Professor Ann J. Cahill and Associate Professor Stephen Bloch-Schulman received the 2014 Lenssen Prize from the American Association of Philosophy Teachers for "Argumentation Step-by-Step: Learning Critical Thinking Through Deliberative Practice."
Two Elon University professors received a top honor from the American Association of Philosophy Teachers for a journal article they wrote in 2012 offering detailed advice to help students grow their critical thinking skills.
Professor Ann J. Cahill and Associate Professor Stephen Bloch-Schulman’s article, “Argumentation Step-by-Step: Learning Critical Thinking Through Deliberative Practice,” was published in a 2012 edition of the journal “Teaching Philosophy.”
In it the Elon educators put forward a guide similar to martial arts training in which teachers require students to master cumulative, progressive steps for learning argumentation that requires them to identify persuasive arguments, critically and fairly evaluate claims, and recognize forms of persuasion not grounded in reason.
The article won Cahill and Bloch-Schulman the 2014 Lenssen Prize after the AAPT identified it as the best recent research article on teaching and learning culled from about 140 papers found in an international journal, three national journals, an international newsletter and various other sources.
Named for Mark Lenssen, a distinguished philosophy professor at Ohio Northern University who died in 1999, the biennial award comes with a $200 check to help offset travel expenses to the AAPT’a upcoming meeting at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Minnesota.
Founded in 1976, the nonprofit American Association of Philosophy Teachers advances the art of teaching philosophy by supporting professional development with online discussion forums and a collection of teaching resources. It sponsors a biennial workshop/conference open to philosophy teachers at all levels.