Dewey believes that education is the process of children's life now, not the preparation for their future life. He said: "Life is development, and continuous development is life." Therefore, the best education is "learning from life" and "learning from experience". Education is to provide children with conditions to ensure their growth or complete life.
Because life is growth and children's development is the process of primitive instinctive growth, Dewey emphasized that "growth is the characteristic of life, so education is growth." In his view, education is not to force children to absorb external things, but to let human innate ability grow.
Therefore, Dewey believes that the educational process has no purpose outside itself, and the purpose of education lies in the educational process. As a matter of fact, he opposes taking externally imposed goals as the official goals of children's growth.
Dewey believes that since education is a process of social life, school is a form of social life. He stressed that the school should "become a small society, a primary society." In school, we should simplify the real social life into an embryonic state and present the re-presented social life. As far as the specific requirements of "school is society" are concerned, Dewey put forward that, first, the school itself must be a social life with all the significance of social life; Second, on-campus learning should be connected with off-campus learning, and the two should interact freely.
However, "school is society" does not mean a simple reproduction of social life in school. Dewey also believes that schools, as a special environment, should have three important functions, namely, "simplifying and sorting out various factors that tend to develop;" Purify and idealize the existing social customs; Create a broader and more balanced environment than when teenagers are alone. "
Learn by doing
On the basis of criticizing traditional school education, Dewey put forward the basic principle of "learning by doing". Because people's initial knowledge and the most determined knowledge are all about how to do it. Therefore, the teaching process should be a "doing" process. In his view, if children don't have the opportunity to do it, it will inevitably hinder their natural development. Children are born with a desire to do things and work, and have a strong interest in activities, so special attention should be paid.
Dewey believes that "learning by doing" means "learning from activities" and "learning from experience", which links the knowledge gained in school with the activities in the process of life. Because children can learn from truly educational and interesting activities, which will help their growth and development. In Dewey's view, this may mark a turning point in a child's life. However, the work activities that children "do" or participate in are different from vocational education. Dewey pointed out that implementing the principle of "learning by doing" will make the influence exerted by the school on its members more vivid, lasting and full of cultural significance.
Thinking and teaching
Dewey believes that good teaching must arouse children's thinking. The so-called thinking is a wise learning method, or a wise experience method in the teaching process. In his view, if there is no thinking, it is impossible to have a meaningful experience. Therefore, schools must provide situations that can arouse thinking experience.
As a thinking process, it is divided into five steps, commonly known as "five steps of thinking". First, the difficult situation; The second is to determine the difficulty; The third is to put forward various assumptions to solve the problem; The fourth is to infer these assumptions; The fifth is to verify or modify the hypothesis. Dewey pointed out that the order of these five steps is not fixed.
Starting from the "five steps of thinking", Dewey believes that the teaching process is also divided into five steps accordingly. First, teachers provide children with a situation related to the current social life experience; The second is to prepare children to deal with problems in the situation; Third, it is convenient for children to think and assume to solve problems; Fourth, children sort out and arrange their own assumptions to solve problems; Fifth, children test these hypotheses through application. This teaching process is generally called "teaching five steps" in the history of education. In Dewey's view, in this teaching process, children can learn how to create knowledge to meet their needs. However, he also admitted that it was not an easy task.
On Children and Teachers
Although Dewey is not an advocate of "child-centered" thought, he agrees with it. The most typical passage is: "Now, the coup that our education will cause is a shift of focus. This is a change, this is a revolution, which is the same revolution as Copernicus's shift of the center of astronomy from the earth to the sun. Here, children are the center and educational measures are organized around them. "
Dewey criticized the traditional school education and thought that the school life organization should be centered on children, so that everything was mainly for children rather than teachers. Because taking children as the center is in harmony with children's instinct and needs, children are the starting point, center and purpose of school life. Dewey emphasized that "we must stand in the position of children and take children as the starting point."
Dewey emphasized the idea of "taking children as the center", but at the same time, he did not agree with the policy of "letting things drift" adopted by teachers. He believes that if teachers take a laissez-faire attitude towards children, they actually give up their own guiding responsibility. In Dewey's view, it is fundamentally wrong to impose it on children from the outside or let them go with the flow completely.
Because the education process is a process in which children and teachers participate together and they really cooperate, children and teachers have closer contact in the education process, so that children can be guided more by teachers. Dewey said, "Teachers, as members of the collective, have more mature and rich experience, and more clearly see the possibility of further development in any proposed design. They not only have the right but also the responsibility to propose policies for activities. " In his view, teachers should not only provide children with appropriate growth opportunities and conditions, but also observe their growth and give real guidance.
Dewey also emphasized the social function of teachers. That is: "Teachers are not simply engaged in cultivating a person, but in forming an appropriate social life." Therefore, every teacher should be aware of the dignity of his profession.