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There was some spirited discussion on this list the other day about
what it means to be "student-centered," and what its opposite might be
(someone suggested "teacher centered"). A little history might clarify matters. The idea of the "student-centered" approach to teaching (college) is a straightforward extension of the "child-centered" approach (to teaching elementary school). The latter is commonly attributed to John Dewey, but this is, in fact, incorrect. The child-centered approach was first advocated by G. Stanley Hall, and was opposed, at least in Hall's mind, to the traditional "curriculum-centered" approach. Hall argued that "subject matter was secondary to the natural _expression_ of the child's impulses" (from L. A. Hickman's entry on John Dewey in the ANB). Dewey (in his typical Hegelian style) thought this to be a false dichontomy: "the aim of pedagogy should be to correlate impulse and subject matter and to find ways of subjecting ideas to the test of concrete experience" (also from Hickman). Dewey's School and Society (1899) is the first major statement of his pedagogical position. Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo Office: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164 Fax: 416-736-5814 ========================= --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
