Comparing Modern Educational Philosophies

Education - Philosophy/Methodology

COMPARING MODERN EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

Modern Educational Approaches:

American education evolved considerably in the last half of the 20th century and, in general, reflects an attempt to promote learning through specific methodologies based on various different philosophical approaches. Rather than relying on traditional learning models emphasizing factual recall and rote memorization, the more modern education theories incorporate elements relating to concept of academic learning. We have come to recognize a fuller spectrum of different forms of natural aptitudes that comprise a much broader description of intelligence as well as the cognitive mechanisms responsible for human learning.

This new perspective about learning has led to the growth of several educational approaches designed to maximize their potential contribution. Within that overall framework, each of the new educational approaches emphasizes different essential components that distinguishes from one another. While all of the modern philosophies contributes to the betterment of education, ultimately, it is the educator's responsibility to incorporate particular elements of each to formulate a method for their effective implementation into the classroom. Constructivism:

The constructivist approach to education is founded on the principle that the process of active involvement and reasoning is more conducive to academic learning than passive absorption of subject matter content (Adams & Hamm 1994). Instead of relying on traditional lecture-based lessons provided by instructors for passive consumption and later regurgitation after memorization by students, the constructivist method emphasizes the fuller involvement of students in the form of active analysis and participation. Specifically, the constructivist method presents subject matter content in lesson modules designed to allow students to participate in the active reasoning process of answering questions that highlight the lesson content rather than merely presenting the information through traditional lectures (Schroeder & Spannagel 2006). The constructivist approach may also incorporate active learning materials, particularly (but hardly exclusively) in the sciences, such as the Full Option Science System (FOSS) program that provides traditional texts that correspond to practical materials intended to facilitate learning through hands-on application of subject matter presented in the learning module (Huber 2001).

Multiple Intelligences Approach:

Howard Gardner of Harvard University's School of Education pioneered the multiple intelligences constructivist approach to modern education in conjunction with which he founded the Gardner School in Vancouver, Washington. The fundamental theory proposed by Gardner is that human learning relies on a much broader range of behavior than those emphasized in traditional educational programs. Specifically, traditional education emphasizes only linguistic abilities and quantitative logical reasoning while, for the most part, ignoring the potential for learning represented by five other types of cognitive learning; namely: bodily-kinesthetics, spatial orientation, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and musical abilities (Gardner 1999).

According to Gardner, traditional education overemphasizes linguistic and quantitative abilities while neglecting the needs of students whose greatest potential for learning relates to the other five natural abilities. His education program provides instruction along the full range of all seven of the natural abilities identified by Gardner.

The most untraditional aspect of Gardner's program is the degree to which it integrates non-traditional activities (such as athletics and outdoor exploration) within the actual academic curriculum rather than as supplemental recreational activities (Gardner 1991).

The dual purpose the Multiple Intelligences theory of education is to inspire both short-term academic achievement through learning as well as a long-term orientation on the part of students that is more conducive to reaching their full educational potential, especially with respect to students whose greatest natural abilities lie outside the two types of learning emphasized by traditional education programs to the virtual exclusion of the other five. Brain-Based Approach:

The Brain-Based approach to education focuses more on providing an external environment conducive to the mechanics of cognitive learning than on the actual subject- matter content of the lessons themselves. Whereas constructivism in education addresses the difference between active and passive learning and, in the case of the multiple intelligences version of constructivism, emphasizes the different types of intellectual abilities, the brain-based concept relates primarily to the educational environment.

Specifically, brain-based educational programs provide a learning environment designed to stimulate learning by incorporating elements of physical comfort and individual preferences such as background lighting and other aspects of mood associated with cognitive efficiency (Forgary 1997). Brain-based classroom accommodations include decorations, background music, and even scents, to create a stimulating environment that promotes intellectual processes. This includes a fundamental degree of flexibility that allows students to express idiosyncratic preferences, because experimental analyses suggest very strongly that doing so promotes more efficient learning across the board (Jensen 1998). Unlike, the constructivist approaches, the brain-based concept might include music, but as a background stimulant rather than as an actual vehicle for assisting the study of mathematics concepts such as the way Gardner (1999) might.

Objectivist Approach:

Objectivism relates more to the process of thinking and learning how to process information to support logically valid conclusions than it does to specific subject matter or to its mode of transmission (Adams & Hamm 1994). In principle, objectivism emphasizes that intellectual processes are capable of deducing the objective truth or reality of any situation about which sufficient information is available to undertake a meaningful analysis.

Objectivism sometimes inspires criticism suggesting that it extinguishes creativity or intellectual flexibility by its conceptual supposition that every question necessarily has one, and only one, correct answer. However, this reflects more of a misunderstanding about objectivism than an inherent flaw in the philosophy. While objectivism does certainly promote that any set of facts and circumstances lends itself to a particular conclusion through analysis, it does not suggest that doing so requires the exclusion of any means of alternate analytical approach. Rather, objectivism welcomes all possible means of logically consistent and factually relevant analysis (Adams & Hamm 1994); it only rejects methods of analysis that are (1) logically inconsistent, (2) factually unrelated to the issue, and (3) dependent on unknown information. Furthermore, objectivism absolutely accepts the proposition that certain things are presently unknown for want of sufficient data or information.

Indeed, the message inherent in the objectivist approach actually emphasizes not developing false conclusions at least as much as arriving at correct answers (Adams & Hamm 1994). In fact, rather than contradicting any of the other modern education theories, the objectivist approach might include many (even all) of the elements utilized within the constructivism and brain-based designs, but always within the overall context of demonstrating the objective logical relationships between information and data and any purported conclusions their examination and analysis support.