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Dewey, John, 1859-1952

"Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education"

They are first that the pupil
have a genuine situation of experience -- that there be a
continuous activity in which he is interested for its own sake;
secondly, that a genuine problem develop within this situation as
a stimulus to thought; third, that he possess the information and
make the observations needed to deal with it; fourth, that
suggested solutions occur to him which he shall be responsible
for developing in an orderly way; fifth, that he have opportunity
and occasion to test his ideas by application, to make their
meaning clear and to discover for himself their validity.
Chapter Thirteen: The Nature of Method
1. The Unity of Subject Matter and Method.
The trinity of school topics is subject matter, methods, and
administration or government. We have been concerned with the
two former in recent chapters. It remains to disentangle them
from the context in which they have been referred to, and discuss
explicitly their nature. We shall begin with the topic of
method, since that lies closest to the considerations of the last
chapter. Before taking it up, it may be well, however, to call
express attention to one implication of our theory; the
connection of subject matter and method with each other. The
idea that mind and the world of things and persons are two
separate and independent realms -- a theory which philosophically
is known as dualism -- carries with it the conclusion that method
and subject matter of instruction are separate affairs.


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