Friedrich Froebel Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Friedrich Froebel - query Paper ExampleFriedrich Froebel (1782-1852) was born in the Oberweibach area of Thuringia, Germany on 21 April 1782. His father was an orthodox Lutheran pastor who ran the parish there. So it was not surprising that the Church and the Lutheran religion became the first pillars of Froebels get education. To his bad luck, the health of Froebels mother began to fail soon after his birth and she died within golf-club months. Froebels father also passed away in 1802 and he was sent to live with an uncle in the beside village of Stadt-Ilm. Froebel started his career as an educationist in 1805 as a secondary school instructor in Frankfurt. At this time he was impressed by the work of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, also working with him in Switzerland to further develop his ideas. In 1811 Froebel once again went to Berlin and became a teacher at a embarkment school for boys that specialized in didactics and patriotism. After serving in the Napoleonic wars of 1813-14 , he was engaged in the Institute of Mineralogy by Christian Samuel Weiss. However he did not hold this job for foresighted and ultimately founded the German General Educational Institute in Arnstadt, Thirungia. He began publishing pamphlets about the conduct for education in 1820. In 1826 he published the Education of Man, his main work, followed by the Educating Families in 1828. In 1840, he finally started the first kindergarten concept in Germany at the Play and Activity Institute which he had established in 1837 (Rusk & Scotland, 1979 32). He also designed toys and activity materials dubbed Froebels Gifts for these young kids. He died at Mariental on 21 June 1852. Important Contributions Froebel was instrumental in including the concept of play and free association for kids in the classroom. He also trained people in his teaching methods and discipline. Following the success of his methods, his student Margaret Schultz candid up a kindergarten at Wisconsin in 1856 and Eliza beth Peabody in Boston in 1860. By 1911, kindergarten education was formally recognized in Germany under its bear state and regulatory laws. Froebel College in South West capital of the United Kingdom in the UK was started in 1892 to respect and follow his traditions. He also was the first to train women in pedagogy at the premises granted by the Duke of Meiningen for this purpose(Weber, 1969 13). According to Sniegoski (1994 3), Froebel can be credited for ignoring the idea that the small fry was like a plant or a lump of clay into which education can be implanted. This concept originated by Locke was in vogue at the time, but the tireless efforts of Frobel and his followers soon brought in a new concept, namely the importance of play and learning at ones own pace. Each new activity grew out of a previously available idea and thus a child was able to grow in stages of intellectual development. Much the same thing has been recognized and determine by other thinkers such as Jean P iaget. Froebel regarded play as the most classic dry land for the spontaneous development of the child. Another idea Froebel encouraged was self activity. He preferred that the learner rise himself. The task of the teacher was just to create a learning environment for the child, and shield the child from endangerment or unwanted processes. Froebel opined that for the first year of life, the mother was a childs most important teacher, while they depended on the whole family for support and contentment. As the child