Doing Dewey in the Digital Age

Ravyn Wilson-BernardKristy Shuda McGuire

Ruth Baker

Community College of Philadelphia

Members of ourFaculty Learning Community

(FLC) Ravyn Wilson-Bernard

Instructor, English Department

Kristy Shuda McGuireAssistant Professor, Biology Department

Ruth BakerAssistant Professor, Library

Part I:The Problem of Training Thought

Chapter IV. “School Conditions and the Training of Thought”

“It’s the condition our condition is in.”

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

1. “the mental attitudes and habits of the persons with whom the child is in contact;

2. the subjects studied;3. current educational aims and

ideals” (Dewey 46,47)

Mental Attitudes and Habits

“Most people are quite unaware of the distinguishing peculiarities of their own mental habit. They take their own mental operations for granted, and unconsciously make them the standard for judging the mental processes of others.” (Dewey 48)

Subjects

“In school, amassing information always tends to escape from the ideal of wisdom or good judgment . . . ‘Covering the ground’ is the primary necessity; the nurture of mind a bad second.” (Dewey 52)

Educational Aims and Ideals

“In instruction, the external standard manifests itself in the importance attached to the ‘correct answer.’ No one other thing, probably, works so fatally against focusing the attention of teachers upon the training of mind as the domination of their minds by the idea that the chief thing is to get pupils to recite their lessons correctly.”

(Dewey 53)

Summary

“Education that takes as its standard theimprovement of the intellectual attitude and

methodof students demands more serious preparatorytraining, for it exacts sympathetic and intelligentinsight into the workings of individual minds, and

avery wide and flexible command of subjectmatter—so as to be able to select and apply justwhat is needed when it is needed.”(Dewey 54)

Part II: Logical Considerations

Chapter VI. “The Analysis of a Complete Act of Thought”

“Five distinctive steps in reflection”1. “a felt difficulty”2. “its location and definition”3. “suggestion of possible

solution”4. “development by reasoning

of the bearings of the suggestion”

5. “further observation and experiment leading to its acceptance or rejection; that is, the conclusion of belief or disbelief”(Dewey 72)

(Hoefnagels 11)

Problem“The problem is thediscovery ofintervening termswhich when insertedbetween the remoterend and the givenmeans will

harmonizethem with eachother.”(Dewey 72)

www.andaman.org/BOOK/originals/Weber-Toba/ch5_bottleneck/fig5-7.gif

Hypothesis

“Occurrence of a suggested explanation

or possible solution”(Dewey 75)

Reasoning“The development of an idea throughreasoning helps at least to supply theintervening or intermediate terms that linktogether into a consistent whole apparentlydiscrepant extremes.”(Dewey 76)

http://www.geneticorigins.org/mito/mitoframeset.htm

Conclusion

“The concluding andconclusive step issome kind ofexperimentalcorroboration, orverification, of theconjectural idea.”(Dewey 77)

http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/humanevolution/

Summary

“The trained mind is the one that bestgrasps the degree of observation, formingof ideas, reasoning, and experimental

testingrequired in any special case, and that

profitsthe most, in future thinking, by mistakesmade in the past.”(Dewey 78)

Part III: The Training of Thought

Chapter XI. “Empirical and Scientific Thinking”

Chapter XII. “Activity and the Training of Thought”

Dewey's Constructivism

• Experience/Empirical Observation

• Social Interaction

• Puzzlement/Curiosity

One-Minute Dewey"...experience also includes the reflection that sets us free from the

limiting influence of sense, appetite, and tradition." (Dewey 156)

“...the business of education might be defined as...an emancipation and enlargement of experience.” (Dewey 156)

"The attitude of childhood is naive, wondering, experimental; the world of man and natures new.  Right methods of education preserve and perfect this attitude..." (Dewey 156)

"...useful work is not necessarily labor""...there's no contrast in doing things for utility and for fun." (Dewey 167)

“When one is doing something, one is compelled, if the work is to succeed...to use eyes, ears, and sense of touch as guides to action.” (Dewey 188)

Applying Dewey to Inquiry-based Learning(Savery 2006, Coe 2001)

The 5 Phases of Inquiry:

Engagement: Begins with curiosity or puzzlement and recognition of existing knowledge

Exploration: Students gain expertise and experience in identifying/addressing a problem in groups and are, individually, responsible for their own learning

- Use active learning: questioning, critical thinking, and problem-solving

Explanation: Investigate alternative solutions

-Active, conscious thought and comprehension is achieved through use of curiosity, observation, reading, reciting and discussion (social learning)

Elaboration: Create new knowledge as information is gathered and understood

Evaluation: Reflect on new knowledge to form solution(s)

- Recognize that there is no single “correct” answer

- Action on a solution (implement a plan)

Stages of Problem-Solvinghttp://fnopress.com/pbl3/pbl6.html

Your Turn!

Yellow GroupRavyn Wilson-Bernard

Green GroupKristy Shuda McGuire

Blue GroupRuth L. Baker

Reflections on Your Experiencein an FLC

Yellow GroupRavyn Wilson-Bernard

Green GroupKristy Shuda McGuire

Blue GroupRuth L. Baker

Collaboration and Sharing in an FLC

Bringing Dewey into the Digital Age with LibGuides: http://libguides.ccp.edu/dewey

- Collect information for ongoing research

- Share information in a Social Media space

- Collaborate with other faculty or students