Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Learning through real experiences

John Dewey`s contribution to education was very important. I myself experienced at least one of the activities related to his significant ideas when I was at school. Let me tell you all about it:
When I was 8 years old, we were told to carry out an experiment observing the germination and growing of seeds, keeping a record as regards the way in which seeds germinate showing a chain of changes that resulted into the development of the plant. In accordance with Dewey, this encouraged "learning by doing" through experimenting within a natural process, keeping in mind that, as the American educator himself said, experiences do not happen just because, we relate them with previous ones and this allows us to experiment.

As a teacher to be, I would like to live up to Dewey`s call to encourage students to develop creative and artistic abilities to help them reach their full potential. I think that learning through experimenting is likely to have lasting effects upon students`life.

" To "Learn from experience" is to make a backward and forward connection between what we do to things and what we enjoy or suffer from things in consequence. Under such conditions, doing becomes a trying, an experiment with the world to find out what it is like, the undergoing becomes instruction-discovery of the conection of things"
JOHN DEWEY www.infed.org/thinkers/et-dewey.htm

3 comments:

nayla said...

Lau
I agree with you
It's very important to foster our learners creatity, because they it will help them to learn and make themselves free

@ye said...

I completely agree with you Lau in the sense of encouraging students to develop their creativity and also to make them learn through experiments. Not only giving the theoretical explanation but also to let them see with their eyes!!!

Daniela said...

it is very positive to learn through experience, I believe that learning is more significant... also the way that children develop creativity, think and get their own colclussion on what they are learn, and not a simply explanation!