EDU 8673
Philosophy of Education

Formulating One's Philosophy of Education:
The Foundation for Professional Practice

The course project for Philosophy of Education involves reading the texts, engaging in conversation with the authors who have thought deeply and penetratingly about the significant issues involved in educating youth, participating actively in classroom discourse, and communicating one’s reflections upon these matters and one’s professional experience in a style conversant with scholarly standards.

To complete the course project, students will submit one electronic worksheet for each text, for a total of six submissions. Taken individually and collectively, these submissions will assist students to define and to defend their thoughts concerning the perennial issues involved in educating youth. The course project counts for 80% of the final grade.

As students read each text, they should identify the author’s argument, considering how each might respond to the following questions:

1. For what purpose does society educate its youth? (Focus: Purpose of Education)
2. How do humans learn? (Focus: Learning)
3. What should comprise the curriculum? (Focus: The Curriculum)
4. What is the role and function of the teacher? (Focus: The Teacher)
5. What is the role and function of the student? (Focus: The Student)

After reading each text, students will submit their responses to these questions on the electronic worksheet designed for this purpose. To access the electronic worksheet, simply click on the "Submission Form" button located in the column immediately to the left. When the form appears, type in the information requested and, when the worksheet is completed, click on the submit button. That action will automatically send the worksheet to me for grading and a copy to the student for class discussion. [Some students prefer to word process the form and cut/paste the sections to the email form or to send their work in file format as an email attachment. If electing this option, students should make sure the format used when word processing is exactly the format found on the homepage form.]

Each submission must comply with the Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (APA).

• General guidelines are available at:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html.

• Information about electronic references is available at: 

http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html.

• Students who discover that they need to "brush up" their grammar skills should immediately go to:

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/.

• Some basic APA notes, based upon student questions from previous semesters, can be accessed by clicking on the "APA 5th Edition" button located immediately to the left.

The sum of the six submissions counts for 80% of the final grade. Each submission is worth 100 points (or a total of 600 points) and will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. The Purpose of Education...........................  15 points
2. The Nature of Learning.................................  15 points
3. The Content of the Curriculum...................  15 points
4. The Role and Function of the Teacher.....  15 points
5. The Role and Function of the Student......  15 points
6. Elements of Style/Presentation.................... 40 points

                                                                                                  100 total points

The worksheets will be graded and returned the following week, providing an indication of the student’s "running grade" for the project. After reviewing first three submissions, students may edit and resubmit each submission for regrading the following week. Students should note, however, that 10% will be deducted from the grade assigned to a resubmission. The fourth, fifth, and sixth submissions are not revised/regraded.

When the students have completed the six submissions, they will have formulated the foundation for a clear and comprehensive educational philosophy that the students will articulate in the final examination. The final examination, then, serves several purposes. First, as a culminating activity, the final examination serves the purpose of integrating the students' study of Philosophy of Education. The final examination also serves the purpose of preparing students for the comprehensive examination by providing students a study guide when preparing for the comprehensive examination. Lastly, the final examination serves the purpose of articulating the philosophical foundation for one’s personal and professional educational decision making. That is, the final examination sets forth how one intends to make ethical decisions, as Aristotle used that term in his Nichomachean Ethics.