The Socrates Project is a unique experiential learning course open to high-achieving undergraduates in their third or fourth year. Selected students serve as teaching assistants for an introductory philosophy course, participate in a seminar devoted to teaching and researching philosophy, and carry out an independent research project on a topic of their choice under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy. At the end of the year, students present their papers at an undergraduate research conference.
Admittance to the Socrates Project is by application only. Instructions and the application form will be available at the following webpage once applications for the year are open: http://philosophy.utoronto.ca/employment/cupe-3902-unit-1
Here is the full description of the course included in the UTM Academic Calendar: The Socrates Project (PHL489Y) is a full-year course with 3 components.
- First, you will serve as a TA for a section of PHL103H/PHL113H during the Fall and Winter terms. During the Fall semester, you will attend two 1-hour PHL103H/PHL113H lectures each week, and teach one tutorial of 20-25 students, meeting with them for 1 hour each week. You will grade their papers, hold office hours, and meet with the relevant professor as needed. You will be paid for approximately 100 hours of work each semester, for a total of 200 hours, at the current hourly wage for CUPE Unit 1.
- The second component of the course is a seminar that meets once per week for 3 hours each time, during the fall term. Most of the seminar will be devoted to more in-depth study of the topics taken up in the PHL103H/PHL113H; but you will also discuss the methods and challenges of teaching philosophy-grading papers, prompting and guiding discussion, and so forth.
- Third, during the winter term you will write a seminar paper, on a topic of your choosing, under the supervision of a UTM Philosophy faculty member working in the relevant area. You will also present your work orally at an undergraduate research conference held jointly with the Socrates students from the St. George campus.