Thursday, November 05, 2009

From History to Philosophy

I am excited that my History and Philosophy class has moved on from History of education to Philosophies of education. Not that I'm much of a philosophical person, I'm just not a history person. So today, I thought I would share four of the eight philosophies we have looked at so far.

*** Perennialism: this is a teacher centered philosophy created by Robert Hutchins. Perennialism is based on concepts, has little flexibility, and is based on Great Books. Not text book is used, only the books and all the lessons learned in the schools the students learn from the Great Books.

*** Progressivism: this is a student centered philosophy created by Dewy. Students in a progressive environment will learn through books as well as doing. It focuses on natural and social sciences. The students are grouped by interest and ability.

*** Pragmatism: this is also a student centered philosophy created by Dewy, it is very similar to progressivism. This philosophy focuses on developing and applying practical knowledge and skills for life, and on career/job preparation. The knowledge and skills taught here are applicable in day to day life. It involves 'hands-on' activities, and group work.

***Social reconstructivism: this is a student centered philosophy that claims the physical world is the basis of reality. It has students learn from meaningful social experiences, and focuses on social, political, and economic needs in their area and how to fix or improve them. It believes that society can and should be reconstructed through the students when they 'grow up', and that we need to instill theses problem solving skills in them now.

The next four should be coming next week... but what do you think of these four?

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