Chapter 8 vocab

Philo means "love" and sophos means "wisdom"

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

Essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstruction, existentialism

Emphasize the importance of transferring knowledge, info, and skills from the older (wiser) generation to the younger one. Teacher's role is to instill respect for authority, perseverance, duty, consideration, and practicality.

Meant to train the mind, promote reasoning, and ensure common culture among all Americans.

Strives to teach students the accumulated knowledge of our civilization through core courses in the traditional academic disciplines. Aim to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development. Dominant influence in American education since WWII.

American educator who popularized the term essentialism in the 1930's

Refers to present period because of the increased core graduation requirements, stronger standards, and more testing of both students and teachers.

Written by Allan Bloom Contends that immigration and multiculturalism threaten the traditional "American" identity Advocates for a time-honored, Anglo-Saxon curriculum reflecting European traditions

Advocates for a more inclusive curriculum that offers all students a shared knowledge, a common curriculum Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know The Knowledge Deficit "Core knowledge" - a knowledge shared by all Americans

The foundation of the curriculum formed by the traditional disciplines such as math, science, history, foreign language, and literature.

"A cousin to essentialism" Also advocates a teacher centered classroom Little flexibility in the curriculum Rigorous standards Organize schools around books, ideas, and concepts Criticizes essentialists for the vast amount of factual info they require students to absorb in their push for "cultural literacy" Goal of education should be to develop rational thought and to discipline minds to think rigorously.

Works by history's finest thinkers and writers, books as meaningful today as when they were first written Perennialists recommend that students learn directly from the Great Books

Proposed in his Paideia Proposal (1982) a single elementary and secondary curriculum for all students, with no curricular electives except for a choice of a foreign language.

President of University of Chicago Introduced the Great Books program

Less authoritarian Less concerned with the past and "training the mind" More focused on the individual needs, contemporary relevance, and preparing students for a changing future Students and teachers work together on determining what should be learned and how best to learn it. School is seen as an institution that works with youth to improve society or help students realize their individuality.

Organizes schools around the concerns, curiosity, and real-world experiences of students. Teacher facilitates learning by helping students formulate meaningful questions and devise strategies to answer those questions. Answers are discovered through real world experience

Taught people learn best by doing Saw education as a way to learn by applying previous experiences in new ways Developed the Laboratory School- most famous experimental school in the US

Philosophy where schools, teachers, and students focus their studies on alleviating pervasive social inequalities and, as the name implies, reconstruct society into a new and more fair social order Split from progressivism in the 1920s after the slow pace of change in schools and society George Counts (Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order?) Social reconstructionists believe that school is the ideal place to begin ameliorating social problems Teacher's role: to explore social problems, suggest alternative perspectives, and facilitate student analysis of these problems; must model democratic principles Students and teachers are expected to live and learn in a democratic culture Students must select educational objectives and social priorities

Student of Dewey's Wrote Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order?- outlines more ambitious and more radical approach to education. Proposed that schools focus on reforming society, an idea that caught the imagination and sparked the ideals of educators both in America and internationally

Believed schools only served the interests of the dominant group. Beliefs grew during the Great Depression Rejected the conclusion of social Darwinism Envisioned schools as a place where the poor could acquire the skills to regain control in their lives and to be able to influence the social and economic forces that locked them into poverty in the first place Believed in praxis

Idea that society is an ingenious "sorting" system, one in which the more talented rise to the top, while those less deserving find themselves at the bottom of the social and economic packing order.

Doctrine that says when actions are based on sound theory and values, they can make a real difference in the world.

Student centered philosophy Highest priority is students directing their own learning Says that the purpose of education is to help children find meaning and direction in their lives; rejects the notion that adults should or could direct meaningful learning for children. Do not believe "truth" is objective and applicable to all (instead, we must look within ourselves to discover our own truth, our own purpose in life. "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

Puts the learner at the center of the educational process. Asserts that knowledge cannot be handed from one person to another (from a teacher to a learner) but must be constructed by each learner through interpreting and reinterpreting a constant flow of information Reflects cognitive psychologist's view that the essence of learning is the constant effort to assimilate new information.

Swiss and Russian psychologists Constructivism is built on their work

Harvard professor Leading advocate of behaviorism Popularized the use of positive reinforcement to promote desired learning

Questions, clues, or suggestions that help a student link prior knowledge to the new information.

Extrinsic rewards are gradually lessened as the student acquires and masters the targeted behavior The desired behavior now produces it's own reward Teacher's goal: To move the learner from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards

The tendency to view one's own culture as superior to others and to fail to consider other cultures at all.

Children learn adult roles through observation, conversation, assisting, and imitating, all the while absorbing moral, intellectual, and vocational lessons

Spoken language becomes a primary method for instruction Word problems teach reasoning skills, proverbs instill wisdom, and stories, anecdotes, and rhymes teach lessons about nature, history, religion, and social customs. Refines communication and analytical skills, and reinforces human connections and moral values.

Teacher without a school Seen as a exemplar human virtue whose goal was to help others find the truths that lie within their own minds Repeated questioning, disproving, and testing the thoughts of his pupils on such questions as the nature of "love" or "the good" Helped students reach deeper, clearer ideas - Socratic method

Studied under Socrates Known for the depth, beauty, and clarity of his writing Most famous works were dialogues that present and critique various philosophical viewpoints. Dialogues feature Socrates questioning and challenging others and presenting his own philosophy Became disillusioned with Athenian democracy after Socrates death and left the city for many years Later returned and founded the Academy- considered by many to be the first university. In his philosophy, the human soul has three parts: -intellect -spirit -appetite Believed these interact to determine human behavior.

Studied under Plato Entered the Academy at 18 years old and stayed for 20 years 342 BC- went to northern Greece and tutored Alexander (later known as Alexander the Great) Set up his own school in Athens called the Lyceum (adjacent to the Academy) Tackled philosophical questions Wrote influential works on biology, physics, astronomy, math, psychology, and literary criticism. More importance on the physical world Promoted the Golden Mean (notion that virtue lies in the middle ground between two extremes)

Deals with the origin and the structure of reality

Examines the nature and the origin of human knowledge Interested in how we use our minds to distinguish valid from illusory paths to true knowledge.

Emphasizes the power of reason to derive true statements about the world, even when such realities are not detected by the senses

Existence only of the physical

Also called spiritualism Matter is only known through the mind

Reality is composed of materialism and idealism, body and mind Associated with Rene Descartes.

Holds that sensory experience is the source of knowledge

Branch of philosophy that deals with reasoning Focuses on how to move from a set of assumptions to valid conclusions and examines the rules of inference that enable us to frame our propositions and arguments. Defines the rules of reason

Teachers present their students with a general rule and then help them identify particular examples and applications of the rule.

Teachers help students draw tentative generalizations after having observed specific instances of a phenomenon

What is "good" and what is "bad" in human behavior, thoughts, and feelings

Analyzes how past and present societies are arranged and governed and proposes ways to create better societies in the future

Probes the nature of beauty Asks, What is beauty?

Puts the learner at the center of the educational process. Asserts that knowledge cannot be handed from one person to another (from a teacher to a learner) but must be constructed by each learner through interpreting and reinterpreting a constant flow of information Reflects cognitive psychologist's view that the essence of learning is the constant effort to assimilate new information. In the classroom, students and teachers constantly challenge their own assumptions.

Derived from the belief that free will is an illusion and that human beings are shaped entirely by their environment B. F. Skinner Behaviorist urge teachers to use a system of reinforcement to encourage desired behaviors, to connect learning with pleasure and reward