Educational Thoughts of John Dewy - Dr.C.Thanavathi

EDUCATIONAL
THOUGHTS OF JOHN
DEWY
UNIT III - CHILD CENTERED EDUCATION
11/3/2020Dr.C.Thanavathi Dr.C.Thanavathi

AIMS OF EDUCATION
• John Dewey is a pragmatist. As physical and social
environments are always.
• changing, aims of education must also change. They cannot be
fixed for all times to come.
• To develop an ability to understand and analyse the problems.
• To develop skills for intelligent application of knowledge and
insight into solving
• problems To arouse interest through planned experiences.
11/3/2020Dr.C.Thanavathi

EDUCATIONS AS GROWTH
• Growth is the real function of education. But growth is not
directed towards any predetermined goal or end.
• The end of growth is more growth and so the end of
education is more education.
• Education is to promote critical thinking and with the mind
will grow to think further.

EDUCATION AS LIFE
• According to Dewey education is not preparation for life but it
is life itself.
• School is now taken as a miniature society which faces
problems, similar to those
• faced in life outside. In school community pupil are active
participants and they are to be
• trained for cooperative and mutually helpful living.
• They should be encouraged to face actual life problems in the
school and gain varied experiences.

EDUCATION AS SOCIAL EFFICIENCY
• Education is to bring out the ability to function as an
effective member of his
• community by partaking in its activities and at the same
time contributing to its refinement
• and advancement.

CURRICULUM
• Dewey’s curriculum is not a mere scheme of studies, nor is it a list of subjects.
• It is an entire range of activities and experiences, projects leading to
reconstruction
• and reorganisation of experiences. Thus he makes occupational activities of
crafts, the core
• of the school curriculum.
• He also includes moral, aesthetic and religious education in the curriculum. But
• these again are to be imparted through practical experiences and not
through ‘chalk and talk
• lessons’ in the class room.

PRAGMATISM AND CURRICULUM
• PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
• PRINCIPLE OF INTEREST
• PRINCIPLE OF EXPERIENCE
• PRINCIPLE OF INTEGRATION

PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
• According to this principle, only those subjects, activities
and experiences should be included in the curriculum
which are useful to the present needs of the child and
also meet the future expectations of adult life as well. As
such Language, physical well-being, physical training,
Geography, History, Science, Agriculture and Home
science for girls should be included in the curriculum.

PRINCIPLE OF INTEREST
• According to this principle, only those activities and
experiences where in the child takes interest should be
included in the curriculum.
• According to John Dewey these interests are of four
varieties namely, interest in conversation, interest in
investigation, interest in construction and interest in
creative expression. Keeping these varieties of interests in
view, at the primary stage, the curriculum should include
Reading, Writing, Counting, Art, Craft- work, Natural
science and other practical work of simple nature.11/3/2020Dr.C.Thanavathi

PRINCIPLE OF EXPERIENCE
• The third principle of pragmatic curriculum is the child’s
activity, vocation and experience. All these three should
be closely integrated. The curriculum should consist of such
varieties of learning experiences which promote original
thinking and freedom to develop social and purposeful
attitudes.

PRINCIPLE OF INTEGRATION
• Pragmatic curriculum deals with the integration of subjects
and activities. According to pragmatism knowledge is one
unit. Pragmatists want to construct flexible, dynamic and
integrated curriculum which aids the developing child and
the changing society more and more as the needs,
demands and situation require.

PRAGMATISM AND METHODS OF TEACHING
The whole emphasis of method of teaching in
pragmatism is on child, not the book, or the teacher or the
subject. The dominant interest of the child is “to do and to
make”. The method should be flexible and dynamic. It must
be adaptable and modifiable to suit the nature of the
subject matter and potentiality of the students. The
pragmatist’s curriculum provides for creative and
purposeful activities in the teaching- learning process.
Pragmatists regard school is a “miniature of society”
where child gets real experiences to act and behave
according to his interests, aptitudes and capacities. Project
method is a contribution of pragmatist philosophy in
education.

PRAGMATISM AND METHODS OF TEACHING
According to Dewey mind is a product of activity and
develops through activity.
The child learns by doing says John Dewey. All learning
must come as a product of action. Learning by doing
makes a person creative, confident and co-operative.
They also emphasize the discovery and enquiry
methods. The method like problem solving, play-way,
experimental and laboratory techniques which follow
the principle of learning by doing can be used
according to pragmatic view. 11/3/2020Dr.C.Thanavathi

• There must be some stimulus to mind for thinking
• A child engages himself in various types of activities which are
inspired by his own urges and inclinations, he faces certain
problems which arise spontaneously out of his own like situations.
The child then thinks of possible solutions and then tries to put his
plans into action.

PRAGMATISM AND TEACHER
• Pragmatism regards teacher as a helper, guide and
philosopher. The chief function of pragmatic teacher is to
suggest problems to his pupils and to stimulate them to
find by themselves, the solutions, which will work. The
teacher must provide opportunities for the natural
development of innate qualities of children. His main task
is to suggest problems to his pupils and to guide them to
find out solutions.

PRAGMATISM AND DISCIPLINE
• To utilize the interest of the pupil is the basis of discipline here.
The teacher and pupils attack a problem jointly. Teacher’s role
is that of a guide and a director; it is the pupil who acts,
learning this becomes a cooperative venture- a joint
enterprise. Pursuit of common purposes enforces its own order.
Education becomes a social process of sharing between the
members of the various groups and all are equal partners in
the process. That is no rewards also there are no placing for
the martinet so any punishments. The discipline proceeds from
the life of the school as a whole.

DISCOVERY
• Progressive methods of teaching advocated that the interests of
learners and freedom
• in learning situations should form important bases of education. These
progressive ideas
• were the result of pragmatism.
• The root of pragamatic philosophy is the problem solving attitude. It
is John Dewey
• who gave a classic formulation to the structure of the problem solving
method. The credit
• for introducing the inquiry approach in education really goes to john
dewy.

• Significance of activity based learning
• Need for discovery as Dewey’s educational philosophy
• tohelp learners identify variables, collect data, and
interpret data.
• promote a “deep” understanding;
• developing meta-cognitive skills;
• better describe and understand relationships between
concepts.

SIGNIFICANCE OF DISCOVERY LEARNING
• Tracy Bicknell-Holmes and Paul Hoffman explain that discovery learning has three main
characteristics: exploration and problem-solving; student-centered activities based on
student interest; and scaffolding new information into students’ funds of knowledge.
• participants learn to recognize a problem, characterize what a solution would look like,
search for relevant information, develop a solution strategy, and execute the chosen
strategy.”
• Learning is active and students must participate in hands-on and problem-solving
activities
• Discovery learning emphasizes the process instead of the end product
• Students to develop deeper understandings
• Discovery learning satisfies natural human curiosity and promotes individual interests.
• Encouraging a high level of student engagement.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF PRAGMATISM TO
EDUCATION
• Pragmatism provides definite aims of education. The student is
prepared to live in society and learn skills and attitudes. The
teaching methods are based on learning by doing. The project
method is the contribution of pragmatism to modern education.
• Pragmatism encourages a democratic way of learning through
purposeful and cooperative projects and activities.
• Utility in the educative process is the first criterion. The school is
expected to provide learning and experiences that are useful.
• Education is not bound to tradition. Pragmatic philosophers advise
us to test everything through our own experience.
• The teacher has to play a very challenging role in the educative
process under pragmatism and he has to be very alert and watchful.

IMPLICATION OF PRAGMATISM IN EDUCATION SYSTEM
• Across the 21st century, a Dewey’s tradition has been kept alive in education.
His texts including Democracy and Education and Experience and Education, are
often read by each new generation of scholars and practitioners because of
their general stance on educational reform.
• The interesting aspect of the question about pragmatism concerns its presence
in education today. All too quick answer is that its actual implementation is
very limited but this misses major ideas and factors that determine what
constitutes education.
• A significant clue is found in Dewey’s Experience and Education, penned in the
thirties as a response both to “traditional” and “progressive” educational
practices. His point was to reconstruct the old and the new into education that is
based in a substantive philosophy. This philosophy says that students’ life
experiences should determine what is taught and learned.

• Dewey’s phrase for teachers is that they understand children’s
interests as well as adults’ knowledge and in turn “psychologize”
the curriculum.
• Experience and Education is a valuable resource as an
overview. Any mention of the famous phrase “Learning by
Doing" brings to mind John Dewey as its creator.
• However, in modern times Dewey identified learning by doing
as the sole strategy for any kind of learning.
• He identified education as a kind of experience, and through
saying this he actually means the same equation between what
one actually does and the resultant learning.

• So if a student learns how to listen and take notes from a
lecture, he or she only learns how to listen and taking notes. If
afterwards the student memorizes the lesson notes, the student
learns how to memorize things.
• Dewey introduced his problem solving method as a strategy to
teach pragmatic approach towards life problems.
• In problem solving method, a student through adopting a
procedure solves problems. Thus, according to the equation
between what one does and so one learns, one learns how to
solve problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT7z-ix6abM

CONCLUSION
• The foregoing discussion shows that pupil’s immediate
experiences, felt needs and purposes play a prominent part in the
determination of educational programs and policies.
• This confirms the faith in the worth and improvability of
individuals. Pragmatism puts emphasis on free flow of ideas,
spirit of inquiry of investigation and discussion. Pragmatism
upholds the supreme value of man and prescribes freedom of
thinking, experimenting and experiencing for him.
• Not only this, it lays emphasis upon flexibility, utility and
adjustment in all fields of human activity promoting the
continuous development of individual and society to the fullest
extent.

• Pragmatic philosophy is a practical philosophy, having no
fixed or absolute standards. Man always creates new values
and education should help him in doing so.
• Being practical and utilitarian school of philosophy,
pragmatism has influenced education to the maximum extent.
• It has tried overcoming the limitations of other schools like
idealism and naturalism and has influenced world in a great
deal.

THANK YOU
DR.C.THANAVATHI

Educational Thoughts of John Dewy - Dr.C.Thanavathi

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