Educational Philosophies

This week in our class, we have learned a lot about the different philosophies that are adopted in education. Through our exercises, I had already discovered which kind of philosophy that I could see myself using in my own class, and when were asked to a self assessment on our educational philosophies, my results were, in fact, exactly what I expected them to be.

As I expected, I found the highest result in Cognitivism and Constructivism.  In the Cognitivism philosophy, "the learner actively constructs his or her own understandings of reality through acting upon and reflecting on experiences in the world. When a new object, or experience does not fit the learner's present knowing structures, a conflict is provoked that requires an active quest to restore a balance.  Teachers facilitate environmental conditions and mediate experiences to support student learning." I really like the idea that students learn from their own experiences. Let's face it, sitting in a classroom isn't all there is to the world beyond our childhood and teenage years.  They will not always have someone in front of them teaching and guiding them. Students need to take learning in their own hands by figuring out what types of information will motivate them to solve problems and enhance their overall experience.  I scored lowest on the philosophies of perennialism, essentialism, information processing, and behaviorism. To me, all of these philosophies are still focusing on styles of teachers that once worked, but are no longer always successful. These philosophies value a traditional style of teaching that we have learned does not work for every student.

I found that this tool was a fun way to see if my own philosophy for teaching fell under a pre-existing. While I think this tool is also very useful, I think the best way to determine your preferred philosophy is by trying it in the classroom.  As new teachers, it is going to take us years to improve our curriculum and teaching styles, but the best way to do that is to experiment with these philosophies to see which ones work the best for our students.  Although I scored highest in Cognitivism, I may find out that this approach is not successful in my classroom. It may take trying several different philosophies and seeing the results of those philosophies before determining which one I find the best.