Scientific education thought is a trend of thought that emphasizes that basic scientific knowledge, basic concepts and basic principles should occupy a dominant position in school education content, and the cultivation of scientific thinking ability runs through all educational activities.
Spencer believes that the purpose of education is to prepare for a full life, and he calls for education to be liberated from the shackles of classicism and adapt to the needs of life and production. Spencer believes that all human activities are inseparable from scientific knowledge, which has the most important value in guiding people's lives.
According to the theory of life preparation and the theory of knowledge value, he proposed that schools should offer five kinds of courses: physiology and anatomy; Logic, mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, biology and social sciences.
Physiology, psychology and pedagogy; History and sociology; Literature, art, etc. He thinks that the first three natural science courses are more important than the fourth social science course, and the fourth is more important than the fifth humanities course. And the latter two courses are based on natural science courses.
It can be seen that Spencer put the natural science curriculum in an absolute dominant position and emphasized the close relationship between natural science knowledge and human production and social life.
Focusing on the reform of classical curriculum, Spencer also insisted on reforming classical education methods. In his view, in order to prepare for a full life, we should not only offer students comprehensive science courses, but also adopt various principles and methods of science education so that students can truly master these scientific knowledge.
He put forward three principles and four methods, namely, the principle of gradual progress, the principle of self-education and the principle of happiness; Induction, object teaching, observation and experiment.