CFP: Creative and Playful Pedagogy: 2026 AAPT-APA Teaching Hub

The American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) seek presenters for a session on “Creative and Playful Pedagogy” at the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2026 APA Eastern Division meeting, January 8–9, in Baltimore, Maryland. The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub is a collaborative meeting space hosting a series of interactive workshops and conversations designed specifically for philosophers and created to celebrate teaching within the context of the APA divisional meetings. The Teaching Hub aims to offer a range of high quality and inclusive development opportunities that address the teaching of philosophy at all levels.

SESSION GOALS: This session is an experimental space for bringing creativity and playfulness into the philosophy classroom. Often, as educators, it can be easy for us to find ourselves in the same traditional classroom routines: delivering lectures, assigning papers, and perhaps—on our very best days!—facilitating discussion. These rote mechanisms and practices, while useful to a certain extent, can sometimes obscure the fact that philosophy is fun; and that practicing philosophy, that odd activity to which we try to introduce our students, both requires and deserves our whole, creative, and playful selves.

In an era increasingly characterized by a view of higher education that seems ‘transactional’—students see themselves as bound to show up in the classroom / submit the deliverables required to receive their credentials—we are curious about methods, practices, and orientations that have the potential to transform the philosophy classroom into a space of joyful curiosity.

We welcome proposals on any topic related to the themes of creativity and playfulness in the classroom, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Game-making or gamification (e.g., classroom RPGs, etc.)
• Use of games in the classroom to demonstrate philosophical theory
• Opportunities to rethink traditional grading schema in terms of play (including, but not limited to, “leveling up”) 
• Suggestions for repackaging traditional philosophical content through creative or playful in-class activities and assessments
• Strategies for developing a playful syllabus or recommendations for playful course design 
• Expressive or collaborative student-led projects
• Reflections on the value of play or humor as a pedagogical tool
• The challenges of balancing low-stakes assignments with high-rigor

FORMAT: Rather than a traditional paper presentation, Teaching Hub sessions are expected to be highly interactive. Proposals should indicate how audience members will participate in the session. The primary goal for the Teaching Hub is for attendees to walk away with something concrete to deploy in their own classrooms/teaching context. 

What does the Teaching Hub mean by “highly interactive”? This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Presenters focusing less time on arguments for teaching some content or teaching a particular way, and more time on what it would actually look like to teach that content or teach in that way.
• Presenters thinking of the audience as their students and themselves as the facilitator/teacher. How could you cover the same content in a way that your audience participates in active learning activities during the session time?
• Presenters offering and demonstrating clear, practical examples of teaching methods, classroom activities, policies, practices, etc.
• Presenters conceptualizing of themselves as a facilitator, not giving traditional philosophical only talk-style presentation. 

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: August 1, 2025

SUBMISSIONS: 

• Proposals should be sent to Savannah Pearlman ([email protected]) by August 1, 2025, with the subject line “Creative and Playful Pedagogy AAPT-APA TH 2026.”
• In the body of the email, please include your name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), and email contact information.
• Submissions/proposals will be expected to align with the AAPT’s forthcoming AI policy, which at the minimum will discourage the use of AI and require that AI use be cited.
• Attached to the email, please include anonymized submission of 500–750 words (.doc, .docx, or .pdf) detailing the following: (1) describe the focus of your session, (2) an overview of how you plan to use your session time, including how you will make the session highly interactive, and (3) what you hope the audience will take away from your session.
• We aim to select presenters by August 15, 2025.

Questions about this session should be directed to Savannah Pearlman at the above email address. For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please visit the Teaching Hub page. For specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2026 Eastern APA meeting in Baltimore, please contact co-chairs Rebeccah Leiby ([email protected]) and Savannah Pearlman ([email protected]).