Education should be a study of social

problems and how it is solved

Experience anything to learn it
Students shouldn’t be taught what to
think, but HOW to think
 Experimentalism believes that
things are constantly changing. It is
based on the view that reality is
what works right now and that
goodness comes from group
decisions. As a result, schools exist
to discover and expand the society
we live in. Students study social
experiences and solve problems.
Experimentalism is associated with a
very broad but shallow curriculum.
Many electives, few required subjects.
Experimentalism is friendly to
educational research, and many new
ideas come from it. But. . .
Experimentalism can be wasteful
resources.
It can also fail to follow through.
Experimentalist teachers
like to experiment. They
don’t like to leave things
the same all the time.
In experiencing
something, you are
creating knowledge.
Everything-anything that had
any realtion to students’
possible futures.
Has been accused of trying to
do the home’s job.
Don’t like assertive discipline
Prefer more constructivistic
approaches such as Discipline
with Dignity
When essentialism or perennialism
have been in power for so long, school
programs have become stagnant.
When school has become all work
and no play.
When traditional methods have
become ineffective.
 It is modern philosophy view which takes the TAO as
its staring point.
 It is subjective.
 Humans possess free will and stand in an absurd and
meaningless world or universe.
 Every individual is unique.
 Individuals have to take responsibility for their own
actions and shape their own destinies.
 Emphasis on human responsibility and judgement in
ethical matters.
 The individual is the sole judge of his or her own
actions.
 Human freedom is understood precisely as the
freedom to choose.
 “ Existence precedes essence”
 Human persons do not possess the essence; they
make choices that create their own nature.
 Choice is vital and inevitable to human existence;
even the refusal to choose is a choice.
 Freedom of choice entails risk, responsibility, and
commitment.
 Existentialism deals
with:
Concreteness of experience
 personal concern
 commitment
 uniqueness of the individual
 The values of existentialism
are:
 freedom of choice
 individual dignity
 personal love
 creative effort
 Factors that affect freedom of choice (Calderon, 2004)
1. Influence of the family, especially the parents
2. Influence of peers and associates
3. Religious orientation
4. Social Approval
5. Cultural patterns
 Factors that affect freedom of choice (Calderon, 2004)
6. Financial status
7. Psychological traits, especially intelligence
8. Sex
9. Health and physical fitness
10. Education
 Existentialism on Metaphysics: Reality is subjective,
with existence preceding essence. Existence creates
essence.
 Existentialism on Epistemology: Knowing is to make
personal choice. To choose or appropriate what I want
to know.
 Existentialism on Axiology: Values should be freely
chosen.
 Educational Implication:
Classroom dialogues
stimulate awareness that
each person creates self-
concept through significant
choices.
 To help students understand and appreciate
themselves as unique individuals who accepts
complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings,
and actions.
 To educate the whole person, not just the mind since
feeling is not divorced from reason in decision making.
 To help the learner become fully his authentic self.
 Learning is self-paced, self-
directed.
 Students are given a wide variety
of options from which to choose.
 Students are afforded great
latitude in their choice of subject
matter.
 The humanities are given
emphasis to provide students with
vicarious experiences that will help
unleash their own creativity and
self-expression.
 Composed of fine arts, drama, creative
expression, literature, and philosophy.
 Vocational education is seen more as a
means of teaching students about
themselves and their potentials than
that of earning a livelihood.
 Focus is on the individual
 In teaching history, existentialist focus
on the actions of historical individuals,
who provide possible models for the
students own behaviour , rather than
emphasizing historical events.
 In arts, existentialism encourages individual creativity
and imagination more than copying and imitating
established models. Creativity is an expression of
oneself.
 In teaching values, teachers employ values
clarification strategy to help students know
themselves and their place in society. Here, teachers
remain non-judgmental and take care not to impose
their values on their students since values are personal.
 According to Del Castillo (2013), through values
clarification strategy, the learners will be able to
practice sound moral reasoning skills, choose the
appropriate response for a value conflict and commit
themselves to personal, moral, and societal values.
 Values education is a matter of choice that goes
throughout existence.
 There should be private and open spaces in the
classroom to facilitate dialogues, small group
discussions, and individualization to lessen the
tension, formality, and constraint experienced by the
learners.
 Criticism to any individual work is less important.
 To help students define their own essence by exposing
them to various paths they take in life.
 To create an environment in which they freely choose
their own preferred way.
 To relates with each student openly and honestly.
 To assist and guide the learner in the process of
becoming intelligent, sensitive, choosing, and acting
individual who knows the obligation and
responsibility of freedom.
 To help the individual identify and know himself
better.
 Questioner
 Identifier of choices who challenges the learner to
become fully existent.
 To freely choose what subject/s
they want to study as long as
they are interested in it.
 To define their own essence or
meaning of life.
 Naturalism is a concept that firmly
believes that ultimate reality lies in the
nature of the matter.
Matter is considered to be supreme and mind
is the functioning of the brain that is made up
of matter.
 The whole universe is governed by laws of
nature and they are changeable.
 The oldest philosophy
Ionian pre-Socratic philosophers
Thales in 6th century B.C.
- Father of science
- These early philosophers subscribed to
principles of empirical investigation that
strikingly anticipate naturalism.
 Naturalism based on
Metaphysics
 A worldwide which holds that there is
nothing but natural elements,
principles, and relations of the kind
studied by the natural sciences
 deals with existence
 rejects the supernatural concepts and
explanations
 Naturalism based on
Epistemology
 According to naturalism, reality and
nature are identical and beyond nature
there is no reality.
 Then how this theory of reality can be
proved true?
 This leads us to the naturalist theory of
knowledge; by perception, sensory
knowledge, observation.

 Naturalism based on Axiology
 Life’s values into 2 general principles
1. General character of values
embedded in nature
2. The most desirable values realised in
proportion to our harmonizing life
with nature > Greatest peace;
Pleasure and Satisfaction
 Learner
 Individual is to be given unrestricted
freedom and only then his harmonious
development will take place.
 The checks on the child are also to be
natural.
 The naturalist advocate discipline by natural
consequences.
 A danger that the child may harm himself
and cause worry to the parents.
 Teacher
 Extreme naturalists ignore teacher; because
teacher will interfere with the development of
a child.
 If the teacher is to be there, let him design
situations which help in the inculcation of
right type of habits in the children.
 As a director of activity, the teacher should
not overdo his role or overact his role.
 Curriculum
 Child centered according to the present and
future needs of the child.
 Curriculum divided under two stages .
1. Earlier Stage: Sensory training
2. Later stage: Subjects are include in the
curriculum through activities and
occupations like physical sciences, language,
mathematics, manual work, trade, moral
education, etc.
 Aims
 Rousseau says that ……
 education aims at the inner faculties,
capacities and powers of the child
 aim of education is not preparation for life,
but participation in it
 each stage through which a child passes has
a specific aim of education
 Strengths
 Clear formation of the psychological and
scientific conception of education
 Freedom for child from tyranny and
rigidity, interference and strict discipline
 Spontaneous self-activity of the child
New psychological methods in educations
 Strengths
 Self-expression, follow nature, auto
education, plays way, self-discipline and
non-interference, etc.
 The great strength of Naturalism is its
simplicity. It does not complicate the
perception of existence by using abstract
concepts.
 Weaknesses
 It is based one-sided psychology.
Irrespective of their individual differences,
capacities and temperament.
 Direct experiences cannot be provided all
the time; expensive and something
impossible
 It gives no place to the spiritual values.
 Weaknesses
 Some of the principles envisaged by
naturalism are not possible to be practiced
in the existing situations.
 Ross rightly opine it is in educational
ideals, not in methods that naturalism
fails to satisfy.