Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment

      This questionnaire will help you recognize and name your own educational philosophy. Respond to the given statements on a scale from 1, "Strongly Disagree," to 5, "Strongly Agree." Record the number of your answer along with the question number for scoring.

      1 The curriculum should be universal; a given body of information about western civilization should be taught through discussion and lecture. 1 2 3 4 5
      2 Students are makers of meaning and construct their understandings from active experience, rather than through transmission from teachers. 1 2 3 4 5
      3 Education should emphasize personal growth through solving problems that are real to students. 1 2 3 4 5
      4 Curriculum should not be predetermined; rather, it should spring from students' interests and needs. 1 2 3 4 5
      5 It is necessary and good that schools instill traditional values in students. 1 2 3 4 5
      6 Representing information as symbols in the mind is an important part of learning. 1 2 3 4 5
      7 Schools exist to provide practical preparation for work and life, not to nourish personal development. 1 2 3 4 5
      8 Teaching the great works of literature is less important than involving students in activities to criticize and shape society. 1 2 3 4 5
      9 Teachers, rather than imparting knowledge, are facilitators of conditions and experiences so students can construct their own understandings. 1 2 3 4 5
      10 The aim of education should remain constant regardless of differences in era or society, it should not vary from one teacher to another. 1 2 3 4 5
      11 Schools should encourage student involvement in social change to aid in societal reform. 1 2 3 4 5
      12 The emphasis in schools should be hard work, respect for authority, and discipline, rather than encouraging free choice. 1 2 3 4 5
      13 If encouraging and nourishing environments are provided, learning will flourish naturally because people have an inherent tendency to learn. 1 2 3 4 5
      14 Students, like computers, are information processors who must make sense of events and objects in their environments. 1 2 3 4 5
      15 Schools should guide society towards significant social change rather than merely passing on traditional values. 1 2 3 4 5
      16 Teachers should concentrate on conveying a common core of knowledge rather than experimenting with modifying curriculum. 1 2 3 4 5
      17 The curriculum should focus on basic skills instead of students' individual interests. 1 2 3 4 5
      18 Students must learn to make good choices and to be responsible for their behavior. 1 2 3 4 5
      19 Conflicts to current understandings trigger the need to learn and to make meaning. 1 2 3 4 5
      20 Rewards controlled by the external environment lead to and result in all learning. 1 2 3 4 5
      21 Transmitting traditional values is less important than helping students to develop personal values. 1 2 3 4 5
      22 The heart of understanding learning is concerned with how information is encoded, processed, remembered, and retrieved. 1 2 3 4 5
      23 Advocating the permanency of the classics is a vital part of teaching. 1 2 3 4 5
      24 Perceptions centered in experience should be emphasized, as well as the freedom and responsibility to achieve one's potential. 1 2 3 4 5
      25 Education should help drive society to better itself, rather than restricting itself to essential skills. 1 2 3 4 5
      26 Teachers should encourage democratic, project-based classrooms that emphasize interdisciplinary subject matter. 1 2 3 4 5
      27 A knowledgeable individual facilitates or scaffolds learning for a novice based on understanding the learner's developmental level and the content to be learned. 1 2 3 4 5
      28 The role of the teacher is help create a nurturing atmosphere for students and to promote the growth of the whole person. 1 2 3 4 5
      29 Teaching involves the support of memory storage and retrieval. 1 2 3 4 5
      30 Successful teaching creates an environment that controls student behavior and assesses learning of prescribed outcomes. 1 2 3 4 5
      31 The greatest education centers mainly around the student's exposure to great achievements in subjects such as arts and literature. 1 2 3 4 5
      32 Learning requires modifying internal knowing structures in order to assimilate and accommodate new information. 1 2 3 4 5
      33 The role of the teacher is to create an atmosphere that rewards desired behavior toward achieving goals and extinguishes undesirable behavior. 1 2 3 4 5
      34 The primary goal for educators is to establish environments where students can learn independently through purposeful reflection about their experiences. 1 2 3 4 5
      35 Principles of reinforcement (anything that will increase the likelihood that an event will be repeated) and contiguity (how close two events must be chronologically for a bond to be created) are pivotal to explaining learning. 1 2 3 4 5
      36 Students' involvement in choosing how and what they should learn is central to education. 1 2 3 4 5
      37 Students need to develop declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge. 1 2 3 4 5
      38 One's behavior is shaped by one's environment; elements within that environment (rather than the individual learner) determine what is learned. 1 2 3 4 5
      39 The most distinctive quality of human nature is the ability to reason; for this reason, the focus of education should be on developing intellect. 1 2 3 4 5
      40 Learning should guide students to active participation in social reform. 1 2 3 4 5

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      © 1999 LeoNora M. Cohen, OSU - School of Education