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Rousseau
Rousseau was a philosopher, writer, and composer. He believed in the education system, but also believed that children should be taught according to their developmental state and their strengths. He encouraged curiosity in children and advocated for independence during learning; meaning as little adult interaction as possible. -
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Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi believed in natural learning, but with a twist. He combined both natural learning and informal instruction. He didn't believe children could learn completely on their own, but with assistance. He encouraged teachers to create a environment with such conditions that allowed children a space to grow intellectually. One of his best known teachings was lessons he designed involving objects called gifts. Children learned about these through touch, smell, language, size, and shape. -
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Froebel
Froebel emphasized on play in the classroom. He believed children also needed adult interaction in order to learn. Froebel created the term Kindergarten, which actually means "children's garden". This illustrated his philosophy that children grow just like plants. The more we water and tend to them, the better they will do. -
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Dewey
Dewey's philosophy of education created around child centered curriculum. He believed that the curriculum should be based off of children's interests. This could include children learning about dinosaurs, space, etc. He also believed in socialization among children and that it allowed them to grow. A couple of other concepts Dewey implemented were circle time, reading the weather, and science topics, among various others. -
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Montessori
Montessori believed that children needed early, elderly, systematic training in order to master new skills or concepts. She believed that a teachers role was give direction and the children's role was to follow the instruction. Montessori materials use all five senses. These materials also teach realistic, life like expectations. Most Montessori classroom materials imitate what that object would be like in real life. -
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Piaget
Piaget developed the idea of cognitive developmental stages. These included (in order) Sensorimotor period, Preoperational period, Concreate operational period, and Formal operations period. Knowing these stages allowed teachers to meet children where they were at, developmentally. Piaget also taught the concepts of assimilation and accommodation in the classroom. -
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Vygotsky
Vygotsky believed that learning occurred when children acquired new concepts. New concepts were considered schema, according to Vygotsky, and were mental structures where people store information. He also encouraged interactions among children. He believed this could help them to complete tasks they might not be able to do alone. -
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Skinner
He believed children learned through imitation, association, and condition. His philosophy involved repeating these steps, helping children to learn through repetition. He also demonstrated the use of positive reinforcement to encourage positive behavior in children. -
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind supported standards based education. The idea behind the act was that if we set high standards that we can measure through testing, students will do better. This act required all states to develop tests that would measure each student's "level" in each standard. This act also allowed schools to receive federal funding if they administered these standardized tests. -
Common Core Standards
Common Core was introduced around 2008 but was not implemented until 2011. The idea behind Common Core was to ensure that children across the states were all learning the same basic level of knowledge. They believed this helped to level the playing field of opportunities for all students. Although this is a set of standards that students need to know, Common core does not instruct teachers how to teach them. Many states have re-written their own Common Core. -
Read to Succeed
Act number 284, the Read to Succeed act, was created to ensure that all students were graduating on time and with the literacy skills they would need to succeed in life. This act provided assessments and assistance to children in order to assure they were at the appropriate reading levels.