Educational Philosophies

Essentialism focuses on a "core of information, hard work and mental discipline, and teacher-centered instruction." The goal of essentialists is to "transmit the cultural heritage and develop good citizens." Students are learners and teachers use lectures, memorization, repetition, and formal discipline to teach.

Behaviorism believes that behavior is determined by environment instead of family. Therefore, the teacher has much ability to control the class by controlling stimuli. A major goal of behavorism is to create an environment for learning that leads to desired behaviors. Teachers use reinforcement, both positive and negative, to teach which behaviors are good and which aren't.

Positivism looks at what is observable and measurable as truth and knowledge. A teacher should clearly identify what he/she is looking for and what students should know and be able to do. Repetition is stressed as a good way to teach students. Positivism carefully bases lessons on content standards,

Democracy is the main focus of progressivism. A major goal is to improve society and every person is included in the decision-making process. A learner in a progressive classroom is always learning, always thinking, and always exploring. The content of curriculum is always changing based on life events.

Humanism focuses on improving the individual. It avoids group work and is centered on student feeling. An individual relationship with students is emphasized and teachers strive to meet individual interests of students.

Contructivism employs hands on projects to teach. A teacher's role is not to lecture but to create "learning situations." Constructivists "encourage the development of critical thinking and the understanding of big ideas rather than the mastery of factual information."

Perennialists teach principles instead of facts. Vocational knowledge is less important than liberal topics. There is a focus on personal development and teacher-centered education.

Reconstructionists believe that there are many problems with society that need to be fixed. The goal of reconstructionism involves examining societal issues and discussing ways to fix them.

Out of all the methods, I feel that I agree most with progressivism. I think that it fits in well with a health curriculum and the way that I want to teach. Some reasons include the flexibility of content based on life experience, the emphasis on forever learning, and the focus on problem solving. I believe that these are all great techniques for teaching health. I also agree that learning should be a process. It is less about the outcome and more about the experience and the learning that took place before the end result.