Natural Education

PestalozziFroebel

MontessoriCreated by

Vanessa L. Cortez

Antonio Rivera

Pestalozzi (1746-1827)

• Swiss educator

• Return to nature philosophy

• Enlightenment rationalism

• Rousseau

Pestalozzi’s Life

• Born in Zurich, Italian Family

• Barbara Schmid (Babeli)

• Helvetic Society

• Search for a profession

• The Farm

Neuhof and Writings• 1774, The school for working and learning• Vocational, moral, and intellectual development

• Failure in 1779• Leonard and Gertrude: Home and School• Researches into the Course of Nature in the

Development of the Human Race• How Gertrude Teaches Her Children

Stans, Burgdorf and Iverdon

• French Revolution in Switzerland• Orphanage Director: Rehabilitating

victims of war• Educational Institute at Burgdorf• ABC of Anschauung: Reduction of

education to simplicity• Yverdon, Pestalozzi’s greatest

achievement• Failure due to bad management

Philosophy of Education• Nature: Physical reality that appears to our

senses in an array of independent objects• Objects exist independent of people’s

knowledge but can be known through sensation

• Two levels of nature a) objective order of reality b) operations that direct development• Human development as a tree

Art of Instruction• Development based on nature and

harmony• Human, Intellectual, and Physical

development must grow balanced • The amoral, physically weak genius• Natural Education: Psychology of

Learning• Phase II: Exercises, experiences and

materials

Anschauung

• Definition: The single unitary operational process that is the source of all human cognition.

• Sensation

• Perception

• Cognition

Art of Sense Impression• Object Lesson (Conceptualization)• Pestalozzi believed that thought began with

sensation and that teaching should use the senses. Holding that children should study the objects in their natural environment, Pestalozzi developed a so-called "object lesson" that involved exercises in learning form, number, and language. Pupils determined and traced an object's form, counted objects, and named them.

System of Natural Education- 2 phases• (1) General Method-

creating an emotionally secure learning environment

• (2) Special Method- Instruction in subject matter and skills

General Method: Emotional SecuritySought to create an emotionally secure educational environment for the child

-Love and security ( family- school connection)

-Embrace the techniques, experiences, and activities necessary for moral, intellectual, and physical development

-Provide emotional support

Special Method

• Instruction was to begin with the learner’s direct experience with concrete objects found in the environment

• Sensation and experience- begin with familiar objects and tasks before abstract kinds of learning

From the Near to the Far• Instruction should begin with the learner’s

immediate environment and the objects that were part of the environment.

• Eventually lead to “widening circle of mankind” that leads children from the home through the socioeconomic environment into the world. (Continuity of experience)

From the Simple to the Complex

• Build from simple tasks to more complex

• Ex. Language lessons began with speaking sounds, then words, then phrases, finally sentences,

Pestalozzi’s Major Contributions to Early Childhood

• Pestalozzi's contribution to early childhood education was to stress the education of the whole child, the importance of a loving and emotionally secure environment, and recognizing the dignity of the child in education.

Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852)• German educator: Influenced by idealism

and romanticism• Occupations: Forester, naturalist,

chemist, teacher• Visit to Iverdon• 1813: The war• Griesheim: Music, play, self-activity• Burgdorf Switzerland• Blankenburg Germany: First

Kindergarten

Philosophy of Education

• The Education Man (1896)• Human nature unfolds the

preformed potentialities in a person

• The teacher stimulates the process of unfolding

• Teachers provide space and time in order for children to develop

Conception of the Child• The human race could be viewed

as one human being.• Family and all human beings are

united through God• The role of school is to help

students penetrate the external reality of objects into higher internal spirituality.

• Kindergarten: songs, play, stories, games

• Types of play: gifts and “occupation”

Object Lesson• Children’s ideas grow and gain full

consciousness in adulthood. • Symbols: water, sand and clay, group

occupations

The Kindergarten Movement

• 1851: Kindergarten prohibited

• Movement: England, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands

The American Kindergarten Movement• Introduced by immigrants from Germany• Public schools adapted Kindergarten as the first

step on U.S. educational ladder• Elizabeth Peabody: Founded and institute to

prepare Kindergarten teachers• St. Louis Missouri: Superintendent William Torrey

introduces Kindergarten to public schools• Kindergarten today

Maria Montessori1870- 1952

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.”

Maria Montessori

• The goal of Montessori is to provide a stimulating, child-centered environment in which children can explore, touch, and learn without fear, thus engendering a lifelong love of learning as well as providing the child the self-control necessary to fulfill that love.

Montessori’s Curriculum• Three major kinds of activities and

experiences• (1) Practical Life (setting a table, serving a

meal, basic social amenities)• (2) Sensory Training- (sensory, muscular,

and coordination)• (3) Formal skills and studies- (reading,

writing, and arithmetic) sandpaper letters, colorful rods, etc.-( didactic materials)

Implementation• Montessori is a highly hands-on

approach to learning. It encourages children to develop their observation skills by doing many types of activities. These activities include use of the five senses, kinetic movement, spatial refinement, small and large motor skill coordination, and concrete knowledge that leads to later abstraction.

Montessori Classrooms

Video Clip

Maria Montessori: Her Life and Legacy

• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=748019594080989064&q=montessori+classrooms&hl=en

American Montessori Revival

• American Montessori Society- (AMS) http://www.amshq.org/

• At least 4,000 Montessori schools in America and 7,000 worldwide

• Over 1,100 AMS member schools in America

Famous Montessori students

• Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon • Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google • Anne Frank • Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia • Katherine Graham, owner-editor of The Washington Post • Sean Combs, famous rapper of Bad Boy Records • Julia Child, first TV chef • Helen Hunt, Academy Award-winning actress • George Clooney, Academy Award-winning actor • Gabriel Garcia Marquez, novelist and Nobel Laureate