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The “Gallery of Educational Theorists,” created by Edward G.
Rozycki, is a useful Web site for students of education history and philosophy.The
site is www .newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Gallery.html. The site analyzes
theorists such as Aquinas, Aristotle, Luther, and Plato, all treated in this
chapter, as well as other world educational figures, in terms of such questions
as What is knowledge? What is learning? and How is knowledge to be transmitted?
Use this site to help you develop your own philosophy of education.

1. To gain a historical perspective on professional
development, interview experienced teachers on how the teaching profession has
changed since they began teaching.
2. Freire’s liberation theory calls for radically
transforming education and schooling into forces for human liberation.

In school situations, some teachers’ and students’ behaviors
are regarded as appropriate and others as inappropriate. Make a list of
appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and why this behavior is so designated.
Determine how students learn to make distinctions between the appropriate and
the inappropriate.Then, hypothesize about how Confucius, Plato, Aquinas,
Erasmus, and Luther might evaluate your list.

1. The pioneers discussed in this chapter made distinctive
contributions to education and methods of teaching in their countries and
worldwide.
2. Rejecting the dogma of child depravity, Comenius, Locke,
and Rousseau constructed a method of education based on children’s natural
growth and goodness.

Pestalozzi developed simultaneous group teaching methods
that used objects in children’s immediate environments. Herbart sought to
systematize teaching methods. Froebel’s theory was the basis of the
kindergarten. Both Pestalozzi and Froebel liberated early childhood education
by encouraging teachers to be sensitive to children’s interests and needs.

Spencer’s sociology of education was a pioneering effort to
relate the school to society and identify social and economic activities as the
basis of the curriculum. Dewey’s pioneering work at the University of Chicago
Laboratory School stimulated progressive educational reform. Montessori’s
prepared environment is currently popular in early childhood education.

1. Addams’s theory of socialized education contributed to
multicultural education, to an examination of technology’s impact on society,
and to the movement for women’s rights and education.
2. Piaget’s developmental psychology illuminated thinking on
children’s cognitive operations and generated change in curriculum and teaching
methods.

How would you define an educational mentor? Who were the
mentors that contributed to your ideas about education, schools, and teaching?
Which of the pioneers in the chapter most appeals to you as an historical
mentor?

1. Do you agree or disagree with Rousseau’s critics who
claimed his method presented an overly romantic and unrealistic view of
children and their education? Defend your answer.
2. Do you agree or disagree with critics who allege that
Jane Addams’s philosophy of socialized education diverts schools from teaching
academic skills and subjects? Defend your answer.

Reflect on trends such as whole-language learning,
collaborative learning, constructivism, portfolio assessment, use of
technology, and the standards movement. How might the pioneers discussed in
this chapter react to these trends?