The basic propositions of progressivism are as follows:
Education is life, education is growth and education is the transformation of experience. Dewey advocates that education should serve the present life, because life is a process of development and growth, so education is also growth, which is said from the vertical direction of education; From the horizontal perspective of life, it is the interaction between people and the environment. Education is actually the transformation or reorganization of experience, which promotes students to form newer and better experiences. Educating all members of society and developing individual initiative and adaptability must take growth as the ideal standard for all members.
The progressivism of educational curriculum theory holds that the traditional curriculum centered on adults and disciplines is not desirable and should be replaced by the curriculum centered on children's activities. In addition, the organization of the course should be psychological. Dewey put forward the curriculum theories of "learning by doing" and "learning from experience" based on his empiricism philosophy. Emphasize the unity of teaching methods and textbooks, the unity of purpose and activity, and advocate learning through problems. He believes that the task of teaching is not only to teach students scientific conclusions, but more importantly, to promote and stimulate students' thinking, so that they can master the scientific methods of discovering truth and solving problems. The curriculum must communicate with children's life and take children as the starting point, center and purpose. The content of the course should not exceed the children's experience and life, and the course should consider the children's interests and needs. The measure of curriculum is whether it can promote children's growth and development. According to the idea of children's center, he put forward his own curriculum proposition:
1 He thinks that children are the starting point and courses are the end point. As long as the teaching materials are introduced into children's lives and let children experience them directly, they can connect the teaching materials and let the children go from the starting point to the end point.
The center of school subjects is children's own social activities.
Teaching methods. In the research and discussion of teaching methods, Dewey is very concerned about the cultivation and training of students' thinking ability, and he requires students to master the scientific thinking method. Progressive educators represented by Dewey highly admire this teaching method of learning by doing or learning from experience. This method emphasizes that teaching must consider the characteristics of children's natural development, children's acceptance ability and individual differences, children's interests and needs in teaching, and let children learn actively and actively.
Educational teleology. Dewey put forward the theory that education has no purpose, and the purpose of education is in the process, not outside the process. Activity itself is a means to an end, and such activities are real, vivid, changing and meaningful. On the other hand, if the purpose is outside the process, that is, the purpose is imposed from the outside, then the activity itself cannot be a means to achieve the purpose. Such activities cannot inspire wisdom under certain circumstances, and are blind, mechanical and harmful.
The theory of moral education emphasizes that the fundamental problem to be solved in moral education is to coordinate the relationship between individuals and society. Dewey pointed out that,
The fundamental problem of all education is to coordinate the relationship between individuals and society. In the process of moral education, Dewey opposes empty moral preaching and advocates that moral education must give children a healthy social environment. He believes that the morality and sociality of education are interlinked. Therefore,
The fundamental measure to strengthen moral education is to provide social conditions for students.
Democracy, freedom and education. The criticism of progressive education on traditional education focuses on a generation of women, that is, the essence of traditional education is authoritarianism, lacking democracy and freedom.
Therefore, the essence of progressivism is its so-called spirit of democracy and freedom. Progressives believe that democracy, freedom and education are trinity.
Progressive education is an educational philosophy prevailing in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, which had a considerable impact on American school education at that time. Originated from formalism against traditional education. Representative figures are Pucker and Dewey. The main theories and methods include Parker's Quincy teaching method in the early stage, Johnson's organic education school, Walter's Gray system, parkhurst's Dalton system with child-centered orientation in the later stage, China's Winnat Card Plan and social center education theory and experiment. The main viewpoints are the child-centered view of students, the life-centered view of curriculum, the problem-solving view of teaching, the view of teachers who downplay the authority consciousness and the school view which emphasizes the spirit of cooperation. The progressive education movement and its thoughts are the response of American educational circles to the challenges brought by a series of major changes in the process of American social modernization, and it is a kind of extensive effort and reform choice to reform American education under the condition of modern urban industrial civilization.
Main theories and experiments
There are many representatives in the development of the progressive education movement, many educational experiments have been carried out and some major educational theories have been formed. These theories have common characteristics, but there are also quite obvious differences.
Later educational theories and experiments
In the later period, because of the different educational viewpoints, educational theories and experiments also showed different orientations, the most important of which were child-centered orientation and social-centered orientation.
1. Child-centered educational theory and experiment
Parkhurst's (1) Dalton System
Dalton system is an organizational system that emphasizes individual differences and personality development, and pays attention to coordinating teaching and learning activities. Students should be allowed to study freely, arrange their studies according to their own needs, budget their time, and cultivate their ability to study and work independently. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the cooperation between teachers and students, and cultivate students' social consciousness. In Dalton school, classroom teaching, curriculum and age system have been abolished, and agreed or contracted learning has been implemented. Teachers must make clear their homework in written form, make arrangements according to the different characteristics of different disciplines and students, and fully consider the special needs and hobbies of each student. Students advocate learning tasks in the form of contracts, allocate time freely according to their abilities and interests within the prescribed scope of homework requirements, and determine the learning progress. The laboratory is the place where students study. Different from previous teachers, this is a comprehensive place divided by disciplines, equipped with teachers to guide students, and students can enter and leave freely. Use tabular method to record students' completion of assigned homework, so as to help students check their learning progress and master exercises. Dalton system has three principles, namely, freedom, cooperation and individuality, so it is not only a teaching reform, but also an educational experiment based on the child-centered tendency, trying to achieve various purposes.
(2) China's Wennaka Plan
The purpose of Wienert Card Project is to develop each child's creativity and social consciousness, and to help each child get all-round and perfect development. The Venateka project has five main steps. First, according to the special situation of each child, formulate special goals and standards for individual training. Instead, a comprehensive diagnostic test is conducted to determine children's abilities. The third is to compile teaching materials for children to learn independently and correct mistakes independently. The fourth is the personalization of learning progress. Fifth, collective activities and creative activities. The Winnat Card Program embodies the basic orientation of taking children as the center, but it emphasizes the role of basic knowledge and skills in children's personality development, highlights the cultivation of children's self-education ability and social consciousness, and realizes the organic combination of individual teaching and intelligence test, expressionism and social goals.
2. Social-centered educational theory and experiment
Lager's social curriculum enjoys a high reputation in social-centered educational theories and experiments. The primary task of the experiment is to establish the principle of course selection from two aspects: cognition and social problems. First of all, find out the important concepts used from the works of recognized social scientists with important influence, and analyze the frequency and importance of these concepts. The second is to find some central topics from the major issues in contemporary society. On the basis of the above two aspects, the framework of social science is established with concepts, problems and topics. The basic idea is to further expand the topic into a problem around the central topic. On this basis, the concept is used to analyze and study the problem. In this framework, facts and materials are widely collected from various branches of social science. In this way, a modular social science textbook has been formed. Lager's social course is a unit course in form, a problem-centered course and a child-centered course, but in essence it pays great attention to the formation of concepts and ideas, aiming at letting students understand and correctly understand society. Therefore, children's center and social center, children and knowledge, knowledge update and knowledge structure are taken into account.
The characteristics of the progressive education movement fold and edit this paragraph.
The American progressive education movement rose at the end of 19. By the end of the 20th century, in the course of nearly 70 years' development, the following basic characteristics have been formed.
Democratic folding
The progressive education movement emphasizes children as the center and requires the development of children's initiative and creativity. Dewey pointed out that the task of education is to provide children with appropriate materials according to their different stages of instinctive growth and promote the expression and development of instinct. Therefore, education should be active and related to children's interests. Emphasizing that education should be child-centered naturally dilutes the authority consciousness of teachers in the teaching process. The theory of progressive education opposes the arbitrary leading role of teachers in traditional education, and holds that the education system formed by superior authority passing on what must be accepted to lower recipients is not education, but indoctrination and publicity. The teacher's job is only to decide how to train children in life on the basis of more experience and more mature knowledge. Therefore, in the view of progressive educators, a teacher's authority can only be reflected in his experience and knowledge. Emphasizing the "child-centered" theory and opposing the authority of teachers not only adapts to the historical requirements of American social transformation, but also cultivates students' democratic consciousness, making the progressive education movement show distinctive democratic characteristics.
Multiple folding
The diversity of the progressive education movement is the inevitable product of the development of American industrialization. "First of all, it stems from the various needs of all social strata for education: various welfare organizations in cities need' social education', business and labor circles need' vocational education', and unconventional teachers need' a new skill in the teaching process'. Therefore, it also stems from the different understanding and response of progressive educators to these different needs." American educator Cremin once pointed out: "All the historical skills of the progressive education movement mean different things to different people;" These differences can only be accommodated by obviously diversified American education. "The diversity of the progressive education movement also means the diversity of educational reform and experimental forms in the movement. It is manifested in the diversity of guiding ideology and theoretical basis, progressive educators with different cultural backgrounds and ideological sources, and the diversity of sports forms. On the one hand, this pluralistic feature of the movement has made the progressive education movement achieve fruitful results in theory and practice, but on the other hand, it is also an important reason for the movement to come to an end.
Practical folding
The practicality of American education originated from the colonial era, and the progressive education movement also inherited and developed this feature in the development process. Progressive education theorists advocate learning by "solving problems" rather than inculcating teaching materials. Progressive education believes that traditional learning is basically to receive knowledge, and this kind of learning is useless. Progressive education believes that if knowledge is meaningful, then we must do something with knowledge. Therefore, progressive education theorists advocate "learning by doing". Dewey, the theoretical founder of progressive education, especially emphasized that the purpose of education is to make people with individuality adapt to society. The practicality of the progressive education movement is also reflected in the purpose of the movement. As mentioned above, the progressive education movement fundamentally reformed the American school education system under the conditions of modern cities and industrial civilization, and then liberated children to the maximum extent, so that children could truly develop freely. In other words, the movement should strive to adapt education to the requirements of American society for educational reform, and education should serve social development. It is at this point that the practical characteristics of sports are extremely obvious.