Woods Hole Conference
Encyclopedia
The Woods Hole Conference was held at Woods Hole, Massachusetts
as a response to the Soviet Union
's launch of the Sputnik series of satellites, in 1959 to identify the problems of science education and to recommend solutions. Woods Hole was held because American educators feared that the Soviet Union was surpassing the United States in educational emphasis on science, math, and foreign languages.
The conference marked the beginning of a new trend in educational planning: the unified efforts of distinguished people in varied fields addressing themselves to the general improvement of education. The result was discipline-based education and conceptual learning.
In a 1959 article in The Music Educators Journal, Alberta Lowe and Harold S. Pryor argued that the Soviet Union was also placing considerable emphasis on music education. As a result of Woods Hole, music educators resolved to teach music as an entire discipline that includes concepts, skills, and repertoire.
is an educational psychologist associated with this conference and with the spiral curriculum. The textbook revolution was another result of Woods Hole.
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands...
as a response to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's launch of the Sputnik series of satellites, in 1959 to identify the problems of science education and to recommend solutions. Woods Hole was held because American educators feared that the Soviet Union was surpassing the United States in educational emphasis on science, math, and foreign languages.
The conference marked the beginning of a new trend in educational planning: the unified efforts of distinguished people in varied fields addressing themselves to the general improvement of education. The result was discipline-based education and conceptual learning.
Impact on music education
Music was categorized as aesthetic education.In a 1959 article in The Music Educators Journal, Alberta Lowe and Harold S. Pryor argued that the Soviet Union was also placing considerable emphasis on music education. As a result of Woods Hole, music educators resolved to teach music as an entire discipline that includes concepts, skills, and repertoire.
Impact on mathematics and science education
New math was also a result as well as the spiral curriculum—-learning about and using basic concepts that would be revisited at subsequent levels. Jerome BrunerJerome Bruner
Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist who has contributed to cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education. Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School...
is an educational psychologist associated with this conference and with the spiral curriculum. The textbook revolution was another result of Woods Hole.