EDUCATION STUDIES

CA1: ACADEMIC ESSAY

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPY OF EDUCATION AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE

TECHNICAL CLASSROOM

Feichin Brennan & G00379080

Lecturer: Dr Pauline Logue
Plagiarism Disclaimer

Student ID/Name: G00379080 Feichin Brennan

Programme: Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Education (Design Graphics and
Construction)
Year: 3
Module: Education Studies
Assignment Title: C.A.1
Due Date: 30/10/2021

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Signed:

Date: 30/10/2021
 1. INTRODUCTION

Hi, my name is Feichin Brennan I am currently a 3 rd Year student in G.M.I.T. I am currently studying
Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Education (Design Graphics and Construction. The title for this
academic essay is “MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPY OF EDUCATION AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE
TECHNICAL CLASSROOM”. I believe this topic is of importance as it helps to form a comfortable
environment and allows one to follow their beliefs. A comfortable classroom creates a solid working
relationship between teachers and students. “A philosophy of education may influence what
subjects or topics are taught, how they are taught, and perhaps more importantly, the supporting
beliefs and values that are taught, both implicitly and explicitly, within and around the core
curriculum” (College, 2017). Depending on the teacher’s philosophy will determine how subject
content is taught. In technical subjects like Wood Technology and Graphics, the teacher would hope
to have a creative, active elegance in forming their philosophy statement. This will help students
participate in their technical subjects.

The main aim of this essay is to outline my personal philosophy of education and examine its
application in the classroom. My academic essay will look at two philosophy and psychology
theorists and how they have come through generations of learning and still being used in today’s
classroom. I will then discuss how the theories apply to the classroom and my teaching values.

2. Philosophy of Education

The philosophy theories I’m going to look at is John Dewey’s pragmatism theory and Maria
Montessori. Dewey is all about students adopting to their environment to learn. “Interactions and
communications focused on enhancing and deepening shared meanings increase potential for
learning and development.” (Hargraves, n.d.) When students are put in groups it gives them an
opportunity to communicate ideas and meanings. Some students work stronger in group
assignments, but it is up to the teacher to make sure every student is pulling their weight in the
project. Dewy recognised inactivity of the students within the framework. Dewey believed for
education to be most effective the framework must be presented in a way that allows a student to
relate the into prior experiences. (Talebi, 2015)

Maria Montessori once said “The children in our schools are free, but that does not mean there is no
organization. Organization is necessary... if the children are to be free to work.” (Lillard, 2016, p.
315). I believe this is crucial because it is the students who need to learn. If the students feel free to
learn at their own will, they will learn. From my experiences I think students disrupt the class when
they don’t feel free. I believe a class needs to be free flowing with student interaction. For teachers
the key is to have the room organized and have a lesson plan to follow as organized guidelines for
the class. “Montessori believed that children learn better when they’re choosing what to learn, and
that philosophy is present in Montessori classrooms today.” (Meinke, 2019) Montessori methods
are still used in the classrooms today.

3. Psychology of Education

The first psychologist in education I am going to look at is Skinner and his behaviour theory
(Skinner’s Box). Skinner began to investigate good and bad reinforcement. According to skinner
“changes in behaviour are a result of individuals’ responses to events, or stimuli, that occur in their
environment.” (Wpengine, n.d.) Skinner’s theory is all about rewarding students for positive
behaviour. “Positive reinforcement is the addition of a rewarding stimulus to get the behaviour to
happen again. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to get the behaviour
to continue” (Clark, 2018 ). Reinforcing the simple rules in the classroom is also a key part of
Skinners Theory. Skinner researched
reinforcing behaviour using “Skinner’s Box” as
seen below.

Figure 1

I will now discuss the cognitivism theory by Jean Piaget is all about the different approaches of
learning. Rogers, P.A. and Bremmer have a good explanation of cognitivism in their book
“development of understanding by active learning, challenging and questioning, rather than just
absorption of information in a passive environment.” (Rogers, P.A. and Bremmer, 2019, p. 68)
Cognitivism sees learning as a mental process. Blooms Taxonomy is an example of cognitivism
learning in the classroom setting. There are four different stages of Cognitivism. Below in the table
we see Piaget’s four stages. Formal operational is the category which is most relevant to me.
Students in this category need.

Stage Age Goal

Sensorimotor Birth to 18-24 months Object permanence

Preoperational 2 to 7 years old Symbolic thought

Concrete operational Ages 7 to 11 years Logical thought

Formal operational Adolescence to adulthood Scientific reasoning

4. Application in the Classroom

Philosophy theories can be applied in every class but I’m going to see how they are applied in Wood
Technology, Construction, Graphics and DCG classroom. John Dewey’s Pragmatistic theory is all
about interactions in groups. Group work is done a lot in the drawing and woodwork rooms. For all
the projects I do with my students I put them into little research groups to break down the brief of
each project. I find students learn from their peers quicker than a teacher. Maria Montessori’s
theory of free learning is also used when I give out project briefs in the technical classroom. The
students are giving simple organized guidelines to keep them safe from dangerous tools. The simple
guidelines also allow students to research whatever they want to design on their project giving them
the free learning they desire.

I believe reinforcement is the most important factor making Skinner’s operate conditioning the most
important theory to me. Sometimes skinners theory can be used negatively but I need to make sure I
use operate condition theory positively and negatively. I liked how Jena stated how important
reinforcement is “Reinforcement plays a vital role in strengthening and maintaining most of our
behaviours in day-to-day” (Jena, 2008, p. 55). During my SP2 placement I had to reinforce putting
their hands up to speak on the MS Teams app because students kept answering questions at the
same time. A simple “thank you” when a student used the hands up function worked and other
students began to use the hand up function because they learnt they would be praised. Every now
and then I would have to reinforce the use of the hands up function.
 5. CONCLUSION

Within this academic essay I have shared my thoughts on Philosophy in education and Phycology in
education and my favourite personal theories applied in the technical classroom. I had never
considered my own philosophy until I began this essay. I have related and gave examples of theories
I found useful on SP2 placement and how I applied them in the Woodwork and Drawing classroom. .
From my research I have realised that the theories of learning will be forever seen in the woodwork
and drawing classroom

1 References
Clark, K. R. (2018 ). Learning Theories: Behaviorism. Learning Theories: Behaviorism., 172 - 175.

College, T. S. (2017). Educational philosophy: what is it all about? Retrieved from The Scots College:
https://www.tsc.nsw.edu.au/educational-philosophy-what-is-it-all-about/

Hargraves, D. V. (n.d.). Deweys Educational Philosophy . Retrieved from The Educational Hub:
https://theeducationhub.org.nz/deweys-educational-philosophy/

Jena, S. P. (2008). Behaviour Thearpy Techniques, Research and Applications. Sage.

Lillard, A. S. (2016). Montessori : The Science Behind the Genius. Oxford University Press.

Meinke, H. (2019, April 11). Exploring the Pros and Cons of Montessori Education. Retrieved from
Rasmussen University:
https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/pros_cons_montessori_education/

Rogers, P.A. and Bremmer. (2019). Design School: After Boundaries and Discipilnes. Vernon Press.

Talebi, K. (2015). John Dewey - Philospher and Educational Reformer. European Journal of
Educational Studies, 5.

Timmons, G. (2014). The Biography. Retrieved from Socrates Biography:

https://www.biography.com/scholar/socrates

Wpengine. (n.d.). Understanding Three Key Classroom Mangement Theories. Retrieved from Husson
University:
https://online.husson.edu/classroom-management-theories/#:~:text=interactions%20with
%20students.-,B.F.,that%20occur%20in%20their%20environment.