1. ED 250-Foundations of Education
Ashley Swanson

2. Quote:
“The direction which education starts a man will determine his future in life.” -Plato

3. Today’s Topics: Educational Pioneers Philosophy vs. Theory
Group Discussions

4. Johann Comenius

5. Johann Comenius Peace educator
Sensory method of teaching rather than passive memorization
Rejected the idea of child depravity
Advocate of learning readiness
Teaching a specific skill until it was thoroughly understood by students

6. Johann Comenius Influence on today’s educational practices:
Respect universal human rights & children’s dignity
Recognize children’s stages of development and learning readiness
Use objects and pictures to encourage children to use their senses during the learning process

7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

8. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Educating children according to nature
Wrote Emile-the story of a boys education from infancy to adulthood
Rejected the idea of child depravity
Placed crucial importance on stages of human development

9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Influence on today’s educational practices:
Argument that curriculum should arise from child’s interest had a profound affect on progressive educators
Children should learn from their direct interaction with the environment- influenced constructivism

10. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

11. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Schools should nurture children’s holistic nature
Emphasized the relationship between families and schools
Direct sensory learning
Dedicated to teaching students with special needs

12. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Influence on today’s educational practices:
Emphasis on having students manipulate objects in their environment: process-based learning
Emotional security is necessary for skill and subject learning

13. Johann Friedrich Herbart

14. Johann Friedrich Herbart
Sought to systemize teaching
Instruction was structured into a sequence of 5 steps:
Preparation: prepare students for the information that is going to be taught
Presentation: clearly present the new concept
Association: new concept is compared and contrasted to previous knowledge
Generalization: principles are formed that combine new and previous learning
Application: exams and exercises to assess mastery

15. Johann Friedrich Herbart
Influence on today’s educational practices:
Relevant to NCLB guidelines:
Instruction should be efficient and effective
Students should be tested to assess mastery of skills

16. Friedrich Froebel

17. Friedrich Froebel Created kindergarten
Games, play, songs, stories, and crafts
Stressed the importance of the teachers personality
Encouraged teachers to avoid introducing academic subjects

18. Friedrich Froebel Influence on today’s educational practices:
Kindergarten as part of elementary school

19. Herbert Spencer

20. Herbert Spencer Social Darwinism
Competition within the classroom and between schools
Utilitarian education
Focus on science and technology to prepare students to be efficient producers in a competitive industrial society

21. Herbert Spencer Influence on today’s educational practices:
Contemporary curriculum designers use Spencer’s rationale when designing curriculum on human needs and activities
Competition between schools introduced between standardized testing
School vouchers
Raising standards for pre-service teachers

22. John Dewey

23. John Dewey
Curriculum organized into constructive, experimental, and creative activities that promoted:
Development of senses and physical coordination
Opportunities for children to make and do things based on their interests
Encouraged students to formulate, examine, and test their ideas by acting on them
Genuine knowledge is not inert information transmitted from teachers to students

24. John Dewey Knowledge is continually reconfigured and reconstructed
Educations main purpose is to promote social growth
Three levels of curriculum:
1) Making and doing
2) Space and time
3) Science

25. John Dewey Influence on today’s educational practices:
Ideas about socially expanding children’s experiences, emphasized children’s individual interests and needs
Hands on or process oriented learning
Collaborative learning
Opening schools to social reform

26. Jane Addams

27. Jane Addams Socialized education Hull-House
Teaching with a social justice mission- teachers need to examine issues of social justice and change in relationship to education and schooling

28. Jane Addams Influence on today’s educational practices:
Equal rights for women
Classroom needs to be connected to the community it serves

29. Maria Montessori

30. Maria Montessori
Children possess an inner need to work at what interests them without needing external rewards and punishments
Children like to repeat actions until they master a skill
Curriculum included three major types of experiences:
Practical
Sensory
Formal skills and studies
Didactic devices and a prepared environment

31. Maria Montessori Influence on today’s educational practices:
Emphasis on the formative power of early childhood education over a person’s adult development
Children are capable of self-directed learning of a particular skill
Emphasis on school as part of the community and importance of parent involvement
Concept of sensitive periods

32. Jean Piaget

33. Jean Piaget
Children create their concepts of reality through exploration of their environment
Stage-Learning Theory of Development:
Sensorimotor Stage
Preoperational Stage
Concrete-Operational Stage
Formal-Operational Stage
Children’s perceptions of reality often differ from the types of curriculum and instruction adults create for them
A rich environment can stimulate children to learn, but we cannot force learning on children

34. Stage-Learning Theory of Development
Description
Sensorimotor
Birth-2 years old
Learning by actively exploring surrounding environment. Mostly nonverbal
Preoperational
2 years old - 7 years old
Combining exploration with speech. Reconstruct concepts by grouping and naming objects
Concrete-Operational
7 years old – 11 years old
Begin thinking mathematically and logically. Exercise reasoning skills
Formal-Operational
11 years old- Early adulthood
Learn complex processes. Use multivariate thinking.

35. Jean Piaget Influence on today’s educational practices:
Stimulated a movement to make the classroom less formal and more focused on how children learn
Encourage children to explore and experiment
Individualize instruction so children can learn at their own pace
Classroom learning centers stocked with hands-on activities

36. Paulo Freire

37. Paulo Freire Liberation pedagogy
Critical consciousness-students should be conscious and critically aware of the social, political, and economic conditions that effect their lives
Opposes “teacher talk”
Banking Model

38. Paulo Freire Influence on today’s educational practices:
Transformed teaching and learning from limited concept of transmitting information to discovering one’s identity and meaning in the world
Teachers should help students work towards social justices by exposing them to conditions that marginalize their communities

39. Choose 3 pioneers that you relate to in terms of your educational philosophy & jot down what you like about their ideals

40. Philosophy vs. Theory

41. Philosophy vs. Theory Philosophy Theory General Specific
Wide-ranging, systematic, complete
Focused on education, no complete system offered
Components related to metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic
Components related to specifics of education
Insights come from the general philosophical system
Insights derived from general philosophies or school contexts

42. Philosophies vs. Theories
Philosophies-highly generalized views of reality, knowledge, and values that include education
Theories-derived from philosophies, but focus more specifically on education, schools, curriculum, learning, and teaching
General philosophies link to more specific theories

43. Educational Philosophies

44. Philosophy Terminology
Metaphysics: considers questions about ultimate reality
Relates to education: determining which knowledge has the most worth when creating the curriculum
Epistemology: deals with knowledge
Relates to education: influences methods of teaching and learning
Axiology: ethics and aesthetics
Relates to education: classroom environment
Logic: correct and valid thinking-deductive and inductive logic
Relates to education: how lessons are organized

45. Answer the Following Questions:
What is knowledge?
What is the purpose of school?
Who should attend school?
How should we teach?

46. Idealism What is knowledge? What is school? Who should attend school?
Knowledge is about universal ideas and education is the intellectual process of bringing those ideas out in the consciousness of the learner
What is school?
Place to explore the questions of Socrates and Plato: What is truth?, What is beauty?, What is the good life? These questions can be answered through the study of quality books and works of art
Who should attend school?
Everyone-students should have an education that will take them as far as their intellectual abilities will allow
How should we teach?
Teaching is the process of bringing existing ideas into conscious reflection
Socratic method: teacher stimulates learners awareness of these ideas through questioning
Teachers should be good role models

47. Realism What is knowledge? What is school? Who should attend school?
Knowledge is about the world we live in and always corresponds with objects
What is school?
A place to obtain knowledge that is organized into disciplines
Who should attend school?
Everyone-oppose sorting students into separate academic tracks
How should we teach?
The curriculum should be organized into separate subjects
Focus should be on cognitive learning-teaching skills (reading, writing, computation, etc.) and subjects (history, math, science, etc.)

48. Pragmatism What is knowledge? What is school?
Process of constructing, using, and testing ideas
What is school?
Three major functions: simplify, purify, and balance cultural heritage
Local community of learners and their teachers connected to the larger society
Who should attend school?
Everyone
How should we teach?
Interdisciplinary education rather than departmentalized subject-matter curriculum
Using the scientific method

49. Existentialism What is knowledge? What is school?
Knowledge is created through our own personal choices
Individuals will choose the knowledge that pertains most to his/her life
What is school?
An opportunity for teachers and students to engage in discussion about their lives and their choices
Who should attend school?
Everyone
How should we teach?
Purpose of education is to awaken consciousness about freedom to create own sense of self
Students encouraged to participate in discussions about hopes, fears, desires, living, loving, and dying
Valuable subjects include literature, biography, drama, and film because they reveal people making choices
Example: Summerhill School

50. Postmodernism What is knowledge? What is school?
Constructed based on our experiences from interacting with our environment
What is school?
View public schools are a contested arena-argue that public schools help reproduce a society that is patriarchal, Eurocentric, and capitalist.
Who should attend school?
Everyone
How should we teach?
Encourage deconstruction of texts and teaching materials
With cultural diversity at the core
Conscious of bias

51. Educational Theories

52. Perennialism
Education needs to be universal and authentic during every period of history, throughout every culture
Believes that truth is in the classics
Primary purpose is developing students’ intellect
Truth is unchanging, so curriculum should consist of permanent themes recurrent in human nature
Curriculum includes: history, language, math, logic, literature, humanities, and science
Education should develop the mind, not one’s specific needs
Disagree with tracking

53. Essentialism
Role of schools is to teach the basics, so students can function in democratic society
Schools should not promote specific ideologies
Skills and subjects in a curriculum should be well defined in a scope and sequence
Teacher directed instruction
Students are promoted on the basis of academic achievement, not social considerations

54. Progressivism
Prolonging childhood-child should be free to develop naturally
Children’s readiness should determine curriculum
Children learn best when exploring their environment and constructing their own views of reality
Teacher facilitated, activity-based curriculum1
Importance of relationship between the school, home, and community
Resist standards set outside of school from government agencies

55. Critical Theory
Raise consciousness about marginalization and empowerment
Knowledge is about issues of social, political, economic, and educational power and control
Dominant classes control schools and use them to reproduce and maintain their privileged position.
Formal curriculum mandated by the state and “hidden curriculum” (what students learn from the school environment)
Teachers should focus on issues of power and control in school and society

56. Creating Your Own Philosophy of Education
Questions to consider:
Do you believe that knowledge is based on universal and eternal truths or is it relative to different times and places?
What is the purpose of education? To transmit culture, provide economic and social skills, to develop critical- thinking skills, or to criticize and reform society?
What are schools for? To teach skills and subjects, encourage personal self-definition, develop intelligence, or create patriotic and economically productive citizens?

57. Creating Your Own Philosophy of Education
Questions to consider:
What should curriculum contain? Basic skills and subjects? Experiences and projects, classic literature, inquiry processes, critical dialogues?
What should the relationship be between teachers and students? Transmitting the heritage, teaching and learning skills and subjects, examining great ideas, encouraging self-expression, constructing knowledge, solving problems?

58. Main Sources
Ornstein, A.C., Levine, D.U., Gutek, G.L., & Vocke, D.E. (2014). Foundations of Education. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Images borrowed from Wikipedia or Google Images