Skip to main content
experimentalism

experimentalism

1 8.4
A way of working that tries new ideas and methods to see what works
  • noun
  • /ˌɛkspəˈrɪmənˌtælɪzəm/
translation icon : experimentalismo
  • In modern education, experimentalism encourages students to explore through hands-on activities.
  • the philosophy of experimentalism

Examples

  • Dewey's philosophical school of thought stressed experimentalism whereby one cannot know reality as it truly is, but one can experience what is out there.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Experimentalism then emphasizes that problem solving is the heart of the curriculum.

    Academic text (1992)
  • "Change" is a key concept of experimentalism.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Second, after Extra, all three continued in Hollywood careers in which experimentalism was industrialized in various ways.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Dewey's philosophy of experimentalism is also called instrumentalism.

    Academic text (1997)
  • A teacher emphasizing experimentalism as a philosophy of teaching and learning may well emphasize generalizations such as the following:

    Academic text (1992)
  • One was the virtue of experimentalism: the willingness to reflect critically on our values and discard those that no longer serve the goals they embody.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Thus, feminists do not have to choose between feminism and experimentalism or postmodernism as if they were unified players in a contest.

    Academic text (1993)
  • What follows is a discussion of feminist ethnography as an emergent response to the masculine bias of experimentalism.

    Academic text (1993)
  • In a sense, then, Lincoln saw a perpetuation of the spirit of experimentalism and of experimental urgency as a part of any effort to perpetuate our political institutions.

    Academic text (1998)

Synonyms

experimentation
vsexperimentalism
55 3.8

Trying new ideas or methods to see if they work

is the guiding practice of using such tests and innovation
empiricism
vsexperimentalism
  • Formal
6 8.4

A view that we learn mainly from experience, observation, and experiments

is an active practice of using testing and innovation rather than a theory

Antonyms

Valuing old customs and ways, especially in religion and culture

How Experimental

experimentalism
1 8.4
openness
35 3.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

experimentalism = experimental (transparent) = experiment + al + ism

Formed by adding the productive noun-forming suffix '-ism' to the clear adjective 'experimental', yielding a doctrine/practice term.

Etymology

The word experimentalism comes from experiment, which comes from an old word meaning 'to try', and the ending -ism means 'belief' or 'system'. So, experimentalism is the habit or belief of 'trying' new ideas and methods to find what works.