Disadvantages Of Progressive Education

Friedrich believed that children express and act on their own thoughts by playing. Playing also encourages children to imitate life’s activities and fosters the practice community interaction (Week 3, Study Notes, p 10). Friedrich used selected objects to encourage students to play. He named those objects “gifts” and “occupations”. Gifts were solid objects, surfaces and lines like colored balls, wooden blocks, beans, lentils and tiles with symbolic meanings. The main characteristic of gifts is that they could return to their original form because of the material they were composed. On the other hand, occupations could not return to their original form because they were composed of material that would be altered. Occupations are the material

Progressive education changes its ideas and practices constantly in order to offer a more effective education to a community. For example, on chapter 4 of School and Society reading, John Dewey explains how he was adapting the infrastructure of the school according to the community needs. He first began in a house with fifteen children. After the number of children increase he has to move to other places in order to cover their needs. Progressive education is always

Montessori believed that the learning environment is as important as learning itself. Effective learning takes place in a structured environment. A well-prepared environment should include tables, chairs, shelves, cabinets, and it should be big enough to the size and needs of the children (Week 3, Study Notes, page 24). She also believed that handicapped, hearing-impaired and mentally deficient children also required special environment for their special education. Materials are very important in Montessori’s method, it is why she created a set of materials. The materials in this set are: a set of wooden, they could be cylinders and blocks. Ten pink blocks of graduating size, ten red rods and ten brown wooden prisms, fabric and boards of different textures, weights and colors, wooden puzzles, various geometric forms pasted on cards, wooden boards with musical staff lines, musical bells, and wooden discs. All this material helps with the children’s sensory development (Week 3, Study Notes, page