Dewey's Laboratory School. Lessons for Today.

This book reviews the history of the University of Chicago Laboratory School established by John Dewey in light of the current resurgent interest in the ideas and work of this educator. Chapter 1 deals with two lessons: the social nature of learning and developmentally appropriate practice. Chapter 2 examines the laboratory school idea as conceived by Dewey, and the present day opportunities for laboratory schools. Chapter 3 examines Dewey's model and discusses ways that the school's teachers capitalized on children's interests, activities, and natural talent for imagination. Chapter 4 discusses the resources used by the teachers in developing a new curriculum and the resulting two-dimensional curriculum organized around the children's side (activities) and the teacher s side (logically organized bodies of subject matter). In chapter 5, the teachers themselves describe their approaches to instruction (illustrating the value of ongoing teacher input in instructional improvement). Chapter 6 discusses how teacher cooperation functioned as a substitute for supervision based on levels of authority. It also addresses elementary teachers as subject specialists and departmental organization at the elementary level. Chapter 7 is concerned with children's development as self-directed learners; Dewey's theories are compared with those of Piaget and Kohlberg. Stages of discipline with pupil and teacher responsibilities are also addressed. Chapter 8 applies the principles to current educational settings. This final chapter also discusses the issue of youth crime and how Dewey's ideas can be applied in this area. (Contains 260 references.) (JLS)