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Johann Amos Comenius
One of the earliest authors to produce a text outlining a modern system of education for all children. He continued to advocate for universal education, which Martin Luther had successfully promoted in some European countries. -
John Locke
Produced another guide to education that had a great impat on educational practices in America. He strongly emphasized the importance of first-hand experiences as a means of learning. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Authored influential books that spawned educational reforms in Europe and America. His founding principles are seen as threads running through the beliefs of many prominent educators throughout history. In his view, the individual learns to operate within and for the social group. -
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
He focused on the welfare of poor children. His concerns grew out of the increasing industrialization of society and the dramatic rifts among upper, middle, and lower classes in urban areas. -
Friedrich Froebel
He was best known as the father of kindergarten. Froebel sought to build on previous theories and create a formal system of education for young children that would uplift human society. -
Robert Owen
He became a pioneer and champion of educating children outside the home. In the 1820's Owen became increasingly interested in spreading the infant school movement in America. -
Susan Blow
She was concerned about inferior teacher-training programs because she believe that qualified, quality teachers were essential for the continuation of the Froebelian kindergarten movement. She worked to provide educational opprotunities for post civil war slave children in the south as well as a Native American children. -
G. Stanley Hall
Integrated Darwin's ideas with those of the romantics and created the child study movement. His approach to education emphasized aligning the educational curriculum with the stages of development. -
G. Stanley Hall
The first Anerican to receive a doctorate in psychology. He integrated Darwins ideas with those of the romantics and created the child study movement. -
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
She opened the first English-speaking kindergarten in Boston in 1859. She adapted Froebel's ideal child's garden to include individualized instruction, in which she adapted activities to suit particular children's abilities. -
Lucy Sprague Mitchell
She becamee an integral founding member of the Bureau of Educational Experiments. She remains one of the most influential people in contemporary early childhood history. -
Erik Erikson
Deveoplmental stage theory of socioemotional development remains a foundation of curren beliefs about children's personality development. -
Caroline Pratt
Opened the play school in Ney York City in 1913. Her primary goal was to create an education system that would teach children how to think, and to generate knowledge that they would carry over from the classroom to the world -
Patty Smith Hill
Designed new child-centered, interest based methods that integrated ideas from Froebel, the child study movement, behaviorism, and progressive approaches to education. -
Arnold Gesell
He placed great emphasis on the developmental importance of the early childhood years and promoted the role of parents and teachers as researchers. -
Margaret and Rahel McMillian
The McMillians created an open-air nursery school where hygiene, outdoor play, and active hands-on learning were primary goals. -
Jean Piget
Spent his long life studying children's cognitive development, primarily through observation and analysis of children's answers to problem-solving tasks. -
Lev Vygotsky
Spent his relatively short life witing works that were not available to the public until long after his death. He emphasized the importance of language development as a tool for facilitating and organizing cognitive development -
Urie Bronfenbrenner
He suggested that larger systems, such as government, broader educational systems, media, and larger social and cultural beliefs, exert influences on children, although perhaps in less direct ways. -
Jerome Bruner
Builds on and refines ideas about how children think, process and store information, and learn.
