| Summary: | "This book began as a revision of an earlier volume entitled Conflicting Psychologies of Learning. As it turned out, however, well over half of the present document consists of entirely new material, and the rest was so extensively revised and reorganized that it seemed more appropriate to select a new title and let the earlier effort achieve oblivion by the shortest possible route. Developments in the field of psychology are making it increasingly apparent that studies in the learning process derive their chief significance for education from the conceptions of mind which lie back of them. What we conceive or assume the mind to be is of determining influence, both in the field of method and in the realm of values or goals. Perhaps the most effective way to become intelligent about the business of education, in both its narrower and its broader aspects, is to explore the problem of learning with reference to its implications regarding the nature of mind. The discussion is centered on four distinct theories of mind and of learning, all of which continue to exert a strong influence on present-day education and which, taken together, present a development that has both a historical and a logical aspect. The last of these theories is intimately associated with the name of John Dewey, to whom I am profoundly indebted. On the negative side this theory means a break with the past. On the positive side it means a new perspective on educational theory and practice, and a new interpretation of American democracy and American life"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
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