Educational Psychology / Unit 1 EDP 0020 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Matching a Classroom to a Philosophy
The idea
Curriculum philosophies run from teacher-centered to student-centered to society-centered. Essentialism teaches a common core of basic skills, with the teacher in charge and regular testing. Perennialism teaches enduring truths through the liberal arts and Socratic seminar. Progressivism is experiential and student-centered, with the teacher as facilitator. Social reconstructionism and critical pedagogy treat teaching as a political act that builds critical consciousness. Constructivism has students build knowledge by working with new ideas and experience.
In practice
Worked example: students build a model bridge in teams, test it, and redesign it after it fails. That classroom is progressive: experiential and student-centered.
Where people slip
Two pairs are often confused. Essentialism and perennialism both hold to a set curriculum, but essentialism wants useful basic skills while perennialism wants enduring truths. Progressivism and essentialism sit at opposite ends: one follows students' experience, the other a fixed core. Ask who sets the content and why.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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