John Dewey was a leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism, a view that rejected the dualistic epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment.

Inspired by the ideas of Charles Darwin, he believed that humans develop behaviors as an adaptation to their environment. Dewey’s influential education is marked by an emphasis on the belief that people learn and grow as a result of their experiences and interactions with the world.

Put briefly, Dewey believed that learning was socially constructed, and that brain-based pedagogy (not his words) should place children, rather than curriculum and institutions, at its center. Effective learning required students to use previous (and prevailing) experiences to create new meaning–that is, to ‘learn.’

John Dewey is often seen as the proponent of learning by doing – rather than learning by passively receiving. He believed that each child was active, inquisitive and wanted to explore. He believed that children need to interact with other people, and work both alone and cooperatively with their peers and adults.