Naturalism and its implications in education

Naturalism and its implications in education
Naturalism considers the child as a gift of nature with potentialities for natural growth. The growth process must be natural and real without any interference from outside. The child should get the freedom to interact with nature in his/her own way. Make the child involve in physical activities by stimulating sensory experiences with nature.

Aims of education

1. Self-expression- Allow the child to express their ideas and views freely. The talents of the children have to be directed in right way based on the laws if nature. 
2. Self-preservation- It is the ability to respect and love yourself and then, others. It helps us to find a right direction in life. 
3. Redirection of human instincts- Naturalists believe that each human being is born with instincts and these instincts may develop improperly if they are self-directed by the child. Hence, through education, instincts of the child have to directed properly.
4. Struggle for existence- Children have to train to survive int he society to find a place to live in the environment.
5. Natural education- While educating, the teacher should consider strengths, weakness, instincts, likes and dislikes of the children.
6. Perfect individual- Education aims at developing the child into a happy, useful and mature person. 

Naturalism and curriculum

It recommends flexible curriculum and the subjects like physics, chemistry, and biology should be correlated with nature so that he can acquire natural knowledge.

Naturalism and methods of teaching

1. Learning by doing- It appreciates the direct experience of learning by doing.
2. Play- This approach facilitates interest and effort among students to learn nature.
3. Observation- Teacher allows the child to be with nature and understand the nature.
4. Experimentation- It believes in true knowledge through trials and errors.

Naturalism and discipline

It offends strict discipline. Naturalists believe that child should be allowed to face the natural consequences of his actions and thus, self-discipline would be developed. 

Naturalism and teacher

The teacher has to arrange an environment with materials required for the personal development of the child.

Naturalism

Naturalism

Naturalism is concerned with natural matters and there is no reality beyond nature. It does not allow any place for supernaturalism and spiritualism. It says that a man acts like a child in front of nature and grows well by the physical world not by spiritual world. Naturalists named the activities of mind as 'instincts'.They give importance of the scientific method of observation and evaluation. 

Definition

According to H.Joyce, naturalism is a system of which the salient characteristic is the exclusion of whatever is spiritual or indeed, whatever is transcendental of experience.  

Types of naturalism

Three forms are physical, biological and mechanical naturalism.

1. Physical naturalism: It believes that laws of nature guide the man to survive in the physical world.
2. Biological naturalism: Here, man is considered as a descendant of ape and not from God.
3. Mechanical naturalism: It considers the man as a machine, needs the training to bring him as a good citizen.

Principles of naturalism

• Child-centered education- Curriculum should be planned based on the needs of the nature to help the child to survive in the physical world. 
• Development of child's capacities- Education should help the child to stimulate his/her power to cope up with the natural development.
• Negative education- It doesn't support the forced learning of the child. It recommends a simple persuasion to initiate learning in the early childhood.
• Development of psychological level of the child- It tells us to consider individual difference while teaching lessons. A teacher should identify the individual difference in intelligence, temperament and emotions should be identified and taken into account while implementing the educative process.
• Teacher as a guide- It takes an opposite stand on passive learning. Here, the teacher has to arrange an environment for learning and invite the students to actively participating to learn the lessons. The teacher should teach the students regarding the importance of love and sympathy in life.

Idealism and its implications in education

Idealism and its implications in education

An idealist believes that student as an individual with inner potentialities and education should help the student to develop inner potentialities. It should help the child to acquire higher ideas and values, thus he is able to lead a fruitful life in the society. 

Role of idealism in aims of education 

• Realization of self- Idealism helps the child to acquire knowledge regarding self and role in society. Self-realization nurtures inner potentialities to the maximum level and helps to find a place to flourish the world. It is a prerequisite for a dedicated and successful living.
• Achievement of personality- It aims to build a healthy personality, which is very adjusting with the environment.
• Value-based education- The child should be educated irrespective of caste, creed, color and social status. Education should teach them what is right and wrong.
• Survival of man- Constructive education helps the mankind to survive by overcoming challenges and help others to live in the society. 
• Conservation of tradition and culture- Culture is essential for the development of human abilities and helps the child to be aware of various cultures and importance of transmission to future generations.
• Cultivating moral values- It is very essential to include moral science in the school curriculum, as it helps the child to lead a problem-free life in the society.
• Spiritual life- Education should help the child to lead a spiritual life so that he will be able to respect the spiritual worth and dignity if other people.

Idealism and curriculum

The idealistic curriculum aims the overall development of the child.  It assists the child to develop morally, aesthetically, intellectually and physically through subjects like extracurricular activities embedded in ideal values.

Idealism and methods of education

It supports 'Kindergarten' modeled education. It believes that school is a garden, a teacher is a gardener and students as plants intended to grow very well. Questioning, lecturing, and discussion methods are used as the method of education.

Idealism and discipline

It recommends strict discipline for the overall development of the child. It believes that only idealist mind can attain moral values of life. 

Idealism and teacher 

It recommends teacher as a philosopher and guide to the students. Role of teacher is to inspire students to attain higher values and be a role model to them.   

Idealism

Idealism

The word 'iden' means 'to see'. Plato is the father of the idealism. He believes that man is a combination of spiritual and material aspects, in which spiritual aspect is more important and dominant than anything. An idealist gives importance to mind and self, rather than matter and body. This philosophy gives importance to the development of personality by inculcating moral and cultural values in human life. 

Principles of idealism

Idealists put forward the principles to validate their viewpoints:

1. Presence of universal mind: Idealism symbolizes universal mind as the god. It believes that all knowledge and the human mind is created by God. Being a human creature, the ultimate aim of human is the realization of the god. It holds the fact that we have to thank God for giving a chance to live in this world and must seek God's blessings for a smooth and successful living. 
2. Man is a spiritual being: According to idealism, man is a combination of spiritual and mental aspects rather than materialistic matters. They believe that spiritual aspects of man make him distinct from other animals. 
3. Superior ideas and values: These are truth, goodness, and glory of God. Attainment of these values only happens through the realization of God. This principle is an antidote to many problems exist among human as a result of modernization and technology. This principle tells us to lead a happy and blessed life in the society by attaining higher ideas and values with the God.
4. Knowledge and mind: The real knowledge is perceived in mind. It is valid more than the knowledge attains through senses. This principle questions the validity of materialistic theories and related skills.

Different areas of educational philosophy

Different areas of educational philosophy

Philosophy guides the education in search of wisdom and truth. Philosophy influences the education in different areas like aims, development of curriculum, methods of teaching, discipline and role of teachers. It serves the education in an attempt to meet the challenges faced by the education system. 

Main areas of educational philosophy are:

1. Philosophy and aims of education- Philosophy supports education with providing knowledge and skill to lead a life in the society. It prepares the education to help the child to earn a livelihood.
2. Philosophy and curriculum- Curriculum is the sum of all the activities and experiences provided by the school to achieve the aims of education. The contents of the curriculum are determined by the nature of philosophies.
3. Philosophy and method of teaching- Methods of teaching helps the teacher to conduct teaching activity to be purpose-oriented and student-friendly by maintaining the link between the subject matter and the student. Based on the type of philosophy, teaching methods are very useful tools to prepare future citizens of the society.
4. Philosophy and teacher- Teacher plays a significant role in applying philosophy in the education system. A talented teacher should be oriented to the philosophy and apply this in the thinking process and teaching activities.
5. Philosophy and discipline-Discipline is the conduct of the pupil and most of the philosophers expressed their interest to bring out discipline among the students. Philosophy determines the nature and types of the discipline.

Philosophy and education

 Philosophy and education

The word philosophy has been derived from Greek word means 'love and wisdom'. It is a science of truth finding. It helps us to find relationships in the knowledge. It helps us to find a value of life and lead a truthful life, which brings happiness to life. In a simple way, one can say that philosophy is the values and beliefs every individual has in their life.

Definition

According to Edgar.S.Brightman, a philosopher, and theologian, 'philosophy is an attempt to think truly about human experience or to make out whole experience intelligible'. This definition correlates philosophy to a process of thinking and explains the rationale behind the human experiences. It shows the need of philosophy in education for a better understanding of knowledge to lead a fruitful life in the society. 

The philosophy has five branches;

1. Epistemology- Deals with origin and source of knowledge
2. Logic- Studies on relationships of knowledge
3. Metaphysics- Deals with true nature of things
4. Aesthetics- Studies about beauty and harmony of life
5. Axiology- Studies of morality in life

Education is a planned and purposeful activity with a standardized set of objectives, with an aim of behavioral modification of the learner.  To bring out behavioral modification of the learner, we have to formulate a set of objectives based on values, ideas, beliefs, attitudes and social needs. Thus, philosophy directs education to prepare, revise and implement objectives. Philosophy is abstract in nature and guides educationists to select a valid and fruitful knowledge for the students. It helps to determine the nature of the educative process, nature of the learner and nature of student and teacher relationships.