1, "Education is life"
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 indicative goals for children's growth.
2. "School is society"
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. "
3. Education is the transformation and reorganization of experience.
Dewey thinks: First, experience is a rational and irrational factor, including behavior, cognition, emotion and will. Second, experience is the process of interaction between organism and environment. Organisms are not only shaped by the environment, but also make some changes to the environment. Third, the process of experience is an active process, not only the organism is shaped by the environment, but also the organism actively transforms the environment. Fourth, experience is a process of continuous development, and there is no ultimate goal, so education is the continuous growth of personal experience.
4. School is society.
Dewey's "school is society" is intended to make school life a selected, purified and ideal social life, and make school a society that conforms to the embryonic form of children's development. In order to achieve this, we must reform the school curriculum, that is, change from the subject curriculum to the activity curriculum. "School is society" is a further extension of the proposition that "education is life", and the introduction of activity courses representing social life is the basic guarantee for the connection between school and social life.
5. Aimless education theory
Dewey embarks from the essence of education, opposes the external, fixed and ultimate educational purpose, and thinks that education has no purpose. What Dewey wants is the purpose in the process, and it is "growth". There is no purpose outside the process of education itself, but it is an end in itself. He believes that in an undemocratic and unequal society, education is only the purpose imposed on the educated by external forces. In a democratic society, the purpose of education should lie in the process of education. Therefore, Dewey advocates growth as the purpose of education. His main intention is to oppose the suppression of children's development by external factors, and demand that education respect children's wishes and requirements, so that children can have fun from education itself and from the process of growth. Teaching theory is a very important part of Dewey's pragmatic educational thought system.
1, "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.
2. Five-step inquiry teaching method
Dewey put forward "learning by doing" because he opposed the traditional teaching methods centered on teachers, textbooks and classrooms. It is a method of thinking in the situation of experience through active homework, so as to achieve the unity of experience and thinking, thinking and teaching, curriculum and homework, teaching materials and teaching methods. Dewey put forward a five-step inquiry teaching method based on scientific experimental inquiry method and reflective thinking mode. That is, one is a dilemma; 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.
3. Psychology textbooks
Psychologicalization of teaching materials refers to the reduction of teaching materials or knowledge of various disciplines to the original experience before abstraction, that is, the indirect experience is transformed into direct experience, that is, direct experience, and then the direct experience is organized, thus forming a teaching material form that can be provided to skilled and mature people. Dewey has always opposed taking textbooks written by adults and experts in the form of a complete logical system as the starting point of education, believing that children's personal direct experience must be the starting point, and strongly emphasizing the organization, abstraction and generalization of direct experience. 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 stressed, "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 with each other, the contact between children and teachers is closer 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 all the possibilities for further development in any proposed design. They not only have the right but also the responsibility to put forward the policy of 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 the formation of appropriate social life. Therefore, every teacher should be aware of the dignity of his profession.
(D) Ke Qubo's design teaching method
Ke Qubo, a student of Dewey, devoted himself to the popular interpretation of pragmatic educational thought and creatively developed Dewey's educational thought. Ke Qubo's main interest is to study learning theory. He created a teaching organization form and method on the basis of Dewey's thought of doing middle school education. The design teaching method abolished the class teaching system and broke the discipline system. The process of adopting this teaching method is as follows: (1) Students put forward the purpose of learning (problems to be solved) from the real life environment according to their interests and needs; (2) Make a work plan to achieve the goal; (3) In the natural state, the work is completed through practical activities by applying specific materials; (4) inspection results. Design teaching method gives full play to children's autonomous learning consciousness, strives to make teaching conform to the law of children's psychological development, pays attention to cultivating children's cooperative spirit, and strengthens the connection between teaching and children's real life while improving learning efficiency. The core of design teaching method is purposeful activity. Pay attention to abandon the fixed curriculum system and existing teaching materials, cancel the teaching of different subjects, and design learning units according to students' purposeful activities.
Third, the principles of the progressive education movement include the following aspects
1, care about the abilities or strengths of all children.
The teacher's role is to encourage, not to supervise.
3. Schools should be proactive, and should be carried out by solving problems, not passive, and should not be carried out by memory and inference.
4. A classroom atmosphere of mutual assistance, enthusiasm and humanization.
5. More activity space.
6. The curriculum should adapt to each child's maturity level and be personalized according to the child's interest, creativity, self-expression and personality development.
7. Provide rich teaching materials for children to explore, operate and use.
8. Establish an organizational model to promote cooperation and share experiences.
9. Oppose the concept that education is the preparation of life, and advocate that education is an integral part of the actual production process.
10, against coercion and heavy punishment.