affluent community of Kailua meet students from8

Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)the more rural community of Waimanalo for the first time. This separation between
students in the two communities creates a unique, and sometimes divisive, culturalmilieu.
One aspect of this cultural context is tension and conflict between the students from thetwo communities. In the minutes from a KHS Parent Community Collaboration Day(October 2004) participants rated as one of the top five challenges facing the school‘communities fighting communities – Kailua vs. Nalo *Waimanalo+ mentality’. This
demonstrates how the socially constructed differences between students from Kailua
and Waimanalo were sometimes used to perpetuate and justify conflict on campus. It
also illustrates why Ethnic Studies was envisioned as an important part of a schoolwide effort to reduce incidents of violence both on campus and within the larger
communities serviced by the school.
Central to the design and implementation of Ethnic Studies at KHS is the philosopher’spedagogy – an overall approach to teaching and learning that guides teachers (via thesix commitments described above) as they work to use p4cHI to incorporate the activityof philosophy into required school disciplines and subjects. p4cHI is defined by aconceptual base and a set of classroom practices. At the core of its conceptual base are
the four pillars of p4cHI: community, inquiry, philosophy and reflection. The fourpillars of p4cHI are fundamental, and function as the theoretical framework from which
all p4cHI activities and assessments are built upon. Among students and teachers, themost popular p4cHI activities from Jackson (2001) are:


Creating Intellectual Safety (p. 460) to make sure that all participants in thecommunity feel like they can ask any question or state any point of view as long as
they are being respectful of everyone in the group.



Making a Community Ball (p. 461) to help mediate turn taking during classroom
dialogue and inquiry.

Using the language of the Good Thinker’s Tool Kit (p. 463) to articulate questions,claims and thinking in general.

Participating in Plain Vanilla (p. 462) discussion-based inquiries that use thefollowing structure: question, vote, inquiry and reflect.



Using Magic Words (p. 461) to support student facilitation during the Plain Vanillainquiries.

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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Reflecting on the Community of Inquiry (p. 464) with a set of evaluation questions to
help measure progress.

In the context of designing and teaching a high school Ethnic Studies course, thephilosopher’s pedagogy was used to support students and teachers as they worked
towards three main goals:(1) Increasing understanding: of the history of ethnic groups in the US, topics related
to race, class, gender and/or sexuality, violence indicators in the schoolcommunity, and the ethnic identity of oneself and others.
(2) Developing skills: including thinking critically and philosophically about Ethnic
Studies concepts, reading and writing, analysis of primary sources, interpersonalcommunication, and personal reflection(3) Increasing empathy: for others, connectedness, inclusiveness, empowerment tomake positive changes in the community, and personal responsibility for resolving
issues of violence
To accomplish these goals, the course curriculum is structured into six major units ofstudy, plus a civic action unit, which requires a community-service project:
Unit One – Citizenship and Participation: an intellectually safe community of inquiryis created, and the concept of civic engagement is introduced.
Unit Two – Contextual Background: a glossary is created by the students, containing
54 terms/events related to Ethnic Studies.
Unit Three – Self‐Concept: students apply the glossary to conduct an inquiry into
their own self‐concept.
Unit Four – Violence in Our Community: students read Chris McKinney’s The Tattoo(or an alternative book), thinking critically about the text through writing andphilosophical discussions.
Unit Five – Struggles for Ideal Democracy: students study historical experiences of
ethnic groups in the US.
In relationship to the findings that resulted from the study described in this article, it isalso important to know that Unit 3 of the course (listed above) was structured using aseven-part philosophical inquiry process (Makaiau 2013). This learner-centered strategy
starts with a philosophically-rich inquiry question, which is generated by the teacher.

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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Then students engage in the inquiry by: (1) questioning, (2) gathering information, (3)organising/analysing/construct a thesis, (4) outlining, (5) writing, (6) presenting, and (7)reflecting. Details about this and other aspects of the course can be found in Makaiau(2010).
The Ethnic Studies course and curriculum was first introduced as an after-school pilot
program in 2005 and then became a part of the school’s regular offering in 2006. Since
then, feedback from the APIYVPC’s research, teacher-initiated action research projects,
collaboration with the Uehiro Academy, and student input have all been used to makecourse improvements. In 2007, KHS’s Principal made Ethnic Studies a required course
for graduation, establishing KHS as the first school in the US to have such arequirement. By 2011 Ethnic Studies at KHS achieved local and national recognition as apromising approach for improving the lives of students.

Research Design
From 2004 to 2007 I developed and conducted a large-scale qualitative case study(Creswell 2007; Patton 2002) to examine the impact of the KHS Ethnic Studies
curriculum on student learning and engagement (Makaiau 2010, 2017). One of my main
research questions was: What does the data tell us about the impact of a high school Ethnic
Studies course that utilises a philosopher’s pedagogy? In addition, I asked a follow-up
question: What components of the philosopher’s pedagogy supported student engagement forall?

ParticipantsStudent participants were selected based on their enrolment in the Ethnic Studies
classes that I taught during the 2004-5, 2005-6 and 2006-7 school years. In the first two
years of the study my class was voluntary, and then in year three, due to the new school
policy, students were required to take Ethnic Studies for graduation. In total, 89 of mystudents agreed to participate in the research project. They were between 14 and 18
years old and included females (49) and males (40). They were heterogeneouslygrouped in regards to their academic ability; the majority qualified for free or reduced

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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)lunch,1 and they mainly identified as Hawaiian/Part-Hawaiian, Japanese or White. To
maintain anonymity, all of the participants in this study were assigned a pseudonym.

Data collection and analysis
My role in this study was as a participant observer.
The participant observer employs multiple and overlapping data collection
strategies: being fully engaged in experiencing the setting (participation) while atthe same time observing and talking with other participants about whatever ishappening. (Patton 2002, pp. 265-266)
This had benefits, such as the close relationships with my student participants, which
elicited authentic responses from my students, but it also had drawbacks, including mydesire for positive findings. In an effort to reduce bias, and to view the course throughmy students’ eyes, I invited them to help me collect the data. They video-recorded oursessions and provided me with copies of their coursework.
Analysis of the data involved the method of constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss1967) and grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin 1998; Charmaz 2005, 2006), which
included employing the expertise of critical friends (Miles & Huberman 1994) – whowere both co-teachers and academics – to decrease researcher bias.

Findings
At the end of the study, two important findings emerged which related to the impact ofa philosopher’s pedagogy on student engagement in a multicultural high school Ethnic
Studies course. Both of the findings can be characterised as methods or practices ofteaching that specifically illustrate how the theoretical dimensions of philosophy can betranslated into a functioning classroom practice that engages students and teachers inschool subjects. They are: (1) The seven-part inquiry process, and (2) The philosophicalcommunity of inquiry.

1Children from households with income at or below certain levels – dependent on the number offamily members – are eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the Hawai‘i State Department of
Education. For example, a family of four making less than $51,708 is eligible for free or reduced-priced
meals.

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)The seven-part inquiry process
After a thorough analysis of the data, it became clear that the seven-part inquiry process(Makaiau 2013) – used to structure philosophical inquiry in Ethnic Studies – engaged
the students in course material and helped them see connections between what they
were learning in school and their lives outside of the classroom. This learner-centeredactivity starts with a philosophically-rich teacher-generated focus question, and isfollowed with student: (1) questioning, (2) gathering of information, (3) organising,analysing, and constructing a thesis, (4) outlining, (5) writing, (6) presenting, and (7)reflecting. In the case of the Ethnic Studies course examined in this study, the focus
question guiding the students’ seven-part inquiry process was: ‘What is my self-conceptfrom the perspective of Ethnic Studies?’ To stimulate their thinking at the onset of theinquiry, the students used a set of previously learned Ethnic Studies terms and concepts
to generate questions about their self-concept. To further explain how the seven-partinquiry process helped to foster student engagement, it is important to look at thestudents’ comments about each step of the inquiry process.
Questioning: In the first step of the inquiry, Ethnic Studies students used a set ofpreviously learned vocabulary words (e.g. values, prejudice, class, bias, ethnicity,
equity) and Jackson’s (2001) Good Thinker’s Tool Kit to stimulate their thinking and to
generate philosophical questions about themselves.2 The analysis of the data revealed
that many of the students’ questions engaged them in thinking about the Ethnic Studies
content in relationship to their own lives and experiences. Some examples of theirquestions are:
Can I assume that if my values change, so will my self-concept? What are the reasons? (9thgrader)What are some of the reasons I use prejudices or epithets to be funny? (9th grader)
What does it mean to be part of the middle class? Do we have more or less authority? (12thgrader)If it is true that I make rude remarks about other people’s biases, then does that imply that I
am a hypocrite? (9th grader)2

For more information about this process see Makaiau (2010, pp. 101-102, 345-347)

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Is it reasonable to assume that for me culture, race and ethnicity are all the same thing?
(12th grader)
What are the reasons my parents don’t treat me and my brother with equity? (9th grader)
Is it reasonable to assume that if I look at myself as a minority that I will be treated likeone? (12th grader)
What does it mean to be Hawaiian? (12th grader)
Is it reasonable to infer that I need to be treated with justice from the way I try to findjustice for others? (9th grader)
What does it mean to be considered a biological race? What if I am dark skinned, andmistaken for an African-American, but I consider myself to be Hawaiian. What does thatmake me? (12th grader)
If it is true that I am not mad about the Japanese internment camps then what does that
imply? (12th grader)
Is it reasonable to assume that my view of men causes me to be sexist? (9th grader)
Is it safe to assume that I have adapted to my community’s culture? If so, can I also be
personally diverse? (12th grader)
What are the reasons I don’t always feel empowered? (9th grader)
When reflecting on his experience with this first step of the inquiry process, one of thestudents commented on the importance of asking personally relevant andphilosophically rich questions like these. He wrote, ‘this hard essay made me think ofquestions I would never have thought about. And with this it gave me a deeper
understanding of who I am’ (12th grader). Further analysis of the data revealed how thephilosophical nature of the students’ questions motivated them to gather informationand seek deeper understandings of the course materials, the world around them, andthemselves.

Information gathering: The data showed that the Ethnic Studies students used threedifferent approaches to answer their questions: introspection, interviewing, andanalysis of primary documents. Many of the students commented about these methods
in their writing. About introspection, a student wrote, ‘by doing this paper I haveintrospected and remembered many events that create my self-concept and only now I
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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)can look even deeper and understand myself better’ (12th grader). Another commented
on the interviewing process:… existing in this world for 14 years and having two to three weeks of discovering my selfconcept was the hardest thing that I have ever done. I have learned that it is not mostly me
who is answering my questions but other people who have watched my actions. I looked
more into perception than I usually do. I had never really gone this deep about figuring my
self-concept out. (9th grader)In this stage of the philosophical inquiry process, the data illustrated how students likethe ninth grader above begin to think intensely about the importance of point of view
and perspective-taking in the construction of new knowledge. It also showed the extent
to which his philosophical questions engaged him to participate in class activities bothin and in out of school contexts.

Organise/analyse/thesis: In step three, the students used the methods of constantcomparison (Glaser & Strauss 1967). They sorted through, organised, and analysed theinformation they had gathered. As the quote below illustrates, new questions emergedat this point in the inquiry.
What makes a person who they are? What identifies a person and makes them anindividual within society? These are questions that an individual has to answer by
analyzing themselves and coming to conclusions based not only on how they see
themselves, but also how others see him or her. Through my own self-analysis, I found thatbeing Japanese, with its cultural and racial ties defines a significant part of who I am.
Facing discrimination both in my past and present helped shape who I am today. I also
found that having a lack of religion has also had a significant impact on how I see myself.
In truth, our identities are made up of millions of factors. There are however certain
elements defined within Ethnic Studies, that play, or have played, the most important andinfluential roles in our lives and our identities. Even though playing clarinet is only ahobby for me, it nonetheless plays a significant role in my identity. (12th grader)
Like this twelfth grader, the analysis of the data revealed how they talked, discussed,
and thought through their thinking with their peers. Through this level of engagement
they developed new ideas, connections, and became motivated to write.

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Outline and write: All of the Ethnic Studies students who participated in this study
culminated their thinking in the seven-part inquiry process by outlining and writing an‘identity narrative’ (Makaiau 2010, p. 106). By this stage of the inquiry, the analysis of
the data revealed that the students were both excited to draw conclusions in writing,but as the student below points out, they were also aware that their thinking had thepotential for further development.
This investigation into myself has started off with me saying, ‘I don’t know who I reallyam’. But now my understanding has evolved to a point where I believe that I may
understand my self-concept. Well, just enough to write this essay about it. After I went
through deep self-thinking and tons of interviews, I have come up with the things thatmake up my self-concept. (9th grader)
Proud of the writing they produced, the students also demonstrated engagement in thenext step of the inquiry process, which included students reading their identity
narratives out loud in our community of inquiry.

Present: In relationship to their presentations, the analysis of the data uncovered how
students engaged with one another in supportive and critical ways. Through active
listening they gave comments and asked meaningful questions. One of the students
shared about this experience.
I was asked [by one of my classmates] if I did anything based on my home-culture and I
said no. This person then asked me where my family emigrated from and I said that I haveno idea. Well, this example may not have told much, but for me it seemed really weird toanswer all these questions without even knowing the answer and I believe that if I foundout maybe I could try doing things based on my home-culture. (10th grader)
It is clear from this student’s quote that they were engaged in their learning as theylistened, questioned, and thought out loud with one another. They expressed deep
emotions, made connections with their peers, and described a change in the way they
see the world.

Reflect: In the last step of the philosophical inquiry process the data demonstrated how
the students reflected on their experience. They wrote about what worked well, what

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)they learned, and what they would want to change if they went through thephilosophical inquiry experience again. One student wrote,
It is definitely an interesting class … the idea of identity and self-concept … These
concepts are actually proving to be meaningful in my life, because they are basically what I
have been living by, without ever realizing it until now. My race/ethnicity, my values ofdiversity, and being a local boy in Hawai‘i have shaped my self-concept. In turn my selfconcept has shaped my life. (12th grader)
In addition to having a meaningful learning experience in class, where, as one student
put it, ‘we got to really think about things that I have always wondered about’, many of
the students were compelled to use what they learned to make positive changes in theirlives outside of school.
… this lesson in Ethnic Studies [the seven-part philosophical inquiry process] has reallymade me step back, look at my life and realize who I truly am and not be ashamed of that. I
have learned not to be someone I’m not, and take pride in where I’m from. I also learned to
be aware of other peoples’ self-concept and not be so judgmental of other people because I do
not know what has happened in their life that made them the way they are today. I will use
what I have learned here to maybe help my friends figure out their self-concepts’ andmaybe this would end a lot of problems we have. I will also try and go out … to better mycommunity … (12th grader)
Not only does this quote illustrate how the seven-part inquiry process engaged Dayton
in school, but it also shows how it contributed to his active engagement in civic life.
In summary, this final quote from Gina helps to express the overall impact of theseven-part philosophical inquiry process in the context of Ethnic Studies:
I have learned a lot about myself and to be proud about the person I am by going throughthis [seven-step inquiry] process. I think that if I show that I’m proud of whom I am andmy ethnic background then everyone will start to feel the same. Hopefully if everyone looks
back to their history of where they come from, they will be more respectful of who they are
and where they’re from. When people learn more about each other, it might decrease racismin the world and help better everyone’s future. That means less wars and hatred amongst
each other.
This comment is particularly interesting as it helps to reveal the tremendous impact thata philosopher’s pedagogy can have on engaging students in meaningful ways with17

Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)school subjects. In traditional forms of schooling (like those referenced in the National
Research National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine’s 2004 report)
students sometimes come to see social studies as the rote memorisation of historicalnames, dates, and past events – far removed from the study of oneself. As it isillustrated in this quote, Gina’s experience left her with an alternative conclusion. Hercomment expresses how the philosopher’s pedagogy and the seven-part inquiry
process engaged her in seeing how the understanding of others is inherently linked toself-understanding and positive social change.

A philosophical community of inquiry
The second major theme to come out of the analysis of the data is the role that thephilosophical community of inquiry played in engaging students. In addition to theseven-part inquiry process, the creation of an ‘intellectually safe community of inquiry’(Jackson 2001, p. 460) was used to frame both the overall structure of the course and theinteractions between teachers and students on a daily basis. This community of inquiry
was established on the very first day of class. From then on, p4cHI’s conceptual
framework (community, inquiry, philosophy and reflection) and hallmark strategies(intellectual safety, the community ball, the Good Thinker’s Tool Kit, Plain Vanillainquiries, and evaluation questions) were used to cultivate and nurture a collaborative
civic space (Makaiau 2015) throughout the duration of the course.
In Rick’s identity narrative he wrote about the overall impact of this type of
intellectually safe philosophical community of inquiry:
In my ethnic studies class [the other students in my class are] helping me define who I am.
I want to know more about my grandparents and how they influenced my life. I know thatmy grandfather & father were in the military. I am in JROTC [Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps]; I want to know if their background will have an impact on my decision
whether or not to join the military. I also want to know [whether] my home culture makes
me who I am.
In an effort to answer his questions, Rick, like many of the other students in the class,believed that the feedback from his classmates was important in his quest for selfdiscovery, and his interaction with them motivated him to learn.

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Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Christian was another student who referred to the ways in which the community ofinquiry engaged him and challenged him to think about himself in new ways:
In the beginning of this Ethnic Studies class, it was one of the first times I became aware ofwhat it feels like to be discriminated against. We were going around the circle talking
about ethnicity and one of my classmates said to me, ‘I thought you were Asian’. Thisbothered me because he assumed that I was just Asian when in my own mind I was
thinking of myself as Hawaiian. Right at that moment I realized it hurts to bediscriminated against by other people. I understand his mistake because other people might
think I’m just Asian by the way I look, but what they don’t know is that I have other ethnic
backgrounds. Other than being Chinese and Filipino I’m also Hawaiian and Portuguese.
My self-concept is more diverse than others might think.
As this quote illustrates, the community of inquiry awakened Christian to thecomplexity of the topics being discussed in Ethnic Studies. Suddenly aware of theassumptions that his peers were making about him, Christian was able to use the safety
established in his classroom community of inquiry to enter into a dialogue with hisclassmates in a critical and questioning way. He confidently started this dialogue by
asking, ‘Who defines who we are? Ourselves? Others?’ Social interactions like this,illustrate the important role that intellectual safety can play in engaging young
philosophers in higher levels of critical reflection.

Reflection on the community of inquiry
Based on the analysis of the data, it is clear that the process of reflection was alsoessential to the success of the community of inquiry. Along with the reflection thatstudents engaged in during the seven-part inquiry process, additional reflective
questions and activities within the classroom community of inquiry engaged students
in thinking about their own thinking, looking back and making sense of theirexperiences in the course, and sharing their thoughts in dialogue with their peers. As aresult of these reflections a number of the students became open to applying the course
material to self-improvement. Here is an example from Lani:
By self-reflecting I noticed that I say people shouldn’t judge people, but here I am
judging people. Another example that shows I contradict myself is when I say that I
am diverse but then that I am also prejudice towards other ethnicities. I think thatme, myself makes me prejudice. Maybe If I hung out with those certain ethnicities
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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)and got to know them better, then I wouldn’t be judgmental towards them. I thinkthat I have grown a lot through this investigation.
Lani nicely summarises the findings that emerged from the analysis of the data as awhole. Not only does her reflection show the depth of her personal growth, but it also
provides evidence that the philosopher’s pedagogy will have a longstanding andpositive influence on her learning. Through meaningful engagement with the course
material, Lani was able to make a connection between what she was learning about inEthnic Studies to her life beyond the school day.
In conclusion, the findings from this study describe the impact of the philosopher’spedagogy on student learning in the context of a high school Ethnic Studies course. The
student voices make it clear that they were engaged and motivated to make meaningfulconnections between the Ethnic Studies content and their lives beyond classroom. The
students used the discipline of philosophy ‘to systematically develop reason and good
judgment’ (Jackson 2012) as they learned more about themselves and about others. As aresult they developed increased tolerance of their diverse peers.

Discussion
The results from this study demonstrate how the activity of philosophy – as it is definedand framed by the philosopher’s pedagogy – can be used to effectively teach andengage adolescent students in American public high school subjects such as Ethnic
Studies. This is directly in line with the recommendations given at the end of the
National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine (2004) report, which isreferenced at the beginning of this article,
a focus on engagement [which] calls attention to the connection between a learnerand the social context in which learning takes place … promotes a sense of
belonging by personalizing instruction, showing an interest in students’ lives, andcreating a supportive, caring social environment. (p. 3)
As the analysis of the data revealed, the philosopher’s pedagogy supported this type ofstudent engagement; it cultivated in students a critical stance towards their academic
coursework, personal reflection, and in some cases, informed action within the schoolcommunity. In particular, the greatest areas of positive growth were seen around the20

Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)students’ attitudes towards discrimination, justice, equity, prejudice, racism andviolence.
Nelson and Pang (2006) write,
The dual focus, study of the human condition and examination of controversy,
makes social studies [and in this case Ethnic Studies] the ideal location for the
study of racism and prejudice. Social studies, in its best forms, uses ideas andinformation from a variety of disciplines to understand and evaluate conceptionsof race and ethnicity. (p. 125)As the evidence suggests, students in Ethnic Studies at KHS took these issues seriously
as they questioned, critically analysed course materials, dialogued, drew conclusions,and made changes in their thinking about themselves and the world. Banks (1997b)
writes that when teachers keep these aims in mind they,change the basic assumptions of the curriculum and enable students to viewconcepts, issues, themes and problems from several ethnic perspectives and pointsof view … [it] requires students to make decisions and take actions related to theconcept, issue or problem they have studied. (p. 24)
This was the case in Ethnic Studies at KHS. Students reported changing the way they
related to others, challenging social norms by speaking out, and engaging in activities tostop violence both on and off our school’s campus.
The best example of this was Dayton, who helped to create a ‘Safe Schools Task Force’.
This task force was comprised of a group of students who came together to work on
facilitating school-based activities related to violence reduction and awareness about
causes of violence in the students’ communities. Their activities included: organising an
orientation day for incoming students, arranging a ‘Movie and a Message’ night, andworking with adults on campus to think about innovative ways to create a morepositive school culture. Other students took less formal, but equally important
approaches to reducing violence on campus like informing teachers when and where afight was going to occur, and asking for peer mediation to resolve personal conflicts
they were having with other students on campus. A true embodiment of the goals set
forth by multicultural education advocates (Banks 1996, 1997a, 1997b, 2002, 2006; Nieto
1996), the culturally responsive schooling movement (Gay, 2000; Castagno & Brayboy2008), and social justice educators (Dewey 1916; Freire 1970; Nieto 1996; Oakes & Lipton
1999; Adams, Bell & Griffin 2007) – the KHS Ethnic Studies curriculum provides a21

Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)valuable example of how the activity of philosophy can not only engage all high school
students in course curriculum, but also move them towards engaging in positive socialchange.3
In sum, the philosopher’s pedagogy in the context of a high school Ethnic Studies
course is highly successful because it engages students and teachers in the developmentof: (1) respectful and ethical civic relationships, (2) shifts in the distribution of power
and access to multiple perspectives, and (3) dialogue, deliberation, inquiry, and action(Makaiau 2017).

Strengths, limitations and directions for future research
In this article I have offered concrete examples of the impact of a philosopher’spedagogy on student learning in a mainstream US high school Ethnic Studies course.
The results from the study provide a window into the ways in which philosophy –when conceptualised as an activity, rather than a school subject itself – can be used toteach school subjects (Lewis & Sutcliffe 2017), engage students, and possibly promotesocial justice. The unique contribution of this research is that it elaborates on two
methods or practices of teaching that specifically illustrate how the theoreticaldimensions of philosophy can be translated into a functioning classroom practice thatengages students and teachers in a core American public school discipline like social
studies. It is a strong case that adds to the scholarship of previous researchers whoquestioned practitioners’ abilities to incorporate P4C into the pre-set school curriculums(Haynes 2007). Bound by a ‘snapshot’ (Makaiau 2010, p. 37) methodology, this study islimited because it does not examine whether or not p4cHI had a lasting impact on
students in their lives beyond the classroom. Additionally, the study was done by ateacher-researcher whose students’ comments might reflect their desire to please her.
Longitudinal research by an external evaluator in this area is needed.

Conclusion

3

See Makaiau’s (in press) Philosophy for children Hawai‘i: A culturally responsive pedagogy for social justiceeducation for a more detailed description of how the philosopher’s pedagogy is a multicultural andculturally responsive approach that promotes social justice.

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Using a philosopher’s pedagogy to teach school subjects

Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4(1)Philosophy for Children (P4C) started as an idea for the ‘future revision of education’(Lipman 2008, p. 53). Today it is a thriving catalyst for school reform in a number ofcountries all over the world. The Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in
Education at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is a vital and growing part of thisrevolution because it supports students, teachers and researchers who wish toexperiment with the activity of philosophy as a possible means for engaging all students
in school subjects and promoting social justice.
Dewey (1916) wrote,
As a society becomes more enlightened, it realizes that it is responsible not totransmit and conserve the whole of its existing achievements, but only such as
make for a better future society. The school is its chief agency for theaccomplishment of this end. (p. 20)
From this standpoint, teaching is a political act and educators have the power topromote a more socially just society through the curriculum, pedagogies, andinstitutional structures that they develop and maintain. This is social justice education –‘full and equal participation of all groups in a [school] … [through educational practices
that are] democratic and participatory, inclusive and affirming of human agency andhuman capacities for working collaboratively to create change’ (Adams, Bell & Griffin
2007, pp. 1-2). As the voices of the students in this article indicate, the philosopher’spedagogy supports the development of a school culture that is characterised byinclusivity and active participation by all members of the school community. It is a
general approach to schooling that focuses on building relationships, learning how tothink across contexts, and making connections between the content we study and whatmatters to us in our lives.

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