University Of Chicago Laboratory School Essay ⋆ Education Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

John Dewey (1859–1952) founded the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago in 1896. Dewey had come to the university in 1894 from the University of Michigan to be head of the combined departments of philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy. His responsibilities included organizing and administering an experimental school. The school, which opened in 1896, was intended to be a laboratory for pedagogy and educational experimentation in much the same way a laboratory is used for physics or chemistry. As such, according to Dewey, it had two main purposes: “(1) to exhibit, test, verify and criticize theoretical statements and principles; (2) to add to the sum of facts and principles in its special line.”

At the Laboratory School, Dewey tested his progressive theory of education. Drawing on the work of early theorists such as Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Herbart, he concluded that children learn best through hands-on experience, and that the school should function as a miniature society for the child. In the textile laboratory, for example, students would not only learn about the history of textiles, but would actually spin wool, dye yarn, and weave cloth using a loom. In doing so, they would learn how earlier cultures used technology for the improvement of their lives. They would also learn how to work in a group to produce a product.

Dewey was heavily influenced in his work with the Laboratory School by a number of figures in the Chicago community. Among the most important of these was Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House; Ella Flagg Young, a doctoral student of his at the university and the first female superintendent in Chicago as well as the first female director of the National Education Association; and Georgia F. Bacon, one of his lead teachers at the school.

Dewey’s work at the Laboratory School, along with his emerging philosophy of education, is described in a number of works. These include the 1897 article “My Pedagogic Creed”; regular reports on the activities of the school during its early years made in Chicago’s University Record; and two brief books, The School and Society (1899) and The Child and the Curriculum (1902).

Dewey left the University of Chicago in 1904 for Columbia University as a result of a conflict with the university’s central administration over the running of the Laboratory School. However, he continued to contribute to the development of experimental and laboratory schools, including the Horace Mann School, which was affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Park School of Buffalo, recognized by many as the first country day school in the United States.

Bibliography:

Mayhew, K. C., & Edward, A. C. (1936). The Dewey school. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Tanner, L. N. (1997). Dewey’s Laboratory School: Lessons for today. New York: Teachers College Press.
Wirth, A. (1966). John Dewey as educator. New York: Wiley.

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