In 2019, the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center (PDC) was awarded a grant from the Samuel N. & Mary Castle Foundation to grow progressive approaches to early childhood place-based Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) education in the State of Hawaiʻi. Titled, Natural Scientists: Children in Charge, a portion of the funds for this project were dedicated to documenting and filming early childhood STEM education at Hanahau‘oli School. The films produced will be used to support professional teaching and learning at a Spring 2022 PDC workshop series, which will include 24 early childhood educators from across the state. Permanently housed on the PDC website, the films are also available as an open access resource illustrating examples of place-based approaches to progressive early childhood STEM education. View the films and accompanying curricular resources by clicking HERE.
A Moral Imperative: Why School--University Professional Development School Partnerships Are Critical to the Progressive Education Movement
John Goodlad is a giant in the history of the progressive education movement. He lived with strong moral convictions and had the incredible ability to turn his ideas into action. A devotee of John Dewey, Goodlad envisioned schools “where accomplished teachers could lead their peers, where students are not grouped by age, and where the ability to discuss and assess ideas matter more than test scores” (Woo, 2014). Author of the highly influential book, A Place Called School (1984), Goodlad documented the now classic eight-year study of 38 schools in 13 communities,
Teachers as Scientists: Watching Life and Children Alertly
Hanahau’oli School celebrated 100 years of joyous work in the 2018-19 school year. At the time, the Board of Trustees called on Hanahau’oli Head of School Lia Woo to think about her vision for the school for the near term. Woo studied the school’s history and educational philosophies, and reflected on her own personal experience learning and growing at Hanahau‘oli as a student to identify timeless and universal themes. The themes helped to provide a framework for thinking about the current and future world and helped to lay the foundation for her vision moving forward.
The Hanahau‘oli School Student-Led Assembly: A Critical and Enduring Progressive Education Practice
In the previous blog we reflected on changes experienced by faculty and staff over the course of the pandemic, regarding how and why they gather together. In this entry we continue to explore the art of gathering in the context of progressive philosophy and pedagogy by celebrating an enduring hallmark of the progressive education movement--the schoolwide assembly. Progressive education pioneer Colonel Francis Wayland Parker was the first to experiment with whole school gatherings as a regular part of the weekly school schedule. He called them “Morning Exercises,” and they were primarily student-led.
Harnessing Imagination, Purpose, and Joy to Reflect On and Transform the Future of Faculty and Staff Meetings
In Remaking Gathering: Entering the Mess, Crossing the Thresholds, author Priya Parker shares about the “art of gathering.” She explains, “gathering matters because it is through each other that we figure out what we believe.” Given the number of ways human gatherings have changed over the course of the pandemic, she contends that the current moment has the potential to transform the ways we spend our time together – at work, at home, in our communities, and beyond. She elaborates, “this time of regathering”--as many transition from online large-group community meetings to in person events-- “offers a threshold we can decide to cross with imagination, purpose, and joy.” This message resonated with me as I recently joined Hanahau‘oli School faculty in our first in-person faculty meeting since March 2020.
What School Could Be: Reflections on the Path Forward
On October 21, 2021 I had the opportunity to participate in the Game Changer Series: Navigating The Pandemic - A Courageous Conversation about COVID hosted by What School Could Be. In the midst of our global challenge, finding support, seeking solutions, and sharing our truths can be quite powerful. At this event we shared our thoughts, wonderings and strategies for making sense of the current moment in education. For me, it was a homecoming of sorts as both the Executive Director of What School Could Be, Dr. Kapono Ciotti and one of the panelists, Dr. Andrew Ho of the Harvard Graduate School of Education are both Hanahau’oli School classmates of mine! We were joined by Mari Jones from the High Tech High Graduate School of Education.
Westland School - Living the Questions Since 1949
In 1949, a group of progressive educators asked, “What is best for children?” and a group of parents pondered, “What education do our children deserve?” Their questions gave birth to Westland School over 70 years ago. They were risk takers, passionate in their hopes for a better world, and certain that this world could begin by educating their children in a humanistic, democratic way. They understood that youngsters displayed an innate joy of freedom in learning and were certain that a mode of education existed that could retain and heighten the pleasure of mastery while simultaneously instilling values and a feeling of responsibility to the class, the school, the community, and the world. During the time of Joseph McCarthy, Westland became a safe haven for children and spouses whose fathers and husbands were sent to jail for refusing to speak before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Today, Westland is a modern safe haven, an institution where democracy is practiced, where communicating across differences is encouraged, and where community is integral.
Primal Wonder: Exploring Where Philosophy Begins and Should Not End with Dr. Thomas Jackson
In Theaetetus 155 D, Plato asserts that wonder is the nature of a philosopher, and that philosophy begins in wonder. He goes on to say that it is the “sense of wonder that is the mark of the philosopher. Philosophy indeed has no other origin” (1961, 155d). Thomas Jackson, a Specialist in the Philosophy Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has dedicated his life’s work to exploring the intimate connection between philosophy and wonder.
The Entering Teacher Cooperative: Hanahau‘oli School’s Progressive Education Approach to Onboarding New Teachers
A Commitment to Social Justice and Improving the Lives of Others: A Snapshot of Recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work at Hanahauʻoli School
In 2019, Hanahau‘oli faculty and staff visited more than 20 progressive schools across the country. This was the ambitious Hele A‘o (Learning Journey) initiative, and the purpose was to spark new ideas, inspire innovation, and plant seeds for future growth at our beloved school. Among the key takeaways from Hele Aʻo was a desire to learn more about social justice as it pertains to progressive education. At a number of schools, Hanahau‘oli faculty and staff saw teachers referring to students as “changemakers.” They also observed language related to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a fully integrated part of progressive school curricula. Above all, the students were able to articulate ways in which they were promoting social justice, and were taking action in their communities.
A Progressive Educator’s Poem, “On Doing Philosophy with Children”
This past summer, UHM Children’s Center preschool teacher, Royce Bowman learned more about p4cHI as a part of his coursework in the UHM Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy Masters program. Excited to put the progressive pedagogy into practice, Royce experimented with p4cHI in his early childhood classroom. His reflections on the experience are captured in this poem:
The Significance of Jane Addams’ Progressive Education Legacy in the COVID-19 Era: Schools as Sites for Community Inquiry and Innovative Social Programing
Visionary founder of Hull-House, a Chicago-based settlement house established in 1889, Jane Addams was critical to the development of the American progressive education movement. Vehemently "against a restricted view of education” (Addams, 1910, p. 51), Addams built Hull-House to meet the needs of the community it served and expand traditional notions of schooling by including innovative social, educational, and artistic programs. Philosophically aligned to other pragmatists of the time, she believed that education should not be "disconnected from the ultimate test of the conduct it inspired" (Addams, 1910, p.46).
Connecting Modern-Day Social Justice Education Initiatives with the Century-Old Progressive Education Movement
“In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” --Eric Hoffer, 1982, p. 146
I hope everyone can agree with me that we are indeed in a time of profound change: extreme and visible examples of a divided society, growing climate consciousness, massive income inequality, increased integration of technology into our daily life, resistance to evidence and science-based policy making, new questions about how to organize time and carry out work, protest and progress against racial injustice, voter suppression and increased activism, renewed interest in the arts, the diversification of leadership, and the growing call for more socially just forms of democratic governance.
Food as Phenomena: Pandemic Era Reminders About the “Significant Educational Value of Learning Through Observation”
In his 1891 Talks on Pedagogics, one the most important thought leaders of the progressive education movement, Colonel Francis Wayland Parker, asserted, “Observation as a mode of attention, its relations to the central subjects of study, and its place in teaching, has significant educational value” (p. 107). A foundation to progressive philosophy and pedagogy — careful and first hand observation of self, society, and the natural world — is critical to a meaningful education. After all, explained Parker (2001), the motivation for lifelong learning “can only come to the one who gains some apprehension of the boundless knowledge and the depths of truth by actual personal experience” (pp. 128-129).
Reflections from a Visiting Scholar: Hanahau’oli, a True Deweyan School
Hanahau‘oli School is a one hundred year old progressive school located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1918, Hanahau‘oli is regarded as a preeminent independent elementary school because of its adherence to a progressive mission that validates childhood as the time of learning, the years when the foundation is laid for life-long commitment to the values that sustain our families, our neighborhoods and the global community.
Only By Wrestling with the Problem First Hand, Does a Person Learn to Think: Reflections on a Pedagogy for Philosophical Inquiry
The spirit of Dewey is alive and well as we enter the sixth week of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy program! Engaged in coursework, which requires participants to generate their own questions as a starting point for inquiry and learning--the thinking that has emerged from this first cohort of students has brought to the surface some of the biggest problems facing education in our time and have provided an incredible window into the ways progressive educators are well-poised to engage in tough work to address each issue.
Exploring the Relevance of Progressive Philosophy in Present Times: Possible Impacts on Individuals, Schools, and Society Today
On July 9, 2021 a diverse panel of thought leaders came together to explore the relevance of progressive philosophy in present times. They were: Theresa Squires Collins of the Progressive Education Network and The Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, Dr. Masato Ishida of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Philosophy, Chris McNutt of the Human Restoration Project, and Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer of the University of Hawaii - West Oahu.
Learning About Progressive Education from the Other Side
Last week was a time of firsts. It was the first week of classes for the first cohort of the new Masters program, Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy. Unique to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Education, students will work to create a better society through their work with children, schools, and communities. Although we intended for the summer session to occur face-to-face, we will be meeting and getting to know each other through Zoom because of Covid restrictions.
Launching A Brand New MEd-CS Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy Program
Education in the post COVID-19 pandemic period has the potential to dramatically shift societies globally and create lasting positive change: increased climate consciousness, a more ethical integration of technology within the human experience, increased care for the social emotional well-being of individuals and communities, and more socially just forms of democratic governance. In the words of progressive era philosopher John Dewey (1916), “as societ[ies] become more enlightened, [they] realize that [they are] responsible not to transmit and conserve the whole of [their] existing achievements, but only such as make for a better future society. The school is its chief agency for the accomplishment of this end” (p. 20). Now is the time for educators and society at-large to reflect on what we want to take with us from pre COVID-19 life, what pandemic era innovations we want to carry forward, and what aspects of collective living no longer serve us.
Introducing Progressive Philosophy & Pedagogy: A Blog for Progressive Educators
It is with great pleasure that we write this inaugural post for our newly established blog, “Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy: A Blog for Progressive Educators”. Designed to support the development of school communities that promote a better future society for today’s children, this online publication aims to further the worldwide progressive education movement by creating a collective thinkspace for progressive educators. Characterized by community, collaboration, diverse perspectives, social justice, the thoughtful exchange of ideas, inquiry, reflection, and informed action--this electronic publication will function as a cyber-commons of sorts. It is a place where progressive philosophers and practitioners, from across the globe, can connect through community and inquiry as they work together to carry out the movement’s important commitment to the intersection of democracy and education.