Donna Benedetti studied philosophy at UC Berkeley (B.A.), San Francisco State University (M.A.), the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Ph.D.), and the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. She has served as the Associate Director of the American Philosophical Association, taught philosophy (including critical thinking and ethics) to university students, and participated in national dialogues on K-12 education. She is convinced that developing life-long habits of questioning and sound reasoning should begin for all children at an early age. For the past six years, she has had the privilege of teaching first graders in an inner city San Francisco school to "stretch… their brains" through her Critical Thinking and Reading Centers.