John Dewey, the leading US educationalist of his time, profoundly influenced educational thinking and schooling in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. A philosopher and psychologist, he taught at the universities of Michigan and Chicago before moving to Columbia University and its Teachers College. Dewey was a passionate believer in the role of education in democracy and social reform, and wrote extensively on curriculum and pedagogy (My Pedagogic Creed, 1897; The School and Society, 1900; The Child and the Curriculum, 1902; Democracy and Education, 1916; and Experience and Education, 1938).
Psychologists consider his work on the reflex arc a key step away from radical behaviourism, but his importance to learning theory lies essentially in his development of the concept of experiential education, also referred to as progressivism, and related to Bruner's discovery learning.
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