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Early Years
John Dewey was born Burlington, Vermont. He was third of four boys born to Archibald Dewey and Lucina Dewey. John had an older brother also named John, but he died in an accident on January 17,1859.
At the age of 15, he enrolled at the prestigious University of Vermont, where one of his brother attended. While he was at the university he joined The Phi Beta Kappa Society for grades. After graduating from Vermont University, he worked as a high school teacher in Pennsylvania for two years. -
Middle Years
Dewey's most significant writing is " The Reflex Arc Concept In psychology", a critical psychological concept and basis of all his further work. He published more than 700 articles in 140 journals, and approximately 40 books.
John married Alice Chipman in 1886 and had six children. A couple of years later Alice died from cerebral thrombosis on July 13,1927. He then married Estelle Grant on December 11,1946. -
Visits to Japan and China
Dewey was invited by Peking University to visit China. Dewey encouraged that Americans supported China's transformation and that the Chinese based this transformation in education and social reforms, not revolution. He also recommended to educators that they should use pragmatism to devise their own model school system. -
What is Dewey Known For ?
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPlbzfo0SpM )
John Dewey is known for the movement known as pragmatism, a discover in functional psychology. He also implied instrumentalism by solving practical problems and the truth is not fixed but changes as problems change. It is very useful in helping people to adapt to the world around them.
Dewey believed that education should not just be teachers making students learn facts they would soon forget. He thought it should be a journey of experiences. -
John Dewey's Death
On June 1,1952, John died of pneumonia in his New York City apartment. He was ninety- two and was buried in an alcove on the north side of the Ira Allen Chapel in Burlington, Vermont. His grave is the only grave on the University of Vermont Campus. -
