Active inquiry, objective knowledge, and student self-esteem in education

Personal Education Philosophy

Core Components of My Educational Philosophy

Learning through active intellectual inquiry is much more effective than learning through traditional, passive, lecture-and-textbook teaching methodologies.

Academic curricula and specific academic information must reflect objective principles of knowledge based on empirical evidence and factually verifiable information and not subjective belief or points-of-view of educators or legislators.

Effective learning requires a structured environment rather than through less structured environments.

Effective formal education must include sufficient attention to the general development of a healthy self-image and high self-esteem of learners if they are expected to thrive from their educational experiences and to translate them into practical success in life.

Rationale

Active Intellectual Inquiry

In some respects, contemporary education methodologies have changed tremendously in the last few decades, particularly with respect to the impact of the digital revolution on education. However, in several other respects, many modern educational programs still bear excessive resemblance to the antiquated teaching methodologies that were relied for the better part of two centuries of American public education. Specifically, even with the benefit of many contemporary changes in modern education, the traditional passive-learning through the lecture-and-textbook method in conjunction with rote memorization is still featured too much in many educational programs. The consensus among modern educational theorists is that active inquiry and training in the process of reasoning is far more important than the accumulation of factual knowledge through rote memorization.

Objective Knowledge

In recent years, the entire American educational system has been threatened by the attempted imposition (successful in some states, unfortunately) of religious dogma veiled in pseudo-scientific concepts (i.e. "Intelligent Design") in place of objective knowledge substantiated by empirical evidence and verifiable fact. This is a tremendous threat to any education system, particularly in a nation whose founding principles require the complete separation of church and state.

Self-Esteem Support

There is no doubt that (1) adolescence is a time of particularly sensitivity in the psychological, psychosocial, and emotional development of individuals, and that (2) self-image and self-esteem levels correspond to academic performance and subsequent success and happiness in life. Therefore, as educators, one of our most important tasks is to support the healthy psychological, psychosocial, and emotional development of all students through appropriate support and encouragement in every aspect of educational environments.

Self-Assessment Response repare a personal educational philosophy statement. Teachers/principals are asked many times throughout their careers to prepare an educational philosophy statement. In most instances, they need to prepare this statement for a job interview, an application, or perhaps to explain their philosophy to parents. Reflect on your educational philosophy and the impact it has on your curriculum and instructional practices. Reflect on your beliefs about teaching and learning, including how both relate to curriculum development and implementation. Write an informal (first person) paper on your personal educational philosophy using the following specifications: a. Complete the Philosophy Preference Assessment found in Section One (Chapter 3, Figure 1.3) of Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction and plot your responses. b. Include the following information in your written statement: 1) Write your individual results of this assessment. What did your graph show? 2) Critique these results. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? 3) Include your own personal educational philosophy and reflect on how it fits with this philosophy assessment. Do they agree or disagree? Why? 4) Describe how your personal educational philosophy affects your instructional practices and your choices of classroom curriculum.