Module 2-1
PROSPECTUS
At the turn of this century, John Dewey, in a book entitled Interest and Effort in Education, stated that, "The major difficulty with our schools is that they have not adequately enlisted the interests and energies of children in school work."1 Since Dewey's time, the concern for identifying student interest and' awakening new interest has become a topic of consideration for researchers, theorists and practitioners. Teachers today are much more concerned about ways of personalizing instruction.
A significant aspect of the philosophy of the emergent middle school is the development of an instructional program that will capitalize upon the highly developed inquisitiveness of the pre-adolescent child. Together with the need for individual teachers to incorporate student interest in the daily school curriculum, experts in middle school instruction recommend a special interest program as an integral part of the curriculum. This module will provide opportunities to explore both of these concepts.
1
John Dewey, Interest and Effort in Education, (New York: Houghton Miffin Company, 1913), p. vii.
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