듀이의 상황 개념과 교육

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand John Dewey's concept of 'situation', and to search its implications for modern education. Dewey's concept of situation emphasizes the correlation of organism to environment, and it rejects traditional epistemology separating the subject and the object. According to Dewey, living and learning, concept and intuition, knowledge and action are not separated, but are interacting each other in a situation. This situation should be distinguished from the concept of surrounding or environment. Surrounding merely means physical surroundings, and environment means the environment interacting with us. But the concept of situation goes a step farther. It means the environment as the organism sees it. And this situation changes into problematic situation when serious thinking for problem-solving is demanded. Problematic situation means confusing, perplexing and disturbed situation. But at the same time, it can lead learners to a serious thinking and inquiry. In this point, we can say that problematic situation provides a momentum for learners to acquire a true knowledge. And it must be pointed out that in this process of knowledge acquisition, there are reflective and qualitative processes of thinking at the same time. Dewey surely rejects the aspect of traditional education transmitting knowledge to learners one-sidedly, but he does not deny the value of knowledge itself. In Dewey's theory of situation, knowledge and action, thing and object, activity and its result are integrated in a problematic situation. This reflects Dewey's anti-dualistic viewpoint of the world and his participant theory of the knowledge. In the context of education, Dewey's theory of situation suggests us some useful implications : the position of problematic situation in relation to the knowledge education, the role of teacher in problem-solving learning, the educative method to cultivate learner's intellect, and so on.