Term Paper on "Theory Application: John Dewey Nursing"

Term Paper 8 pages (2233 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Theory Application: John Dewey

Nursing: Application of the Educational Theorist John Dewey

Classroom Theory Applied: A Scenario

Nursing: Application of the Educational Theorist John Dewey

Classroom Theory Applied: A Scenario

John Dewey - Educational Theorist

Understanding 'Inquiry-Based' Learning

Inquiry-Based Learning: Applied Learning

Cotton

The Persimmon Tree

The Boy Scouts & Self-Governance

What Might be Suggested by John Dewey

Nursing: Application of the Educational Theorist John Dewey

Classroom Theory Applied: A Scenario

The purpose of this work in writing is to, through use of a scenario; identify any antecedent events and critical indicators of the scenario that made it a challenging situation. Indicators are inclusive of the student's development, educational, socioeconomic, or cultural status or any personal or family factors that influenced the situation. The theory will be selected to best render explanation of the chosen scenario and to guide interventions. The theoretical tenets that are applicable to the scenario in terms of the issues will be identified and a description of the method of intervention to be used will be stated. Finally, this work will answer the question of: "If John Dewey were alive today, how might he handle the scenario as described?"

Introduction

This scenario will have as its' primary character a young, fresh from inner city schools woman named Ms. Thompson for this work in writing. Ms. Thompson had just accepted a transfer into a rural Alabama county school system Prior to her begin in teaching only 2 years ago, she had been reared in a structured environment and as well, educated in one of the best schools with a very strict curriculum in relation to detailed content delivery.

Statement of the Problem

The problem in this scenario is that Ms. Thompson has never been in a day-to-day rural teaching position and in fact, she has never even visited in a rural area her only contact with larger animals on earth being in a big city zoo and she had never seen cotton growing in the field, the cotton gins, the years the crops are lost...in fact Ms. Thompson began her first day of class just trying to get the air conditioner in her room to work and chasing a rabbit out the back door which rendered classroom time null for the 2nd half of the school day. As the last child left and the door shut with a loud bang, exasperated, frustrated and frazzled Ms. Thompson picked up a well-worn book left by a previous teacher and began to read a collection of the works of educational theorist, John Dewey to whom she had hardly paid any attention while in college.

I. John Dewey - Educational Theorist

As she reflected she acknowledged that the students were simply unable to sit still enough or to be silent for the length of time that her planned lessons adhered to, and what about the other problems that were affecting her educational practice. She continued to read as the thought entered her mind that it would be cooler outside to read. Ms. Thompson picked up her book and walked out the door to a bench near the playground and read: words that revealed the following: (1) "...a child is the product of his or her environment...." John Dewey (1859-1952) (2) "...participatory philosophy of education, which brings to life once again the methodology of learning which has been, classified as 'inquiry-based' learning...." John Dewey (1859-1952); and (3) "...the code of morals that can be uniformly established that is suitable at all times and all places does not exists but each generation has the duty to make a determination of it's principles and that those principles are relevant to the situation at hand..." John Dewey (1859-1952)

The more of John Dewey's writings that she ingested the more clearly she envisioned the methodology proposed by John Dewey. Excitedly Ms. Thompson put away all of her planned lessons and got ready to 'wing-it' because she knew nothing of the cultural and regional factors affecting her teaching practice and in order to implement 'inquiry-based learning' in her classroom she was first going to have to DO some inquiry-based learning on her own.

II. Understanding 'Inquiry-Based' Learning

Ms. Thompson made her list of critical information she must learn to deal with everyday life in a rural Alabama county school. She reflected on what 'inquiry-based' learning really was. Inquiry was of course a "questioning" and "seeking" or "exploring" of that which is to be the focus of learning.

Ms. Thompson realized that she really was curious about this region of the country, for example she wondered about the white cotton drifting along the roadsides like a surreal fluffy snow. And of course she wanted to know what those funny yellow fruity looking things were growing on the tree in her neighbor's back yard. Third, she wondered what all the little boys in her class were doing at Mr. Roberts's house on each and every Tuesday afternoon.

Ms. Thompson, having identified three inquiry-based learning goals began her study of the theoretical applications of John Dewey she set out to do her own 'inquiry-based' learning. She thought how much more fun it would be to involve the students. As well she thought that perhaps if she let them observe her learning, even yet after college that she might convey the knowledge that learning is learning experience that should be lifelong and perhaps to open them up to 'the learning process' itself.

III. Inquiry-Based Learning: Applied Learning

A. Cotton

In the pursuit of her first learning experience Ms. Thompson first asked the class to write three lines concerning their knowledge cotton and the cotton industry. She received answers such as:

Our clothing is made from cotton;

My uncle works at the cotton gin;

Our great-grandmother said she picked cotton;

Slaves on plantations were made to pick cotton;

The cotton-gin is where cotton is taken after being picked.

Ms. Thompson planned a field trip to a cotton field where pickers were picking the cotton, the cotton gin for the weighing in, next was the blue jeans factory where cotton was being utilized in a final product. Ms. Thompson even agreed, much to the delight of the students to jump right over into a trailer full of the wonderful freshly picked cotton. After having had a wonderful day, she found that she had really learned more than she knew existed about cotton but much more importantly her teaching practice was no longer a dreaded subject but found that in the freedom of setting aside rigid structure and allowing 'inquiry-based' learning to materialize that she was much more 'willing' to allow the learning experience to inform her.

B. The Persimmon Tree

Inquiry-based learning was also the method in which Ms. Thompson became acquainted with the Persimmon tree, a tree that grows in the Southern United States and has a very sweet and distinct taste when ripe. When not ripe, the experience is the same as if one at a mouthful of peanut butter and cotton at the same time. Unfortunately, or perhaps miraculously, Ms. Thompson decided to involve the students in this learning module of her own inquiry-based learning. She told the class that she was going to lay an object on her desk, and to please do not say anything to inform her as she was on a 'learning quest' concerning this little round unidentified produce from a local tree.

After handing out the persimmons, she slowly picked her persimmon up, smiled and took a bite. To say the very least, when the persimmon stuck all in her mouth and on her tongue each and every student had his or her own rendition of the first time it happened to them and the environment was one in which the ground was fertile for learning, democracy was demonstrated in application of theory and a relaxed and streamlined learning experienced that was, for the largest part, self-governed began to bloom in rural Alabama. She reflected on what element in the lives of these students had so well-prepared them to govern amongst themselves at such a young age.

C. The Boy Scouts & Self-Governance Demonstrated

Tuesday afternoon Ms. Thompson watched closely as the boys left school walking or riding together in the cars with their parents toward High Street where Mr. Roberts lived with his mother, disabled daughter and several large dogs. When it appeared that no one else was either going to or coming from the house Ms. Thompson walked toward Mr. Roberts house and began hearing the sounds of saws, hammers, boards clapping together and boys talking.

The closer she got the more she could hear with sentence fragment such as "we will take turns with the tools" and "we will pickup the tools if your group will sweep" and as well "whoever uses a tool last is responsible to wipe it off, and finally what do you think she will say when she sees this... " Several weeks went by before Ms. Thompson realized that it was a group of boy scouts who… READ MORE

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