NATURALISM

Introduction
 Nature is everything, there is nothing
beyond i t
 Nature is also termed as materialism
 Man should investigate the t r u t h of
nature by scientific methods with all
his capacities and resourcefulness
 I t doesn't believe in sentimentalism,
spiritualism, and supernaturalism
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 Protagonist of Naturalism
 J J Rousseau – champion of naturalism
 Others – Aristotle, Comte, Bacon,
Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Epicurus,
Tagore

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Definition of
Naturalism
“N a turalism is
meta physics which
considers nature as the
whole of reality. I t
excludes what is
supernatural or the other
world”
—
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 Meaning of
 It Naturalism
emphasis on the nature in
every fieldof education
 I t is a philosophy which considers
nature as everything and denies
the existence of spirit
 I t does not believe in existence
of God
 I t gave importance t o the mat t e r
and the physical world
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 Forms of Naturalism
 Atomistic
Naturalism
 Scientific
Naturalism
 Physical Naturalism
 Biological Naturalism
 Mechanical
Naturalism
 Historical
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Principles of Naturalism (1/ 2 )
 Stress on physical environment
 Universe is a huge machine. Man
is also a part of this
machine
 Reality can be truly analyzed
by natural science
 The present is the real life, man
should t r y t o make this life happy
and comfortable
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Principles of Naturalism ( 2 / 2 )
 Unchanging loss of nature explains
all the events and
occurrences of the world
 Education in accordance wit h
the nature of the child
 Man is the highest creature or
animal according t o his nature.So
the essence of his life is animal
instinct and not spiritually
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 Characteristics of
Naturalism
Back t o nature
 Negative education
 I t is against bookish knowledge and verbalism
 Naturalism gives central posi t ion t o t he child in
the educational process
 Education prepares the child for his f u ture adult
life
 Freedom of the child
 I t gives emphasis on the t raining of senses as
senses are the gateway of knowledge
 Material education
 Scientific education
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 Aims of
Naturalism
 A t t a inment of present and
future happiness
 Struggle for existence
 Protection of human machine
 Adaptation t o environment
 Improvement of racial gains
 Autonomous development
 Education according t o nature
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Nat uralism and Curriculum (1/ 2 )
 Naturalist do not advocate a fixed curriculum
 Curriculum must be child-centered
 I t gives place for skills and other
useful educational activities
 I t considers literacy subjects as useless and
gives no place in the
curriculum
 Curriculum should contain games, sports, physical
culture, biology, physics, nature study, language,
history, geography, and other allied subjects
 I t lay stress on physical education and health
training and home science also
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Naturalism and Curriculum( 2 / 2 )
 Herbert Spencer classifies all human
activities into five and assigns a place t o
each of them in the curriculum. The
five activities in the order of priority
are
 Activities of self preservation
 Activities of a vocation
 Activities of a worthy citizenship
 Activities of a worthy home
membership
 Activities of the leisure time
 These five activities consti t u t e his 11
Naturalism and Met hod of Teaching ( 1/ 2 )
 Naturalism is a result against the
old, traditio nal, bookish system of
educatio n
 Direct experience with nature, t hings, and
men is the keynote of instruction
according t o naturalists
 They follow different methods of teaching
according t o the interests, capacities, and
aptitude of the child
 Learning by doing
 Direct method
 Heuristic method
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 Naturalism and
Met hod of Teaching
 Observation (and
2 / 2excursion
)
 Play way method
 Learning through senses
 Self government, self effort, and co-
education
 Learning through participations
 Other methods: Apart from the above
methods, naturalists adopt Dalton plan,
kindergarten, excursion method,
Montessori method, experimentation
and t e x t book method so as t o
bring about a natural development in
the child 13
 Naturalism and Teacher
 Teacher should behave
sympathetically and affectionately
forwards the children
 Nature – supreme teacher
 Teacher the observer
 Understand about child
 Teacher the stage setter
 Teacher the gardener
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 Naturalism and
 Discipline
Naturalist give full freedom t o the child
t o perform and learn whatever
he likes
 Nopunishment
 Full freedom
 Free society
 Naturalists assume t h a t the child has no
knowledge of good and bad, but he
suffers pain when he makes a mistake,
and pleasure when he does
something right. Thus he gets reward or 15
 Naturalism and
 The
School
school environment should be completely
free, flexible and without any
rigidity
 I t should be helpful for t he free and
natural development of the child
 I t should be situated in t he lap of nature, far
away from cities
 There should not be any fixed t ime table and
ready dozes of knowledge
 There should be no provision for punishment
 School develops the feeling of self learning and
self-discipline
 I t does not want t o burden the child with
examination 16
 Merits of Naturalism
1. I t gives the child a very important place in the
educationalprocess. I t trea ts a child as child and
not as an adult. The child is good and pure
at the terms of birth
2. I t considers nature as the best teacher in whose
company t he child learns bet t er. Societ y
is f ull of evils
3. I t considers individual interests, aptitu de,
inclination, needs and capacities while
structuring the curriculum
4. I t prepares and encourages t he child t o
engage in experimentation, discoveries
and inventions
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5. I t m otivates the child t o acquire more knowledge
 Demerits of
Naturalism
1. Nature centered s tudy makes th e child become
unsocial with no feeling of social service
2. Naturalism ignores the spiritual world and considers
the
material world only
3. Naturalism lays stress on solutions for only the present
needs and problems of an individual and neglects
his future needs and problems. It has failed
to prepare the child for the future life
4. Naturalism advocates unres tricted freedom for th e child
to develop himself naturally. This is
undesirable andharmful t o the child
5. I t minimizes the role of the teacher in the educative
process. A teacher is an observer, a sympathetic guide
and helper in structuring experiences for the child
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 Conclusio
 The n
contribution of naturalism in
significant in the progressive
modern educational thought and
practice. All the modern method
of teaching technique owe
their origin t o this school of
philosophy

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Relevance of naturalism in 2 1st
century ( 1 / 2 )
 Shifting of subject-centred curriculum t o an
experience centred curriculum.
 Modern life need various experiences t o be given t o
the child through co-curricular activities so t h a t he
would be educated and trained t o face life squarely
and solve all its problems successfully
 The child used t o be punished severely and kept
under the control of teacher. This strict
discipline wasdiscardedbecause of the influence
of naturalism. As a result, now the child
enjoys full freedom t o learn and do whatever he
likes. Thus freedom for the child is the chief
contribution of naturalism t o modern education
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Relevance of naturalism in 2 1st
century ( 2 / 2 )
 Naturalists have given birth t o new movements.
 New ty pes of educational insti t u tions have come
up inrecent years
 Institutions like the summer school, Kindergarten
schools, Montessori schools have come into
existence as a resul t of t he influence of naturalism
in education
 The naturalist wants t o protect the educand
from evils for this purpose, they favour
residential schools so t h a t the environment of
the educands who reside inhostels attached
t o the school can be maintained on a
healthy level
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THANK
YOU
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