Poster - #VH-86572 - Keywords: P4C Children Community Inquiry Intellectual Humility Social Development Camp

The Impact of a Philosophy Summer Camp on the Development of Intellectual Humility in Teens and Tweens

Anderson, D., Maffley-Kipp, J., Holt, P., Conway, D., Katz, C.E., Schlegel, R.
Texas A&M University

ABSTRACT:
This research examines the impact of a week-long philosophy summer camp on middle and high school age youth with specific attention paid to the development of intellectual humility in the campers. In June 2016 a university in Texas hosted its first philosophy summer camp for youth who had just completed 6th grade-12th grade. Basing our camp on the pedagogical model of the Philosophy for Children program, our aim was specifically to develop a community of inquiry among the campers, providing them with a safe intellectual space to be introduced to philosophy and philosophical discussion. In 2017, we launched a formal longitudinal study to determine what impact a week-long philosophy summer camp would have on teens and tweens. Examining quantitative and qualitative data collected from 2016-2020, we found that the camp has had a significant impact on the teenagers who have attended. In particular, we found that intellectual humility increased over the duration of their camp experience and this increase correlates with an increased affinity for philosophy and philosophical discussion. After collecting two additional years of data (2021 and 2022), we are able to demonstrate a statistically significant difference in the development of intellectual humility between pre-camp and post-camp camp participant surveys.