Week 6: John Dewey & Progressive Education
[John Dewey and the Challenge of Progressive Education]
How can we understand new educational trends in relation to the global network context? How may we build upon and direct these new educational trends to realize the contemporary democratic aspirations of a global network society?
According to John Dewey in The Challenge of Progressive Education by Leonard J. Waks, educational trends were described as manual training, nature study, and expressive art in1899-1900. These days, new educational trends can be thought of as “cooperative, collaborative, and other forms of active learning; interdisciplinary group projects; Internet-based curricula; charter schools, and even virtual schools, school districts, and universities” (Waks, 2013, p.74). Dewey explained that new educational trends can be understood in relation to the global network as overall adaptation. Dewey further states, that when student’s needs were not being met at home, teachers needed to step in with these new educational trends in order to feel less overwhelmed by the students. For me personally, in my placement this semester (middle years classroom), there is a lot heavier presence of technology than when I went to elementary school and a lot more inquiry based or individual projects. This allows students to work independently on a project they find interesting that may differ from their classmates but the entire class is still reaching the same goal or outcome.
We can build upon and direct these new education trends to realize the contemporary democratic aspirations of a global society by ensuring we are not teaching a one size fits all, that each students should be developing as individuals. As we already know, there is no one way to learn and no two students are the exact same. Including students needs, diversity and interests into the classroom and lessons/activities, this can promote deeper learning and understanding. By allowing social features to impact educational trends, we are able to introduce a “spirit of free communication of interchange of ideas, suggestions and results” (Waks, 2013, p.75). Creating this free communication, according to Dewey, will help students move from school to their future social life, which in turn leads to democratic aspirations.