Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

John Dewey: The significance of his work for educators

By Cheryl Davidson

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

About John Dewey

• American Philosopher• Psychologist• Educational Reformer:

Progressive Education• One of the founders of

Pragmatism• Epistemology

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Who was John Dewey?

Click on John Deweyto find out

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

As a Philosopher

• Child-centered• Professor at Columbia

University• Theory of knowledge to

education: How We Think (1910) and Democracy and Education (1916)

Click on this graphic to find more summaries of John Dewey’s philosophies

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

As a Psychologist

• Student at John Hopkins University

• George Sylvester Morris • dissertation on Kantian

psychology • University of Michigan • Father of functional

psychology

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

As an Educational Reformer

• University of Chicago: educational experiments

• "My Pedagogic Creed" (1887), The School and Society (1900), and The Child and the Curriculum (1902)

• Columbia University

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

As an Educational Reformer con’t• Educational Progressivism

1. Become aware of the problem.

2. Define the problem. 3. Propose hypotheses to solve

it. 4. Evaluate the consequences of

the hypotheses from past experience.

5. Test the most likely solution.

Center for Dewey Studies

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Pragmatism

• Charles Sanders Peirce and William James

• Knowledge and Metaphysics

• Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology)

Click here To

Learn more

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Epistemology

• The study of nature and knowledge (truth and belief-justification)

• Theory of Justification or Theory of Knowledge

• Theory of Truth

Click on the greenPut it all together

Defining ‘belief’:Look at

Venn Diagram(1/3 down page)

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Experience and Education 1938

Major Education Books and Articles of John DeweyName of Book or Article

19331938

How we ThinkLogic

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education Experience and Nature

189719001902

My Pedagogic CreedThe School and SocietyChild and the CurriculumDemocracy and Education 1916

19161929

Date Book or article was published

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

John Dewey's Publications

0

5

10

15

20

Early Works(1882-1898)

Middle Works(1899-1924)

Later Works(1925-1953)

Works by era

Amou

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f col

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rks Series1

As you can see, John Dewey spent many of his later years publishing works of his knowledge.

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Work Cited1. Garrison, Jim (1999,November 10). John

Dewey. Retrieved June 19, 2006, Web site: http://www.vusst.hr/ENCYCLOPAEDIA/john_dewey.htm

2. Neill, James (2005, January 25). John Dewey: Philosopy of Education. Retrieved June 25, 2006, Web site: http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

3. Smith, Mark (1997, May 8). John Dewey. Retrieved June 20, 2006, Web site: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-dewey.htm

4. Shook, John (1998). John Dewey, American Pragmatist. Retrieved June 20, 2006, Web site: http://dewey.pragmatism.org/

Cheryl Davidson 6/20/2006

Work Cited Continued5. Field, Richard (2006). John Dewey (1859-

1952). Retrieved June 25, 2006, Web site: http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dewey.htm

6. Wikipedia, (2006). Epistomology. Retrieved June 20, 2006, Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology