connections

We were just saying in our workshop group today how there is a lot that overlaps between all of these theorists. It seems that in each of the chapters it will mention another theorist that had a similar notion or that that particular theorist studied. My workshop group talked about Vygotsky a lot this afternoon and scaffolding, and now as I look back through this book at Dewey, I see an earlier version of this idea. He "believed that children learn best when they interact with other people..." (p5) This isn't the same as scaffolding, but certainly tied to it and the reason why scaffolding works. The kids aren't just being told information but are working and talking together and with adults, working through things and pushing each other along in their learning.

I think that all of these theorists were child-centered. They are why we are teaching and should steer us in what and how we teach them. They were helping people make decisions on what the child needed, not on what the adult needed in the situation. For instance Montessori created the child size furniture and implements and brought tools to the classroom when she recognized that they wanted to do real work. Piaget also recognized that children want to do things on their own instead of having the adult do them for them. This kept their curiosity up and thus their willingness to learn was stronger. Dewey believed the interests of the children need to be considered in the curriculum planning.

Montessori was a firm believer in observation. The only way to know what each child needs and how to plan the day is through careful observation. Dewey believed this as well. An example was given of a teacher who was able to turn a lesson about ice cream in to a really rich learning experience based on what questions the kids were asking. We can't just teach kids what we think they should know. We need to listen to them and watch them to see what they are interested in and what they want to know