Educational Theories

John Dewey (1 - 5) is, of course, widely recognized as one of the key theorists in American education. J. E. Stone (1), a less well known educator and theorist, is a contemporary writer and analyst who has proposed an alternative to Dewey's construction of the foundation of educational practice and pedagogy known as developmentalism; Stone (2) traces the roots of developmentalism to earlier work by, among others, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Dewey and Jean Piaget. In this brief essay, the ideas of Dewey and Stone vis-a-vis the importance of developmentalism as a basis for educational practice will be compared.

The argument will be advanced that Stone (2), builds significantly upon Dewey's (1994) theoretical foundation to create a theory of teaching and learning that recognizes, as Stone (4) put it,

the view of age-related social, emotional and cognitive change that regards the optimal progression to be a fragile result of native tendencies emerging in a world congenial to their presumed wholesome nature.

Thus, like Dewey (1) before him, Stone (2) sees the task of educators and schools as calling forward the process of development, which is conceived of and recognized as a complex process of maturation that is naturally driven. However, Stone's (4) formulation of theory departs in some significant and incompatible ways from that of Dewey (4), specifically with respect to the tasks that a school or teacher shou

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ng the presentation of lessons and ideas already formed. 3. Attend to interests as signs of the power to learn. 4. Acknowledge emotion as a corollary of action, accepting emotional response without focusing on it. In this view, as Stengeluthor (4) puts it, Dewey sees education as growth and a characteristic of life itself. Implicit in this view is what Stone (1996) sees as an understanding of development per se. Stone (1) points out that Dewey was a developmentalist who, unlike Stone himself, did not rely on a formally stated developmental sequence. Rather, said Stone (6), "Dewey believed that evolution had equipped man with characteristics fitted to certain types of naturally occurring experiences" and consequently, quality instruction was "the practice of fitting educational experiences to the emerging characteristics and proclivities of the child." Unlike Rousseau, said Stone (2), Dewey did not see maturation in and of itself as sufficient to guide the process. Rather, Stone (5) said that Dewey saw education as a process designed to enhance a student's reflective power. Where Stone (2) tends to depart from Dewey (6-8) is with regard to the viability of returning to a developmental perspective in structurin
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Dewey Stone, Stone Dewey's, Barbara Stengeluthor, Rousseau Stone, Jerome Bruner, Evolution Stone, John Dewey, Darwin Dewey, Stone Dewey, Archives Aug, stone 2, stone 6, dewey 4, dewey 1, authentic learning, naturally occurring experiences, developmentalism stone, dewey 2, occurring experiences, smith 1, dewey's theory, authentic learning authentic,
Approximate Word count = 1298
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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