John Dewey's Notion of Thinking and Its Relevance to Learning

This paper seeks to investigate the importance of Dewey's notion of thinking in improving learning skill among learners. The aim of learning is to 'lead out' of ignorance and equip the learners for quality living. Unfortunately, in most learning environment, educators seem not to have effectively and efficiently achieved this purpose. This is because the learning skill is devoid of 'thinking'. As a result of this, some learners cannot make the necessary connection between what they learn in school and real life situation. In other words, they cannot use what they have learnt to solve life problems. John Dewey however argues that thinking is that operation in which present facts suggest other facts in such a way as to induce belief in the latter upon the ground of the former while learning on the other hand is a process of living. This means that thinking should be progressive and as such should be able to help one live a productive life. Therefore, this paper investigates this kind of thinking associated with learning as proposed by John Dewey and how it can be relevant to learners. The research methods will be descriptive, analytic and evaluative. This paper argues that John Dewey's notion of thinking when meticulously observed plays a formidable role in learning which in turn helps the learner to solve life problems.