A growing number of teachers, science communicators, museum educators and educators in the broadest sense adopt the practice of philosophy with children in the context of science education.

Philosophical questions can ignite students’ interests in science and create a broader perspective on science, reality and society. The philosopher Matthew Lipman observed that philosophical inquiry stimulates critical and creative thinking among students, and this has been supported by numerous studies in the last decennia. In the context of science education, philosophical dialogue may contribute to the discussion of big ideas such as substance, classification, the nature of science and ethically or culturally sensitive issues arising in the science class such as the theory of evolution or sexuality.

But how do you integrate philosophical inquiry into the science curriculum? How do you teach the science teacher to use philosophical inquiries? Which approaches exist to stimulate dialogue and discussion about conceptual issues in science? How do we know that philosophical dialogue helps meet the aims of science education?...

In this conference we aim to share and reflect upon best practices and research with regard to the use of philosophical dialogue in the science.