1. John Dewey ED 530 Theorist Presentation Spring Semester 2010 Crystale Getz

2. Background Born October 20 th 1859 in Burlington Vermont At the age of 16 he went to University of Vermont After graduation he was a high school teacher for three years At the age of 23 he started his graduate work at John Hopkins University Died in New York City on June 1 st 1952

3. Instrumentalism Dewey’s philosophy of Education stressed these influences: Development of the person Understanding of the environment Learning through experience

4. Instrumentalism Is the philosophical teaching of Dewey in its theoretical aspect Affirms that cognition consists in forging ideal tools or instruments with which to cope with a given situation Dewey believes that the mind is an instrument for realizing purposes Ideas are teleological weapons of mind Ideas are plastic and adaptable

5. Instrumentalism Believes that truth is an instrument used by human beings to solve their problems Experimental approaches in the classroom Students will learn from experience, using those tools to achieve future experiences Theory was structured around the scientific method

6. Instrumentalism related to Pragmatism Instrumentalism relates closely to pragmatism, especially in the work of John Dewey and his student Addison Webster Moore. instrumentalism is more of a pragmatic approach to science, information and theories than an ontological statement. Often instrumentalists (like pragmatists) have been accused of being relativists, even though many instrumentalists are also believers in sturdy objective realism.

7. Influences Toward Pragmatism For Dewey Biological Doctrines of T.H. Huxley and the philosophy of Hegel (these significant influences installed ideas in which he proved a fixed resolve that these dualisms should be opposed: Matter and mind Experience and necessity Fact and value

8. Pragmatism Definition – a philosophical view of human knowledge and thought as being biological in nature; in modern psychological terms; it is equivalent to the gestalt or paradigm theory of knowledge - - - it could imply that there is no objectivity to knowledge

9. Achievements Known as the Father of Experiential Education Movement Lectured all over the world and prepared educational surveys for Turkey, Mexico and the Soviet Union Rejected authoritarian teaching methods Major Books include: “Democracy and Education” “Logic” “Experience and Education”

10. References Neill, James; John Dewey: Philosophy of Education, viewed Jan. 2 2010, updated Jan 26, 2005 www.wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosop hyEducation.html www.wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosop hyEducation.html Asiado, Tel; John Dewey: Pragmatism, viewed Jan. 2 2010, Nov 8 th, 2007 www.greatphilosophers.suite101.com/article.cfm/jo hn_dewey_pragmatism Olsen, Shawn; John Dewey, viewed Jan 2, 2010, updated August 25, 2005 j www.johndewey.shawnolson.net Instrumentalism; viewed Jan 2, 2010 http://www.answers.com/topic/instrumentalism The Philosophy of John Dewey; viewed Jan 2, 2010, updated 2002-2003 www.radicalacademy.com/phildewey.htm