Educational Theories

Perennialism is an educational view that believes everything taught to students should build students as human beings, with a focus on principles and values. Liberal topics are taught widely, and perennialist teachers focused on the Socratic method with a balance of power between teacher and student.

Essentialism is an educational view which focuses on the fundamental subject of schooling (reading, writing and arithmetic) while still teaching students using progressive means. Essentialist teachers focus on the classics, believing that the classics contain points accessible by all, such as respect for authority, a sense of duty, and other values.

Behaviorism is an educational view made popular originally by B.F. Skinner, and teachers of this model believe that the student should be treated as an individual with not only educational needs but also emotional needs. Behaviorists also believe that behavior in students is greatly impacted by the school environment, and by changing that environment a teacher can change a student's behavior.

Positivism is an educational view that puts focus on the scientific method as the best way to teach due to the positivism belief that real knowledge comes from what students can see, smell, feel and hear, and that only by verifying facts and inquiring after truth can students truly learn.

Progressivism is an educational view that focuses on students as social creatures who learn best when they are collaborating with each other to logically work out problems using hands on projects and experiential learning.

Reconstructionism is an educational view that states that schooling should not be separate from the society outside the school. Reconstructionists believe that teachers should be involved in politics and other venues of social change, and bring that into the classroom. Reconstructionists also believe in the value of community service, believing that schools should prepare students for their roles in their communities.

Humanism is an educational view that focuses heavily on the whole child with an emphasis on the student's self esteem, built up by setting appropriate goals and seeing those goals through to the end. Humanistic classrooms allow students the opportunity to make choices based on their interests and spend the amount of time on that interest that they want, within reason. Humanistic classrooms also have a heavy focus on self-teaching and self-evaluation. Humanism has a goal of enhancing the 'good' in students.

Constructivism is an educational belief that stems from the idea that students learn based on what they process internally with their own ideas and also what they process from outside stimuli. Due to this belief, Constructivist classrooms believe in interaction with peers to help students see different ways to appreciate stimuli and process information, and emphasis is also put on hands on learning so students can experience things first hand. Teachers of this belief lead students to make their own assumptions.

Essentialism was the theory that I felt most connected to, in that I have great faith in the concepts and lessons of the classics, even if I do not always proscribe to the classic ways of teaching them. I felt that Perrenialism went hand in hand with this one, but I perhaps did not agree with the overall assessment point brought up for these two views. I feel that my assessment style (and some of my actual teaching style) leans more towards Constructivism, Humanism and Progressivism, with a dash of Behaviorism (only a dash). I feel that Essentialism and Perrenialism are more of a mindset and a way to go into teaching, not actual pedagogies.