Jigsaw Group: Educational Foundations and Teaching Foundations
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Divvy Group (Dewey)
Essentialism
“The measure of progress in learning is a more perfect representation of the reality of the subject of study.”
The essence of essentialism is to strive to maintain the legacy of past cultural patterns. According to essentialism, these patterns are not only real, but also good. It follows that the main goal of education should be their transmission. (Kostylo, 2014, p. 25)
“According to essentialism, these patterns are not only real, but also good
“The essence of essentialism is to strive to maintain the legacy of past cultural patterns.”
Progressivism
“Progressivism evolved under the influence of four factors: the industrial revolution, modern science, the development of democracy and the favourable cultural environment in the United States. It is worth mentioning that it competed with the current of essentialist education in the U.S.A. for over twenty years, and that this rivalry ended with the victory of essentialism. But before essentialism began to dominate in the 1930s, progressivism had been the most influential philosophy of education in America in the first decades of that century.
My Pedagogic Creed: Dewey
The Subject-matter of education
“Language is almost always treated in the books of pedagogy simply as the expression of thought. It is true that language is a logical instrument, but it is fundamentally and primarily a social instrument” (Dewey, 1897, pp. 7).
“Language is the device for communication; it is the tool through which one individual comes to share the ideas and feelings of others” (Dewey, 1897, pp. 7).
“I believe that at present we lose much of the value of literature and language studies because of our elimination of the social element. Language is almost always treated in the books of pedagogy simply as the expression of thought. It is true that language is a logical instrument, but it is fundamentally and primarily a social instrument. Language is the device for communication; it is the tool through which one individual comes to share the ideas and feelings of others. When treated simply as a way of getting individual information, or as a means of showing off what one has learned, it loses its social motive and end” (Dewey 1897 p.7).
I believe that we violate the child's nature and render difficult the best ethical results, by introducing the child too abruptly to a number of special studies, of reading, writing, geography, etc., out of relation to this social life
“The social life of the child is the basis of concentration, or correlation, in all his training or growth” (Dewey, 1897, pp. 5).
“The social life gives the unconscious unity and the background of all his efforts and of all his attainments” (Dewey, 1897, pp. 5).
“I believe that the psychological and social sides are organically related and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other. We are told that the psychological definition of education is barren and formal that it gives us only the idea of a development of all the mental powers without giving us any idea of the use to which these powers are put.” (Dewey, 1897, p. 2).
What the school is
“I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.”
“I believe that the social life of the child is the basis of concentration, or correlation, in all his training or growth. The social life gives the unconscious unity and the background of all his efforts and of all his attainments.”
“I believe 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.”
“Education being a social process, 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, 1897, pp. 3).
The Nature of Method
“I believe that the question of method is ultimately reducible to the question of the order of development of the child's powers and interests. The law for presenting and treating material is the law implicit within the child's own nature."
“I believe that interests are the signs and symptoms of growing power. I believe that they represent dawning capacities. Accordingly the constant and careful observation of interests is of the utmost importance for the educator.”
“I believe that if we can only secure right habits of action and thought, with reference to the good, the true, and the beautiful, the emotions will for the most part take care of themselves. I believe that next to deadness and dullness, formalism and routine, our education is threatened with no greater evil than sentimentalism. I believe that this sentimentalism is the necessary result of the attempt to divorce feeling from action.” (Dewey 2014. P. 9)
The School and Social Progress
It is socialistic because it recognizes that this right character is not to be formed by merely individual precept, example, or exhortation, but rather by the influence of a certain form of institutional or community life upon the individual, and that the social organism through the school, as its organ, may determine ethical results
"I believe that this conception has due regard for both the individualistic and socialistic ideals. It is duly individual because it recognizes the formation of a certain character as the only genuine basis of right living. It is socialistic because it recognizes that this right character is not to be formed by merely individual precept, example, or exhortation, but rather by the influence of a certain form of institutional or community life upon the individual, and that the social organism through the school, as its organ, may determine ethical results” (Dewey 1897 p.10).
What education is
“We are told that the psychological definition of education is barren and formal that it gives us only the idea of a development of all the mental powers without giving us any idea of the use to which these powers are put” (Dewey, 1897, pp. 2).
“The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education.” (Dewey, 1897, p. 1).
To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently
“Democracy in progressive philosophy is a value that is associated with a more fundamental question of freedom. Progressivists understand it positively as an opportunity of individuals living next to one another to take full advantage of their capabilities for the sake of self-development and the development of the community.” (Kostylo, 2014, p. 27)
Perennialism
a. “Perennialist philosophy recognizes the authority of reason as the source of freedom. Therefore, the main task of education is to maximize the development of reason. This allows us to understand in what sense perennialists talk about liberating education. The superior purpose of this education is to liberate in a person his rational I, i.e. to bring him to the maximum potential of his freedom. This is tantamount to the maximum development of the rational (mental) potential, which is learning how to philosophize rising to intellectual virtues. The ultimate point of thinking is full intuition, which gives us a sense of absolute freedom.” (Kostylo, 2014, p. 24)
"Perennialism focuses the hope for proper education and, indeed, also for a healthy culture in returning to the idea of the Middle Ages, to the eternal principles of truth, good and beauty" (Kostylo, 2014, p. 23-24).
Perennialist - ever-lasting, resurgent and returning to the previous form
Social Reconstructionism
“Respect for the existing culture and being aware that education, trying to change the world, cannot do this in isolation from it, are the two attitudes characterizing reconstructionism.”
“The originality of reconstructionism, however, does not lie with the fact that it assigns the task of emancipation to education . In the case of reconstructionism, the road that leads to this general goal is much more important than the goal itself. The road to democracy.”
“Theodore Brameld, who developed reconstructionist philosophy, said that reconstruction cannot destroy that which it finds, that any change is possible only under the condition that we will first thoroughly get to know the culture that we want to change.”
“Effective cultural change through education is possible only while observing democratic procedures.”
Divvy Group: Kostylo and Bruner
Social Reconstructionism
• “Reconstructed education must emphasize the shared responsibility of all of us for the current form of culture, and the need to focus not on individuality and privacy, but on thinking and acting in the dimension of a broader community. The fundamental issue raised by reconstructionism relates to the continuous effort to recognize their own cultural situation by each society and the concern of all people for communication between cultures.” (Kostylo, 2014, p. 29)
• “We find it in this world when we are born into it, but we are fully responsible for its development, which is possible only through conscious education.” (Kostylo, 2014, p. 29)
Essentialism
"Similarly to perennialism, another current, essentialism, is predominantly
focused on cultural transmission." (Kostylo, 2014, p. 25)
distinguishes in essentialism between two directions or trends: idealistic and realistic
to Brameld the verification process of ideas in both cases is the same.
Bruner
• “The first and most obvious problem is how to construct curricula that can be taught by ordinary teachers to ordinary students and that at the same time reflect clearly the basic or underlying principles of various fields of inquiry. The problem is twofold: first, how to have the basic subj ects rewritten and their teaching materials revamped in such a way that the pervading and powerful ideas and attitudes relating to them are given a central role; second, how to match the levels of these materials to the capacities of students of different abilities at different grades in school.” (Burner 1960 p18)
The Importance of Structure
• “Only by the use of our best minds in devising curricula will we bring the fruits of scholarship and wisdom to the student just beginning his studies.” (Bruner, 1977, p.19)
• “Mastery of the fundamental ideas of a field involves not only the grasping of general principles, but also the development of an attitude toward learning and inquiry, toward guessing and hunches, toward the possibility of solving problems on one's own.” (Bruner, 1977, p.20)
. "In essence, it consists of learning initially not a skill but a general idea, which can then be used as a basis for recognizing subsequent problems as special cases of the idea originally mastered.” (Bruner, 1977, p.17)
• “The decision as to what should be taught in American history to elementary school children or what should be taught in arithmetic is a decision that can best be reached with the aid of those with a high degree of vision and competence in each of these fields.” (Bruner, 1977, p. 19)
The National Academy of Sciences is a ten day program that , had been examining for several years the long-range problem of improving the dissemination of scientific knowledge in America.
"Rather, what had prompted the meeting was a conviction that we were at the beginning of a period of new progress in, and concern for, creating curricula and ways of teaching science, and that a general appraisal of this progress and concern was in order, so as to better guide developments in the future.” (Bruner, 1977, p.xvii)
The essentialists' deep belief in democracy is an interesting point worth emphasizing here. Unlike perennialism, essentialism is open to the idea of democracy. However, the adopted assumptions of this model make the understanding of democracy inflexible and closed.
Progressivism
• “Progressivism evolved under the influence of four factors: the industrial revolution, modern science, the development of democracy and the favorable cultural environment in the United States. It is worth mentioning that it competed with the current of essentialist education in the U.S.A. for over twenty years, and that this rivalry ended with the victory of essentialism. But before essentialism began to dominate in the 1930s, progressivism had been the most influential philosophy of education in America in the first decades of that century.” (Kostylo, 2014, p.27)
"The most significant theorists of education were recruited from among progressivists. Educational practice at every level of society, from kindergarten to adult education, remained under the influence of this philosophy." (Kostylo, 2014, p. 27)
Perennialism
• “The superior purpose of this education is to liberate in a person his rational I, i.e. to bring him to the maximum potential of his freedom. This is tantamount to the maximum development of the rational (mental) potential, which is learning how to philosophize rising to intellectual virtues.” (Kostylo, 2014, p.24)
"Perennialism focuses the hope for proper education and, indeed, also for
a healthy culture in returning to the idea of the Middle Ages, to the eternal principles of truth, good and beauty." (Kostylo, 2014, p.23)
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DIVVY GROUP #5
Essentialism
essentialism, is predominantly focused on cultural transmission. Although change is not one of its goals, the notion of democracy is understood much more broadly in it. (Kostylo, 2014, p. 25)
Progressivism
Progressivism evolved under the influence of four factors: the industrial revolution, modern science, the development of democracy and the favourable cultural environment in the United States. (Kostylo, 2014, p. 27)
Reconstructionism
The most innovative concept of the four mentioned above is social reconstructionism. According to reconstructionists, being too heavily burdened with transmission, and too prone to adaptation, education loses sight of the most pressing social problems. (Kostylo, 2014, p. 28)
“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (72).
Social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social questions and a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy. Reconstructionist educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of education.
Perennialism
Perennialism focuses the hope for proper education and, indeed, also for a healthy culture in returning to the idea of the Middle Ages, to the eternal principles of truth, good and beauty. (Kosylo, 2014, p. 23-24)
Banking System of Education
Freire
He believes that the typical idea of teaching and learning needs to change.
In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider knowing nothing. Freire, P. (2005 pg.72)
Students are being deposited into while the teachers are the ones depositing into the students.
“Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning. The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students’ thinking. The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible” (77).
Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. Freire, P. (2005 pg.72)
"The 'humanism" of the banking approach masks the effort to turn women and men into automatons- the very negation of their ontological vocation to be more fully human" (Freire, 1993, p. 74)
Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. (Freire, 2005, p. 80)
“I believe that when society once recognizes the possibilities in this direction, and the obligations which these possibilities impose, it is impossible to conceive of the resources of time, attention, and money which will be put at the disposal of the educator.”