1. Chapter 4: Problem Solving, Insight, and Activity
Gestalt Philosophy
Wolfgang Kohler
John Dewey
Leslie Ankney

2. Gestalt Introduction Activity
Which of these two pictures is easier to remember?
Kohler’s View of the mind
Leslie Ankney

3. Wolfgang Kohler: Key Ideas
Problem Solving is essential to learning
Learner must be able to make meaningful connections
Learner is active
Learner responds to meanings to create their own intellectual connection
Learning happens inside one’s brain, its invisible
Leslie Ankney

4. Kohler’s Theory in Action
Examples in the classroom:
Kids problem solve hands on by working in a group to solve a math problem
Students design a survey for health class, solicit responses, create a visual graph or model, explain its meaning, and investigate solutions
In Social Studies, students create personal timelines to help them understand historic timelines
Leslie Ankney

5. John Dewey
“Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” ”Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind.” ”We only think when we are confronted with problems.”
John Dewey was a philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer who believed that learning and thinking had evolved because there was a necessary vital reason for them.
Sally Swanson

6. Dewey: Key Points Influenced by Charles Darwin and evolution
Influenced by Charles Darwin and evolution
“the human ability to think, and to learn, had evolved as had all the other capacities of living organisms ...to contribute to its survival.” p.38
Thinking and learning are a vital function of humans
Thinking and learning help humans solve problems, staying safe and planning and productive activity.
Students in schools don't learn
“In nature, thinking was stimulated by problems that the learner was vitally interested in solving.” p.38
Learner needs to struggle in order for the information to stay longer“
thinking always gets started when a person genuinely feels a problem arise.”p.39 
[note] page numbers refer to: Phillips/Soltis, Perspectives on Learning
Sally Swanson

7. Dewey’s Theory in Action
Purposeful activities in social settings
Students creating mental maps as reading notes
Teachers provide the conditions that stimulate learning
Normal Communication with others
Kids write their own math problem that relates to their own life (identity)
Students learn in a community setting.
Sally Swanson

8. References Used Text Images
C., Phillips, D. Perspectives on learning. New York: Teachers College, Print.
Images
Text
Sally Swanson