An activity for ED200 students

1. EDUC 200
Melissa Castillo-Napil, EdD

2. An exercise to Determine your
Educational Philosophy
Find out to which philosophy you
adhere. To what extent does each
statement apply to you?

3. Rate yourself
If you agree with the
statement ALWAYS
4
If you agree with the
statement SOMETIMES
2
If you agree with the
statement but NOT
ALWAYS
3 If you DON’T AGREE
with the statement at
ALL
1

4. Statements
4 3 2 1
1 There is no substitute for concrete
experience.
2 The focus of education should be the ideas
that are as relevant today as when they were
conceived.
3 Teachers must not force their students to
learn the subject matter if it does not interest
them.

5. Statements
4 3 2 1
4 Schools must develop students’ capacity to
reason by stressing on the humanities.
5 In the classroom, students must be
encouraged to interact with one another to
develop social virtues such as cooperation
and respect.

6. Statements
4 3 2 1
6 Students should read and analyze the Great
Books, the creative works of history’s finest
thinkers and writers.
7 Teachers must help students expand their
knowledge by helping them apply their
previous experiences in solving new
problems.

7. Statements
4 3 2 1
8 Our course of study should be general, not
specialized; liberal, not vocational; humanistic,
not technical.
9 There is no universal, inborn human nature. We
are born and exist and then we ourselves freely
determine our essence.
10 Human beings are shaped by their environment

8. Statements
4 3 2 1
11 Schools should stress on the teaching of basic
skills.
12 Change of environment can change a person.
13 Curriculum should emphasized on the traditional
disciplines such as math, natural science,
history, grammar, literature.

9. Statements
4 3 2 1
14 Teacher cannot impose meaning: students make
meaning of what they are taught.
15 Schools should help individuals accept
responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and
actions.
16 Learners produce knowledge based on their
experiences.

10. Statements
4 3 2 1
17 For the learner to acquire the basic skills, he/she
must go through the rigor and discipline of serious
study.
18 The teacher and the school head must prescribe
what is most important for the students to learn.
19 The truth shines in an atmosphere of genuine
knowledge.

11. Statements
4 3 2 1
20 A learner must be allowed to learn at his/her
own pace.
21 The learner is not a blank slate but brings past
experiences and cultural factors to the learning
situation.
22 The classroom is not a place where teachers
pour knowledge knowledge into empty minds of
students.

12. Statements
4 3 2 1
23 The learner must be taught how to
communicate his ideas and feelings.
24 To understand the message from his students,
the teacher must listen not only to what his
students are saying but also to what they are
not saying
25 An individual is what he chooses to become not
dictated by his environment.

13. Interpreting your scores: If you have 2
answers of 2/4 in numbers:
1,3,5,7 you are more of a progressivist
2,4,6,8 you are more of a perennialist
9,15,20,25 you re more of an existentialist
10,12 you are more of a behaviorist
11, 13,17,19 you are more of an essentialist
14,16,21,22 you are more of an constructivist
19,23,24 you are more of a linguistic philosopher