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The Gary Plan was a new method of building a highly efficient public school system that was much discussed in the Progressive Era in the 1910s and 1920s. It was in part inspired by the educational ideas of philosopher John Dewey . It was designed by School Superintendent William Wirt in 1907 and implemented in the newly built steel mill city of Gary, Indiana . Reformers tried to copy it across the country. Wirt later promoted it in New York City. However, there it was strongly opposed by unions and the Jewish community and was reversed in after 1917. In 1930 the census counted 25.7 million students in public schools. In 1929 variations of the Gary Plan were in use in 1068 schools in 202 cities with 730,000 students. (In 1930 the census counted 26 million students in all public schools.) Proponents claimed it both saved money and enhanced the learning experience. Ronald Cohen states that the Gary Plan was popular because it merged together Progressive commitments to:

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92-398: Paedagogical and economic efficiency, growth and centralization of administration, an expanded curriculum, introduction of measurement and testing, greater public use of school facilities, a child-centered approach, and heightened concern about using the schools to properly socialize children. John Dewey , an academic philosopher of education, inspired Wirt when Wirt was a graduate student at

184-406: A "circular" account in which what serves as "stimulus" and what as "response" depends on how one considers the situation and defends the unitary nature of the sensory motor circuit. While he does not deny the existence of stimulus, sensation, and response, he disagreed that they were separate, juxtaposed events happening like links in a chain. He developed the idea that there is a coordination by which

276-433: A balance between delivering knowledge while also taking into account the interests and experiences of the student. He notes that "the child and the curriculum are simply two limits which define a single process. Just as two points define a straight line, so the present standpoint of the child and the facts and truths of studies define instruction" (Dewey, 1902, p. 16). It is through this reasoning that Dewey became one of

368-401: A battle of structuralism versus functionalism. The main goal of Structuralism was to make attempts to study human consciousness within the confines of an actual living experience, but this could make studying the human mind impossible, functionalism is in stark contrast to that. Structural psychology was concerned with mental contents while functionalism is concerned with mental operations. It

460-520: A faculty position at the University of Michigan (1884–88 and 1889–94) with the help of George Sylvester Morris. His unpublished and now lost dissertation was titled "The Psychology of Kant ". In 1894 Dewey joined the newly founded University of Chicago (1894–1904) where he developed his belief in Rational Empiricism , becoming associated with the newly emerging Pragmatic philosophy. His time at

552-461: A feel for genuine information and insight in all subjects taught. Functional psychology Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a psychological school of thought that was a direct outgrowth of Darwinian thinking which focuses attention on the utility and purpose of behavior that has been modified over years of human existence. Edward L. Thorndike , best known for his experiments with trial-and-error learning, came to be known as

644-550: A high-school teacher in Oil City, Pennsylvania , and one year as an elementary school teacher in the small town of Charlotte, Vermont , Dewey decided that he was unsuited for teaching primary or secondary school. After studying with George Sylvester Morris , Charles Sanders Peirce , Herbert Baxter Adams , and G. Stanley Hall , Dewey received his Ph.D. from the School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University . In 1884, he accepted

736-443: A method used widely in education today, incorporates Dewey's ideas pertaining to learning through active inquiry. Dewey not only re-imagined the way that the learning process should take place, but also the role that the teacher should play within that process. Throughout the history of American schooling, education's purpose has been to train students for work by providing the student with a limited set of skills and information to do

828-457: A particular job. The works of John Dewey provide the most prolific examples of how this limited vocational view of education has been applied to both the K–12 public education system and to the teacher training schools that attempted to quickly produce proficient and practical teachers with a limited set of instructional and discipline-specific skills needed to meet the needs of the employer and demands of

920-406: A professor at the University of Chicago , he founded the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools , where he was able to apply and test his progressive ideas on pedagogical method. Although Dewey is known best for his publications about education, he also wrote about many other topics, including epistemology , metaphysics , aesthetics , art , logic , social theory , and ethics . John Dewey

1012-435: A round square' but 'I know of no route by which dialectical argument can answer such objections. They arise from association with words and cannot be dealt with argumentatively'. The following can be interpreted now as describing a Kuhnian conversion process: 'One can only hope in the course of the whole discussion to disclose the [new] meanings which are attached to "experience" and "nature," and thus insensibly produce, if one

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1104-485: A standard psychological concept and the basis of all his further work; Democracy and Education (1916), his celebrated work on progressive education; Human Nature and Conduct (1922), a study of the function of habit in human behavior; The Public and its Problems (1927), a defense of democracy written in response to Walter Lippmann 's The Phantom Public (1925); Experience and Nature (1925), Dewey's most "metaphysical" statement; Impressions of Soviet Russia and

1196-489: A strong case for the importance of education not only as a place to gain content knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to live. In his eyes, the purpose of education should not revolve around the acquisition of a pre-determined set of skills, but rather the realization of one's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good. He notes that "to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have

1288-444: A way that allows the student to relate the information to prior experiences, thus deepening the connection with this new knowledge. At the same time, Dewey was alarmed by many of the "child-centered" excesses of educational-school pedagogues who claimed to be his followers, and he argued that too much reliance on the child could be equally detrimental to the learning process. In this second school of thought, "we must take our stand with

1380-512: Is also applied to teacher training schools who attempt to quickly produce proficient and practical teachers with a limited set of instructional and discipline skills needed to meet the needs of the employer and demands of the workforce (Dewey, 1904). For Dewey, the school and the classroom teacher, as a workforce and provider of social service, have a unique responsibility to produce psychological and social goods that will lead to both present and future social progress. As Dewey notes, "The business of

1472-401: Is an inherent curiosity and love for learning that differs from one's ability to acquire, recite and reproduce textbook knowledge. "No one," according to Dewey, "can be really successful in performing the duties and meeting these demands [of teaching] who does not retain [their] intellectual curiosity intact throughout [their] entire career" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 34). According to Dewey, it

1564-441: Is argued that structural psychology emanated from philosophy and remained closely allied to it, while functionalism has a close ally in biology. William James is considered to be the founder of functional psychology. But he would not consider himself as a functionalist, nor did he truly like the way science divided itself into schools. John Dewey , George Herbert Mead , Harvey A. Carr , and especially James Rowland Angell were

1656-435: Is centered on the curriculum and focuses almost solely on the subject matter to be taught. Dewey argues that the major flaw in this methodology is the inactivity of the student; within this particular framework, "the child is simply the immature being who is to be matured; he is the superficial being who is to be deepened" (1902, p. 13). He argues that in order for education to be most effective, content must be presented in

1748-413: Is fortunate, a change in the significations previously attached to them' [all E&N:10]. Reflecting his immense influence on 20th-century thought, Hilda Neatby wrote "Dewey has been to our age what Aristotle was to the later Middle Ages , not a philosopher, but the philosopher." In 1919, Dewey and his wife traveled to Japan on sabbatical leave . Though Dewey and his wife were well received by

1840-774: Is known Dewey could not distinguish musical pitches—in other words was an amusic . Dewey's educational theories were presented in My Pedagogic Creed (1897), The Primary-Education Fetich (1898), The School and Society (1900), The Child and the Curriculum (1902), Democracy and Education (1916), Schools of To-morrow Archived May 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (1915) with Evelyn Dewey , and Experience and Education (1938). Several themes recur throughout these writings. Dewey continually argues that education and learning are social and interactive processes, and thus

1932-557: Is necessary for a complete understanding of the human psyche. Even the project of studying the evolutionary functions of consciousness is now an active topic of study. Like evolutionary psychology, James's functionalism was inspired by Charles Darwin 's theory of natural selection. Functionalism was the basis of development for several subtypes of psychology including child and developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychometrics , and industrial/vocational psychology . Functionalism eventually dropped out of popular favor and

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2024-499: Is not passive reception of sensation, but an active grasping of the environment. Ward's presence influenced the adoption of functionalist view in British psychology and later served as the turning point for the development of cognitive psychology. Later in his life, Dewey neglected to mention Wilhelm Wundt , a German philosopher and psychologist, as an influence towards his functional psychology. In fact, Dewey gave all credit to James. At

2116-404: Is not that the "teacher ought to strive to be a high-class scholar in all the subjects he or she has to teach," rather, "a teacher ought to have an unusual love and aptitude in some one subject: history, mathematics, literature, science, a fine art, or whatever" (Dewey, APT, 2010, p. 35). The classroom teacher does not have to be a scholar in all subjects; rather, genuine love in one will elicit

2208-401: Is regarded as the first major work in the (Chicago) functionalist school of psychology. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Dewey as the 93rd-most-cited psychologist of the 20th century. Dewey was also a major educational reformer for the 20th century. A well-known public intellectual , he was a major voice of progressive education and liberalism . While

2300-401: Is steadfast in his beliefs that education serves an immediate purpose (Dewey, DRT, 2010; Dewey, MPC, 2010; Dewey, TTP, 2010), he is not ignorant of the impact imparting these qualities of intelligence, skill, and character on young children in their present life will have on the future society. While addressing the state of educative and economic affairs during a 1935 radio broadcast, Dewey linked

2392-677: The Carnegie Foundation . He also traveled to Durban , Pretoria and Victoria Falls in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ) and looked at schools, talked to pupils, and gave lectures to the administrators and teachers. In August 1934, Dewey accepted an honorary degree from the University of the Witwatersrand . The white-only governments rejected Dewey's ideas as too secular. However black people and their white supporters were more receptive. Dewey married Alice Chipman in 1886 shortly after Chipman graduated with her Ph.D. from

2484-669: The Treaty of Versailles and on the value of displaying art in post offices.)" In 1917, Dewey met F. M. Alexander in New York City and later wrote introductions to Alexander's Man's Supreme Inheritance (1918), Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (1923) and The Use of the Self (1932). Alexander's influence is referenced in "Human Nature and Conduct" and "Experience and Nature." As well as his contacts with people mentioned elsewhere in

2576-514: The University of Vermont , where he was initiated into Delta Psi , and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1879. A significant professor of Dewey's at the University of Vermont was Henry Augustus Pearson Torrey (H. A. P. Torrey), the son-in-law and nephew of former University of Vermont president Joseph Torrey . Dewey studied privately with Torrey between his graduation from Vermont and his enrollment at Johns Hopkins University . After two years as

2668-487: The Gary plan, all of the school equipment remained in use during the entire school day; Rather than opening up new schools for the overwhelming population of students, it was hoped that the "Gary Plan would save the city money by utilizing all rooms in existing schools by rotating children through classrooms, auditoriums, playgrounds, and gymnasiums." The platoon system gained acceptance in Gary and received national attention during

2760-619: The Gary system encountered resistance from students, parents, and labor leaders concerned that the plan simply trained children to work in factories and the fact that Gary's Plan was in predominantly Jewish areas. In part because of backing from the Rockefeller family , the plan became heavily identified with the interest of big business. "In January 1916, the Board of Education released a report finding students attending Gary Plan schools performed worse than those in 'non-Garyuzed schools' ." This opposition

2852-471: The Human Understanding (1888), both of which expressed Dewey's early commitment to British neo-Hegelianism . In Psychology , Dewey attempted a synthesis between idealism and experimental science. While still professor of philosophy at Michigan, Dewey and his junior colleagues, James Hayden Tufts and George Herbert Mead , together with his student James Rowland Angell , all influenced strongly by

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2944-534: The Revolutionary World (1929), a glowing travelogue from the nascent USSR . Art as Experience (1934), was Dewey's major work on aesthetics; A Common Faith (1934), a humanistic study of religion originally delivered as the Dwight H. Terry Lectureship at Yale; Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), a statement of Dewey's unusual conception of logic; Freedom and Culture (1939), a political work examining

3036-556: The University of Chicago resulted in four essays collectively entitled Thought and its Subject-Matter , which was published with collected works from his colleagues at Chicago under the collective title Studies in Logical Theory (1904). During that time Dewey also initiated the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools , where he was able to actualize the pedagogical beliefs that provided material for his first major work on education, The School and Society (1899). Disagreements with

3128-496: The University of Chicago. In turn Dewey and his disciples praised the Gary Plan. In 1907, Wirt became superintendent of schools in the newly planned city of Gary, Indiana , which was built by U.S. Steel corporation. Wirt began implementing his educational values in the local schools. He initiated teacher hiring standards, designed school buildings, lengthened the school day, and organized the schools according to his ideals. The core of

3220-591: The University of Michigan. The two had six children: Frederick Archibald Dewey, Evelyn Riggs Dewey , Morris (who died young), Gordon Chipman Dewey, Lucy Alice Chipman Dewey, and Jane Mary Dewey . Alice Chipman died in 1927 at the age of 68; weakened by a case of malaria contracted during a trip to Turkey in 1924 and a heart attack during a trip to Mexico City in 1926, she died from cerebral thrombosis on July 13, 1927. Dewey married Estelle Roberta Lowitz Grant, "a longtime friend and companion for several years before their marriage" on December 11, 1946. At Roberta's behest,

3312-430: The academic classrooms (which were deemphasized), while the second platoon was divided between the shops, nature studies, auditorium, gymnasium, and outdoor facilities split between girls and boys. Students spent only half of their school time in a conventional classroom. "Girls learned cooking, sewing, and bookkeeping while the boys learning metalwork, cabinetry, woodworking, painting, printing, shoemaking, and plumbing." In

3404-648: The administration ultimately caused his resignation from the university, and soon thereafter he relocated near the East Coast. In 1899, Dewey was elected president of the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.). From 1904 until his retirement in 1930 he was professor of philosophy at Teachers College at Columbia University and influenced Carl Rogers . In 1905 he became president of the American Philosophical Association . He

3496-503: The article, he also maintained correspondence with Henri Bergson , William M. Brown , Martin Buber , George S. Counts , William Rainey Harper , Sidney Hook , and George Santayana . John Dewey died of pneumonia on June 1, 1952, at his home in New York City after years of ill-health and was cremated the next day. At the University of Michigan, Dewey published his first two books, Psychology (1887), and Leibniz's New Essays Concerning

3588-581: The attraction of Bolshevism to some Chinese, Dewey advocated that Americans support China's transformation and that Chinese base this transformation in education and social reforms, not revolution. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of people attended the lectures, which were interpreted by Hu Shih. For these audiences, Dewey represented "Mr. Democracy" and "Mr. Science," the two personifications which they thought of representing modern values and hailed him as "the American Confucius". His lectures were lost at

3680-426: The basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction". In addition to his ideas regarding what education is and what effect it should have on society, Dewey also had specific notions regarding how education should take place within the classroom. In The Child and the Curriculum (1902), Dewey discusses two major conflicting schools of thought regarding educational pedagogy. The first

3772-412: The biological processes of the human consciousness. While functionalism eventually became its own formal school, it built on structuralism's concern for the anatomy of the mind and led to greater concern over the functions of the mind and later to the psychological approach of behaviorism . Functionalism opposed the prevailing structuralism of psychology of the late 19th century. Edward Titchener ,

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3864-401: The child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject-matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning" (Dewey, 1902, pp. 13–14). According to Dewey, the potential flaw in this line of thinking is that it minimizes the importance of the content as well as the role of the teacher. In order to rectify this dilemma, Dewey advocated an educational structure that strikes

3956-500: The couple adopted two siblings, Lewis (changed to John Jr.) and Shirley. Dewey's interests and writings included many topics, and according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , "a substantial part of his published output consisted of commentary on current domestic and international politics, and public statements on behalf of many causes. (He is probably the only philosopher in this encyclopedia to have published both on

4048-399: The early decades of the twentieth century. In 1914, New York City hired Wirt as a part-time consultant to introduce the work-study-play He became a consultant on a one-week-a-month basis at a fee of $ 10,000 a year. Mayor John Purroy Mitchel had visited Gary and was an enthusiastic advocate as the city worked to restructure schools buildings and schedules. In the following three years, however,

4140-474: The ensuing economic depression to a "lack of sufficient production of intelligence, skill, and character" (Dewey, TAP, 2010, p. 242) of the nation's workforce. As Dewey notes, there is a lack of these goods in the present society and teachers have a responsibility to create them in their students, who, we can assume, will grow into the adults who will ultimately go on to participate in whatever industrial or economic civilization awaits them. According to Dewey,

4232-446: The first (1925) edition, for the second (1929) edition he rewrote the first chapter and added a Preface in which he stated that the book presented what was later called a new (Kuhnian) paradigm:  'I have not striven in this volume for a reconciliation between the new and the old' [E&N:4] . and he asserts Kuhnian incommensurability: 'To many the associating of the two words ['experience' and 'nature'] will seem like talking of

4324-526: The four men forming the basis of the so-called "Chicago group" of psychology. Their new style of psychology, later dubbed functional psychology , had a practical emphasis on action and application. In Dewey's article "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" which appeared in Psychological Review in 1896, he reasons against the traditional stimulus-response understanding of the reflex arc in favor of

4416-413: The full and ready use of all his capacities" ( My Pedagogic Creed , Dewey, 1897). In addition to helping students realize their full potential, Dewey goes on to acknowledge that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social change and reform. He notes that "education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on

4508-459: The functionalist perspective resides mostly in the somatic nervous system. It can be argued that all behavioural origins begin within the nervous system, prompting all scientists of human behaviour to possess basic physiological understandings, something very well understood by the functionalist founder William James. The main problems with structuralism were the elements and their attributes, their modes of composition, structural characteristics, and

4600-401: The human capacity for random, unpredictable, sentient decision-making, further blocking the functionalist concept that human behaviour is an active process driven by the individual. Perhaps, a combination of both the functionalist and behaviourist perspectives provides scientists with the most empirical value, but, even so, it remains philosophically (and physiologically) difficult to integrate

4692-692: The invitation of the World Conference of New Education Fellowship in Cape Town and Johannesburg , where he delivered several talks. The conference was opened by the South African Minister of Education Jan Hofmeyr , and Deputy Prime Minister Jan Smuts . Other speakers at the conference included Max Eiselen and Hendrik Verwoerd , who later became prime minister of the Nationalist government that introduced apartheid . Dewey's expenses were paid by

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4784-404: The leader of the loosely defined movement. This movement arose in the U.S. in the late 19th century in direct contrast to Edward Titchener 's structuralism , which focused on the contents of consciousness rather than the motives and ideals of human behavior. Functionalism denies the principle of introspection, which tends to investigate the inner workings of human thinking rather than understanding

4876-447: The main proponents of functionalism at the University of Chicago . Another group at Columbia , including notably James McKeen Cattell , Edward L. Thorndike , and Robert S. Woodworth , were also considered functionalists and shared some of the opinions of Chicago's professors. Egon Brunswik represents a more recent, but Continental, version. The functionalists retained an emphasis on conscious experience. Behaviourists also rejected

4968-425: The main structuralist, gave psychology its first definition as a science of the study of mental experience, of consciousness , to be studied by trained introspection . At the start of the nineteenth century, there was a discrepancy between psychologists who were interested in the analysis of the structures of the mind and those who turned their attention to studying the function of mental processes. This resulted in

5060-451: The many kinds of skills needed in contemporary life. If teachers are up to their work, they also aid in the production of character."(Dewey, TAP, 2010, pp. 241–42). According to Dewey, the emphasis is placed on producing these attributes in children for use in their contemporary life because it is "impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now" (Dewey, MPC, 2010, p. 25). However, although Dewey

5152-414: The mental act of consciousness must be an important biological function. He also noted that it was a psychologist's job to understand these functions so they can discover how the mental processes operate. This idea was an alternative approach to Structuralism , which was the first paradigm in psychology (Gordon, 1995). In opposition of Titchener's idea that the mind was simple, William James argued that

5244-417: The method of introspection but criticized functionalism because it was not based on controlled experiments and its theories provided little predictive ability. B.F. Skinner was a developer of behaviourism. He did not think that considering how the mind affects behaviour was worthwhile, for he considered behaviour simply as a learned response to an external stimulus. Yet, such behaviourist concepts tend to deny

5336-517: The mind should be a dynamic concept. James's main contribution to functionalism was his theory of the subconscious. He said there were three ways of looking at the subconscious in which it may be related to the conscious. First, the subconscious is identical in nature with states of consciousness. Second, it's the same as conscious but impersonal. Lastly, he said that the subconscious is a simple brain state but with no mental counterpart. According to An Illustrated History of American Psychology , James

5428-419: The moment of sensory perception. During his American Psychological Association presidential address, Angell laid out three major ideas regarding functionalism. The first of his ideas being that functional psychology is focused on mental operations and their relationship with biology and these mental operations were a way of dealing with the conditions of the environment. Second, mental operations contribute to

5520-502: The most famous proponents of hands-on learning or experiential education , which is related to, but not synonymous with experiential learning . He argued that "if knowledge comes from the impressions made upon us by natural objects, it is impossible to procure knowledge without the use of objects which impress the mind" (Dewey, 1916/2009, pp. 217–18). Dewey's ideas went on to influence many other influential experiential models and advocates. Problem-Based Learning (PBL), for example,

5612-776: The national level. However, the national government was weak, and the provinces largely controlled by warlords, so his suggestions were praised at the national level but not implemented. However, there were a few implementations locally. Dewey's ideas did have influence in Hong Kong, and in Taiwan after the nationalist government fled there. In most of China, Confucian scholars controlled the local educational system before 1949 and they simply ignored Dewey and Western ideas. In Marxist and Maoist China, Dewey's ideas were systematically denounced. Dewey and his daughter Jane went to South Africa in July 1934, at

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5704-467: The other areas of psychology that were neglected by structuralism. In 1905, a wave of acceptance was eminent as there had been a widespread acceptance of functionalism over the structural view of psychology. Edward Titchener made arguments that structural psychology preceded functional psychology because mental structures need to be isolated and understood before their function be ascertained. Despite Titchener's enthusiasm towards functional psychology, he

5796-502: The people of Japan during this trip, Dewey was also critical of the nation's governing system and claimed that the nation's path towards democracy was "ambitious but weak in many respects in which her competitors are strong". He also warned that "the real test has not yet come. But if the nominally democratic world should go back on the professions so profusely uttered during war days, the shock will be enormous, and bureaucracy and militarism might come back." During his trip to Japan, Dewey

5888-413: The physiological functioning of the organism results in the development of the consciousness. Lastly, the promise of the impact of functional psychology to the improvement of education, mental hygiene and abnormal states. James Angell was a proponent of the struggle for the emergence of functional psychology. He argued that mental elements identified by the structuralist were temporary and only existed at

5980-402: The profession of the classroom teacher is to produce the intelligence, skill, and character within each student so that the democratic community is composed of citizens who can think, do and act intelligently and morally. Dewey believed that successful classroom teacher possesses a passion for knowledge and intellectual curiosity in the materials and methods they teach. For Dewey, this propensity

6072-420: The pursuit of individual and communal inquiry, and perceive higher learning as a monopoly of the institution of education (Dewey, 1899; 1916). For Dewey and his philosophical followers, education stifles individual autonomy when learners are taught that knowledge is transmitted in one direction, from the expert to the learner. Dewey not only re-imagined the way that the learning process should take place, but also

6164-430: The recent publication of William James ' Principles of Psychology (1890), began to reformulate psychology, emphasizing the social environment on the activity of mind and behavior rather than the physiological psychology of Wilhelm Wundt and his followers. By 1894, Dewey had joined Tufts, with whom he later wrote Ethics (1908) at the recently founded University of Chicago and invited Mead and Angell to follow him,

6256-431: The relationship between an organism's needs and the environment in which it lives. Its mental functions aid in the survival of the organism in unfamiliar situations. Lastly, functionalism does not abide by the rules of dualism because it is the study of how mental functions relate to behavior. Mary Calkins attempted to make strides in reconciling structural and functional psychology during her APA presidential address. It

6348-535: The role of attention. Because of these problems, many psychologists began to shift their attention from mental states to mental processes. This change of thought was preceded by a change in the whole conception of what psychology is. Three parts ushered functional psychology into the modern-day psychology. Utilizing the Darwinian ideology, the mind was considered to perform a diverse biological function on its own and can evolve and adapt to varying circumstances. Secondly,

6440-431: The role that the teacher should play within that process. For Dewey, "The thing needful is improvement of education, not simply by turning out teachers who can do better the things that are not necessary to do, but rather by changing the conception of what constitutes education" (Dewey, 1904, p. 18). Dewey's qualifications for teaching—a natural love for working with young children, a natural propensity to inquire about

6532-512: The roots of fascism; and Knowing and the Known (1949), a book written in conjunction with Arthur F. Bentley that systematically outlines the concept of trans-action, which is central to his other works (see Transactionalism ). While each of these works focuses on one particular philosophical theme, Dewey included his major themes in Experience and Nature . However, dissatisfied with the response to

6624-475: The school itself is a social institution through which social reform can and should take place. In addition, he believed that students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum, and all students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning. The ideas of democracy and social reform are continually discussed in Dewey's writings on education. Dewey makes

6716-404: The schools' organization in Gary centered upon the platoon or work-study-play system and Americanizing the 63.4 percent of children with parents who were immigrants. The theory behind the Gary Plan was to accommodate children's shorter attention spans, and that long hours of quiet in the classroom were not tenable. Above the primary grades, students were divided into two platoons—one platoon used

6808-476: The stimulation is enriched by the results of previous experiences. The response is modulated by sensorial experience. Dewey was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1899. Dewey also expressed interest in work in the psychology of visual perception performed by Dartmouth research professor Adelbert Ames Jr. He had great trouble with listening, however, because it

6900-429: The subjects, methods and other social issues related to the profession, and a desire to share this acquired knowledge with others—are not a set of outwardly displayed mechanical skills. Rather, they may be viewed as internalized principles or habits which "work automatically, unconsciously" (Dewey, 1904, p. 15). Turning to Dewey's essays and public addresses regarding the teaching profession, followed by his analysis of

6992-459: The teacher as a person and a professional, as well as his beliefs regarding the responsibilities of teacher education programs to cultivate the attributes addressed, teacher educators can begin to reimagine the successful classroom teacher Dewey envisioned. For many, education's purpose is to train students for work by providing the student with a limited set of skills and information to do a particular job. As Dewey notes, this limited vocational view

7084-438: The teacher is to produce a higher standard of intelligence in the community, and the object of the public school system is to make as large as possible the number of those who possess this intelligence. Skill, the ability to act wisely and effectively in a great variety of occupations and situations, is a sign and a criterion of the degree of civilization that a society has reached. It is the business of teachers to help in producing

7176-537: The time but have been rediscovered and published in 2015. Dewey's lecture on "Three Contemporary Philosophers: Bertrand Russell, Henri Bergson and William James" at Peking University in 1919 was attended by a young Mao Zedong . Zhixin Su states: Dewey urged the Chinese to not import any Western educational model. He recommended to educators such as Tao Xingzhi , that they use pragmatism to devise their own model school system at

7268-459: The time it didn't seem worthwhile to bring up old theories from a German philosopher who only held a temporary spotlight and whose reputation went into a rather negative decline in America in the early twentieth century. Wundt's major contribution to functional psychology was when he made will into a structural concept. Though controversial, according to Titchener's definition of structuralism, Wundt

7360-401: The two concepts without raising further questions about human behaviour. For instance, consider the interrelationship between three elements: the human environment, the human autonomic nervous system (our fight or flight muscle responses), and the human somatic nervous system (our voluntary muscle control). The behaviourist perspective explains a mixture of both types of muscle behaviour, whereas

7452-559: The workforce. In The School and Society (Dewey, 1899) and Democracy of Education (Dewey, 1916), Dewey claims that rather than preparing citizens for ethical participation in society, schools cultivate passive pupils via insistence upon mastery of facts and disciplining of bodies. Rather than preparing students to be reflective, autonomous and ethical beings capable of arriving at social truths through critical and intersubjective discourse, schools prepare students for docile compliance with authoritarian work and political structures, discourage

7544-529: Was a goal of Calkin's for her school of self-psychology to be a place where functionalism and structuralism could unite under common ground. John Dewey , an American psychologist and philosopher, became the organizing principle behind the Chicago school of functional psychology in 1894. His first important contribution to the development of functional psychology was a paper criticizing "the reflex arc " concept in psychology. Herman Ebbinghaus's study on memory

7636-517: Was a longtime member of the American Federation of Teachers . Along with the historians Charles A. Beard and James Harvey Robinson , and the economist Thorstein Veblen , Dewey is one of the founders of The New School . Dewey published more than 700 articles in 140 journals, and approximately 40 books. His most significant writings were "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" (1896), a critique of

7728-401: Was a major factor in the defeat of New York Mayor Mitchel in his bid for reelection in 1917. John Dewey John Dewey ( / ˈ d uː i / ; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher , psychologist , and educational reformer . He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overriding theme of Dewey's works

7820-576: Was a monumental moment in psychology. He was influenced by the Fechner's work on perception and from the Elements of Psychophysics. He used himself as a subject when he set out to prove that some higher mental processes could be experimentally investigated. His experiment was hailed as an important contribution to psychology by Wundt. James was the first American psychologist and wrote the first general textbook regarding psychology. In this approach he reasoned that

7912-422: Was actually more of a structuralist than functionalist. Despite this claim, it is possibly one of the greatest ironies in the history of psychology that Wundt be deemed responsible for major contributions to functionalism due to his spark of several functionalist rebellions. Evolutionary psychology is based on the idea that knowledge concerning the function of the psychological phenomena affecting human evolution

8004-456: Was born in Burlington, Vermont , to a family of modest means. He was one of four boys born to Archibald Sprague Dewey and Lucina Artemisia Rich Dewey. Their first son was also named John, but he died in an accident on January 17, 1859. The second John Dewey was born October 20, 1859, forty weeks after the death of his older brother. Like his older, surviving brother, Davis Rich Dewey , he attended

8096-488: Was his profound belief in democracy , be it in politics, education, or communication and journalism. As Dewey himself stated in 1888, while still at the University of Michigan , "Democracy and the one, ultimate, ethical ideal of humanity are to my mind synonymous." Dewey considered two fundamental elements—schools and civil society —to be major topics needing attention and reconstruction to encourage experimental intelligence and plurality. He asserted that complete democracy

8188-1095: Was invited by Peking University to visit China, probably at the behest of his former students, Hu Shih and Chiang Monlin . Dewey and his wife Alice arrived in Shanghai on April 30, 1919, just days before student demonstrators took to the streets of Peking to protest the decision of the Allies in Paris to cede the German-held territories in Shandong province to Japan. Their demonstrations on May Fourth excited and energized Dewey, and he ended up staying in China for two years, leaving in July 1921. In these two years, Dewey gave nearly 200 lectures to Chinese audiences and wrote nearly monthly articles for Americans in The New Republic and other magazines. Well aware of both Japanese expansionism into China and

8280-424: Was the most influential pioneer. In 1890, he argued that psychology should be a division of biology and adaptation should be an area of focus. His main theories that contributed to the development of functional psychology were his ideas about the role of consciousness, the effects of emotions, and the usefulness of instincts and habits In 1901, Joseph Jastrow declared that functional psychology appeared to welcome

8372-428: Was to be obtained not just by extending voting rights but also by ensuring that there exists a fully formed public opinion , accomplished by communication among citizens, experts, and politicians. Dewey was one of the primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the founding thinkers of functional psychology . His paper "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology", published in 1896,

8464-540: Was weary and urged other psychologists to avoid the appeal of functional psychology and continue to embrace the rigorous introspective experimental psychology. James Ward was a pioneer of functional psychology in Britain. Once a minister, after experiencing a turmoil in his spiritual life, he turned to psychology but not without an attempt at physiology. He eventually settled for philosophy. He later made attempts at establishing psychological laboratory. Ward believed perception

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