Naturalism

1. 1. Presented by Amritha Anand AR NATURALISM

2. 2. 1 Introduction  Nature is everything, there is nothing beyond it  Nature is

also termed as materialism  Man should investigate the truth of nature by
scientific methods with all his capacities and resourcefulness  It doesn't believe
in sentimentalism, spiritualism, and supernaturalism

3. 3. 2 Protagonist of Naturalism  JJ Rousseau – champion of naturalism  Others

– Aristotle, Comte, Bacon, Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Epicurus, Tagore

4. 4. 3 Definition of Naturalism “Naturalism is metaphysics which considers nature

as the whole of reality. It excludes what is supernatural or the other world” —
Hocking

5. 5. 4 Meaning of Naturalism  It emphasis on the nature in every field of

education  It is a philosophy which considers nature as everything and denies
the existence of ant spirit  It does not believe in existence of God  It gave
importance to the matter and the physical world

6. 6. 5 Forms of Naturalism  Atomistic Naturalism  Scientific Naturalism 

Physical Naturalism  Biological Naturalism  Mechanical Naturalism 
Historical Naturalism

7. 7. 6 Principles of Naturalism (1/2)  Stress on physical environment  Universe

is a huge machine. Man is also a part of this machine  Reality can be truly
analyzed by natural science  The present is the real life, man should try to make
this life happy and comfortable

8. 8. 7 Principles of Naturalism (2/2)  Unchanging loss of nature explains all the

events and occurrences of the world  Education in accordance with the nature of
the child  Man is the highest creature or animal according to his nature. So the
essence of his life is animal instinct and not spiritually

9. 9. 8 Characteristics of Naturalism  Back to nature  Negative education  It is

against bookish knowledge and verbalism  Naturalism gives central position to
the child in the educational process  Education prepares the child for his future
adult life  Freedom of the child  It gives emphasis on the training of senses as
senses are the gateway of knowledge  Material education  Scientific education

10. 10. 9 Aims of Naturalism  Attainment of present and future happiness 

Struggle for existence  Protection of human machine  Adaptation to
 environment  Improvement of racial gains  Autonomous development 
Education according to nature

11. 11. 10 Naturalism and Curriculum (1/2)  Naturalist do not advocate a fixed
curriculum  Curriculum must be child-centered  It gives place for skills and
other useful educational activities  It considers literacy subjects as useless and
gives no place in the curriculum  Curriculum should contain games, sports,
physical culture, biology, physics, nature study, language, history, geography, and
other allied subjects  It lay stress on physical education and health training and
home science also

12. 12. 11 Naturalism and Curriculum (2/2)  Herbert Spencer classifies all human
activities into five and assigns a place to each of them in the curriculum. The five
activities in the order of priority are  Activities of self preservation  Activities
of a vocation  Activities of a worthy citizenship  Activities of a worthy home
membership  Activities of the leisure time  These five activities constitute his
‘Complete Living Aim’ of education

13. 13. 12 Naturalism and Method of Teaching (1/2)  Naturalism is a result against
the old, traditional, bookish system of education  Direct experience with nature,
things, and men is the keynote of instruction according to naturalists  They
follow different methods of teaching according to the interests, capacities, and
aptitude of the child  Learning by doing  Direct method  Heuristic method

14. 14. 13 Naturalism and Method of Teaching (2/2)  Observation and excursion 
Play way method  Learning through senses  Self government, self effort, and
co-education  Learning through participations  Other methods: Apart from
the above methods, naturalists adopt Dalton plan, kindergarten, excursion
method, Montessori method, experimentation and text book method so as to
bring about a natural development in the child

15. 15. 14 Naturalism and Teacher  Teacher should behave sympathetically and
affectionately forwards the children  Nature – supreme teacher  Teacher the
observer  Understand about child  Teacher the stage setter  Teacher the
gardener

16. 16. 15 Naturalism and Discipline  Naturalist give full freedom to the child to
perform and learn whatever he likes  No punishment  Full freedom  Free
society  Naturalists assume that the child has no knowledge of good and bad,
but he suffers pain when he makes a mistake, and pleasure when he does
something right. Thus he gets reward or punishment for his actions
17. 17. 16 Naturalism and School  The school environment should be completely
free, flexible and without any rigidity  It should be helpful for the free and
natural development of the child  It should be situated in the lap of nature, far
away from cities  There should not be any fixed time table and ready dozes of
knowledge  There should be no provision for punishment  School develops the
feeling of self learning and self-discipline  It does not want to burden the child
with examination

18. 18. 17 Merits of Naturalism 1. It gives the child a very important place in the
educational process. It treats a child as child and not as an adult. The child is
good and pure at the terms of birth 2. It considers nature as the best teacher in
whose company the child learns better. Society is full of evils 3. It considers
individual interests, aptitude, inclination, needs and capacities while structuring
the curriculum 4. It prepares and encourages the child to engage in
experimentation, discoveries and inventions 5. It motivates the child to acquire
more knowledge in the natural environment

19. 19. 18 Demerits of Naturalism 1. Nature centered study makes the child become
unsocial with no feeling of social service 2. Naturalism ignores the spiritual world
and considers the material world only 3. Naturalism lays stress on solutions for
only the present needs and problems of an individual and neglects his future
needs and problems. It has failed to prepare the child for the future life 4.
Naturalism advocates unrestricted freedom for the child to develop himself
naturally. This is undesirable and harmful to the child 5. It minimizes the role of
the teacher in the educative process. A teacher is an observer, a sympathetic
guide and helper in structuring experiences for the child

20. 20. 19 Conclusion  The contribution of naturalism in significant in the

progressive modern educational thought and practice. All the modern method of
teaching technique owe their origin to this school of philosophy

21. 21. 20 Relevance of naturalism in 21st century (1/2)  Shifting of subject-centred

curriculum to an experience centred curriculum.  Modern life need various
experiences to be given to the child through co-curricular activities so that he
would be educated and trained to face life squarely and solve all its problems
successfully  The child used to be punished severely and kept under the control
of teacher. This strict discipline was discarded because of the influence of
naturalism. As a result, now the child enjoys full freedom to learn and do
whatever he likes. Thus freedom for the child is the chief contribution of
naturalism to modern education
22. 22. 21 Relevance of naturalism in 21st century (2/2)  Naturalists have given
birth to new movements.  New types of educational institutions have come up in
recent years  Institutions like the summer school of AS Neil, Vishuabharthi, of
Rabindra Nath Tagore, Kindergarten schools of Froebel, Montessori schools have
come into existence as a result of the influence of naturalism in education  The
naturalist wants to protect the educand from evils for this purpose, they favour
residential schools so that the environment of the educands who reside in hostels
attached to the school can be maintained on a healthy level

23. 23. 22 THANK YOU