History of Early Childhood Education – Comenius, Froebel, Montessori

Paper History of Early Childhood Education Comenius, Froebel, Montessori 1. tail end Amos Comenius John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) was a Czech theologian, philosopher, t apieceer and writer who thought knowledge could improve society. He advocated universal textbooks & language and believed children would enjoy learning more than if they were orderically taught in early years. Comenius thought instruction should move from frequent to specific, from easy to difficult and believed to engage children with nature. He taught that bringing up began in the early days of puerility, and continued finished turn up life. Comenius believed in four varied tames for different ages -Nursery aim birth to 6 years of age, where hands-on learning, active experiences and stunning learning are of importance. 2 -Elementary (National) ages 6 to 12 -Latin discipline (Gymnasium) ages 13 -18 -Academy gifted ages 19-24 From his point of view t from each oneers should present les countersigns at a levelheaded pace, use age-appropriate instruction, keep materials constantly before a childs eyes and use a single method of instruction at all times.Comenius rejected the conventional wisdom that children were inherently bad and that teachers need to use corporal punishment to discipline them. 3 He was the number 1 to promote continuing education and the prime(prenominal) to advocate equal education for all, including women and the poor. what is more he wrote the Great Didactic (a textbook for curriculum and education) and was the prototypic to use pictures in text books for teaching children (Orbis Pictus). His school of thought of Pansophism (meaning all knowledge) act to incorporate theology, school of thought, and education into one. He believed that learning, spiritual, and emotional growth were all twine together especially in the teaching of children. What Comenius referred to as the Via Lucis, or mien of light, was the pursuit of higher learning and spiritu al enlightenment bound together. 4 In 1641/42 he was asked to completely restructure the school establishment of Sweden. As the Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum, the Moravian Church, Comenius was asked to be the first President of Harvard College, but declined. He died in Amsterdam in 1670. Comeniuss theory incorporated spiritual love of human race beings beings with emphasis on Natures goodness. 5 He was a earthyistic pedagogue who believed children were innately good and learned most effectively and efficiently by examining objects in their immediate natural purlieu. Comenius anticipated many practices associated with modern-day child-cmove intoed liberalist education. 6 He believed that teaching should build on childrens interests and actively engage their senses. During his lifetime he published 154 books, mostly dealing with educational philosophy and theology. Known today as the Father of Modern Education, he pioneered modern educational methods. 1Comenius Foundation, 20 13, in http//comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comenius-biography. php 2Essa & Young (1994), p. 36 3www. wou. edu/girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 106 4Comenius Foundation, 2013, in http//comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comenius-biography. php 5www. wou. edu/girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 106 6www. wou. edu/girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 107 2. Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel The German educationalist Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel was born in 1782.From 1798 to 1800 he was an apprentice to a forester and surveyor in Neuhaus, and attended the University of Jena from 1800 to 1802. In 1805 Froebel briefly studied architecture in Frankfurt, got hired as a teacher and took a brusque course with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi at Yverdon, where he interned from 1808 to 1810. Although he accepted certain aspects of Pestalozzis method the emphasis on nature, the permissive school atmosphere and the object lesson he believed that Pestalozzis theory lacke d an adequate philosophical foundation.Froebel gave Pestalozzis object lesson a more emblematical meaning by saying that the concrete object was to stimulate repeat of a corresponding idea in the childs mind. He accepted Pestalozzis global method that saw schools as emotionally secure places for children, but he elevated the concept to a highly spiritual level. Like Pestalozzi, he wanted to prepare teachers who would be sensitive to childrens readiness and needs. 7 Furthermore Froebel studied languages and science at the University of Gottingen from 1810 to 1812 .He wanted to identify linguistic structures that could be applied to language instruction. From 1812 to 1816 Froebel studied mineralogy at the University of Berlin. He believed the process of crystallization, wretched from simple to complex, reflected a universal cosmic law that also governed human growth and development. Froebel was operated by two trends in the first half of the ordinal century a resurgence of philo sophical idealism and the rising nationalism of the post-Napoleonic eras.Idealism emphasizes a spiritually based reality. Idealists saw the nation as embodying the origination spirit on earth. During Froebels life, there were efforts to unite the mingled small German kingdoms into one large nation. He believed that an education that emphasized German traditions and common people tales would advance this cause. Froebels idealism was a reaction against the empiricism of Locke and Rosseau. However, his educational philosophy emphasized the dignity of child nature as recommended by Rousseau and Pestalozzi.In 1816 Froebel open the Universal German Educational Institute at Griesheim. He travel the institute to Keilhau in 1817 where it functioned until 1829. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Wilhelmine Hoffmeister (17801839), who assisted him until her death. In 1831 Froebel effected an institute at Wartensee on Lake Sempach in Switzerland and then relocated the school to Willisau. Fr oebel next operated an orphanage and boarding school at Burgdorf. He believed that any childs inner self contained a spiritual essence that stimulated self-active learning.He therefrom designed the kindergarten system for children under the age of six (1837) that would be a prepared environment to externalize childrens interior spirituality through and through self-activity employ play, songs, stories, and activities. He developed special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls), a serial of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities (fine motor skills). This particular curriculum now a standard part of early childhood education stimulated childrens cognitive, social, emotional, notional and physical development.Froebels reputation as an early childhood educator change magnitude and kindergartens were established throughout the German states. In 1852 Froebel passed external. By the end of the nineteenth century, kindergartens had been established throughout Europe and North America. 4 7http//education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html 3. maria Montessori On August 31st, 1870 maria Montessori was born at Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father, Alessandro Montessori, bended for the civil service, and her mother, Renilde S gratuitypani, came from an donnish family and was vigorous educated.The Montessori family moved to capital of Italy in 1875, and the following year female horse enrolled in the local state school on the Via di San Nicolo da Tolentino. At 12, Montessori expressed her role to attend what was called a technical school for her substitute(prenominal) education, which was unusual at the time as most girls who pursued thirdhand education studied the classics. From 1886 to 1890 she continued her studies at the Regio Instituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci, which she entered with the intention of becoming an engineer.This decision didnt find favor with her father, who believed that the edu cation of females should be circumscribe to certain subjects. Upon her graduation, Montessori was determined to enter checkup school and become a doctor. Her father opposed this coursemedical school was then an all-male stay freshand initially Maria was refused entry by the head of the school. 8 In 1890, with her mothers support, Montessori obtained her fathers reluctant permission to attend the University of capital of Italy to study physics, mathematics and natural sciences, receiving her diploma two years later.This and the Popes intercession enabled her to enter the College of Medicine, and she became the first woman to enter medical school in Italy. Montessori stood out not just because of her gender, but because she was actually intent on master the subject matter. She awarded for her work in pathology by winning a series of scholarships at medical school which, together with the money she earned through private tuition, enabled her to pay for most of her medical education. In 1895 she won a position as assistant in the University hospital.Montessoris time at medical school was a challenge, because her male colleagues showed their disapproval of her presence and she had to work alone on dissections since these were not allowed to be done in mixed classes. precisely she was a dedicated student and graduated in June 1896 at the top of her class as a specialist in surgery and in the diseases of women and children. She became the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Italy, and with this distinction also became know across the country. She was immediately employed in the San Giovanni Hospital attached to the University.Later that year she was asked to represent Italy at the International intercourse for Womens Rights in Berlin, where she talked near the progress of education for women in Italy. In November 1896 Montessori added the appointment as surgical assistant at Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome to her portfolio of tasks. In 1897 she volunteered to join a research program at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Rome, and it was here that she worked alongside Giusseppe Montesano, with whom she would have a child a few years later.As part of her work at the clinic she would visit Romes asylums for the insane, seeking patients for treatment at the clinic. Montessori discovered that many children with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities, who couldnt stay at home or go to school or work, were being kept in asylums alongside adults with major psychiatric disorders. She came to realize that in such a bare, unfurnished environment the children were larger-than-life for sensorial stimulation and activities for their hands, and that this deprivation was contributing to their condition.She began to read what others had published about running(a) with children with various disabilities and in particular she studied the groundbreaking work of two early 19th century Frenchmen, Jean-Marc Itard and Edouard Seguin, his studen t. 5 8A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in http//montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm Itard had developed a technique of education through the senses, which Seguin later tried to adapt to mainstream education. Seguin emphasized respect and understanding for each individual child.He created a practical apparatus and equipment to help develop the childs sensory perceptions and motor skills, which Montessori was later to use in forward-looking shipway. From 1897-98 she attended courses in pedagogy, studying the works of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel. In 1898 Montessori was becoming known for her work with and ideas about education for children with disabilities. In 1899, she began teaching at a college for the training of female teachers, and there she further explored and discussed ideas about education.Then, in 1900, as a result of her work with children in hospitals and asylums, Montessori was asked to become the co-director of the Orthophrenic School for children wi th various disabilities that prevented them from doing well in regular schools. Montessori spent 2 years working at the Orthophrenic School, experimenting with and refining the materials devised by Itard and Seguin and bringing a scientific, analytical view to the work teaching and observing the children by day and writing up her notes by night.In 1898 Maria gave birth to a child, a boy named Mario, who was devoted into the care of a family who lived in the countryside near Rome. In 1901 Montessori left the Orthophrenic School and immersed herself in her own studies of educational philosophy and anthropology. In 1904 she took up a post as a lecturer at the Pedagogic School of the University of Rome, which she held until 1908. 9 During this period Rome was experiencing rapid population growth and industrialization. In the fever of speculative development, some construction companies were going bankrupt, leaving mere(a) building projects which quickly attracted squatters.One such d evelopment, which stood in the San Lorenzo district, was rescued by a group of wealthy bankers who undertook a basic restoration, dividing larger apartments into small units for broken working families. Many children not old enough for school or work were being left alone while their parents went to work each day. These unsupervised children were vandalizing the newly renovated buildings and getting into other kinds of trouble. This prompted the developers to feeler Dr. Montessori to provide ways of occupying the children during the day to prevent further damage to the premises.Montessori grasped the opportunity and established her first Casa dei Bambini or Childrens House. What Montessori came to realize was that children who were placed in an environment where activities were designed to support their natural development had the power to educate themselves (autoeducation). By the autumn of 1908 there were five Case dei Bambini operating, four in Rome and one in Milan. Children i n a Casa dei Bambini made extraordinary progress, and briefly 5-year-olds were writing and reading.In the summer of 1909 Montessori gave the first training course in her approach to around 100 students. He published her first book that said(prenominal) year in Italy, which appeared in translation in the United States in 1912 as The Montessori Method, reaching second place on the U. S. nonfiction bestseller list. in brief afterwards it was translated into 20 different languages and has become a major influence in the field of education. A period of great expansion in the Montessori approach now followed in Europe and America.By 1933 all Montessori schools in Germany had been closed. In the same year, after Montessori refused to cooperate with Mussolinis plans to incorporate Italian Montessori schools into the fascist youth movement, he closed them all down. 9A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in http//montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm 6 The outbreak of civil war in S pain agonistic the family to abandon their home in Barcelona, and they sailed to England in the summer of 1936. From England the refugees travelled to the Netherlands.In 1939 Montessori and her son Mario traveled to India to give a 3-month training course in Madras followed by a lecture tour they were not to return for nearly 7 years. With the outbreak of war, as Italian citizens, Mario was interned and Montessori put under house arrest. She was well looked after in India, where she met Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore. Her 70th birthday request to the Indian government, that Mario should be released and restored to her, was granted. Together they trained over a thousand Indian teachers. In 1946 they returned to the Netherlands.A year later Montessori addressed UNESCO on the theme Education and slumber. In 1949 she received the first of three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her last national engagement was in London in 1951 when she attended the 9th International Montessori Congre ss. On May 6th 1952, at the holiday home of the Pierson family in the Netherlands, she passed away in the company of her son, Mario, to whom she bequeathed the legacy of her work. 10 10A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in http//montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm 7 References A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in http//montessori. rg. au/montessori/biography. htm Comenius Foundation, 2013, in http//comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comeniusbiography. php E. M. Standing, Maria Montessori Her Life and Work (New York 1984), p. 38. Essa, E. & Young, R. (2003). Introduction to early childhood education (3rd Can. ed. ). Nelson Canada Friedrich Froebel (17821852) Biography, Froebels Kindergarten Philosophy, The Kindergarten Curriculum, Diffusion of the Kindergarten, in http//education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html Julia Maria, Le Feminisme Italien entrevue avec Mlle. Montessori,