Traditional vs Progressive Learning
Chapter 6, Experiencing Education in the Early Years, discusses the work of John Dewey and traditional learning vs progressive learning. What I found to be extremely interesting about the chapter is that most provincial goals behind education is to prepare students to become good citizens of society and guide the to attribute to the economy. I feel that this means that school is aimed to train people into the “societal norm” so that they can have skills which will lead them to make money and contribute to the economy. When reflecting on this thought, I’ve realized that traditional education has no interest in the learner however is only interested in training the learner to become good citizens and basically feed the economy. John Dewey explains that traditional learning focuses on the transfer of knowledge through textbook and lecture following a strict curriculum which has little to no wiggle room. This type of learning focuses on molding each child into a “perfect” member of society and has little to no focus on the interest or needs of the learners. On the other hand, progressive learning is quite the opposite. John Dewey explains the principles of progressive learning and its main focuses to be: children’s freedom to develop naturally, children’s interest as the motivation for educational work, teacher as guide, school record-keeping to promote the study of child development, focus on children’s physical development, cooperation between the home and school in meeting the child’s needs and interests and progressive schools as leaders in education. As you can tell, progressive teaching evolves around the child centered approach, meaning the child is the center focus of their own learning and that self-realization is the goal. The child’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs are taken into consideration. Each child is unique and considered. When reflecting on these two types of learning, I feel that I naturally support the progressive learning style. In my teaching experience, I’ve found that children learn more through hands on experiences and have seen their level of motivation increase when it involved their own interests. I have also learnt from experience children learn at different paces and that when they are ready to learn they will learn. Focusing on organic learning fosters this principle and supports child learning when they are ready. I also feel that children learn more through experiences and that unplanned for new knowledge will occur when participating in projects and experiential learning. I feel like it is extremely interesting to compare the two types of learning and after learning about them both, I have realized that I will definitely be teaching progressively in the future!