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Rating: 
Summary: Puzzling Pedagogics
Review: To begin with, the title of this wonderful book is problematic. A better one would be:"Revisiting Bank Street College of Education via Its Developmental-Interactive Approach." The word "pedagogy" gives pause; it puzzles many people. One has to get around it, or over it, before relaxing into the cradle of content. A pro pos, when I was a college senior majoring in elementary education, my uncle asked, "So how's the pedagogy going?" I had no idea what he was talking about. Here I was in my fourth year of study in a sophisticated college, school of education, having completed many method courses and student-teaching, with a 4. grade average, and I hadn't come across this word, pedgogy; or if I did, it made no lasting impression on me. And now, many years later, I still find the word off-putting. Perhaps, as many dictionaries point out, the word has negative historical associations, such as "pedantry" or "tutor of boys."Maybe the authors wanted to avoid the phrase "progressive education" with its varying interpretations and responses. It is helpful to read the note, at the end of # 1 on page 34: "We are aware of the limitations of relying on any single term to describe the complex reciprocal relationships of individuals and their social and physical environments." Yes, indeed, "developmental-interactive" is a mouthful. I think referring to the phrase as D-I would be more friendly. Characteristic of this book is its meandering readership-objective. For whom is it written? Part I is a turn-off for 90% of students in teacher-education programs. Although, it is personally fascinating and vividly interesting to this reviewer, who enjoys grappling with ideas, vocabulary and strings of knowledge --- faced with Part I, prospective future teachers will be discouraged from reading Parts II and III. This is too bad, for if given a chance, they would find much information, cogently written. (Part I would benefit from a Glossary. Examples: microgenetic, ontological, societal, phylogenetic, mediate, paradigms, schemas, enculturate, substrate, goal formation, functional system, genetic approach, etc.) Words are used like blankets thrown over desks when company comes, to hide the hard-work mess stowed beneath. (To call this use "educational jargon" dismisses it too readily and diminishes the damage done.) Part II and III revisit that very body of knowledge needed to be in place through years of classroom teaching experience in order to make sense of Part I! Part II is teaching "how to teach" (Or at least it is describing some very good teaching.) So, it comes across as old-hat to anyone able to get through Part I. "Been there; done that; teaching it now." It remains puzzling as to why these two very different educational purposes were addressed in the same book. Why did the editors choose to anthologize these particular articles.? The over 600 references, with over-laps, sprinkled in parentheses throughout the articles, and listed at the end of each, loom formidably; could even be over-whelming. (If they were all listed at the end of the book it might be less intimidating.) When averaged out over 16 contributors, it comes to approximately 38 books/articles per person --- a reading list for a four-year college course! Section # 3 in Part I contains a wonderful (and needed) review of Vygotsky's theories and approach. The author(s) use an unfortunate adjectival construction with Vygotsky's name (and similarly with others) resulting in "Vygotskian," which sounds rather creepy. And although this section starts out talking about Vygotsky, it ends up viewing his theories through a prism of praises for the "D-I" approach. I was somewhat surprised at no mention of Noam Chomsky, especially when reading the sentence, "So, for instance, while we may be wired for depth perception, an infant still needs experience in three-dimensional space to develop its use to a function level" (Page 77) But all is redeemed by one of the closing paragraphs: "The developmental-interactive approach does not claim to be value-free. In fact, following Dewey, it holds that education that promotes mental and moral growth is what is authentic in a democratic society. Dewey (1938) wrote that only if an education promotes further growth is it worthy of the label 'education.'" (Page 87) I think Part I, with some expansion and additions, could be published as one volume, perhaps entitled simply, "Educational History and Theory." It could become the primary text for a course so named, followed with a book containing Parts II and III, for a methods course in implementation.
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