John Dewey

John Dewey is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of modern educational theory. His ideas and approaches to schooling were revolutionary ideas during his lifetime and remain fundamentally important to modern schooling today.

John Dewey is probably most famous for his role in what is called progressive education. Progressive education is essentially a view of education that emphasizes the need to learn by doing. This places Dewey in the educational philosophy of pragmatism.

Pragmatists believe that reality must be experienced. From Dewey's educational point of view, this means that students must interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn. Dewey felt the same idea was true for teachers and those teachers and students must learn together.

He believed in an interdisciplinary curriculum, or a curriculum that focuses on connecting multiple subjects, where students are allowed to freely move in and out of classrooms as they pursue their interests and construct their own paths for acquiring and applying knowledge. The role of the teacher in this setting would be to serve more as a facilitator than an instructor. In Dewey's view, the teacher should observe the interest of the students, observe the directions they naturally take, and then serve as someone who helps develop problem solving skills.

In this modern era, technology and society is moving so fast that it is very challenging to provide people the technical skills they need, as some will be obsolete before the person even leaves school. It has never been more evident that an educational philosophy that encourages continuous learning was well ahead of it's time.

influential – [ɪ nflʊ ˈ enʃ ə l] – влиятельный;

emphasize – [ˈ emfə saɪ z] – подчеркивать;

interdisciplinary – [ɪ ntə dɪ sɪ ˈ plɪ nə rɪ ] – междисциплинарный;

curriculum – [kə ˈ rɪ kjə lə m] – курс обучения;

multiple – [ˈ mʌ ltɪ pl] – несколько;

freely – [ˈ friː li] – свободно;

pursue – [pə ˈ sjuː ] – преследовать;

facilitator – [fə ˈ sɪ lɪ teɪ tə r] – посредник;

encourage – [ɪ nˈ kʌ rɪ ʤ ] – поощрять;

acquire – [ə ’kwaɪ ə r] – приобретать.

1. What is John Dewey most famous for?

2. What is a progressive education?

3. What is the significance of John Dewey's teaching activities?