Greek and Western Philosopher

“JOHN DEWEY” 1859-1952

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHER
 INTRODUCING “JOHN DEWEY”
• Born On October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. He was married
twice and had six children.
• In 1879 he graduated from the University of Vermont . After
studying philosophy independently, he entered the graduate
program in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University to receive his
Ph.D.
• From 1884 to 1894 he had a faculty position at the University of
Michigan.
• In 1894 Dewey joined the University of Chicago where emerged his
Pragmatic Philosophy.
 MAJOR DEWEY'S EDUCATIONAL
THEORIES WERE PRESENTED IN
THESE WRITINGS: MY PEDAGOGIC
CREED (1897), THE SCHOOL AND
SOCIETY (1900), THE CHILD AND
THE CURRICULUM (1902),
DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION
(1916), EXPERIENCE AND
EDUCATION (1938)
 JOHN DEWEY
• American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
• • Founder of philosophical school of “Pragmatism”
• • Father of “Functional Psychology”
• • “Educational Progressivism”
 HOW DO WE LEARN??
• Knowing(process of construction) rather than
knowledge(product)
• Knowledge is the result of successful inquiry, whereas Knowing
consists in using one’s intelligence in given inquiries.
Intelligence is stabilized knowledge which can be utilized in
other inquiries(Boyles,2006).
 WHAT EDUCATION IS
• “I believe that all education proceeds by the participation of the
individual in the social consciousness of the race.”
• “I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation
of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which
he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a
member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action
and feeling, and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the
welfare of the group to which he belongs.”
• “The child has his own instincts and tendencies, but we do not know
what these mean until we can translate them into their social
equivalents. We must be able to carry them back into a social past
and see them as the inheritance of previous race activities.”

* Emphasis on individual difference

 EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF
DEWEY

“Education is a social process.

Education is growth.
Education is not preparation for life;
Education is life itself.”
•John Dewey
 PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION
MOVEMENT

• The Progressive education movement began in the 18th century as a

reaction against what was conceived as educational practices that
focused too narrowly upon intellectual development alone.  
•
• John Dewey broadened this perspective still further, seeing the purpose
of a Progressive education lying in its preparation of the student for
participation in a democracy.
 PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION
• Two elements of progressive education that detached
progressive education from traditional formal education.
• Respect for diversity
i.e. own abilities, interests, ideas, needs and cultural
identities(child centered).
• Critical, socially engaged intelligence
i. e. participation in community (social re- constructivist).
 HOW DO WE LEARN IN
PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION?
• we learn something from every experience, whether positive or negative
• ones accumulated learned experience influences the nature of one's future experiences
• every experience in some way influences all potential future experiences for an individual
 INTERACTION

• past experience interacts with the present situation, to

create one's present experience
• any situation can be experienced in profoundly different ways
because of unique individual differences :one student loves
school, another hates the same school
• The teacher with good insight into the effects of past
experiences which students bring with them better enables
the teacher to provide quality education which is relevant and
meaningful for the students.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION
• Emphasis on learning by doing – hands-on projects, experiential learning
• Integration of entrepreneurship in to education
• Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
• Group work and development of social skills
• Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
• Collaborative and cooperative learning projects
• Education for social responsibility and democracy
• Highly personalized education accounting for each individual's personal goals
• De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources
• Emphasis on lifelong learning
• Assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions
 DEWEY AND DEMOCRACY
• The very process of living together educates”— John Dewey
(1916)
• Dewey’s vision of Democratic education:
• 1. subject matter comes from learners' needs
• 2. grades and promotion should be eliminated, and
• 3. learners should be involved in planning, executing, and
evaluating activities.
 DEWEY POSED MANY
CHALLENGES
• Challenged the colonial schools patterned after the schools of
Europe where classism, sexism, and racism were the norm

• Under this provision of the Constitution, schools would be

secular in nature and no religion would be allowed to advance
its cause through the public schools
 HOW DID DEWEY SEEK TO
CHANGE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM?
• The main ethos of the schooling should be to::

• 1. prepare the student for later life;

• 2. make the student efficient in terms of
• existing institutions; and
• 3. mould the student's personality to
• established societal norms
 RADICAL IDEAS
• Dewey believed that students should be involved in real-life tasks and
challenges:

• maths could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking or figuring out

how long it would take to get from one place to another by mule
• history could be learnt by experiencing how people lived, geography,
what the climate was like, and how plants and animals grew
 DEWEY’S THEORIES AND BELIEFS
ON EDUCATION
Experiential education:
 Dewey focused his concept of instrumentalism” in education on
“learning by doing or hands-on learning”, which means to learn not
only by the theory, but also by the practice. “Instrumentalism” is
a theory of knowledge created by Dewey in which ideas are seen
to exist primarily as instruments for the solution of problems
encountered in the environment.
 Dewey thought that people learn the best through experience. He
thought knowledge could be falsified. Thus, It needed to be
consistently challenged and experimented on.
 He emphasized on inquiry based education.
 DEWEY SEQUENCE PROBLEM-
SOLVING

Step One: Define the Problem

Step Two: Analyze the Problem
Step Three: Determine Criteria for optimal Solution
Step Four: Propose Solutions
Step Five: Evaluate Proposed Solution
Step Six: Select a Solution
Step Seven: Suggest Strategies to Implement the Solution

* Step six and seven were added later

 DEWEY’S THEORIES AND BELIEFS
ON EDUCATION

The school’s Role:

 “The school is simply that form of community life in which all those
agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing
the child to share in the inherited resources of the race, and to use
his own powers for social ends.”
 Dewey stressed the importance of education in school not only as a
place to gain content knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to
live.
 He believed that students should be actively involved in real-life
tasks and challenges. (Neill, 2005)
 THE DEWEY SCHOOL
 In January of 1896, Dewey opened the doors of the Experimental University of Chicago
with the idea of setting up an “Experimental School” by his own.

“the child goes to school to

make things: to cook, to sew, to
work the wood, and to make
tools through acts of simple
construction; and in this
context, and like consequence
of those acts it articulates the
studies: reading, writing, and
calculus.”
 DEWEY’S THEORIES AND BELIEFS
ON EDUCATION

Role of Curriculum:
 Dewey advocated for an educational structure that makes a balance
between the child and the curriculum, that is to say, delivering
knowledge while also taking into account the interests and experiences
of the student.
 He also rejected curriculum-centered view of education rather than
student centered education.
 Active curriculum should be integrated, rather than divided into
subject-matter segments (Brewer, 43)
 Flexible and Changeable in according to Child’s Interest.
 Reflect social life and social activities- utilities.
 DEWEY’S THEORIES AND BELIEFS
ON EDUCATION
The Teacher’s Role:
 He believed that the teacher’s role should be that of facilitator
and guide since the teacher becomes a partner in the learning
process who leads students to independently discover meaning
within the subject area.
 Teachers are responsible for achieving the goals of the school, but
the specific topics to be studied to meet those goals, cannot be
determined in advance because they should be of the interest of
the children (Brewer, 43).
 Learner’s past experience should be taken into account the
teaching-learning process, as well as the environment.

*Dewey’s educational theory was far less child-centered and more teacher-centered (Westbrook, 1991: 108-109)
 PROGRESSIVE METHODS OF
TEACHING
• The proponents of progressive teaching are John Dewey
,Rousseau,Karl Max.They all agree that knowledge is not static
,but that all reality or truth changes.Reality varies from one
perceiver to another perceiver and knowledge is dynamic .
• Students should therefore be allowed to learn freely and
should be only assisted to discover new truth.Its main
emphasis should be learning by doing.
 PROGRESSIVE METHODS INCLUDE
:
• inquiry, • group work,
• experimentation,
• role play ,
• field work ,
• research,
• project,
• use of tools like
• simulation ,
computers, • drama,
• discussion, • debate
• demonstration,
 STUDENT LEARNING
• Students actively participate in their own learning through
encountering real life situation in which they get first hand
information.This enhance learner's
interaction and utilize pupil's curiosity.The teacher acts as
mentor ,guides and creates an atmosphere, for active
participation by make provisions of real life situations making
or providing the equipments,apparatus and resources for
pupils to learn with on their own.
 ROLE PLAY
• Role Play:
• According to Farrant (1991:134)the application of role play
stems from educational reformers like Froebel and Maria
Montessorri.
•
Froebel advocates creativity in students whilst charts,maps
,pictures,illustrations ,actual objects ,sketches ,diagrams on
the chalkboards which help to keep alive the interest of the
classs relieve the monotomy of the lecture method.
• The role play process provide a life sample of human behaviour
that serves as a vehicle for pupils to explore their feelings
and gaining sight into attitudes ,values and ways.
•
This helps students to resolve personal dilemma with the
assistance of the social group. Students are exposed to skills
of interacting together in analyzing social situations especially
interpersonal problems.
COMPARING METHODS OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life
itself. Education, therefore, is a process of living and not
a preparation for future living.”
-John Dewey
 THINK THINK
• What did you discover in reading Dewey’s work that startled
you?
• Is there anything with which you disagree?
• What, if anything, do you question?