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Learning Technology: Analysis

hools should do to facilitate learning. John Dewey (1998) was a central figure on twentieth century pragmatism who built his entire philosophy on a concept of dynamic unity that he inherited from Hegel. He was opposed to all dualisms - between mind and body, between necessary and contingent propositions, and between cause and effect (Solomon & Higgins, 1998). He felt that such dualists have the effect of splitting up rather than clarifying experience. AS an educator, Dewey called for schools and teaching methods or pedagogies that encouraged individualism, focused on developing the cognitive skills of all students to the maximum level possible, and which also included a strong emphasis of citizenship readiness and engagement.

Dewey (1998) was not attracted to realism and in fact rejected it and its basic tenets. He sought to direct pragmatism away from a one-dimensional emphasis on science and logic and an overly personal emphasis on subjective experience. Subjective experience formed the basis of the realist school of philosophy, and it was with this approach that Dewey took exception.

Dewey (1998) was a pragmatist whose particular brand of pragmatism was instrumentalism. This treats ideas as tools in man's efforts to solve practical problems. His emphasis was on practice, on the actual way we learn to do things by actually doing them. Thus, Dewey (1998) foreshadowed others such as Papert (1993), who also called for ensuring that education was concentrated on inculcating real skills and problem-solving competencies in students - and employing the instructional and pedagogical strategies that allow such development to occur.

For Dewey (1998), "realism" was insufficient in that it could lead to a somewhat abstract search for truth. He felt that our search begins because of real discomfort, felt tensions, and because of curiosity. Man's search begins with things he knows and not as a result of some abstract enti...

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Learning Technology: Analysis. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:07, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000850.html