Overview 4.1: Educational Pioneers

overview 4.1

EduCATionAL PionEERs

Pioneer historical Context

Comenius 1592–1670 (Czech) Seventeenth-century religious war following Protestant Reformation

Rousseau 1712–1778 (Swiss-French) Eighteenth-century French Enlightenment

Pestalozzi 1747–1827 (Swiss) Early nineteenth century, post-napoleonic period and early industrialism

Herbart 1776–1841 (German) Mid-nineteenth-century developments in European philosophy and psychology

Froebel 1782–1852 (German) nineteenth-century resurgence of philosophical idealism and nationalism

Spencer 1820–1903 (English) Darwin’s theory of evolution in 1859 and rise of nineteenth-century industrial corporations

Dewey 1859–1952 (American)

Addams 1860–1935 (American)

Montessori 1870–1952 (Italian) Early twentieth-century American progressive movement, growth of science, and rise of pragmatic philosophy

First half of twentieth century, period of massive immigration and urban change

Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century assertion of feminism; greater attention to early childhood education

Piaget 1896–1980 (Swiss) Twentieth-century developments in psychology by Freud, Hall, Jung, and others

Freire 1921–1997 (Brazilian) Late twentieth-century critique of neocolonialism and globalism

Purpose of Education Curriculum

Relate instruction to children’s natural growth and development; contribute to peace and social justice Vernacular language, reading, writing, mathematics, religion, history, Latin; universal knowledge

Create learning environments in which children’s natural goodness can grow

Develop the human being’s moral, mental, and physical powers harmoniously; use sense perception in forming clear ideas nature; the environment

Object lessons; form, number, sound (name)

Develop multiple interests and moral character

Develop the latent spiritual essence of the child in a prepared environment

Provide competitive situations in which the most able are rewarded Academic and humanistic studies, especially history and literature

Songs, stories, games, gifts, occupations

Practical, scientific, and applied subjects

Contribute to the individual’s personal, social, and intellectual growth Making and doing; history and geography; science; problems

Assimilate immigrants into American society while preserving their ethnic cultural heritages

Assist children’s sensory, physical, and intellectual development in a prepared environment

Structure instruction on children’s patterns of growth and stages of development

Raise consciousness about exploitative conditions Wide range of practical skills for life in urban centers, along with arts and sciences, and problem solving

Motor and sensory skills; preplanned materials

Concrete and formal operations

Literary circles and critical dialogues

Methods of Instruction Role of the teacher Significance

Based on readiness and stages of human growth; gradual, cumulative, orderly; use of objects Reliance on sensation; experience with nature

Reliance on sensation; object lessons; simple to complex; near to far; concrete to abstract

Systematic organization of instruction: preparation, presentation, association, generalization, application A permissive facilitator of learning; calibrates instruction to child’s stages of development Assists nature, rather than imposing social conventions on the child

Acts as a caring facilitator of learning by creating a homelike school environment; skilled in using the special method A well-prepared professional who follows the prescribed sequence in teaching Developed a more humane view of the child; educational method incorporating sensation

Led a Romantic revolt against the doctrine of child depravity; a forerunner of child-centered progressivism Devised an educational method that introduced object teaching and sensory learning in elementary schools

Devised an education method that stressed sequential organization of instruction and moral character development

Self-activity; play; imitation Facilitates children’s growth Created the kindergarten, a special early childhood learning environment

Reliance on sensation and the scientific method; activities

Problem solving according to the scientific method Organizes instruction in basic activities

Creates a learning environment based on learners’ shared experiences A leading curriculum theorist who stressed scientific and applied knowledge Developed the pragmatic experimentalist philosophy of education

Begin with learner’s neighborhood, culture, and needs; lead to broader social realities and connections

Spontaneous learning; activities; practical, sensory, and formal skills; exercises for practical life Individualized programs; exploration and experimentation with concrete materials

Use of personal and group autobiographies Engages in a reciprocal or mutual learning experience with students

Acts as a director of learning by using didactic materials in a prepared environment

Organizes instruction according to stages of cognitive development

Stimulates awareness of real conditions of life Developed a progressive theory of urban and multicultural education

Developed a widely used method and philosophy of early childhood education

Formulated a theory of cognitive development

Formulated a theory and praxis of critical consciousness

Influence on today’s Schools

Schools organized according to children’s stages of development

Permissive teaching based on child freedom

Schooling based on emotional security and object learning

Teacher preparation based on a prescribed method and entry of history and literature into curriculum as a moral core

Preschools designed to liberate the child’s creativity

Schooling that stresses scientific knowledge and competitive values Schooling that emphasizes problem solving and activities in a context of community Respect for multicultural pluralism in a shared American cultural context

Early childhood schooling that is intellectually and developmentally stimulating Schooling organized around cognitive developmental stages

Influenced critical theory and liberation pedagogy