Week 9 Quotes

"As John Dewey observed in his Experience and Education, 'the history of educational theory is marked by opposition between the idea that education is development from within and that it is formation from without.'" (progressive vs. traditional education)

I am a sucker for intellectual discussions like this involving reasoning through semantics. This one raises an interesting point. Educational theory is so often treated as sets of exclusively opposite theories. Even in our education courses here at Central, theories are often presented in this either-or fashion. The truth is, the process of learning and how the mind works is different for every individual, and often times the theories a teacher must employ can become muddled together. For one lesson, a traditional approach may be best; for another, a transformative approach. One student may respond to behaviorism while another may work better with constructivism. The important thing is that the teacher not shoehorn students into specific learning styles. Teachers should also not stick to strictly one way of teaching. Multiple theories exist for a reason - because all of them have strengths and weaknesses depending on the circumstances.

"Inductive reasoning, by its very nature, is more open-ended and exploratory, especially at the beginning." (Deduction & Induction)

In science education, we are being encouraged to utilize inquiry, a process that focuses on having students do work around a researchable question. The theory is not new, but it has been seldom practiced in science classrooms. Due to its exploratory nature, I would classify inquiry as more inductive, though as this article points out the two methods of reasoning can actually work quite well together in a cyclical fashion. I can see how inquiry-oriented lessons would provide better opportunities for learning, as the students are taking a more active approach to figuring things out. However, I'm finding it incredibly hard to teach. Designing a lesson that incorporates that open-endedness yet provides students with appropriate scaffolding can be very difficult and time consuming. This is not to say that I won't use inquiry, but I think there's a need to balance inductive and deductive reasoning both for students who are unfamiliar with inductive approaches and for myself as I gain confidence in my teaching ability.

"Despite the rhetoric of the centrality of critical thinking, a legacy of the progressive era, they have embraced the idea of school as a training ground, and have largely accepted the concept that the main problems of education can be resolved with money and greater access." (Aronowitz 2010)

Unfortunately, this semester has both encouraged and discouraged me when it comes to education in America. I have become encouraged at seeing the personal and professional growth I have gone through and the understanding I have gained of different approaches to teaching. However, in working with my cooperating teacher, I have become discouraged seeing the true state of the educational system. I have been told my teacher is one of the better teachers available for student teaching, and I should say that by no means is this comment an attack on her ability as a teacher. But her methods reflect this idea of viewing schools as training grounds. Her pedagogical approach is largely traditional with some liberal-progressive approaches thrown in. She would be the first to argue that students need critical thinking skills. But she rarely focuses on teaching critical thinking skills. This is no fault of her own; her methods are a product of a system that has reverted to the idea of schools training the next generation. I hope when I become a teacher that I can retain the passion and drive to resist falling into this mold.