Hall of Fame

William James

William James is widely regarded as the father of modern psychology. His The Principles of Psychology (1890) set the tone for future inquiry into the mind, establishing psychology as a separate discipline; the scientific study of the mind. Grounded in his philosophical theory of pragmatism, James's theories emphasised the consequences of one's actions, rather than pure theoretical speculation. Consequentialism is still alive as a philosophical theory through modern philosophers such as Hondelich.

Learning by doing

Like Locke, he wrote a practical book Talks to Teachers (1899), originally a series of lectures, giving practical advice to teachers. The difference is that psychology had now become, through his efforts, a science, and its principles could be used in educational theory.

It was here that he put forward his now famous theory on learning by doing. This was to heavily influence John Dewey, and the future of educational theory through to Kolb and others. The book doesn't pretend to have all the answers, as psychology is a science; teaching an art. But some psychological principles are clear.

Education is, above all, the organisation of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behaviour. Children should not be expected to learn by rote. Their experiences must be turned into useful and habitual behaviour through action. The learner must listen, but then take notes, experiment, write essays, measure, consult and apply. He recommends learning through work and the creation of real things or dealings with real people in a shop, to give you educational experiences beyond mere theory. He was in fact a firm advocate of vocationally oriented schools and work-based learning (relevant today or not?).

The supervision of the acquisition of habit is another of his principles. Habit is the enormous flywheel of society, and should be exercised until securely rooted. The result of almost all learning is this habitual behaviour. Association, interest, attention, will and motivation; these are James's driving forces in education. In addition there's memory, curiosity, emulation, constructiveness, pride, fear and love - all impulses that must be turned to good use.

This is not to say that he favoured a lazy, or what he called 'soft pedagogics'. He recognized that learning was sometimes hard, even arduous.

Conclusion

William James proved to be a turning point in the history of both psychology and educational theory. He set both off in a more orderly fashion, introducing the scientific study of the mind as applied to learning. This has since proved to be by far the most fruitful approach to education and learning theory. In particular, his emphasis on learning by doing still reverberates through Dewey, Kolb and others.

Bibliography

Myers, G (Editor). William James : Writings 1878-1899, Library of America

Myers, G (Editor). William James : Writings 1902-1910, Library of America

James, William. (1899) Talks to Teachers

James, William. (1899) The Principles of Psychology

James, William. (1899) Pragmatism

Putnam, Hilary. (1995) Pragmatism: An Open Question, Blackwell