The philosophies of education encompass various approaches to teaching and learning. Experimentalism emphasizes learning through problem-solving and inquiry, valuing societal improvement and change, with teachers acting as guides.
Teachers would aid learners or consult with learners, who would be actively involved in discovering and experiencing the world in which they live.
Learning occurs through a problem-solving or inquiry format.
Favors a school with a heavy emphasis on social subjects and experiences.
Openly accepts change and continually seeks to discover new ways to expand and improve society.
Goodness is what is accepted by public test.
The world is an ever-changing place, and reality is what is experienced.
Perennialism
Discipline of the mind through drills.
Teacher interprets information and gives it to students while students passively receive information.
Reality is a world of reason.
Education is a preparation for life. Students should learn through structured study.
Education should focus on developing rationality.
Most conservative, traditional, and structured.
Existentialism
Change in school environments is embraced as natural and necessary. Nonschooling and homeschooling are a possibility.
Teacher-student interaction revolves around helping students through their learning journey.
Subjects would be a matter of interpretation in subjects such as the arts, ethics, and philosophy.
Schools assist students in knowing themselves and learning their place in society.
Goodness, truth, and reality, are individually defined. Reality is a world of existing, truth is subjectively chosen, and goodness is a matter of freedom.
Sees the world in terms of personal subjectivity.
Realism
Classrooms are highly ordered and disciplined, like nature. Teachers are open to discussion, but the curriculum is largely predetermined.
Students should be taught factual information for mastery. Teachers impart knowledge on students. Students are passive participants in the study of things.
Truth is the simple correspondence of observation.
Goodness is found in the laws of nature and the order of the physical world.
The school's job is to teach students about the world as it is.
Idealmism
Idealists are confident in their sources for learning.
Change in the school program would be an intrusion on the process of educating.
The school's function is to sharpen intellectual processes, to present the wisdom of ages, and present models of behavior that are desirable.
Teachers model ideal behavior.
Goodness is an ideal state, something to strive for.
