In 1991 I enrolled as a graduate student in the Philosophy Department at the University of Hawai‘i.  Philosophy graduate school changed me.  Some of these changes were obvious.  I grew my hair long and started walking around without any shoes.  But some of these changes were more subtle.  I became a better, less sloppy, and more careful thinker. Continue reading

Drawing from his many years of experience, p4cHI founder Dr. Thomas Jackson (Dr. J) shares some of his most memorable moments and significant realizations.  These stories provide us with a vibrant and oftentimes inspirational perspective on where p4cHI has come from, what it is, and, indeed, on what it could be. Why didn't the Tooth Fairy, a First Grader wonders, take my tooth?  In this week's story Dr. J marvels at the imagination of children as they deliberate this vexing question. Continue reading

"I remember this," a veteran teacher once whispered to me as we sat through a rather tedious presentation of the latest and greatest best educational practice.  "We did this 30 years ago." If you study the history of education in the United States, you'll notice a series of pendulum swings.  Educational policy and practices seemingly go too far in one direction and then society reacts and the pendulum wildly swings too far in the other direction.  We are, it oftentimes seems, a society that is drawn to the extreme poles of action/reaction and either/or. Continue reading

In this video post, our group will continue their demonstration of the basic, "Plain Vanilla" method by showing you Steps 2 & 3.  In Step 2 the students generate questions for discussions.  Then, in Step 3, they select one of these questions for discussion. The filming of these videos was done by UH Uehiro Academy (the home of p4cHI) intern Ryan Roberts.  Ryan would come in early Saturday morning, download video, and prepare for the day's filming while I went and collected the students.  We would usually film for about an hour and a half and would try to shoot 2 or 3 videos in a day. Continue reading

Drawing from his many years of experience, p4cHI founder Dr. Thomas Jackson (Dr. J) shares some of his most memorable moments and significant realizations. These stories provide us with a vibrant and oftentimes inspirational perspective on where p4cHI has come from, what it is, and, indeed, on what it could be. What can one do to deal with scary ideas like monsters under the bed and divorce? In this story Dr. J tells us about the thoughts of a class of Kindergarten students. Continue reading

Drawing from his many years of experience, p4cHI founder Dr. Thomas Jackson (Dr. J) shares some of his most memorable moments and significant realizations.  These stories provide us with a vibrant and oftentimes inspirational perspective on where p4cHI has come from, what it is, and, indeed, on what it could be. In this story Dr. J reflects on what makes a p4cHI inquiry special.  A p4cHI inquiry is special, he concludes, because it arises out of the interests of the children and because no one, including the teacher, knows where the inquiry will lead.     Continue reading

I am, I have to admit, a little bit different.  (But, then again, aren't we all?)  I don't think I'm different in a bad way.  But I tend to see things a little bit differently.  Perhaps, in large part, this is because I like to make ideas my own.  Ideas don't really makes sense to me until I think through them and fit them in with my experiences. Continue reading

Welcome to this video in our series!  In this video post we begin a six week series that goes through, step by step, the basic p4cHI "Plain Vanilla" method.  Our group will show you how we use reading books as a stimulus for inquiry. Continue reading

This video post is about cultivating intellectual safety. You'll learn about what steps you might take in order to create an environment where people listen, support, respect, and care about each another. Continue reading

Drawing from his many years of experience, p4cHI founder Dr. Thomas Jackson (Dr. J) shares some of his most memorable moments and significant realizations. These stories provide us with a vibrant and oftentimes inspirational perspective on where p4cHI has come from, what it is, and, indeed, on what it could be. In this week's story Dr. J shares a story from an inquiry in Japan. Why, one child asked, won't some of our teachers tell us their age? This seemingly simple question started the community -- both children and adults -- on an extraordinarily deep and moving inquiry.   Continue reading