ABSTRACT
In 1896 John Dewey (1859-1952), an educational philosopher, set up the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago in order to conduct studies and experiments in his field. Dewey wanted to bind the home, the community, and the school closely together. He wanted children to be able to use their everyday experiences in the home and in the community to facilitate the learning process at school. He stressed that teaching should be built not around lecture and memorization but around real-life experiences and discussions. In his Laboratory School, he developed models that tied class lessons to community building exercises, thus encouraging students to use their “social imagination” to discover ways to make life better for everyone.
