Behaviorism -BF Skinner Human
Nature is the product of one's environment. Change the environment to change the
behavior. Reinforce good behavior, punish bad behavior
Behavior Modification
Conservatism- Edmund Burke
Conservation of cultural heritage preserves the wisdom of the achievements of humankind.
Behavior evolves within the conditioning influence of the institutional system, tradition is the
repository of a collective social intelligence.
Conserve/preserve heritage
Constructivism- Jean Piaget
Constructivism is an educational methodology which asserts that learners should be taught in a
way that allows them to construct their own understandings about a subject. The purpose of the
teacher is not to cover material but to help the child "uncover" the facts and ideas in a subject area.
Construct new ideas
Essentialism - Willaim C. Bagley; Arthur Bestor
Essentialists believe that children should learn traditional basic subjects. (Reading, Writing,
Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Math, Science, Art, and Music. ) Generally teaches
children progressively, from less complex skills to more complex. Schools should transmit the
traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens.
Focus is on basic skills.
Back to the Basics
Existentialism- Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche
Existentialism rejects the existence of any source of objective, authoritative truth about
metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Do not accept any predetermined creed or
philosophical system and from that try to define who we are. Aim for the progressing of
humanity. Use independent thinking. It engages the student in central questions of defiming
life and who we are. Answers imposed from the outside may not be real answers. The only
real answers are the ones that come from inside each person, that are authentically his or her
own. For the existentialist, there exists no universal form of human nature; each of us has the
free will to develop as we see fit.
What is real?
Idealism - Plato
“Stimulate learners to achieve a more vital and fuller identification with the Absolute Mind or
the Macrocosm... Students come into a gradually expanding mental awareness that leads to
self-definition based on a comprehensive understanding or perspective of the universe.”
(Gutek, p21)
Striving for the ideal
Liberalism - John Locke
Liberalism focuses on the individual. Ideas come from experience.Sensation and reflection create
learning.
Blank slate of individual experience
Marxism- Karl Marx
Marxism promotes socialism, as opposed to capitalism where one class oppresses another.
Education is use d to change society.
All for all
Naturalism - Rousseau
The child should develop in the natural way s/he is designed, guiding the process
Natural development of the child
Perennialism - Robert M. Hutchins
Perennialists believe that one should teach the things of everlasting importance to all people
everywhere. They believe that the most important topics develop a person. Philosophy is improtant
to study. Studens should learn principles, not facts, teach scientific reasoning, not facts. Teach first
about humans, not machines or techniques.. Perennialism focuses first on personal development.
Like perennial flowers, great principles repeat
Pragmatism - John Dewey
“Ideas were to be judged by their consequences when acted on; truth was a warranted
assertion, a tentative statement based on the application of hypotheses to solving problems;
logic, following the scientific method was experimental; values were experienced within the
context of ethical and aesthetic problems and issues charged by the unique features of
particular situations.” Gutek, p 77.
Scientific problem solving, experiential learning
Progressivism - William Kilpatrick
Progressivists believe that education must be based on the fact that humans are social animals who
learn best in real-life activities with other people. Teachers provide not just reading and drill, but
also real-world experiences and activities that center around the real life of the students. Discovery
follows the scientific method:
1. Become aware of the problem.
2. Define the problem.
3. Propose hypotheses to solve it.
4. Test the consequences of the hypotheses from one's past experience.
5. Test the most likely solution.
"Learn by Doing!"
Realism- Aristotle
“Cultivate human rationality, the human’s highest power, through the study of organized
bodies of knowledge…encourage human beings to define themselves by framing their choices
rationally, to realize themselves by exercising their potentiality for excellence to the fullest, and
to integrate themselves by ordering the various roles and claims of life according to a rational
an hierarchical order.” Gutek, p 41
Rationally real
Social Reconstructionism - George S. Counts
Education should examine, define the problems and change the social structure of society.
Rebuilding Society
Theistic Realism - Thomas Aquinas
Similar to realism, but God is central
God in the core
Totalitarianism - Adolph Hitler
Totalitarianism is a political system in which a citizen is totally subject to state authority in all
aspects of day-to-day life. Government controls education.
Total dependence on government
Utopianism - Robert Owen
A perfect society can be achieved through the education of the young.
Perfect society through education
