The Example of Progressivism Within the Theory of Education

Abstract

This is an example of progressivism paper that will endeavour to explore in detail the educational theory of Progressivism, what it entails, how this philosophy speaks to me, and how my belief in this system impacts my classroom practice. It will explore the two different forms of Progressivism and attempt to draw conclusions as to which of these is most influential in my classroom and why.

Progressivism: Analysis

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” 

The definition of Progressivism, according to Cohen, at Oregon state University is, “Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and cultural context.” In other words, the learning of the child can best be done by experiencing, testing and actively “doing” within the physical and cultural context of their environment. Real-world learning. Not simply learning for learnings sake or memorizing to reproduce information in a test only to be forgotten immediately after because they will never use it again in that way in a real-life scenario. Progressivists believe that the student will learn best from what they consider to be relevant, of interest and satisfying ones own need to learn. In order to provoke this inquisitiveness, this drive to want to learn, Progressivists advocate a curriculum centred around the child and based on their interests, ability, needs and experience. Problem solving, independent, creative thinkers who are able to collaborate and contribute to the “modern” democratic society are the “aim” of Progressivists. There considered to be two main types of Progressivism, Pedagogic Progressivism and Administrative Progressivism. While they agree in some ways, they do disagree on some of the finer points.

Pedagogic Progressivism

Pedagogic Progressivism was first promoted by John Dewey an American philosopher, and was prominent from around 1910 to the 1940’s. Dewey’s philosophy was based around the idea of building an education system that fit the ideals of a democratic, socially just and respectful society.

“Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.” 

Dewey’s philosophy focusses on modifying teacher/student interactions and creating a more child-centred teaching environment which has real-world application. He believed that children learn by doing. In this way, Dewey felt that we could raise a generation of critical thinkers who could confidently contribute to democratic society. Dewey advocated differentiation by the teacher, adapting to the student’s needs (and interests). Dewey’s philosophy won the support of the teachers.

Administrative Progressivism

Edward Thorndike is the name synonymous with Administrative Progressivism. He was a psychologist and far more interested in attempting to turn how people learn into a science.

“Human education is concerned with certain changes in the intellects, characters and behaviour of men, its problems being roughly included under these four topics: Aims, materials, means and methods.”

Thorndike was more interested in changing the actual school structure to fit the structure of modern society. Thorndike also believed in a child-centred learning environment because he felt that children have different aptitudes, but also because he felt that (at that time) schools were too focussed on teaching children things which had no real-world application. Thorndike was more focussed on preparing children for a career in the “modern” economy. To aid in this endeavour, Thorndike felt that testing could be well used to determine student aptitude. Thorndike’s ideas won the support of the schools.

Impact of Beliefs on Classroom Techniques

As a very hands-on type of teacher, the author finds herself leaning more toward Dewey’s philosophies, but with more of the real-world ideals of Thorndike and as such believes that students learn by doing or experiencing but, should not be taught for teaching or testing sake. Students should learn in a way that allows transfer of knowledge to real-life situations and should be given the tools to learn that work for them as an individual, not just mindless memorization of material without understanding the concept behind it. Students learn to learn in many different ways, that is why the concept of adaptation is so vital to their learning. For example, students in the authors class are encouraged to use song and muscle memory to help them learn basic grammar. When discussing the differences between American and British English the students are asked to move from one side of the classroom to the other depending on which they think it is. In the eyes of the author, education should be child-centred, with the curriculum being both relevant and flexible enough to cater to the students interests, aptitudes and abilities. Students must be motivated to learn. One can assert from experience that the student loses motivation as soon as they are presented with something they cannot relate to or have no interest in. How many times have we seen a reading test or literature assignment which contains extensive reading material about some historical event about someone not from their own time which they are supposed to either summarise, write about or give answers about. Try asking a 12 year old these days about Princess Dianna for example? Who?? Is the reply you might be given. Or the first moon landing. Students want to know what it’s like now – what do they eat, how do they do their work, what’s it really like to do a moonwalk? This, we can make more relevant to the here and now for example, by simply accessing the NASA website where you can watch videos, see a live link or even send chat messages to the space station crew, rather than asking them to study an old event that they cannot relate to in any way.

Conclusion

The use of relevant material, or at the very least giving them the skills to take something which at first sight appears irrelevant, and spin it in such a way as to make it relevant enough to talk about, is one of the most important factors when asking for motivated learning. I believe the teacher can be the guide that ignites the fire of curiosity in a student, the rest is up to the student themselves, but as Caroline Pratt said,“Children...need most of the same things adults need-consideration, respect for their work, the knowledge that they and the things they do are taken seriously.”