ABSTRACT
In training a child to activity of thought, above all things we must be aware of what I will call “inert ideas”—that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.… Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful. (Whitehead, 1916, pp. 1-3)
Alfred North Whitehead, philosopher, mathematician, and educator, in his Presidential address to the Mathematical Association of England in 1916 challenged the status quo of the prevailing educational model. In response to Whitehead’s challenge to keep knowledge alive, and spurred by John Dewey’s ideas about learning by doing, many brilliant educators and creative educational programs brought alternatives to conventional schooling throughout the 20th century. Perhaps none has created such an eff ective marriage between all aspects of outdoor and experiential education and the traditional classroom than Eliot Wigginton and Foxfi re. Wigginton’s imagination and experimentation took form 40 years ago with Th e Foxfi re Magazine. Th is chapter will off er a brief overview to Wigginton’s pedagogical perspective and some introductory information on the evolving Foxfi re program.
