Integrating statistics into your philosophy syllabus

Where

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Minneapolis Campus

When

3 consecutive days in the range 7–11 August, 2023, based on your availability and preference.

What

This workshop is for philosophy teachers who would like to integrate statistical concepts or methods into their curricula—e.g., in critical reasoning, epistemology, and philosophy of science courses—but have a pedagogical barrier or uncertainty that they want to overcome or resolve with a group of like-minded instructors. Each participant will have two hours during the summer workshop, arranged how they would like, to describe, test, and receive feedback on a lesson plan, assignment, etc. with the entire group.

In addition, there will be introductory presentations and discussions by two workshop facilitators on a variety of statistical ideas that would serve as helpful background for the variety of topics that will or could be broached during the workshop and in teaching philosophy using statistics more generally.

Attendees from outside the Twin Cities Metro area will receive free single en suite accommodations near campus and at least $400 towards travel expenses.

Why

Despite their intrinsic and extrinsic importance in modern societies, statistical ideas are rarely incorporated into philosophy teaching. This workshop will take some first steps toward building a community of philosophers unified around teaching the foundations, implications, and limitations of statistical ideas.

Who

• About 9 college or university instructors in philosophy of science, critical reasoning, epistemology, or related philosophical topics on which statistical knowledge and reasoning bear
• Samuel C. Fletcher (Minnesota): Convener & Facilitator
• Conor Mayo-Wilson (Washington): Facilitator

How

Applicants should fill out the form linked in the below webpage no later than 16 June, 2023. The form asks for a CV and a cover letter. Your cover letter should include the following information:

• Your availability for three days during 7-11 August, 2023.
• Your institutional context: relevant information about the educational institution(s) at which your teaching intervention will occur, such as the typical student population and their goals
• Your specific teaching context: relevant information about the course(s) in which you would like to intervene, such as the typical number of students, what they are studying, at what stage of their studies they are typically in, and how much time of your course you do and would like to allot for statistical concepts
• Your pedagogical goals: your goals for student learning in the aforementioned course(s), what (if any) statistical content you are currently teaching towards those goals, what intervention you would like to make, and why
• Your proposal for how you plan to use your 2 hours during the teaching workshop. For example, you might begin with a 20-minute discussion of the above context and goals, followed by two 20-minutes lessons, then a 45-minute discussion of the lessons, with 5-minute breaks in between.

There is no minimum or maximum cover letter size, but most will be less than 2000 words.

This workshop is supported by NSF CAREER grant #2042366, A Modern Philosophy for Classical Statistical Testing and Estimation. If you have questions about the workshop or the application process, please email the workshop convener, Samuel C. Fletcher, at [email protected].