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Period: 1562 to
John Amos Comenius
Comenius illustrated the first picture book for children titled Orbis Pictus.
Comenius believed the earlier the education began the better. He likened it to a seedling saying it is easier to shape, reshape, and guide than a formed tree.
Comenius proposed that sensory learning was the best way to learn and that it formed the foundation for all learning. (Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau was best remembered for his book Emile. This text set the tone for his educational view. He stated "God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil." (Morrison 2014).
Believed that children develop according to their embedded timeline. This was also know as unfolding.
Rousseau was a proponent for the development of children with minimal interference or restriction. (Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel
Froebel is often referred to as the father of kindergarten.
He believed that through play and self-activity.
Froebel's idea of unfolding and learning through play are his greatest contributions to ECE.
Froebel introduced the idea of using manipulatives in order to teach concepts. He called them "gifts and occupations". (Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
John Dewey
Dewey emphasized the theory of Progressiveism. This emphasized the child and their interests instead of the curriculum. This theory sparked child-centered curriculum and schools. (Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
Maria Montessori
Montessori was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Italy.
Montessori was one of few pioneers in special education.
Montessori believed developmental delays or deficiency was an educational problem, not a medical one. (Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
Jean Piaget
Piaget developed the Stages of Cognitive Development which he explained is how individuals think, understand, and learn.
Piaget also believed that children grow cognitively through interacting with adults, peers, and their environments.
(Morrison, 2014) -
Period: to
Cold War
During the cold war the Soviet Union and the U.S. were in a battle to see who could be the dominant world power.
Sputnik resulted from the Cold War.
From this war came the focus on Science, Math, and Technology in education. (Morrison, 2014) -
The Economic Opportunity Act
This Act provided the beginning of Head Start in 1965.
This Act was created to help those in poverty get an education and be able to work. (Morrison,2014) -
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8
NAEYC first published this document. (Copple and Bredekamp, 1987).
This document sets the framework for DAP and shows appropriate and inappropriate discipline practices.
This position document, updated in 1997 and again in 2008, advocates for practices in the education system to have an interactive approach to learning between teacher and child relationships. (Gartrell, 2007) -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Formerly known as Education of All Handicapped Children Act provided the practice of inclusion and differentiated instruction. (Morrison, 2014)