Research On Western Naturalism In Education

The western naturalism in education has its long history of development and producesa very important impact on western educational theories and practices. This paper tries todraw a map of its development and outline its characteristics and major themes.The thesis consists of5chapters.Chapter1defines the meaning of nature, naturalism and naturalistic education.Chapter2makes a systematic review of its developing process, from the embryonicstage, the formation stage to development stage, in which the naturalistic educational ideasof Aristotle, Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Diesterweg, Montessori and Deweyare discussed.Chapter3discusses the educational propositions of naturalism in education, whichincludes nature and education, its epistemology, axiology, and its viewpoints on curriculumand teacher’s role.Chapter4summarizes the characteristics of the naturalism in education, which arerespect for nature, believing people are instinctly good; considering the principle of naturaladaptability as the fundamental principle of education; explaining the educationalviewpoints with biological concepts.Chapter5evaluates and reflects the naturalism in education. Its advantages andinadequacies are discussed as a conclusion of the paper.