“Education is life itself…”

John Dewey and Theory of inquiry Amanda Busselman

Agenda

• About Dewey• Your Warm up Discussion• What I have found• Discussion and present my experience activity• Your Activity

Life & EducationOctober, 1859 - June, 1952 (92 years!)Ph.D. in philosophyIssues of his time: Urban shift, manufacturing, Industrial economy, corporatization, stratification of classes, European immigrations, Civil war, Nuclear warAreas of Interest: Philosophy, Experimental Psychology, PedagogyInfluencesJohann Pestalozzi- learn by doingFredrick Froebel- play based learning Horace Mann

Discussion

At the turn-of-the-century classrooms and education were teacher centered; learning took place in the form of lecture and reading, and students were expected to memorize and regurgitate information orally or in writing.

• What is the purpose of education?Social, Individual, etc.

• How does education contribute to a functioning democracy?

• How are knowledge and skills acquired?

What we know

Reconstruction- Education as a SciencePragmatism- what works for society, for the public goodProgressive Movement- Merge kinder with primary,…What are some effects, implications, drawbacks? Who were the Progressives?-WAMProject Approach (aka Project Based learning)- integrated curriculum through “real” experiencesExperiential Learning- Interaction with environment, communication, collaborationEnvironment, Experience, Democracy, DiversityPlace-Based EducationInquiry and Scientific method- problem, need for solution/change, hypothesized action, action, experience, reflection, learning

– “Continuous Reconstruction of Experience” (Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey, Surbec, Taylor, 2000)

– Childrens interests, active experiences, integrated curriculum (Early Childhood Today, 2000)

– Attention to societal and cultural aspects of education (Hohr, 2012)

Some aspects of Theory

Guidelines from Dewey

• Students learn by experimenting and exploring their interests

• They are part of a social group and learn to help one another

• They creatively solve problems• Teachers build in children's strengths in a child

centered environment (DePencier and Harms, 1996)

Photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jyP8vXDDvQ/TsBdekLjl6I/AAAAAAAAA4g/VMzk5DiAsJQ/s1600/school+garden.png

Literary Contributions

Some of his relevant well-known works are: How We Think 1910, Democracy In Education 1916, Experience And Education 1938, Reconstruction in Philosophy 1920, Experience and Nature 1925, The Public and its Problems 1927

http://cas-experientiallearning.wikispaces.com/file/view/Experiential_Learning_-_Presentation.jpg/93469442/548x489/Experiential_Learning_-_Presentation.jpg

Testing the Theory

• Laboratory Schools- University of Chicago– January, 1986– Study children’s growth and development– Create Pedagogy on a Scientific Basis– Challenge current methods and ideas– Extension of life at home– Create a cooperative community

Criticism

• Though he attempted to promote a democratic world, through education, was the progressive movement an “armchair revolution?” (Shyman, 2010)

• Where are the cultural issues? – Compared with Freire-social action and political

action, liberation, “transfer hope from teacher to pupil,” (Shyman, 2010).

Your Turn

• Think about an experience that you could build activities and projects around.

• Include Aspects that enhance social development and honor diversity.

• Choose age range• Integrate opportunities for enhancing

development in all domains

In Practice Today• Reconstruct work of theorists, for our current

contexts (Neubert, 2009) - present needs, social issues, challenges

What is the public good?Who decides?

RefrencesHarms, W., & DePencier, I. (1996). Experiencing Education, Chapter One. Retrieved from The University of Chicago, Laboratory Schools: http://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/data/files/gallery/HistoryBookDownloadsGallery/chapter1_3.pdf

Hohr, H. (2013). The Concept of Experience by John Dewey Revisited: Conceiving, Feeling and"Enliving". Studies In Philosophy And Education, 32(1), 25-38.

Neubert, S. (2009). Reconstructing Deweyan Pragmatism: A Review Essay. Educational Theory.

Shyman, E. (2011). A Comparison of the Concepts of Democracy and Experience in a Sample of Major Works by Dewey and Freire. Educational Philosophy And Theory, 43(10), 1035 1046.