The enunciation of this thesis, Dialectics as an Approach to Teaching, contains two very important notions, dialectics and teaching. In teaching, the teacher goes through the natural process that he or she went through in acquiring the truth to be imparted. This natural process of going from the known to the unknown is really to make use of a method of discovery. It is what Saint Thomas referred to as inventio. In other words it is what he understood as being dialectics. Thus we see that the teacher does make use of dialectics in helping another to acquire knowledge. It is the preparatory step through which the teacher leads the pupil prior to the acquisition of knowledge. It is seen to be an approach to teaching, indeed, the only real approach to teaching inasmuch as it is teaching. Not to use it would be to indoctrinate rather than to teach. Methods of teaching were then examined for their dialectical character. The "question and answer" method was seen to be most dialectical in its approach. This method may be considered to include a variety of different methods of teaching, all of which have in common the characteristic note of dialectical questioning. The method of problem thinking is perhaps the one that adheres most closely to the dialectical procedure as outlined in the Topics. Other dialectical approaches used in teaching include research assignments, debates, panel discussions, and symposiums. The inductive method used in the teaching of science is also a dialectical procedure. The applicability of the dialectical approach in the teaching of philosophy was then studied in some detail. It was seen that philosophy lends itself ideally to this approach. The method of problem thinking can be used to great advantage in the teaching of philosophy. The lecture method which is frequently used is at is best when it employs the dialectical approach. Its adjuncts, group discussions and the "tutorial" were noted to be dialectical in character. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/11059 |
| Date | January 1966 |
| Creators | O'Shaughnessy, Helen Elizabeth. |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 100 p. |
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