從具體活動形成抽象知識：實驗方法在杜威邏輯理論中的組織作用

More than a hundred years ago, the American philosopher John Dewey established the Laboratory School (1896-1904) during his tenure at the University of Chicago. It has become a precious source of inspiration from which generations of teachers continuously drew to improve their classroom practices. The original files of the school were compiled and published decades later. They showed that the experimental activities proceeded in the school fully embodied and validated both scientific thinking and occupations, which Dewey ardently advocated in his How We Think and Democracy and Education. It is noteworthy that Dewey’s experiment in the Laboratory School corresponded to his early efforts toward developing a new brand of experimental logic, which in effect profoundly influenced his theories of curriculum and instruction. However, most educators at that time were deaf to the philosopher’s proposal to unify various subject-matter through scientific thinking. Consequently, the problem of organizing subject-matter gradually aroused severe controversy. This study was aimed to elucidate the logical theory provided by Dewey’s several works, utilizing its special emphasis on principles about the art of thinking, the construction of knowledge, and the skill of teaching. Thereby the specific steps and ways of moving from the concrete to the abstract were explained, and the organizing function of experimental method in Dewey’s logical theory was thus demonstrated.