Directions: Read each of the following classroom scenarios and decide which of the following philosophies of education it represents:
Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, Reconstructionism, or Existentialism.

1. Mr. Cosmos takes his sixth grade students for a walk through the neighborhood around their school, asking them to look for evidence of a problem that needs resolving. The students point to the litter on the sidewalks. Back in the classroom, Mr. Cosmos has the students brainstorm a list of possible reasons for the litter. They mention that several convenience stores and markets have no outdoor trash receptacles. They wonder how often the city collects the garbage in that neighborhood. They hypothesize that parents may not be teaching their children not to litter. Someone says that since many stores and apartment buildings are not in good repair, residents may not feel proud of where they live. Following the brainstorm, Mr. Cosmos divides the students into small groups to conduct research on the litter problem. They will consult City Hall for information about services to the neighborhood, observe people leaving the stores, and interview a sample of residents and storeowners. Following their research, they will devise an action plan to help alleviate the problem of litter in the neighborhood, which may include, for example, letter writing and/or presentations to the City Council or Chamber of Commerce.
   
   
2. One morning, Ms. Walesa, an eighth grade social studies teacher, greets her class in Polish, a language none of the students speak. She takes attendance in Polish, calling on them by the Polish equivalents of their names. Then, continuing to speak Polish, she begins a lesson on the great wave of immigration at the turn of the twentieth century, with Polish handouts. Some students raise their hand to say that they don't understand anything but the pictures she is showing them, but she answers them in Polish. After 20 minutes, Ms. Walesa switches to English and asks them to write a paragraph or two about what they have just experienced. How did they feel about their new names? How did they feel when they couldn't understand the information she was trying to give them? What things helped them to understand anything at all? Ms. Walesa uses the experience as an introduction to a unit on immigration in United States history.
   
   
3. Ms. Learned has assigned her tenth grade English students Ernest Hemingway's book, The Old Man and the Sea. Following their reading of the book, she distributes to the students a version of the Greek myth of Sisyphus. In small groups, she asks them to discuss Santiago's struggles in the face of adversity as compared with Sisyphus's labor. She asks the groups to determine the criteria for "heroism" and to make a judgment according to those criteria as to whether Santiago is a hero.
   
   
4. Mr. Craft's second grade students are playing a math game. He has divided the class into two teams, who are lined up on opposite sides of the room. When he rings a bell, the children at the head of each line run up to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom and uncover a multiplication problem (e.g., "3 x 5 = ?"). The child who is first to reach the problem and answer it correctly scores a point for his/her team. If a child answers incorrectly, his/her opponent has a chance to answer correctly and add an additional point to the team's score. After the first two children compete, the next children in the two lines repeat the task. The team that scores more points wins.
   
   
5. Ms. O'Day's seventh grade students are learning U.S. geography. She has passed out to small groups a newspaper from a U.S. city or town they have never seen. She asks each group to formulate hypotheses about the location, including hypotheses about its topography and climate, its economy, its demographics, and issues of concern to the community, based only on evidence they have gathered from the newspaper. Each group shares their hypotheses and identifies the evidence from the paper. Ms. O'Day asks the students to list some sources of information they could consult to see if their guesses were correct. The students' list includes atlases, travel agencies, the Internet, and interviews with people who have lived or traveled to those locations. The following day, Ms. O'Day helps the groups of students begin the research that will confirm or deny their hypotheses.