1. Five Educational Philosophies and
Philosophers

2. READ PAGE 180
Jack, Myra, Mark, Ted, and Cara
•Do you resonate with any of these 5
people?
•Write down which one resonates best
and least with your beliefs

3. INVENTORY OF PHILOSOPHIES – PAGE 181-182
•Complete the inventory for yourself. Each statement needs a score between 1-5
•In box on page 183, complete the #s as they match to your responses
•Tally up each score in each column – the highest possible score in a column is 25,
lowest is 5
•Go back to your choice in the faculty room. Which one did you resonate with most
and least? Did your score match your choice in the faculty room conversation?
•Which top 3-5 questions did you respond Strongly Agree? Are they mutually
supportive of one philosophy?
•Look at statements you least supported. What do they tell you?
•Does your philosophical trend represent your general outlook on life?
•*** Answer these questions as these will come back in the discussion of the week***

4. EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES
Essentialism
Perennialism
Progressivism
Social Reconstruction
Existentialism

5. ESSENTIALISM
Column A (Jack), Read pg. 184-186 for a glimpse at essentialism
A.Key Points:
•Back-to-basics approach
•Core graduation requirements
•Few electives
•Strong standards
•Testing of both students and teachers
•Classroom revolves around the teacher
B. View Rancho Elementary School – How can you see that this school adopts
an Essentialism approach to educating their students?

6. PERENNIALISM
Column B (Myra) – Read Page 186-188
A. Key Points
•Means “everlasting”
•Little flexibility in the curriculum
•Schools are organized around books, ideas, and concepts
•Textbooks are NOT used
•Students learn from the Great Books
• The Bible, War & Peace, Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, Animal Farm, Gulliver’s Travels,
etc.
B. Website St. John’s College / Wikipedia Site: How can you tell St. John’s uses a
Perennialism philosophy?

7. PROGRESSIVISM
Column C (Mark), Read pgs. 190-192
A. Key Points
•Organized around students’ curiosity
•Learning through real-world experiences
•John Dewey: ‘people learn best through social interaction in the real-world’
•Students learn the scientific method
B. Website
•Dewey’s Lab School – Chicago
•Winnetka Schools
•Calhoun Schools
•How can you tell these schools adopt the progressivism philosophy?

8. SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
Column D, Ted. Read pg. 192-195
A. Key Concepts
•Focus is on reforming society
•Teacher’s role is to facilitate student analysis of social problems
• Racism, pollution, poverty, homelessness, etc.
•Democratic culture in the classroom
•Students select the objectives
B. Websites
•Paulo Freire Freedom School
•Can you see how the school adopts the social reconstruction philosophy? How?

9. EXISTENTIALISM
Column E, Cara – Read pgs. 195-197
A. Key Concepts:
•Purpose of education is for students to find meaning in their lives
•Students decide what they need to learn
•Students evaluate their own performances
•Extremely student-centered!
B. Website:
•The Sudbury Valley School
•Watch the video on the website of the school. Can you tell how this school
adopts an existentialism philosophy?

10. EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES
Review – pg 196
•Essentialism
•Perennialism
•Progressivism
•Social Reconstruction
•Existentialism

11. EAGLE ROCK SCHOOL, CO
Individual Integrity
Which •Intellectual Discipline
•Physical Fitness
philosophy does •Spiritual Development
this school •Aesthetic Expression
Citizenship
embrace? •Service to Others
•Cross-cultural
Understanding
•Democratic Governance
•Environmental Stewardship

12. CREATE YOUR OWN SCHOOL
If I would ask you to create your own school, I would like to know:
•What will your school look like?
•How will it operate?
•Purpose? Physical environment?
•Academic curriculum?
•PE?
•Extracurricular?
•Can you draw a picture of the school?
•What philosophy or mix of philosophies would you use?

13. PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON EDUCATION:
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Key IDEA:
•Knowledge must be “constructed”
Famous psychologists:
•Piaget
•Vygotsky
What it looks like in a classroom:
• Teacher builds knowledge on students’ prior experience and knowledge
• Uses cues, questions, activities to expand their insight…called SCAFFOLDING
• Merges with authentic learning, critical thinking, individualized instruction, PBL

14. PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON EDUCATION:
BEHAVIORISM
Key IDEA:
•Human beings are shaped by their environment
•We respond to physical stimuli
Behaviorists:
•B.F. Skinner
What it looks like?
•Teachers use reinforcement (extrinsic rewards) to increase desired behaviors…
called behavior modification

15. CREATING AN EDUCATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY
“I believe”
“I value”
4 paragraphs + intro and closure
See assignment description
Draft due Sunday night 11:59 pm

16. THE GREAT
PHILOSOPHER-
TEACHERS…
PG. 202-203

17. SOCRATES
Teacher without a school
Walked around Athens engaging people
in dialogues
Goal was to help others find the truths
that lay within their own minds
Questioned, disproved, and tested the
thoughts of his pupils
Questioning technique is called the
Socratic Method: who, what, when,
where
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can
only make them think.”
Put to death for corrupting the youth

18. PLATO
Pupil of Socrates
Founded The Academy in Athens
(1st university)
Human soul has 3 parts (intellect,
spirit, and appetite) that
determine behavior
Known for his writing…
eloquent dialogues about
philosophy.

19. ARISTOTLE
Studied under Plato
Attended The Academy for 20
years
Tutored Alexander the Great
Stressed the importance of the
physical world
“Educating the mind without
educating the heart is no education
at all.”

20. DOCTRINE OF THE GOLDEN MEAN
Aristotle promoted the doctrine of the
GOLDEN MEAN:
Virtue lies between 2 extremes
Example: courage is somewhere
between cowardice and foolhardiness
Everything in moderation!

21. CHAPTER 6 KEY QUESTIONS
• Why is a philosophy important to you?
• How do teacher-centered differ from student-centered philosophies of
education?
• What are the five major ed. philosophies?
• How are philosophies reflected in school practice?
• What were the contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to philosophy?
Can you provide answers to these questions? Your next writing sample may be one
of these questions! So be prepared.