John Dewey

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John Dewey

• By
• Jimmy Autrey II

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John Dewey (1859-1952)

• Born in Burlington, Vermont to a middle class
  family
• Undergrad work completed at the University of
  Vermont at Burlington
• Grad school at John Hopkins University

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More biographical facts

• In college he studied political, social, and
  moral philosophy
• Right after his undergraduate work, he taught
  high school for a while in Pennsylvania, then
  returned to Vermont
• After grad school he taught philosophy at the
  University of Michigan
• Later in his career he would teach at other
  colleges, including the University of Minnesota,
  the University of Chicago, and Columbia University

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The Lab School at the University of Chicago

• From 1896-1904, Dewey directed the Lab School
  (also known as the experimental school) at the
  University of Chicago
• This lab was intended to (a.) test
  theoretically-based propositions and (b.)
  increase knowledge within the education discipline

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So how was the Lab School set up?

• The school began as an elementary school with 16
  pupils, two teachers, and two assistants
• It would grow to have 125 pupils (ages 4 to 15),
  15 teachers, and 16 assistants by its final year

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How did it work?

• It was considered a working experiment in
  educational training/learning. Dewey called it a
  microsociety.
• Earliest activities were centered on occupations
  like
• Planting, growing, harvesting, and cooking food
• Weaving to create useful household items
• Sewing to create and repair garments
• Woodworking to create useful products
• Writing for business communication
• Drawing/painting to convey emotions
• Counting numbers to maintain business accounts
• Reading the stars to learn directions
• Resting for restoration

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Whered they go from there?

• Students would take their occupational
  knowledge and then study disciplines that related
  to them. For example
• Production leads to economics
• Cooperation leads to politics
• Experiments lead to science
• Community activities lead to understanding other
  communities through history, social studies,
  geography, and culture
• Civilization-related activities lead to
  understanding ethics, morals, and manners

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• You can concentrate the history of all mankind
  into the evolution of the flax, cotton, and wool
  fibers into clothing.
• John Dewey

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So, what the heck were they trying to prove???

• Students dont learn logic, they live it!
• Primary skills in reading, writing, and numbers
  will grow out of the needs and results of
  activities
• Students will seek new knowledge as it relates to
  the things they are already personally interested
  in.

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Did it work?

• Dewey himself said, Like every human enterprise,
  the Laboratory School came far short of achieving
  its ideal and putting its controlling ideas into
  successful operation.
• This experiment made Dewey a major name in
  educational theory.
• Progressive education (well talk about this
  soon) became a hot topic.

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What went wrong?

• Many critics argue that the Lab School tried to
  be too utopian with its view that students
  would actively learn the essentials of education
  on their own.
• Critics also say that real classrooms could never
  have the 41 student-teacher ratio that Deweys
  Lab School enjoyed.

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Deweys influence
King of Progressive Educational Theory
King of Pop
King of Rock
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Progressive education

• Progressivism This perspective sees change as
  the essence of reality and promotes the view that
  schools should develop learners problem-solving
  abilities to help them cope with it.
• Progressives consider an educated person to be
  someone who has the insights needed to adapt to
  change.
• Deweys Lab School is a good example of a
  classroom working under progressive ideals.

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Examples of progressive classroom activities

• Direct experience with the environment
• No reliance on authoritarian textbooks
• Students encouraged to ask lots of questions
• Limiting beliefs that there are large numbers of
  unchanging truths that must be memorized
• Solve problems and engage in experiments instead
  of just memorizing others conclusions
• Learners have choices about what will be studied

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Works Cited/Additional Readings

• Fisherman, Stephen M. and Lucille McCarthy. John
  Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice.
  New York Teachers College Press, 1998.
• Tanner, Daniel. Crusade for Democracy
  Progressive Education at the Crossroads. New
  York New York Press, 1991.
• Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy. Ed. Nancy
  Nager and Edna K. Shapiro. New York State
  University of New York Press, 2000.
• Boisvert, Raymond D. John Dewey Rethinking Our
  Time. New York State University of New York
  Press, 1998.
• Campbell, James. Understanding John Dewey.
  Chicago Open Court, 1995.
• Smith, Philip L. Sources of Progressive Thought
  in American Education. Lanham, MD University
  Press of America, 1980.
• Martin, Jay. The Education of John Dewey A
  Biography. New York Columbia University Press,
  2002.