BCE ASSIGNMENT- 3

Mans Yadav (19/2129)

B.EL.ED 3r year
Shyam Prasa Mukherj Colleg for Wome

QUES: 'Dewey's essay My Pedagogic Creed offers an

alternative conceptualization of the teaching-learning
process.' Elaborate your views on the above statement.
Substantiate with the help of any two examples from your
schooling experience.

Dewey believed that knowledge was best discovered through the scientific
method. Dewey’s education system is perhaps most well-known for how it
stresses the importance of “hands on” experience in the learning process.
Dewey believed that people learned best by going out and interactively
“doing.” and hence, hands on experience and inquiry serves as the paramount
key to learning. Going out into the real world and having a live experience that
could be tested and criticised by others in order to progress to something
better was essential to Dewey’s view and a foundational belief of many
American pragmatists.
In the eyes of Dewey, education and life were one in the same. Dewey is
quoted as saying, “education is a process of living and not a preparation for
future life” (8, My Pedagogic Creed). A proper education of the individual was
essential to the functioning and growth of that individual and the society they
lived in, as school was first a “social institution.” School was to be centred on
the community and the student was being developed in school so they could
be an active member of the community. Dewey advocated that what a child
does in their home life should be incorporated into the curriculum in the
classroom. Also, for Dewey, the student had to be invested in their education
for it to mean anything. The way that he suggested this be accomplished was
to let the students learn about something they were interested in. An
education could only be valuable if the student was learning material that they
could actually apply to their real everyday life as evidenced by Dewey’s quote,
“True education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the
demands of the social situations in which he finds himself” (2, My Pedagogic
Creed). Dewey believed that education was a process of discovery where
students would study what they were interested in at their own pace as they
were gradually becoming more aware of where their interests lay.

• Dewey asserts that active participation far surpasses passive learning.

Action must come before anything else. We create children's negative
perceptions of school. Ideas come from movement. Symbols give an
inaccurate and incomplete view of the big picture. They impact the
student's ability to think authentically.
• Envisioning the message helps with retention. Imagery is so important in
generating relevancy to one's life.
• It is the teacher's job to pay attention to student's blooming interests and
expand on them for a one-of-a-kind learning experience. Interest is power and
we must harbour that interest.
• Welcome emotions in education. They are part of the important aspects of
learning.

For Dewey, a teacher’s job was more about being a facilitator to the students,
helping them discover what they were interested in and then creating ways for
them to actively ‘do’ these things. Ultimately for Dewey, learning grounded in
experience combined with subject matter that was interesting and applicable
to the student would lead to a greater society. I think that both good and
drawbacks come from John Dewey’s ideas for education. First off, I like
Dewey’s movement away from teaching styles that stressed only memorization
and the regurgitation of facts.

Hands-on experience is a proven way for students to learn. It is much more

enjoyable for the student and seems to be directly applicable to their future. I
also agree with Dewey’s view that students should learn about something that
interests them. Stuffing facts that kids do not have any desire to learn down
their throats is not beneficial to anyone. When students can actually connect
with the material they are learning, they are more likely to put in the time and
effort that is necessary to fully develop their knowledge and understanding of
a subject. Lastly, I believe that it’s a good idea to focus your studies in one
particular area as it is very difficult to master a multitude of subjects. I think
it’s better to be extremely proficient in one subject than to have an average
amount of knowledge in multiple subjects. This way, everyone can pick an area
of study that interests them and then, as a community, each person can bring
their one unique area of expertise to the table and the rest of the people that
aren’t as fluent in that subject can benefit.

While memorization and repetition are not a perfect form of teaching, the
results are hard to argue with. I believe that there is something to be said for
mastering a subject. For example, my major area of study is chemistry. It is
one thing for me to get hands-on experience directly applicable to my major,
but learning cannot just come through “playing” so to speak. I must first study
all the foundational information that is out there including all chemical
reactions and their usage. There are many people in the world that are much
more knowledgeable on the subject than me and there are a lot of valuable
things I can learn from them. Secondly, to be successful in chemistry, there are
other core subjects that I must be competent in. For instance, I need to be
knowledgeable in English to be able to communicate with my peers and I need
to know maths so I am able to compute the formulas required in it. Knowledge
of nature of chemicals and chemical processes therefore provides insight into
a variety of physical and biological phenomena. There is a proven value in
having a rounded education. Learning about subjects that may not directly
apply to your area of study can benefit you in many different ways. As an
example, perhaps it could sharpen your critical thinking skills. And on top of
that, a student might think they are not interested in a certain subject until they
actually take a class and learn about it, which I could personally also relate
with as in my school I used to think that biology is boring and that , it contains
information that is supposed to be rote memorised only and I used to not like
it but once I started studying it, I found it interesting and fun to learn. I believe
that I first need to master the principles of chemical reactions in order to
deserve a shot of going out into the real world and actually “doing” a
chemistry laboratory.

Dewey in his book, ‘Democracy and Education "have emphasised the

importance of inquiry as an instructional approach and has become
associated with the discovery of learning and child-centred, progressive
teaching approaches. While he certainly believed education needs to connect
learning to the real-world experience of learners and be child centred, he also
emphasised the importance of a rigorous curriculum that developed powerful
methodologies and knowledge. Dewey was alarmed that schools failed in this
regard, promoting passive and compliant pupils rather than reflective,
autonomous, informed decision makers. He believed one absolutely critical
function of education is to develop the intellect, motivation and wisdom of
young people so that they become ‘mature’ and effective citizens able to
transmit culture from one generation to the next and transform it in the face of
change: “What nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, education
is to social life.”

The thing I found interesting about this book is the link Dewey highlights
between democracy and education reflecting his advocacy of democracy.
Democracy is not only about extending voting rights, a big issue in 1916, but
also equipping citizens with the ability to take on the responsibility to make
informed, intelligent choices and decisions leading to the public good. If
democracy is to work it requires informed, knowledgeable and wise citizens
and, therefore, education has a moral purpose. Classroom teachers and
schools have a responsibility to nurture character as well as teach knowledge
and skills. Progressive education by definition is essentially a view of
education that puts emphasis on the need to learn by doing. Dewey believed
that human beings learn better through a "hands-on" approach which involves
providing direct practical experience in the operation or functioning of
something. This makes his philosophy an educational philosophy of
pragmatism. Pragmatism is the theory that holds that reality must be
experienced. It is a philosophical approach that evaluates theories and beliefs
in terms of their workability, success and practical application. Therefore, an
ideology or proposition according to pragmatism is true if it works
satisfactorily, and the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical
consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected.
From the point of view of John Dewey, this means that students must interact
and adapt with the environment in order to learn.

NCF 2005 reflects John Dewey's idea about knowledge. The construction of
knowledge in NCF 2005 emphasises on the active role of teachers enhancing
the process of knowledge construction engaging the children actively. John
Dewey's philosophy on education has a great impact on the present-day
education system. Present education process emphasises on creating or
constructing knowledge through experiences of the child. Teacher helps the
child to construct knowledge by using the experiences gained by the
interaction with the environment, family, peers, society, etc. NEP 2020
emphasises experiential learning and learning by doing. This aspect could be
seen in John Dewey's perspective in education. John Dewey gave importance
to pragmatic education Ie practical, real life-based education; experiential
learning.

EXAMPLES FROM MY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE:

In my school, I remember I used to get so many individual assignments and

project works. There were hardly any pair or group tasks I have done in my
schooling. And all those felt like a burden and boring and I did them just for
the sake of marks. It didn’t allow me to share my own experiences and
understanding. On the contrary, I used to copy content from textbooks or from
google. Peer learning was not promoted, as my teacher always used to shout
at us to do our own work, there was no need for any discussions.
But according to Dewey, teachers should give more group tasks, presentations
and projects which would lead to collaborative learning. Group tasks would
help learners to work as a team. And they would be able to understand the
importance of teamwork, more ideas, work can be distributed, improvement in
communication skills, boost in confidence, etc. as suggested by Dewey, hands
on approach would help an individual for better learning.
My learning in the school was not even close to ideal at all. But after reading
about pedagogical creed, and the way of learning that Dewey is talking about.
There was a teacher in my 12th class, she taught chemistry to us. She made
sure that the whole class was learning and not just front benchers. She always
started our class with schema activation which was basically the revision of
the previous class. Even when she was starting a new chapter, she always
revised the basics of that chapter from 11th class in brief. And she tries to link
it with other subjects and daily life examples as well. She used to give 5-10
minutes at the start of her period to all the students so that class would revise
from the last class. And she also promoted peer learning by asking us to help
them understand any concept that my friend is not able to understand. If there
is still a problem, they both can go to her with their doubts. She was so
welcoming and an inspiration for me. She was kind as a person but she also
made me fall in love with chemistry as a subject. We hardly went to the lab in
class 11th but in class 12th she made sure we did enough labs to understand
the topics.

When we asked us to write answers, She used to encourage us to cross-check

and confirm information on multiple websites. Promoting self-directed
investigation and research impels learners to rely on evidence instead of upon
authority (text, teacher, parent). She was like “ check karke aana, or kal mujhe
or class me sab ko samjhana” these small tasks and things encouraged me to
do self learning and then help my peers to understand that particular topic.
She also used to ask everyone personally - “samajh aa raha hai na?” Do you
want me to repeat anything? And she happily repeated a concept a number of
times till every doubt was clear.

As a teacher, it is important to ask reflective questions to allow students to

self-identify improvements and enhance visionary thinking. Adults can also
use this sharing period to help students link what they learned to other life
experiences.
During my online teaching experience, in one of the EVS classes, the teacher
asked students to make their videos showing properties of water. When the
children were presenting those videos, I remember the teacher asking a
student after the presentation that "if you could do the activity over, what
would you do differently?" or "what improvements would you make?", which
made the student reflect on his task. This shows that teachers are trying to
create a safe environment for learners where they are able to express
themselves freely and ask their doubts. But during my schooling, I was scared
to ask anything and nod my head with other students even if I don’t
understand it at all.

Although during my schooling, I didn’t get the opportunity to learn by methods

suggested by Dewey as he believes that subject matter should reflect
students' real lives. Schools focus on too many subjects, which may not
reflect the students' actual experiences. Dewey believed that the only way to
make the child conscious of his social heritage is to enable him to perform
those fundamental types of activity which makes civilization what it is. He
believes, therefore, in the so-called expressive or constructive activities as the
centre of correlation hence, giving the standard for the place of cooking,
sewing, manual training, etc., in the school. We have seen and observed
traditional and innovative schools in our classroom management practice.
Innovative schools were following Dewey’s approach in their school. But
traditional schools are also trying to implement Dewey’s approach. I had seen
a few teachers in Bal Bharti school, pitampura in our online classroom
observations, who were trying to implement these strategies in their
classrooms.
Theories we have read so far in B.EL.ED, was saying repeatedly that a child's
learning atmosphere should be child centred. NCF 2005 also mentioned it, that
our NCERT textbooks are child centred. But when we observe schools, most
are still struggling to provide that environment to students. We as a teacher try
to implement the strategies we have read in our teacher training programme to
make our classrooms and learning more child centred.

CONCLUSION:
I remember the proverb: "Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may
remember. Involve me and I will understand." That is the core of the 4-H
philosophy, and it should be the guiding principle for how 4-H professionals
and adult volunteers[teachers]construct youth opportunities. The 4-H program
is designed to teach youth by doing. The goal of 4h is to develop citizenship,
leadership, responsibility and life skills of youth through experiential learning.
The approach is much more involved than simply reading a textbook, listening
to a lecture, or learning in a formal classroom. There is no better way for 4-H
members to learn new skills than to actually put the skills into action.
"EDUCATION, THEREFORE, IS A PROCESS OF LIVING AND NOT A
PREPARATION FOR FUTURE LIVING."
Since the influence of democracy was emerging, Dewey saw Education as the
only solution for the growth and development of citizens. For John Dewey,
Social Life, Interactions, Pragmatic Education and Experience are really
important. Dewey believed that with the gap between the immature / young
generation and older generation could only be seized by Education. Hence,
Democracy and Education are interconnected and inseparable. Whatever we
are striving for – learning by doing, work integrated learning, respect for
manual skills, self-reliance through sustainable livelihoods, – concepts like
these are deeply ingrained in Mahatma Gandhi’ s emphasis on manual and
productive work as integral to basic education as well.