Vygotsky, Montessori and Dewey all stress careful observation of children when determining what is appropriate to "teach" them. Vygotsky observed children to determine their ZPD. Montessori observed children to determine their needs. Dewey observed children to see "what kinds of experiences the children are interested in and ready for" (pp. 6).
Vygotsky's theory of scaffolding seems similar to Dewey's call for the need for teachers to "know the children well, to build their experiences on past learning" (pp. 7). This leads me to think of Piaget's theory of constructivism, by which "children construct their own knowledge by giving meaning to the people, places, and things in their world" (pp. 61).
Montessori and Piaget both believed children needed every opportunity to do things for themselves. Likewise, Dewey believed that education is "a process of living and not preparation for future living," and that children learned best "from doing" (pp. 4).
Montessori believed children should work with real, appropriately-sized tools and that they should "be able to reach materials when they need them, in order to help children become responsible for their own learning" (pp. 26). Dewey also believed that education should "involve real life material and experiences and should encourage experimentation and independent thinking" (pp. 4).
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI think you made some great points. I purposely didn't read anyone's post before I wrote mine because I didn't want to copy any ideas. It's interesting to see the connections that everyone makes and how similar and different they can be. For example, I also connected Montessori and Piaget together for having students learn from their environment/do things for themselves. I didn't think to connect it to Dewey's idea that it's important to focus on learning about the present. I think that's a great connection and strengthens my own thoughts.