| At the beginning of the 20th century, under the promotion of New Culture Movement, Chinese elementary education began to get into the process of overall modernization. During the process in which the classical educational ideology shifted to the modern educational ideology, the advanced western educational ideology had decisive influence. And the American educator John Dewey's influence was very important. Dewey's educational thoughts, which were called the flash point in the exchanges between the west and the east, exerted profound influence on the practice and theory of Chinese elementary education. When facing such historical fact, we, as educators, should think rationally instead of staying on perceptual knowledge. We should think of such questions: why could Dewey's educational thoughts spread to China? How did Dewey's educational thoughts spread to China and exert influence on Chinese education? In what aspect is the influence of Dewey's educational thoughts on Chinese modern education shown? How does the present Chinese elementary education reform draw on Dewey's educational thoughts? How could we estimate the influence of Dewey's educational thoughts on Chinese education? For the sake of understanding more comprehensively Dewey's educational thoughts and understanding better the exchanges between the west and the east, in the spirit of discarding the dross and keeping the essence, I try to explore the influence of Dewey's educational thoughts on Chinese modern elementary education and find out the reference of Dewey's educational thoughts to Chinese modern elementary education to promote the Chinese cultural development.The whole thesis is divided into four parts.In the first part, the spreading process of Dewey's educational thoughts in China is analyzed. First the historical background is analyzed when Dewey's educational thoughts began to develop. Then the Chinese situation at the beginning of the 20th century is analyzed when Dewey's educational thoughts spread in China. Through comparison, the author holds the view that at the beginning of 20th century, Dewey's educational thoughts spread to China, which was not accidental, but the optimized choice by the awakening Chinese who seeked science and democracy. At that time, China which shook off the heavy feudal chains need urgently science and democracy, so Dewey's educational thoughts was chose as the guide to reform the old education and the old society. At last, from the historical angle, the spreading process of Dewey's educational thoughts is introduced. Dewey's educational thoughts were introduced to China mainly through two means: person & thing and four media: by Dewey's personal example and verbal instruction when he came to China; by the American educators' lecture and research in China who closely connected with Dewey's educational thoughts and who highly esteemed Dewey's educational thoughts; by the fact that Dewey's disciples used Dewey's educational thoughts in Chinese educational reform; and by the wide publication of educational journals and magazines. In the second part, the influence of Dewey's educational thoughts on Chinese elementary education is analyzed according to historical materials. It mainly consists of three aspects: educational theory, educational system and educational practice. In terms of educational theory, Dewey's educational thoughts contributed to the theoretical development of Chinese modern education and helped the Chinese modern educator to form the systematical educational theory. In terms of educational system, Dewey's educational thoughts influenced the forming of "renxu educational system". This educational system provided the systematical guarantee for the ending of old educational system and made the Chinese educational system get into the modernization. And in terms of educational practice, Dewey's educational thoughts obviously promoted the reform of course, textbook and teaching method.In the third part, while the reforming reality of present elementary education...
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