Friedrich Froebel the Founder of Kindergarten

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Friedrich Froebel was a German pedagogue of the 19th century who developed an Idealist doctrine of early childhood instruction. He established kindergarten and instruction for four and five-year-old kids. Kindergarten is now a portion of instruction worldwide. Friedrich Froebel was born in the little town of Oberwiessbach. Germany in 1782. His female parent died when he was a babe.

His male parent remarried. but Froebel ne’er liked his stepmother. His feeling of rejection and isolation remained with him for life. This had a strong consequence on his theory of early childhood instruction.

He believed the kindergarten teacher should be loving. sort and maternally. Froebel besides had an unsatisfactory relationship with his male parent which. along with his shyness. caused him to be “introspective and socially inept” ( Gutek. 2005. p. 261 ) . Therefore. he wanted his kindergarten to “foster a sense of emotional security and self-pride in children” ( Gutek.

2005. p. 261 ) . At the age of 10. Froebel went to populate with his uncle. As a immature kid. Froebel spent a batch of clip playing in the garden around his place. This led to his love of nature and had a profound consequence on his educational doctrine.

Who Was The Founder Of Kindergarten

When he was 15 old ages old. Froebel apprenticed with a Forester and surveyor and studied forestry. geometry and surveying in school. He briefly attended the University of Jena from 1800-1802.

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Then he studied architecture at Frankfurt University. Although he ended his surveies without having a grade. Froebel gained a sense of artistic position and symmetricalness he subsequently used to plan his kindergarten “gifts” and “occupations. ” While in Frankfurt Froebel was hired as a instructor at the Frankfurt Model School. which was a Pestalozzian school. He studied the Pestalozzi method of direction which emphasized utilizing objects to learn.

His method rejected the usage of bodily penalty and emphasized esteeming the self-respect of kids. This method of learning really much appealed to Froebel. Froebel wanted to integrate Pestalozzi’s method and creative activity of a loving and secure environment for kids in his ain instruction methods. After learning at the Model School for three old ages. Froebel studied with Pestalozzi for two more old ages Froebel besides decided to analyze linguistic communications and scientific discipline at the University of G? ttingen. He wanted to place lingual constructions that could be used in linguistic communication direction.

During this clip he became really interested in geology and mineralogy. and besides pursued this in his surveies. Froebel believed that the procedure of crystallisation ( traveling from the simple to the composite ) emulated a “universal cosmic jurisprudence that besides governed human growing and development” ( Net Industries. 2008. Biography subdivision. ¶ 3 ) . He would subsequently integrate the geometric forms and formations in crystals to make his kindergarten “gifts. ” In 1816. Froebel started a school in Griesheim called the Universal German Educational Institute. He enrolled pupils who were 7 old ages old or older.

The school finally moved to Keilhau. The school remained opened until 1829 when it struggled and was forced to shut. However. Froebel was able to prove and develop some of his educational thoughts in his school. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Hoffmeister. She shared Froebel’s love of kids and assisted in his educational work until her decease. Froebel established an educational institute at Wartenese in 1831. Subsequently. he was invited to set up an orphanhood at Burgdorf. Here he conducted a school for the town kids and a boarding school for those who lived off.

He trained instructors and established a nursery school for 3 and 4 twelvemonth olds. He developed vocals. rimes. games. physical exercisings and other activities for the nursery school. He experimented with the objects and other stuffs that finally became his kindergarten gifts. He besides stressed drama and its function in instruction. In 1837. at the age of 55. Froebel relocated to Blankenburg and established a new type of school for early childhood instruction. He called it “kindergarten. ” or “the children’s garden” ( Smith. 1999. ¶ 5 ) .

This word expressed Froebel’s vision for early childhood instruction: “Children are like bantam flowers ; they are varied and need care. but each is beautiful entirely and glorious when seen in the community of peers” ( Smith. 1999. ¶ 6 ) . He used drama. vocals. narratives. and activities to set up an educational environment in which kids. by their ain activity. could larn and develop. Harmonizing to Froebel. this meant that kids. in their development. would larn to follow the “divinely established Torahs of human growing through their ain activity” ( Net Industries. 2008. Biography subdivision. ¶ 5 ) .

This is where he used his kindergarten gifts and businesss. “Gifts were objects Froebel believed had particular symbolic potency. Occupations were the natural stuffs kids could utilize in pulling and edifice activities that allowed them to concretize their ideas” ( Gutek. 2005. p. 265 ) . Froebel became celebrated as an early childhood pedagogue in Germany and by 1848. 44 kindergartens were runing in Germany. Froebel began developing immature adult females as kindergarten instructors. Kindergarten achieved its greatest influence in the United States.

It was brought to America by the Germans after the European Revolution of 1848. Kindergartens appeared wherever there was a big concentration of German immigrants. Henry Barnard. the first United States Commissioner of Education. introduced Froebel’s kindergarten into educational literature in the 1850’s by including it in the American Journal of Education. of which he was the editor. He besides recommended to Congress that a public school system be established for the District of Columbia that would include kindergartens. In 1873. William Torrey Harris established a kindergarten at a school in St.

Louis. Missouri and incorporated it into the public school system. This event led to more public schools integrating kindergartens into their systems. Finally. Harris became the U. S. Commissioner of Education and he continued to press for the incorporation of kindergartens into public school systems throughout the United States. Before Froebel started his kindergarten. kids under the age of seven did non go to school as it was believed that these immature kids did non hold the ability to develop the cognitive and emotional accomplishments needed to larn in a school environment.

However. Froebel believed in early childhood instruction: “because acquisition begins when consciousness erupts. instruction must also” ( Pioneers. 2000. ¶ 7 ) . In his book. Education of Man. Froebel states the dreamer subjects of his doctrine: “ ( 1 ) all being originates in and with God ; ( 2 ) worlds possess an built-in religious kernel that is the vitalising life force that causes development ; ( 3 ) all existences and thoughts are interrelated parts of a expansive. ordered. and systematic universe” ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision. ¶ 1 ) .

This is what Froebel based his work on. claiming that each kid had an “internal religious kernel – a life force” ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision. ¶ 1 ) . This life force seeks to be manifested through self-activity. He besides believed that “child development follows the philosophy of preformation. the flowering of that which was present latently in the individual” ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision. ¶ 1 ) .

Froebel’s kindergarten created a particular educational environment in which this self-activity and development occurred. Froebel used his kindergarten gifts. businesss. societal and cultural activities. and particularly play to advance this self-activity. Froebel besides believed that kids were to larn that they were members of “a great universal. religious community” ( Gutek. 2005. p. 266 ) . Thus the usage of games and societal activities. Harmonizing to Froebel. drama was indispensable to educating the immature kid.

He believed that through prosecuting with the universe. understanding would develop. That is why drama was so critical – it is a originative activity through which kids become cognizant of their topographic point in the universe and the universe around them. Education was to be based on each child’s involvements and self-generated activity. The kindergarten teacher’s occupation was to make an environment that would excite the child’s development. She was besides to make a safe. secure environment that prevented anything from upseting this procedure.

It was indispensable to the kindergarten children’s advancement that the instructor did non impede the child’s free drama and individualism. Each kid would larn what he was ready to larn when he was ready to larn it. As Froebel provinces: “Education in direction and preparation. originally and in its first rules. should needfully be inactive. following ( merely guarding and protecting ) . non normative. categorical. interfering” ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 8 ) . Froebel believed the kindergarten should hold a pleasant physical environment.

He recommended the usage of an bordering garden or a brilliantly painted room with workss. animate beings and images. This should besides be a prepared environment which would supply the instructor with the proper tools which the instructor felt would be most good to the acquisition environment. And alternatively of traditional books. the kindergarten should learn utilizing geometrical drama objects of different forms. sizes and colourss ( “gifts” ) . He besides believed in symbolism and that if a kid played with the “gifts. ” they would assist the kid to understand cardinal truths. Froebel’s gifts consisted of:

six soft colored balls ; a wooden sphere. regular hexahedron. and cylinder ; a big regular hexahedron divided into eight smaller regular hexahedron ; a big regular hexahedron divided into eight oblong blocks ; a big regular hexahedron divided into 21 whole. six half. and 12 one-fourth regular hexahedrons ; a big regular hexahedron divided into 18 whole oblongs with three divided lengthwise and three divided breadthwise ; quadrangular and triangular tablets used for set uping figures ; sticks for sketching figures ; wire rings for sketching figures ; assorted stuffs for pulling. punching. embroidering. paper cutting. weaving or lacing. paper folding. mold. and intertwining.

( Net Industries. 2008. The Kindergarten Curriculum subdivision. ¶ 1 ) . Besides. Froebel designed “occupations” to be used in the kindergarten. These allowed more freedom and were things that kids could determine and pull strings. Examples of “occupations” are threading. sand. clay. and beads. As ever. there was an implicit in significance in all that was done in Froebel’s kindergarten. “Even clean up clip was seen as a reminder to the kid of God’s program for moral and societal order” ( Nichols. N.

d. . Occupations subdivision. ¶ 1 ) . Froebel’s careful survey of the nature of kids and their portion in the universe continues to be of great importance. as it opened a door to a new universe in childhood instruction. Froebel attached importance to what “originated in kids. non simply what grownups gave them to make or learn” ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 15 ) . He besides discovered the educational value of drama and the usage of new non-book. hands-on stuffs in learning kids.

Froebel provided a “theoretical footing for early childhood instruction that recognized phases of rational growth” ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 15 ) . The one facet of Froebel’s theories that has disappeared for the most portion is the cryptic symbolism that overcastted his educational doctrine. However. his ideals of liberating kids to develop harmonizing to their ain involvements and demands and giving them a bright. playful. fostering environment in which to larn remains an of import and critical portion of early childhood instruction today.

Mentions Gutek. Gerald Lee. ( 2005 ) . Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the kindergarten. In Historical and philosophical foundations of instruction: a biographical debut ( 4th ed. ) ( pp. 256-273 ) . Upper Sadle River. New jersey: Pearson Education. Inc. Lucas. Bill. ( 2005. October 24 ) . Analyzing the creative activity of kindergarten. In Boxes and Arrows: The Design Behind the Design. July. 2008. Retrieved July 12. 2008. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. boxesandarrows. com/view/studying_the_creation_of_kindergarten. Net Industries. ( 2008 ) .

Friedrich Froebel ( 1782-1852 ) : Biography. Froebel’s kindergarten doctrine. the kindergarten course of study. diffusion of the kindergarten. In Education Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 10. 2008. from hypertext transfer protocol: //education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/ Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. hypertext markup language. Nichols. Rachel. ( n. d. ) . Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the first kindergarten. Retrieved July 11. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //hubpages. com/hub/ Friedrich-Froebel-Founder-of-the-First-Kindergarten. Pioneers in our field: Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the first kindergarten [ Electronic version ] .

( 2000 ) . Scholastic: Early Childhood Today. August. 2000. Retrieved July 11. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www2. scholastic. com/browse/article. jsp? id=3442. Smith. Mark K. ( 1997 ) . Friedrich Froebel. Retrieved July 12. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. infed. org/thinkers/et-froeb. htm. Sniegoski. Stephen. ( 1994 ) . Froebel and early childhood instruction in America. Retrieved July 12. 2008 from the Educational Resources Information Center Web site: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. eric. erectile dysfunction. gov/ERICDOCS/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/ 00000196/80/14/19/02. pdf.