Key Theorists

Francis Wayland Parker:


Parker is considered to be the founder of the progressive movement. He believed that students benefit most from reading works of high interest, which then activates their background knowledge on the topic. He developed the Quincy Method or Quincy Plan which removed harsh discipline and lessened the importance of rote memorization. He replaced these with group activities and increased arts and sciences.

John Dewey

John Dewey is perhaps the most famous proponent of the Progressive Education movement. He argued that learning is a social and interactive process and that not only is school a place to gain knowledge but a place to learn how to live. He believed that education is a key to creating social change and reform. He was a proponent of experiential learning but sought a balance between being "child-centered" and having more traditional forms of learning.

Jean Piaget
Piaget, known for his theory of cognitive development was a supporter of Progressive Education. He believed that the goal of education was to create innovators not conformers. Also, he believed that children would develop best in an interactive environment.

Sources:

Francis Wayland Parker's Vision of the Arts in Education: Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1476382?seq=2

The Center for Dewey Studies http://www.siuc.edu/~deweyctr/about_bio.html

Jean Piaget Society: http://www.siuc.edu/~deweyctr/about_bio.html

*Photos courtesy of en.wikepedia.org and The Center for Dewey Studies

Introduction

Welcome to The Progressives, a blog dedicated to teaching about the Progressive Educational philosophy. To get started, here is a basic background of the movement.

Progressive education's primary focus is to make schools more democratic, and to help teach students how to be active in democracy. Democracy, in this case, means "active participation by all citizens in social, political and economic decisions."* What better place to start than in school?

Progressive education has two core beliefs:

1. Respect for diversity- It is key to acknowledge and encourage each individual and their differences in ability, interest, ideas, needs and background. In other words, if a student excels in math but not English, they should be encouraged to study math, not punished for getting poor grades in English.
2. The development of critical, socially engaged intelligence. This allows citizens to actively take part in decisions made within their community.

Sometimes called "child-centered" or "social reconstructionist" learning, the goal is clear: Train students early so they can become good citizens later.

*Source: http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/articles/proged.html