In chapters 2 and 3, Dewey spends time hashing out the importance of the educational experience. He points out that many progressive educators believe that traditional education deprives students of experience, but that view isn't completely correct. Rather, everything is an experience, but not all experiences are educative-- and not all experiences are educative in a good way. For example, a student could have an experience in school that makes him hate learning. Dewey also points out that in order for experiences to have the best impact on students, the experiences must be connected to each other and centered with a relevant context.
“Everything depends on the quality of the experience which is had. There is an immediate aspect of agreeableness or disagreeableness, and there is its obvious influence on upon later experiences.”
How many times have you heard students say, "I used to like reading, but I hate it now"? I imagine this sentiment is due to the bad experiences with reading in school. Teachers think they are exposing kids to canonical texts or preparing them for college, but instead they are giving their students "disagreeable" experiences. I think Dewey is also talking about relevance and connectedness in this quote. Experiences will be more meaningful if they connect to prior knowledge or previous experiences-- all learners are seeking connections.
Chapter 3
“If an experience arouses curiosity, strengthens initiative, and set up desires and purposes that are sufficiently intense to carry a person over-dead places in the future, continuity works in a very different way. Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judge only the grounds of what it moves toward and into.”
I think this quote emphasizes the importance of thinking of learning as a journey rather than something static or fixed. I would argue that learning is a moving force-- what is that saying? The more you learn, the more you realize that you don't know? Essentially school should do more than just teach kids things, it should excite them about learning and the possibilities in the world. And we want school experiences to be "sufficiently intense" to keep the thrill of learning alive even when it gets challenging or boring. I think Dewey is saying that experiences that are worthy give students (and probably teachers) positive momentum.
“A primary responsibility of educators is that they not only be aware of the general principal of the shaping of an actual experience by envisioning conditions, but that they also recognize in the concrete what surroundings are conducive to having experiences that lead to growth. Above all, they should know how to utilize the surroundings, physical and social, that exist so as to extract from them all that they have to contribute to building up experiences that are worthwhile.”
Although I realize Dewey wrote these words almost a hundred years ago, I can't help but relate this quote to technology. Our technological tools provide so many resources for a variety of conditions that we can create in the classroom. Technology gives us access to an unimaginable amount of information and it allows us to connect to and communicate with people all over the world. We can simulate conditions of a variety of professions with the technology that is now basic in many schools. However, technology alone does nothing-- it is the experience with the technology that makes it meaningful.
No comments:
Post a Comment