Thinking in the Midst

Allison Lam sat down to talk with Cara about teaching is inquiry. She explained how inquiry orients her teaching and how it helps her follow the child, incorporate movement, and be flexible in her lessons. 

Cindy Ballenger and Kristi Cameron sat down to talk with Cara about  teaching is inquiry. They explained why inquiry is necessary for teachers to do well by children with numerous examples. They also articulated why inquiry is key not only to serve children but to keep the teacher engaged and full of joy.  For Teaching Is Inquiry: https://www.tcpress.com/products/teaching-is-inquiry_9780807786604...

Fran Agnone, Joy Dangora Erickson, and Ilya Zrudlo sat down to talk with Cara about  youth development outside of school and in non formal spaces. Working in and studying youth development in community organizations, they the surfaced powerful, important, and often hidden work in these spaces and how community organizations offer key opportunities for voice, engagement, community and education.  F...

Adele Bruni Ashley, Meg Davis Roberts, and Susan Verducci sat down to talk with Cara about the teacher teacher as an artist. They focus on the teacher as an artist – both artfully teaching and bringing other creative arts into teaching. For organizations to connect with:  National Council of the Teachers of English New York State English Council   National Writing Project Hudson Valley Writing Pro...

Alexandra Chang, Frank Marino, and PJ Nelson sat down to talk with Cara about the importance of teacher autonomy. They highlighted that autonomy is relational and teacher autonomy requires work with others. They also stressed that teacher autonomy has been increasingly limited by mandates – making it hard for teachers to do well by children.  For Alex’s featured paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley....

Danielle Layne, Eli Kramer, and Philip Seyfried sat down to talk with Cara about caring for the human self, artificial intelligence, and how to harness and grow AI to support human flourishing.   For more from Danielle check out: https://www.daniellelayne.com/ For more on Palinode: palinode.substack.com (for podcasts, blog pieces, etc.) palinode.org (the umbrella organization for our broad ranging...

Ginger Barnhart and Lauren Links sat down to talk with Cara about cultivating and sustaining graduate student communities and graduate students, finding and creating place together, and so much more. A special thank you to those who proposed the GSC: Sara Hardman, Alex Nikolaidis, Dustin Webster, Addyson Frattura, Rebecca Sullivan, Ka Ya Lee, Kirsten Welch, and Annie Schultz. Follow the PES GSC on...

Kathleen Knight-Abowitz gives the Presidential Address, the Value of Local Control: Place and Educational Governance delivered at the Philosophy of Education Society Annual meeting. This session is introduced by Sarah Stitzlein. Two paper responses are delivered by Clarence Joldersma and Campbell Scribner respectively.  For more writing by Kathleen:  For more work by Kathleen: Knight-Abowitz, Kath...

Kathleen Knight Abowitz and Danny Mamlok sat down to talk with Cara about the upcoming Philosophy of Education Society conference themed on To Be Rooted in Place, Education, and Ethics. They shared insights into their current roles in the organization as president and program chair, and then dove into the conference theme. For the program: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2MXScBtQKMyUa4oH3pbjMues...

Michael Hand and Quentin Wheeler-Bell sat down to talk with Cara about teaching amidst strong divides. My guests discussed and debated how to address partisan leanings in the classroom, how to ethically support a range of student perspectives, what makes a topic controversial, and the criterion for judging the validity of a claim. For Michael's article:  https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.70065 .  T...

Jessica Fremland , Kali Simmons, Kat Milligan-McClellan, Mishuana Goeman, and Sandy Grande join Cara to talk about indigenous feminists philosophy, why gardening is a rich and fertile metaphor for their work, and tending to communities with care. This episode showcases the 75th Anniversary of Educational Theory. For their paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edth.70075 For Sandy’s or...

Gert and Michele join Cara to talk about philosophers, schools, and education. They ask us to consider what matters? The role of schools as places of inquiry? And how these and many more questions effect schools, teachers, and students at all levels? This episode showcases the 75th Anniversary of Educational Theory. For Gert's essay: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11217-010-9191-x...

Anmarie Paul, Diane Schnoor, and Myra Hernandez join Cara to talk about belonging, place, and children's literature. To learn more about Behind the Book check out: https://www.behindthebook.org/ To learn more about Dr. Diane's work check out: https://www.drdianeadventures.com/

Philip Francis, Tom Van Winkle, and Rachel Seher join Cara to talk about place as school and what it means to build a relationship with places and the people in them. Seguinland Institute is currently accepting applications for its Spring '26 and Fall '26 semester programs: Check them out and Philip's here! Check out Rachel's work here and here ! Check out Tom's work and Williams Mystic here!

Gil Burgh and Mara Tieken sat down to talk with Cara about what place-responsive and place based education could be. They contrasted this with schools where learning is removed from the environment, and schools that even make this removal part of the educational goal. To learn more about this year's philosophy of education conference: https://www.philosophyofeducation.org/ To learn more about...

Emmalee Forristall, Kathy Hytten, and Kurt Stemhagen sat down to talk with Cara about youth sports and democracy. They explained how practices from cell phones in the locker room, financial accessibility, and whether you play for the town team influence democratic habits. Listen and keep the conversation going with your teams and players. To learn more about this year's philosophy of education...

Pattie Bailie and David Sobel sat down with Cara to talk about place based education and nature based education! They offer a vision of education that is responsive, local, and practical! For more of Pattie's work check out:  https://shop.gryphonhouse.com/products/partnering-with-nature-in-early-childhood?variant=47751201095972 and https://shop.gryphonhouse.com/products/evaluating-natureness?v...

Naoko Saito, Jim Garrison, and Vincent Colapietro sit down with Cara and Derek to talk through Dr. Saito's General Session paper at PES 2025. The paper itself will appear in an upcoming issue of Philosophy of Education , but for more of Dr. Saito's related work (mentioned in the episode), see her recent American Philosophy in Translation . For Garrison's very important essay (also ment...

Our second and final recording of a PES session, this episode features Paul Geis, Brad Rowe, Natasha Levinson, Christina Donaldson, and Cara Furman reflecting on mentorship in our field and in academia more broadly. This PES panel discussion was sponsored by the Committee on Mentoring. To recommend future guests and topics, use this link !

Ariana Zetlin and Vik Joshi join Cara and Derek to talk about the 2024 Northeast Philosophy of Education Society meeting and the way it assisted the fantastic work that they share with us here. For more info on Project Belonging, click here . For the 2025 NEPES call for papers, click here As always, recommend future topics and guests here .

In a special hyper-alliterative episode, Claire Katz, Cristina Cammarano, and Clarissa Thompson join Cara and Derek to talk about philosophy in summer camp settings. For scholarly work on philosophy camps in general, click here and here . For information on Claire’s camp, including how to sign up for this year’s offerings, click here . To request information and reserve a spot in Cristina’s camp,...

Tristan Gleason and John Mullen sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about a wide range of matters, from science education to ecology to climate and beyond. For more of John's work, click here , here , and here For more of Tristan's work, click here , here , and here And for an incomplete bibliography of what we discussed in this episode, see all of these several links . And as always, use...

This episode presents a panel from PES 2025 entitled "Philosophy, the Coming of Age, and the Future of the Future," and consisting of papers by Barbara Applebaum, Barb Stengel, Deborah Kerdeman, and Nicholas Burbules. To recommend future guests and topics, please use ⁠this form⁠ !

Meredith Broussard and Sasha Sidorkin sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about what artificial intelligence can be, how it works, what it’s for, and what it all means. For Meredith’s books on the subject, click here and here . For Sasha’s latest books, click here and here (and for an AI-generated podcast about the most recent book — WHAT ARE CARA AND I EVEN DOING ANYMORE — click here ). To recom...

Cam Scribner and Kathleen Knight Abowitz join Cara and Derek to discuss a topic arising out of Scribner's contribution to Concordia University's fall institute on “Political Challenges of/for/in 21st Century Schools: Addressing Polarization in the Classroom.” There's a lot of talk about "small-c conservatism" in this one. For more of Cam's work, click here , here , and he...