The vision of childhood embodied in the writings and the practices of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel provides the basis for the progressive tradition in education. Following Rouusseau, Pestalozzi emphasized the need for concrete experience in education (Blenkin and Kelly, 1981). Froebel argued that ‘play is the child’s work’, essential in the unfolding of the child’s potential (Dearden,1968). A twentieth century contributor to this tradition is the philosopher and educator John Dewey. Dewey(1916) argued for the experimental method in education: children ought to put received knowledge to the test , and should learn by activity, problem solving and the ‘project’ method’ He emphasized the importance of knowing and the process of coming to know in education, as he did in philosophy.