Education 435-4?

Educational Theory and Theory Criticism

Intersession., 1986 ?

Instructor: Dr. deCastell

Wednesday & Friday

?

Office: MPX 8545

8:30 - 12:20 ?

Phone: 291-3627

Location: MPX 7506

General Calendar Description and Pre-r.eggi.sities:

The status., function and form of educational theories and

their relationship to educational practice..

Pre-requisite: 60 hours of credit.

gp@gific focus of course and obj@qtives.:

The distinction between 'nature' and 'culture' is a

fundamental one in educational theory. It is a distinction

which features as much today as it has in the past in

shaping our views about how people should be educated, and

about what knowledge is of most worth.. This course takes an

historical perspective, tracing on the one hand, the origins

of the emphasis on 'culture' in humanist educational

thought., and the origins of the emphasis on 'nature' in the

empiricist tradition., on the other. Thus, the first part of

the course covers the educational ideas of Renaissance

humanists: Erasmus, Castiglione, Elyot, Vives and

Montaigne; the second half of the course covers the

enlightenment 'empirics': Bacon, Comenius., Locke and

Rousseau. We shall be concerned throughout to understand

the relationship between educational theory and social and

cultural context, and to draw parallels between historical

and contemporary educational theories and practices.

Evaluation:

As this is a seminar course, students will be asked to

participate actively in discussion based upon course

reading, and, occasionally, to lead discussions based upon

short presentations on topics to be selected by the students

themselves. Evaluation will be based upon three (short)

essays and a mid-term exam

(25V.

each). There will be no

final exam for this course..

Recjui red Text:

B. H. Bantock.. Studies in the History_9j_EqUcational

Theory Vol. I "Artifice and Nature".