ABSTRACT
If we follow John Dewey (1916/1944) and Jean Piaget (1948/1973) in taking development as the aim of education, then our operationalization of this aim demands a description of experiences that optimally promote the child’s development-physical, social, moral, and affective, as well as intellectual. However, as Dewey (1916/1944) pointed out, “education as such has no aims. Only persons, parents, and teachers, etc., have aims” (p. 107). Extending this to children, Dewey emphasized that, “An educational aim must be founded upon the intrinsic activities and needs of the given individual to be educated” (pp. 107-108). Dewey and Piaget converged in their emphasis on education that realizes the aim of development by capitalizing on children’s interests and cooperating with children rather than coercing them.
