Finally, it allows the student to learn through experience by providing him with the opportunity to explore a simulated environment, while at the same time allowing him to learn from the experience of others through exposure to relevant cases. This essay traces a history of teaching practice, discusses the 'new pedagogy' and considers the difficulties facing its adoption. This notion has deep roots in medieval Europe. Scientists and philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries worshipped a rational Nature. Only very recently have these old and deeply rooted ideas been broadly questioned.
History is in the eye of the beholder and alternative views are possible.
However, the philosophy of objectivism does not necessarily entail a particular pedagogy, nor vice versa. The most influential teacher for Western society was arguably Jesus Christ, whose methods clearly followed the 'new pedagogy' rather than an objectivistic philosophy. His enigmatic parables were couched in 'authentic' situations and their meaning had to be constructed by listeners, as indeed they still are today. Similarly, in Chinese society, the writings of Confucius are still revered and re-interpreted after 2500 years. It is fairly clear that before medieval times versions of the new pedagogy were dominant.