Learning by doing

“Learning is a process of enculturation.  Experience does not occur in a vacuum.” – John Dewey, 1938

John Dewey, an influential educational reformer from the late 19^th-mid 20^th century, is considered the father of “learning by doing” and, according to Rich and Reeves (John Dewey: A significant contributor to the field of educational technology), his work influences modern-day efforts of technology integration in the classroom.  I agree.

Support comes from Dewey’s own words in his work “MyPedagogical Creed”, published in 1897.  In this article, Dewey outlines his beliefs on teaching and education, including the following within his section centering on schools:

• I believe that the school must represent present life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground.

• I believe that, as such simplified social life, the school life should grow gradually out of the home life; that it should take up and continue the activities with which the child is already familiar in the home.

• I believe that much of present education fails because it neglects this fundamental principle of the school as a form of community life. It conceives the school as a place where certain information is to be given, where certain lessons are to be learned, or where certain habits are to be formed. The value of these is conceived as lying largely in the remote future; the child must do these things for the sake of something else he is to do; they are mere preparation. As a result they do not become a part of the life experience of the child and so are not truly educative.

While Dewey most likely did not anticipate the type of technology available to students 60 years after his death, I believe he would still agree that school should be representative of “present life” – the life students lead outside of their school walls.  For many, if not most, students this includes varying uses of technology.  In my limited classroom experience teaching this summer in Middle School, this includes smartphones and social media.

In the point/counterpoint article, “Should students use their own devices in the classroom?”, an example is given of a teacher who was teaching from an online lesson when her school-based wireless internet access failed.  Instead of stopping the lesson, she asked her students to use their personal smartphones to access the information and continue the discussion.  She didn’t set aside this opportunity, but seized the moment bring personally relevant technology into the classroom.  Dewey, I believe, would have been proud.