How Is Progressivisim Related to the School Curriculum
How progressivism is related to curriculum?
Progressivism is based largely on the belief that lessons must be relevant to the students in order for them to learn. The curriculum of a progressive school is built around the personal experiences, interests, and needs of the students.
No preference is shown for curriculum materials. A progressive teacher does not rely solely upon textbooks. When he uses a textbook, it is usually in a selective way. He does not feel compelled to cover it all. The progressive selectively uses a variety of materials. Materials are selected on the basis of their utility in assembling data concerning a problem under investigation.
Progressives do not give a higher priority to one subject over another one in the curriculum. It is believed in an interdisciplinary curriculum. By this, I mean that in gathering data about a particular problem, it would usually be obvious that several academic disciplines bear on the problem.
Progressive teachers try making school interesting and useful by planning lessons that provoke curiosity. Working with student interests and needs, teachers serve as guides and facilitators in assisting students to reach their goals.
Teachers teach students how to think instead of what to think. In other words, students would acquire a process of thinking and learning which will enable them to inquire into any problem or body of knowledge, both now and in the future. To a progressive, the process of learning is far more important than any content or subject matter learned.
In addition to reading textbooks, students learn by doing. They work on hands-on projects so learning would take place, rather than memorization. In a regular classroom students just memorize what they need to know and it goes away after the test. In a progressive classroom, students would have to exercise their brain by problem solving and thinking critically, resulting in learning. They solve problems similar to those they will encounter
Progressivism is based largely on the belief that lessons must be relevant to the students in order for them to learn. The curriculum of a progressive school is built around the personal experiences, interests, and needs of the students.
No preference is shown for curriculum materials. A progressive teacher does not rely solely upon textbooks. When he uses a textbook, it is usually in a selective way. He does not feel compelled to cover it all. The progressive selectively uses a variety of materials. Materials are selected on the basis of their utility in assembling data concerning a problem under investigation.
Progressives do not give a higher priority to one subject over another one in the curriculum. It is believed in an interdisciplinary curriculum. By this, I mean that in gathering data about a particular problem, it would usually be obvious that several academic disciplines bear on the problem.
Progressive teachers try making school interesting and useful by planning lessons that provoke curiosity. Working with student interests and needs, teachers serve as guides and facilitators in assisting students to reach their goals.
Teachers teach students how to think instead of what to think. In other words, students would acquire a process of thinking and learning which will enable them to inquire into any problem or body of knowledge, both now and in the future. To a progressive, the process of learning is far more important than any content or subject matter learned.
In addition to reading textbooks, students learn by doing. They work on hands-on projects so learning would take place, rather than memorization. In a regular classroom students just memorize what they need to know and it goes away after the test. In a progressive classroom, students would have to exercise their brain by problem solving and thinking critically, resulting in learning. They solve problems similar to those they will encounter