Essentialism is a theory in which a person in any community/culture should have the same basic knowledge. However, this common information is subject to change. The instruction is teacher-based. Essentialism is more about gaining and developing basic skills to live productively in the world. So, learning what is "essential" to life (which differs from culture to culture). The student's role is the learner and the goal is to give the student the skills and knowledge to become a good citizen. There is not a lot of room for individualism in essentialist theory. The ideas of this theory mostly come from idealism and realism.
Behaviorism says that a person's behavior is directly related to the environment of the person and is not genetic. What this means is that a teacher can essentially control the behaviors of the students in the classroom. The teacher needs to make sure that the environment in which the students are expected to learn in will produce positive and desired behaviors from the students. Use of the scientific method is held high for a behaviorist. Organization is stressed. The teacher is expected to use both positive reinforces and negative reinforces to control the behavior of students. The cause of the problems of students is not a concern. Rather, the focus is on correcting the behavior NOW. This theory comes from realism.
Positivists only accept facts that can be observed and measured. All reality can be explained through science, basically. Ideas concerning the mind and/or spirit are rejected for this reason. Direct instruction is a teaching method that is used by a positivist. The teacher tells the students exactly what they should know and be able to do. Knowledge is the same for all of the students. Students should strengthen their skills concerning the scientific method. Testing is valued.
*Progressivism says that learning is based on questions and that ideas should be constantly tested through experimentation. Even though this theory favors the scientific method, it allows for the students to have their own individual beliefs. The stress is upon how to think rather than what to think. A curriculum that is flexible is important to a progressivist because the theory emphasizes the importance of questioning and testing ideas. A school should try to improve a society. Both the teacher and the student should be permitted the freedom to decide on how the class is conducted.
Humanism focuses on making students better people. It also says that students should not be treated as objects to be measured and that education should start with the individual. Students are encouraged to make their own choices. A humanist tries to not give their opinions to students so that the student is not persuaded one way or another and makes his/her own individual choices. The classroom should be a place where both the teacher and student share their ideas together. Since each student is unique, the education of each student should be unique in some way.
Constructivism emphasizes learning through hands-on activity. Lecturing is seen as ineffective because the students need to discover knowledge on their own. Instruction should be varied and should allow students to learn somewhat on their own (by that, I mean in their own individual ways).
Perennialists say that since facts can/are changing that these cannot be the most important things for students to learn. Reasoning and principals should be taught rather than facts (because "facts" can change). Education of any sort should start with the human (so, in science learn about humans before things like technology or machines). Ideas that have lasted over the centuries are valued. The teacher is meant to teach the student how to think and reason. The classical subjects should be taught and classical texts should be used.
Reconstructivism says that the world is constantly evolving and changing and that people must do this as well. The multiple intelligences theory came from reconstructivism (cool!). Both the teacher and the student should be part of the learning process.
It is so difficult to limit myself to two philosophies to relate to. I feel that I can relate to almost any of these philosophies in some way. I feel that I relate most to progressivism. A teacher needs to be incredibly flexible in order to help his/her students to learn. There will be times when an activity will fail horribly for one class even though the prior class loved it and benefited from it. Organization is a great skill to have, however, a teacher is almost like an improvisational actor. The teacher and the student should have a say in how the class is held, but the teacher should still have control and authority over the classroom. It is important to help students learn how to think, infer, and problem solve rather than give them information or facts that they need to memorize for a test.
Humanism is another theory that I feel I agree with. Students are individuals with individual minds and spirits; they are not a name on the attendance sheet or a C+ in the grade book. Because students are different, each will learn in different ways. Ideas should be shared in the classroom and everyone should be encouraged to speak or share in some way. Teachers should not give personal opinions on matters too quickly or bluntly because this very well might alter the way that a student is thinking and push them in one direction or another (in one way to please the teacher, or in another because they want to "rebel" against the teacher). I do think that there are certain skills or activities in the classroom that all of the students should participate in and that there is some benefit from having universality in the classroom, but there should be some kind of customization for each student.
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