Paideia teachers use three instructional techniques:

1. didactic instruction for increasing students’ factual recall,
2. intellectual coaching for developing students’ literacy skills, and
3. seminar dialogue to strengthen students’ conceptual understanding.

Sample Paideia Seminar Dialogue plans:
The newest versions of Paideia Seminar Dialogue plans include expanded pre- and post-seminar process and content sections that emphasize the potential for teaching a full range of literacy and thinking skills. See the examples below:

• The American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance
• The Gettysburg Address

Upcoming Learning Opportunities Register Online or Download the Institute Registration Form
Introduction to the Paideia Seminar Chapel Hill, NC (registration is closed)	July 13-15, 2009
Teaching Math-Science via the Paideia Seminar Chapel Hill, NC (registration is closed)	July 13-15, 2009
Introduction to the Paideia Seminar Chattanooga, TN	July 16-17, 2009
Teaching Math-Science via the Paideia Seminar Chattanooga, TN	July 16-17, 2009
Advanced Paideia Seminar Chattanooga, TN	July 16-17, 2009
The Graduation Project Design and Assessment Chapel Hill, NC	July 27-29, 2009
Introduction to the Paideia Project Chapel Hill, NC	July 27-29, 2009
Advanced Project Design Chapel Hill, NC	July 30-31, 2009

In Paideia classrooms, all students are involved in a wide range of academic work and social practices needed to achieve the following objectives:

to become good citizens,
to earn a decent living,
and to lead a good life.

Paideia classrooms feature seminar dialogue to teach critical and creative thinking. Paideia schools are built on the idea that public schooling is preparation for becoming educated over the course of one’s life time.

The National Paideia Center is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the University of North Carolina since 1988. The Center supports a world-wide network of educators through training, technical support, and publications.

Questions or comments about Paideia? Issues with our website? We maintain a broken link checker.
Send email to info@paideia.org or call 919 962 3128.

Paideia News

Now Available:
2nd Edition
Paideia Seminar Training Manuals

Paideia Partner School
Teaching Positions
Moreno Valley High School

2009 Annual Paideia Conference

Read  Thinking is Literacy, Literacy Thinking.
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP by Terry Roberts
and Laura Billings. Copyright 2008 by Assn 
for Supervision & Curriculum Development. 
Reproduced with permission of Assn for 
Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Recent Research Findings: 
Our most recent program evaluation is now 
available. Read on-line or print, Evaluation
of Academic Achievement at Nine Paideia 
Schools.

A recent external program evaluation 
including one important Paideia School is 
available. Read on-line or print, Profiles of 
Success:Eight Colorado Schools that are 
Closing the Achievement Gap.

Research

Program Evaluation
submitted by Eric L. Robinson, Ph.D.,
Baylor University
Waco, Texas
2008
Evaluation of Academic Achievement
at Nine Paideia Schools

Doctoral Dissertation
submitted by Pelusa Orellana, Ph.D.,
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2008
Maieutic Frame Presence and Quantity and Quality of Argumentation in a Paideia Seminar

Doctoral Dissertation
submitted by Ann S. Philgren, Ph.D.
Norrtalje, Sweden
2008
Socrates in the Classroom: Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children

The National Paideia Center improves the ability of adults and students to think and communicate so that each might become a good citizen of the world, earn a decent livelihood, and lead a good life. Our Vision is that The National Paideia Center will become a campus of learning dedicated to the exploration of ideas in support of active lifelong learning.

The Paideia Seminar is a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated by open ended questions about a text.

Sample Paideia Seminar
Dialogue Plans
(Expanded Version)

• The American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance (PDF)
• The Gettysburg Address (PDF)
  
• Download and print the new First Freedoms Discussion Guide published by Oxford University Press and the First Amendment
  Center. Use the complete
  set of Paidiea Seminar plans
  to increase your students'
  understanding of America's
  First Freedoms.