The first three chapters of this book were delivered as lectures before an audience of parents and others interested in the University Elementary School, in the month of April of the year 1899. Mr. Dewey revised them in part from a stenographic report, and unimportant changes and the slight adaptations necessary for the press have been made in his absence. The lectures retain therefore the unstudied character as well as the power of the spoken word. As they imply more or less familiarity with the work of the Elementary School, Mr. Dewey’s supplementary statement of this has been added.
About This Book
The work argues that schools must be reorganized to reflect and serve social life, linking education to democratic aims and contemporary industrial changes. It advocates learning by doing—manual training and occupation-based activities—over rote instruction, emphasizes attention development and child-centered curriculum, critiques wasted practices, and applies psychological principles to elementary education. It reviews Froebelian ideas and proposes that history and purposeful activity be used to cultivate habits of inquiry, social cooperation, and practical intelligence suited to changing social conditions.