John Dewey's Philosophy of Experience and Education

Description,

References

John Dewey’s work in experiential education began in 1896 during his tenure with the University of Chicago where
he founded the University Laboratory School that later became the “Dewey School.” The laboratory school became a
venue for experiments in educational thinking. Dewey considered his school a community where the students
became active members. He wanted it to be a place where education occurred based on principles of mental
activity and on the processes of growth (Chambliss, J.J. (Ed.), p. 146).

In 1906, when Dewey accepted an appointment with Columbia University, his years of work with the Dewey School
had already set the foundation for his educational philosophy. During his tenure at Columbia, he continued
developing his philosophy through a series of published works that included Democracy and Education (1916), and
Experience and Education (1938).

Dewey’s philosophy points out that the strict authoritarian approach of traditional education was overly concerned
with delivering preordained knowledge, and not focused enough on students’ actual learning experiences. He
insists that education requires a design that is grounded in a theory of experience. He sides neither with traditional
education, nor with progressive education, but with the understanding of how humans have the experiences they
do, and how this understanding is necessary when designing effective education.

Because of Dewey’s insistence on this foundational aspect to his philosophy, he began a movement that generated
the development of experiential education programs and experiments. His philosophy continues to remain
foundational in designing innovative educational approaches and programs today.

Description of Dewey’s Philosophy on Experience and Education

Dewey’s philosophy on education, published in Experience and Education (1938), is an analysis of both traditional
and progressive education. Where traditional education focused upon curriculum and cultural heritage for its
content, progressive education focused on the learner’s interest and impulse, unconstrained by the educator (p. 9).
According to Dewey, neither of these systems is adequate. Traditional education consists of a rigid regimentation,
ignoring the capacities and interests of the learner. Progressive education allows excessive individualism and
spontaneity which Dewey says is “a deceptive index of freedom” (p. 10).

What Dewey’s philosophy (1938) proposes is a carefully developed theory of experience and its relation to
education. Sound educational experience involves both continuity and interaction between the learner and what is
learned (p. 10). Thus, Dewey’s philosophy is that experience arises from the interaction of two
principles:continuity and interaction.

Experience and Education (1938) demonstrates Dewey’s ideas on education, in a concise statement that resulted
from his observational experience with progressive schools. Written in essay format, it divides Dewey’s philosophy
into eight chapters that are organized so that each one presents a definitive aspect of his philosophy.

The following links provide a brief description of each of the chapters in Dewey’s philosophy summarized from his
publication Experience and Education (1938).

1. Traditional vs Progressive Education

2. The Need of a Theory of Experience
3. Criteria of Experience
4. Social Control
 5. The Nature of Freedom
6. The Meaning of Purpose
7. Progressive Organization of Subject-Matter
8. Experience – The Means and Goal of Education

Traditional vs Progressive Education

Dewey (1938) opens the first chapter with a statement about the opposition that exists in educational theory: the
contrast between traditional and progressive education. He depicts traditional education as a system that consists
of bodies of information, skills, developed standards, and rules of conduct that worked historically, and that
encourages a student attitude of docility, receptivity, and obedience. The task of educators in traditional education
is to communicate knowledge and skills, and to enforce rules of conduct onto the new generation.

He depicts progressive education as a system that criticizes traditional education in that it imposes adult
standards, subject matter, and methods upon a young generation. It provides minimal active participation by
students in the development of subject matter. Progressive education offers learners the following: growth and
expression of individuality; free activity; learning through experience; the acquisition of skills as a means of
attaining ends which are vital and appealing to students; and, becoming acquainted with a changing world. Dewey
(1938) views progressive education as an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual
experience and education (p. 20).

However, Dewey (1938) believes neither progressive nor traditional education is the solution to the opposition that
exists in educational theory. He proposes that the problems they present require a resolution based on a new
philosophy of experience. As long as the assumption exists that it suffices to reject the ideas of traditional
education and to go to the opposite extreme to progressive education, the problem at hand (the lack of a new
philosophy of experience), will not even be recognized, let alone being resolved (pp. 21-22).

The Need of a Theory of Experience

In the opening of Chapter Two, Dewey (1938) claims that a complete rejection of traditional education only
presents new problems for those who seek a new type of education. In order to solve problems in a new education,
educators must recognize and understand the connection between education and personal experience. Dewey
believes that any new education must be committed to some form of empirical and experimental philosophy. And
to know the meaning of empiricism, one must understand what experience is (p. 25).

Dewey (1938) postulates that experience and education do not directly relate because some experiences are not
educational, such as an experience that prevents or distorts the growth of further experience (p. 25). The challenge
for experience based education is to provide learners with quality experiences that will result in growth and
creativity in their subsequent experiences. Dewey refers to this principle as the continuity of experience or the
experiential continuum, a principle necessary for the philosophy of educative experience (p. 28).

A framework for a philosophy of education must show reference to what action needs to occur and how the
educator will execute it. The more the philosophy holds that education is a development within, by, and for
experience, the more important it is to define clear conceptions of what experience is. Dewey (1938) explains that
the conceptions of experience should show in plans for deciding upon methods of instruction and discipline,
subject matter, and upon the material and social organization of the school. Experience should not be just a term
that doesn’t indicate the appropriate operations to implement it (p. 28). He believes that progressive education
urgently requires a philosophy of education that is based upon a concise philosophy of experience.

Criteria of Experience
In Chapter Three, Dewey (1938) presents two significant principles: continuity (that all experiences are carried
forward and influence future experiences) (p. 35) and interaction (both the objective and internal conditions of an
experience) (p. 42). These principles are significant in framing the philosophy that an educational theory must be
based upon a philosophy of experience. The continuity principle is involved in attempts to discriminate between
experiences that are educationally worthwhile, and those that are not (p. 33). In other words, it attempts to classify
what are valued as quality experiences.
Judging the value of an experience should factor in what the experience moves towards and into. The educator has
a responsibility to evaluate the direction a learning experience is heading. He or she must be able to judge what
attitudes are conducive to continuing growth (Dewey, 1938, pp. 38-39).

Not only does an educator show awareness of shaping the direction of an experience, but he or she must also
recognize what surroundings are conducive to having experiences that lead to growth. This includes utilizing both
physical and social surroundings so they contribute to providing worthwhile experiences (Dewey, 1938, p. 40).

Dewey (1938) claims that experience is truly experience only when objective conditions (what the educator does
and how they do it) (p. 45) are secondary to what goes on within the individual having the experience. This means
that a normal experience involves the interaction between both the objective (what the educator does) and the
learner’s internal conditions. One problem with traditional education is its focus on the objectives or external
conditions, and its neglect of the internal factors that determine the type of experience an individual will have.

In an experience, interaction occurs between an individual, objects, and other people. The experience becomes
what it is because of this transaction between an individual and what constitutes his or her environment. The
environment consists of whatever conditions (objects or people) interact with an individual’s internal personal
needs, desires, capacities, and purposes that create the resulting experience (Dewey, 1938, pp. 43-44).

Therefore, Dewey (1938) believes the two principles of continuity and interaction intercept and unite. He claims
they are the longitudinal and lateral aspects of experience. In their relationship with each other, continuity and
interaction provide the educative significance and value of an experience (pp. 44-45).

Social Control
In Chapter Four, Dewey (1938) relates the principles of continuity and interaction to educational problems and
challenges. He chooses social control because of the social process that makes up the educative experience, and
because everyone experiences social control (pp. 51-52); however, social control does not always represent
authoritarian rule. It often occurs in agreement and by the members of a group for the benefit of the entire group
(p. 54).

An example of social control that occurs in agreement in a school setting with children is the games played at
recess, and team sports games such as soccer, hockey, baseball, and football. Dewey (1938) explains that these
games involve rules that order the children’s conduct (p. 52). He states that both the rules and the conduct of the
game are standardized, and hold the sanction of tradition and precedent (p. 53).

Dewey (1938) uses the example of games to show that control of individual actions is affected by the entire
situation in which a group of individuals are involved, in that they are both sharing and participating as cooperative
and interacting parts of the common experience that benefits the entire group (p. 53). The control is social, but
individuals are part of a community, not outside of it. It is not the will or desire of any one person to establish
order, but rather it is the moving spirit of the entire group (p. 54).

In an educational setting, the educator should use his or her authority as representative of the interests of the
whole group. Control of individuals is based on classroom activities and on the situations that maintains these
activities. Dewey (1938) explains that the educator is responsible for both knowledge of individuals and for
knowledge of subject matter, enabling the educator to select activities that encourage social organization. This
provides all individuals with the opportunity to contribute, and to participate in activities that are the main sources
of control (p. 56). Through thoughtful planning, an educator can arrange conditions conducive to community
activity and organization that will have control over individual impulses, because the entire group is engaged in
communal projects (p. 58).

Dewey (1938) asserts “the principle that development of experience comes about through interaction means that
education is essentially a social process. This quality is realized in the degree in which individual s form a
community group” (p. 58). Dewey points out that the educator has a responsibility to facilitate the group
interactions and activities, which are the source of life for the group as a community. When an educator views
experiential education as a social process, he or she will no longer work in the position of authoritarian, but will
begin in the role as leader of group activities (p. 59).

The Nature of Freedom

In Chapter Five, Dewey (1938) presents the other side of the problem of social control: the nature of freedom. A
common mistake is to identify freedom with movement or the physical side of activity. Dewey believes that one
cannot separate the physical side of activity from the internal side; that is, from desire, purpose, and freedom of
thought. According to Dewey, the only freedom of importance is freedom of intelligence, which he says is freedom
of observation and judgement that occur for purposes that are worthwhile (p. 61).

Traditional education imposed a limitation on outer movement when they introduced fixed rows of desks filled with
students who were permitted movement only at certain signals. This was a detriment to both intellectual and moral
freedom. Dewey (1938) suggests that a freedom of outer movement is a means, but not an end (p. 61).

Dewey (1938) acknowledges three advantages to increasing outward freedom. First, it allows the educator to gain
valuable knowledge of the learners entrusted into his or her care. When learners are restricted to silence and
acceptance or agreement, it prevents them from disclosing their individuality while ensuring artificial uniformity (p.
62).

The second advantage of increased outward freedom is the nature of the learning process. According to Dewey
(1938) periods of silent reflection should only occur after a hands-on experience where the activities require some
physical activity and engaging different parts of the body. The third advantage is that outward freedom is a means
for maintaining normal physical and mental health. Dewey refers to the connection between a sound body and a
sound mind (p. 63). Therefore, according to Dewey, a freedom of outward action is a means to freedom of
judgement and of power to carry out deliberately chosen actions (p. 63).

The mistake in treating freedom of outer movement as an end in itself is the tendency to be destructive to group
interactions and activities that are the foundation to an experiential learning environment (Dewey, 1938, p. 63).

The Meaning of Purpose

In Chapter Six, Dewey (1938) opens with the statement that there exists a freedom and power in framing purposes
and initiating action on those purposes. He compares this freedom as being identical to self control because
intelligence is at work in the process of forming a purpose and in organizing a means to execute that purpose (p.
67).

Dewey (1938) makes this point to emphasize the sound philosophy that exists in progressive education that
stresses the importance of learner participation in forming the very purposes that direct his or her activities in the
learning process. This, according to Dewey is exercising intelligent activity. And the more the importance of
purpose is emphasized in education, the more important it becomes to understand what a purpose is, and how it
arises and functions in experience (p. 67).

A genuine purpose always starts with an impulse. If the immediate execution of the impulse is obstructed, the
impulse becomes a desire (Dewey, 1938, p. 67). However, neither impulse nor desire makes up a purpose. What
makes up a purpose is a complex intellectual operation involving the following three criteria: (1) observation of
surrounding conditions; (2) knowledge of what has occurred in similar past situations; and, (3) judgement that
brings together and determines the significance of the things observed and recalled (Dewey, 1938, p. 69).

Dewey (1938) indicates that “a purpose differs from an original impulse and desire through its translation into a
plan and method of action based upon foresight of the consequences of acting under given observed conditions in
a certain way” (p. 69). Dewey points out that the problem in education is that action occurs before observation and
judgement have taken place. This places an overemphasis on activity as an end, rather than on intelligent activity,
that invokes purposeful action.

In an educational setting, the occurrence of impulse and desire is an opportunity for an educator to form a plan
and a method of activity. It is the educator’s responsibility to provide guidance in the learner’s use of observation
and judgement, exercising the learner’s intelligence as a guide to freedom, not as a restriction (Dewey, 1938, p.
71). This plan must be a cooperative endeavor, where contributions from the experiences of all learners in the
group will benefit the overall learning experience.

Progressive Organization of Subject Matter

In Chapter Seven, Dewey (1938) considers experiential education in terms of how chosen subject matter must fall
within the scope of ordinary life experience, and then how a prior life experience must progress developmentally
into a fuller and more organized form. Dewey points out that it is a common precept in education that the
beginning of instruction starts with the experience learners already have, but the more difficult part is in
progressing that experience into a more fuller and organized form (p. 74).

The challenge for the educator exists in the selection those existing experiences that have the promise and
potential of presenting new problems that will stimulate new ways in learners to observe and judge, and ultimately
expanding the area of new and further experience.

Traditional education focuses on subject matter selected and arranged on what adults thought would be useful for
the young at sometime in the future. The learning material had to do with the past, and what proved useful in past
generations. On the other hand, progressive education in its attempt to break free from the cut and dried material
that formed traditional education, failed to recognize that the selection and organization of subject matter for
study and learning is fundamental. Dewey (1938) claims that the way out of an educational system that made the
past an end in itself is to use the past as a means of understanding the present (p. 78).

According to Dewey (1938), it is the educator’s responsibility to ensure the following two outcomes occur: First,
that the problem grows out of the conditions of a present experience that is within the range of the capacity of
learners; and, second, that the problem is significant enough to motivate learners to seek more information and to
stimulate the production of new ideas. These two outcomes become the basis for further experiences where the
educator can present new problems. This process should take the form of a continuous spiral (p. 79).

To exemplify the principle of the linkage of the present with past, Dewey (1938) uses the example of natural
science because contemporary social life is how we know it because of the application and results of physical
science. He affirms that it is a sound educational principle that educators should introduce learners to scientific
subject matter and its facts and laws through the familiarity with everyday social applications such as the use of
appliances that utilize electricity, heat, and light. Dewey (1938) explains:

The scientific method is the only authentic means at our command for getting at the significance of our everyday
experiences of the world in which we live. It means that scientific method provides a working pattern of the way in
which and the conditions under which experiences are used to lead ever onward and outward. . . . Consequently,
whatever the level of experience, we have no choice but either to operate in accord with the pattern it provides or
else to neglect the place of intelligence in the development and control of a living and moving experience. (p. 88)

Dewey (1938) points out that an experience that does not tend to the knowledge of facts, the acquisition of new
ideas, and to the orderly arrangement of them, is an experience that is not educative. He affirms the idea that the
principle of organization is not foreign to experience, but rather they go together. Otherwise, experience would
become so scattered, it would seem chaotic (p. 82).

In order for experiences to be educational, they must extend into an expanding world of subject matter consisting
of facts, information, and ideas. The educator must view teaching and learning as a continuous process of
reconstructing experience. This occurs only when the educator can look to the future with the perspective of
viewing each present experience as a moving force that influences future experiences (Dewey, 1938, p. 87). The
challenges for the educator are in the formation of ideas, putting those ideas into action, observing the conditions
that result, and in organizing facts and ideas for future use (Dewey, p. 88).

Experience – The Means and Goal of Education

In Chapter Eight, Dewey (1938) repeats the principle that education must be based upon experience if it is to
accomplish its ends for both learners and for society. Experience always consists of the actual life experience of
individuals. The choice our educational system faces is either to revert to the intellectual and moral standards of a
scientific age, or to move forward to a more effective utilization of the scientific method for developing the
possibility of a growing, expanding experience (p. 89).

Dewey (1938) views the process towards a new education as difficult. The danger of failure lies in the possibility of
a misunderstanding of what consists of experience and the experimental method. He maintains his firm belief that
the fundamental issue is a question of whether any theory is worthy to receive the name education, and that it is
not about which is better: the new or the old education, or a battle of progressive against traditional education.

Related Research Articles

References

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. Toronto: Collier-MacMillan Canada Ltd.

John Dewey: Experience and education
By Richard McCance
For the educationalists out there, this may be a simple refresher but for those not familiar with this
important educational philosopher I hope this is a helpful introduction to some very relevant ideas.
In Democracy and education (1916) John Dewey set out his argument for a philosophy of education
based on the growth and development of the individual within the complex social relations of a
functioning democracy. In this seminal text Dewey established himself as a leading philosopher of
education in the long tradition of pragmatism. Just over twenty years later, he revisited the question
of the ideal education for humanity with Experience and education (1938/1963). Here he addressed
the interpretations, misrepresentations and criticisms of his original philosophy as well as the many
challenges to its realization.
In clarifying his new education, Dewey outlined a distinction between what had conventionally been
understood as a traditional approach to education and what he intended by introducing a new,
progressive model. In articulating this distinction between the established, conventional education
and one that would better serve the needs of a modern, democratic society, Dewey underscored the
need for balance, stressing that it is not an either/or dichotomy between “development from within”
or “formation from without” (p. 17). Importantly however, he also argued that it is not simply a
rejection of precedent nor an inclination to abstraction or whimsy. Ultimately, any new philosophy of
education must be based on positive reasons for change rather than simply an outright rejection of
the old.

Dewey’s distinction between traditional schooling and that of a new or progressive approach has as
its fundamental division the role of individual experience. Traditional schooling, with its clear
function of teachers as transmitters of a static body of knowledge grounded solely in the past, is
recognized as a distinct experience separate from other forms of social organization or institutions.
While reference is often made to family, a wider society with specific ideals of freedom, democracy
and agency is also illustrated. Dewey outlines a new philosophy based on individuals’ social
experience of education where every individual is able to contribute towards a growing notion of
utopian society with humanity at its full potential.

This new institution of social organization is a partnership between the holders of that wider,
conventional and historic body of knowledge with recurring generations of unique individuals in
need of understanding of that knowledge but also not yet mature enough to grasp its meaning for
themselves.

Dewey challenges us to consider what this new progressive education means in terms of an
educational experience within the institution of schooling. Any mere rejection of all things traditional
as representing indoctrination or imposition is insufficient and unwarranted without a clear purpose
or a positive reason for change. Indeed freedom and permissiveness can be as dogmatic and didactic
as structure and prescription if not based on a critical examination of the principles underlying
change. What, for example, is meant by ‘freedom’ and under what conditions can the idea of
‘freedom’ be realized? More importantly, what are the social factors at work in the formation of
individual experience such that any type of freedom can be achieved?

A coherent and articulated justification of intended experience as a principle to progressive

education is called for. Questions of organization, methods, materials, and social relationships
therefore arise. Dewey focused on the criteria of experience by arguing for continuity of experiences
that are worthwhile and in accordance with democratic ideals. Traditional education, by the nature
of its physical and social setting with supremacy of specialization, conformity and perpetuation,
cannot be responsive to this ideal experience. Coercion and indoctrination prevail over freedom and
agency.
Progressive education as a social experience does call for modification of emotional and intellectual
attitudes and habits. It also needs to be dedicated to the growth of capacity, arousal of curiosity and
strengthening of initiative. It is here where teachers’ professional judgment is necessary in regulating
the objective conditions in which individual experience operates. This is done through an
understanding of history and our collective, social experience, and with a consideration of what is
happening in the mind of the individual learner. In this way an experience of learning can be created
that is conducive of broader understandings, sympathetic to the individual and encouraging of
interactions in which a disposition to continue to learn is developed and increasingly applied to new
situations.

In this progressive approach, teachers must recognize the importance of any experience where
individual freedom is not in conflict with some form of social control. Accordingly, this cannot be
based on any imposition but must be built from mutual confidence. In planning for shared
experience, a balance is needed between the necessary imposition of maturity, tradition, and
precedent and an understanding that gives rise to continuous development of individual autonomy.
This experience must be inclusive and comprise a flexibility to permit individuality, personal growth,
and freedom while at the same time it must build a capacity to understand the meaning of history,
society and individual agency.

This interaction and balance as social process must be through mutual accommodation, consent, and
adoption. It must also be founded on knowledge that enables a selection of experiences towards a
social organization where all can contribute. Here the teacher acts as advisor rather than by
command in order to facilitate cooperation and interaction sanctioned by mutual confidence. This
creates community where consent and commitment to ‘rules’ are integral, not seen as an imposition
from outside.

The nature of freedom within this social organization must then be understood. Dewey specified that
it is a freedom of intelligence, observation and judgment. It is also a freedom with a worthwhile
purpose, a moral freedom. It is no artificial uniformity or obedience but a freedom to think as much
as a freedom of thinking. Nevertheless, it is not simply freedom as an end in itself. There is a shared
cooperative activity at the heart of the normal order of things that this freedom must regard.

With any form of freedom with power the role of reflection is essential. Dewey called for a “union of
observation and memory” (p. 64) as a form of self-control. In this sense we see a freedom ordered by
intelligence as opposed to circumstance or reaction. This freedom must remain conscious of avoiding
accidental circumstances or the illusion of freedom as well as succumbing to direction from external
forces outside of ones command. Freedom without a solid basis in knowledge of history, society and
self leads to freedom lacking intelligent judgment.

As with the nature of this freedom, its purpose must be evident and accepted. For Dewey, this
purpose is to establish freedom with power for social intelligence. How this arises and functions as
an educational experience is paramount. Dewey acknowledged that genuine purpose starts with
impulse and that impulse constrained will lead to desire. However, he also recognized the
importance of overriding immediate execution of impulse and desire through a careful observation of
objective conditions and circumstances. This observation allows for a judgment of the significance of
deliberate and consequential actions as well as a transformation of impulse to purpose. It is this
judgment of significance based on both personal observation and wider social experience that creates
a reciprocal purpose beyond individual desire.

Aligning with social constructivist theories of learning, Dewey maintained that subject matter and
materials for learning be derived from the outset so that they fall within the extent of ordinary life-
experience. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the teacher to establish a well-ordered
progression of experience with these materials towards organization and extension to further subject
matter. In this way the promise and potentiality of new experiences will stimulate new observations
and judgments to expand capacity for further growth. New experiences as novelty or in isolation are
insufficient for development as are simple, generic skills. Experience and subject matter need to be
relevant to the present, intellectually connected to the past, and consistently focused on the future.

Here Dewey drew a sharp distinction between traditional schooling and a progressive approach.
Traditional education is overly focused on the past, narrowly attentive to a specific future and almost
entirely devoid of dedication to the individual learner’s present condition. While the knowledge
delivered in conventional schools is appropriately grounded in the past, it remains largely outside the
present experience of learners. Teachers need to appreciate how present social dislocations,
inequities and challenges have arisen, while the reactionary stance that the business of education is
solely about transmitting cultural heritage must be overcome.

Progressive education, on the other hand, cannot simply rely on experience of the present condition
or a loose articulation of some intended future. Teachers must be mindful of the potential of new
situations in building knowledge as a criterion for selecting and arranging the conditions that
influence students’ present experience. The past needs to be used in this approach as a means to
understand the present and as a way of forming the future.

Moreover, experience that does not lead to the unfamiliar will encounter no problems, yet problems
stimulate thinking. Growth depends upon the existence of challenge which needs to be overcome
through the exercise of intelligence. It is this growth in judgment and understanding that is essential
for the capacity to define purpose as well as the ability to select and organize further knowledge
gathered towards realization of that purpose. For Dewey, this is exemplified in the scientific method
of analysis and synthesis with ideas, hypotheses, observation and revision as essential elements.

Finally, Dewey made clear that he was not arguing for acceptance of his ideas nor was he concerned
with justifying them. However, he did acknowledge that as he wrote his book there was a profound
discontent with education, a discontent that continues to this day. While he argued against viewing
this dissatisfaction as an either/or dichotomy, he signaled the dangers of inadequately conceived
improvisation or spontaneity in addition to the authoritarian excesses of rigidity and archaism.
Ultimately, Dewey called for a sound philosophy of experience. He advocated for the potential of
education intelligently directed toward the opportunities inherent in that everyday experience. And
he offered a pathway towards an intelligent society with agency, freedom, and power.

Dewey, J. (1963). Experience and education. New York: Collier.