Dewey would want active participation in learning and not just regurgitation of facts and sitting quietly reading. A science lesson could be set up as follows:
put students in groups of 3-4
let groups choose topic from several given by teacher
form a hypothesis about topic
gather data/research the topic
present results from research
do results differ from hypothesis?why?
explain why the results are important
real-life implications of results
One topic could be biodiversity. What is it? How many plants, insects and animals live in your own backyard? Which group will you find more of? Why? How do humans affect certain populations? What can humans do to reduce damage to the environment?
Hypothesis would be that the students expect to find more insects in their yards than plants and animals.
The students would do a species inventory of their backyards—plants, animals, insects.
They would sketch what they find and research their findings and label them
with the correct names. Each student would do their own backyard sketch of where
the organisms were found and how many.
Then count how many different kinds of insects, plants and animals they found.
Which had the most? Take an average from all group members for each group of
organisms to arrive at a group response. Plants were found in the highest number.
This did not meet their hypothesis, because they had never gotten down on their hands and knees and explored the ground in their yards and discovered all the different plants their actually were! They had just been convinced that there would be lots and lots of bugs.
Thinking questions would be:
Were there any significant differences within group members?? Did yards from the city have the same populations as a yard from a farm? Why or why not? Explain.
Do some species seem to survive better without heavy human influence? Why might this be so?
What can we do as citizens to respect the living space these other species need to survive? What can we do/not do in our own backyards to better respect the natural world around us?
References from Dewey:
P 11 “...learned it was necessary for each member...to do their part...”
P 11 “...continual training in observation, ingenuity, constructive imagination, logical thought and a true sense of reality...”
P 11-12 “...nothing is as valuable as knowledge of plants and animals, living among them and caring for them...”
P 15 “...the mere absorption of facts is an individual affair that it tends to pass into selfishness...”
P 19 “...it is through what we do in and with the world that we read its meaning and measure its value...”
P 22 “...first hand learning introduces the mind to much more fundamental and controlling influences than appear in history books...”
P23 “...it is a case of applied science-scientific insight gained becomes an instrument of free and active participation in modern social life...”
P 25 “...knowledge is no longer an immobile solid; it has been liquefied-it is actively moving in all the currents of society itself...”
P29 “...the introduction of more active, expressive, and self-directing factors- are necessities of a larger social evolution...”
P29 “...trains each child...saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious...”
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