Pedagogy in Counselor Education: Insights from John Dewey

The literature addressing pedagogy in counselor education is sparse. In this paper, we propose using John Dewey’s philosophy of education to inform pedagogy in counseling programs. More specifically, we describe the pattern of inquiry, issues of mind-body continuity, the role of the teacher and student, the difference between educative and miseducative experiential activities, and problem based learning in the context of counselor education. These concepts are exemplified using a case illustration comparing a professor using a traditional model of teaching and a professor using a model of teaching informed by Dewey

Teaching to the Test: A Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Logic

The proper goal of an introductory logic course, teaching critical thinking, is best achieved by maintaining the principle of continuity between student experiences and the curriculum. To demonstrate this I explain Dewey’s naturalistic approach to logic and the process of inquiry, one which presents the elements of traditional logic in the context of student experiences. I offer an example of a logic textbook which models the maintenance of the principle of continuity I advocate. Last, I advocate a pluralistic and experimental approach to accomplish this, including methods that rely on the role of the body in learning and reasoning

What Use Is Instrumentalism? Conservative Pragmatism in Liberal Learning

This article summarizes four archetypal responses—the reactionary, conservative, pragmatist, and presentist—to the real or perceived threat to liberal learning in higher education. I advocate a balance between the conservative and the pragmatist responses. A conservative pragmatist response resists the canonical rigidity of the reactionary; responds to the ever-evolving social demands and practices that help frame the perennial questions of liberal learning, but values the poetry of conversation and the disengagement demanded by such a conversation, even if social problems initiate the reflective inquiry. The conservative pragmatist response highlights the perennial and the evolutionary, the universal and the particular, and the end in itself and the instrumental in liberal arts education