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Sep 12, 1500
Martin Luther translated the bible and advocated teaching children to read.
Martin Luther identified an issue in education that we are still battling today: Literacy. Even in our native languages, not everyone learns to read. All though the schools of the 1500's looked very different from our ECE classrooms today, Martin Luther helped by making the first of many steps. -
Sep 12, 1510
John Comenius wrote the first picture book and theorized about sensory learning.
Comenius had some ideas about the importance of early education that we still use today. Emphasizing sensory experiences for children and the idea that starting early yeilded results were two of his largest contributions. -
John Locke believed children could be taught behavior and that their experiences molded them.
Locke falls squarely on the side of nurture in the nature vs. nurture debate. He believed that the child's ecperiences were the basis of their learning and that they could be taught in specific ways to yeild specific results -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed a more natural style was appropriate for raising children and that they followed an innate timetable.
Rousseau was much more closely tied to the nature side of the debate. He believed that children unfolded in a homelike environment and that they should be taught to match their developmental level -
Johann Pestalozzi furthered theories on sensory education and a child's natural course.
Pestalozzi said that the mother was the best teacher and emphasized home teaching and family centered education. he believed that given the appropriate sensory experiences to discover, children would thrive. -
Robert Owen was an advocate for the ability of education to counteract a negative environment
Back on the nurture side, Owen believed that character was shaped by society, and could be reformed by society. He also discussed the importance of the environment for infants and opened his own infant school. -
Friedrich Froebel the father of kindergarten
Froebel developed a comprehensive system for training teachers to use gifts, songs, and experiences to teach their "garden of children." We still use many of his idea and tools today -
John Dewey and the Child-Centered Program
Dewey believed that the child was "more important than the subject" and that teaching and curriculum should revolve around the child's interests and abilities. -
Maria Montessori's Methods
Developed to form solutions for learning for children with special needs, the Montessori method is used to promote learning for children of all abilities to this day. -
Jean Piaget developed Constructive Theory
Play provides hands-on and minds-on opportunity for learning. Different stages are reached through development and learning and some basic principles are lost on children who are too young, or in a lower stage of learning -
Lev Vygotsky's ZPD
Vygotsky said that children need a teacher's help (or other, more competent peer) to work within their Zone of Proximal Development through scaffolding. That when they are fully engaged in their environment they are able to work up to a higher skill level. -
Erik Erikson
Erikson said that cognitive and social development are inseparable, called psychosocial development -
Abraham Maslow
Maslow identified children's basic needs as precursors to learning and development. Then their need for praise and achievement, as well as an aesthetic need of the learning environment. -
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Identified the ecological theory of all the different systems that can effect a child's development. These are social systems that change what expereinces and opportunities a child might have. -
Howard Gardner
Gardener developed the theory of multiple intelligences, saying that we shouldn't rely on one definition of intelligence in one specific area.
