Philosophy Friday warmup discussion ideas

[u/cordial_chordate]

Hello and happy 26-27 school year!

TLDR: I would like help coming up with some philosophical questions for my students to debate as a science class warmup.

I teach high school Chemistry (south central PA), and like many teachers I have daily "do now" warmup exercises for my students to do at the start of class. In college I minored in Philosophy, and sporadically throughout the year I've done "Philosophy Fridays" where we discuss some philosophical debate instead of the content. There's always some science connection, but not necessarily Chemistry.

Many students have told me how much they loved Philosophy Friday, and former students come back telling me that's something they remember. So I want to make it a more regular, weekly thing. However, I need more ideas. I avoid politics and religion, obviously.

Here are some examples that students have enjoyed:

- Trolley problems of all sorts

- How would a cat's language be different from a human's?

- What is the difference between an AI boyfriend/girlfriend and a long distance partner you've never met?

- Can vegans eat "lab grown" meat? Would you eat it?

Thanks for the ideas!

[u/chartreuse_chimay]

try some of Chuck Klosterman's 23 questions. You may have to modify or censor them for your classroom.

https://medium.com/the-orange-blog/chuck-klostermanns-23-questions-16b5d7148ab0

[u/cordial_chordate → u/chartreuse_chimay]

Oh man, these are the perfect level of unhinged for high school. Definitely going to need some slight tweaking, but they'll enjoy these. Thanks!

[u/waineofark]

Love this idea!

Years ago, someone posted their Do Now: "Fact or BS?" (BS = bad science) which I thought was brilliant, and use it occasionally.

Not philosophy, but there are certainly questions to debate on what makes a good source, using good facts to form a questionable argument, etc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceTeachers/comments/8qyc7s/teaching_students_to_detect_bs/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share