Friedrich Froebel, Founder of Kindergarten Essay

Friedrich Froebel was a German educator of the nineteenth century who developed an Idealist philosophy of earlier barbarianhood statement. He established kindergarten and education for four and five-year-old children. Kindergarten is now a part of education worldwide. Friedrich Froebel was born in the small town of Oberwiessbach, Germany in 1782. His mother died when he was a baby. His father remarried, but Froebel never care his stepmother. His feeling of rejection and isolation remained with him for life. This had a strong effect on his opening of proto(prenominal) childhood education.He believed the kindergarten instructor should be loving, kind and motherly. Froebel likewise had an unsatisfactory relationship with his father which, along with his shyness, ca intentd him to be introspective and socially inept (Gutek, 2005, p. 261). Therefore, he hold deard his kindergarten to foster a sense of turned on(p) security and self-esteem in children (Gutek, 2005, p. 261). At t he season of ten, Froebel went to live with his uncle. As a childlike child, Froebel spent a lot of time escapeing in the garden around his home. This light-emitting diode to his love of nature and had a profound effect on his educational philosophy.When he was fifteen geezerhood old, Froebel apprenticed with a forester and surveyor and studied forestry, geometry and surveying in discipline. He briefly attended the University of Jena from 1800-1802. Then he studied architecture at Frankfurt University. Although he ended his studies without receiving a degree, Froebel gained a sense of chaste perspective and symmetry he later used to design his kindergarten gifts and occupations. maculation in Frankfurt Froebel was hired as a teacher at the Frankfurt Model School, which was a Pestalozzian crop. He studied the Pestalozzi method of commission which emphasized using objects to teach.His method rejected the use of corporal punishment and emphasized respecting the dignity of ch ildren. This method of teaching very much appealed to Froebel. Froebel wanted to incorporate Pestalozzis method and creation of a loving and potent milieu for children in his own teaching methods. After teaching at the Model School for three long time, Froebel studied with Pestalozzi for two more years Froebel likewise decided to ascertain phraseologys and science at the University of G? ttingen. He wanted to identify linguistic structures that could be used in language instruction.During this time he became very interested in geology and mineralogy, and also chased this in his studies. Froebel believed that the process of crystallization (moving from the simple to the complex) emulated a universal cosmic law that also governed human growth and development (Net Industries, 2008, Biography section, 3). He would later incorporate the geometric shapes and formations in crystals to create his kindergarten gifts. In 1816, Froebel started a school in Griesheim called the Universal German statemental Institute. He enrolled students who were 7 years old or older.The school eventually moved to Keilhau. The school remained opened until 1829 when it struggled and was staff officed to close. However, Froebel was able to test and develop some of his educational ideas in his school. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Hoffmeister. She shared Froebels love of children and help in his educational work until her death. Froebel established an educational institute at Wartenese in 1831. Later, he was invited to establish an orphanage at Burgdorf. Here he conducted a school for the town children and a boarding school for those who lived away.He trained teachers and established a nursery school for 3 and 4 year olds. He developed songs, rhymes, games, physical exercises and other activities for the nursery school. He experimented with the objects and other materials that eventually became his kindergarten gifts. He also stressed escape and its function in education. In 1 837, at the age of 55, Froebel relocated to Blankenburg and established a new type of school for premature childhood education. He called it kindergarten, or the childrens garden (Smith, 1999, 5).This word expressed Froebels vision for early childhood education Children are like tiny flowers they are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the lodge of peers (Smith, 1999, 6). He used play, songs, stories, and activities to establish an educational environment in which children, by their own activeness, could divulge and develop. According to Froebel, this meant that children, in their development, would learn to mention the divinely established laws of human growth through their own activity (Net Industries, 2008, Biography section, 5).This is where he used his kindergarten gifts and occupations. Gifts were objects Froebel believed had special symbolic potential. Occupations were the raw materials children could use in drawing and buildin g activities that allowed them to concretize their ideas (Gutek, 2005, p. 265). Froebel became famous as an early childhood educator in Germany and by 1848, forty-four kindergartens were operating in Germany. Froebel began training young women as kindergarten teachers. Kindergarten achieved its greatest influence in the joined States.It was brought to America by the Germans after the European Revolution of 1848. Kindergartens appeared wherever thither was a giant concentration of German immigrants. Henry Barnard, the premier(prenominal) joined States Commissioner of Education, introduced Froebels kindergarten into educational literature in the 1850s by including it in the American Journal of Education, of which he was the editor. He also recommended to Congress that a public school system be established for the District of capital of South Carolina that would include kindergartens. In 1873, William Torrey Harris established a kindergarten at a school in St.Louis, Missouri and inco rporated it into the public school system. This event led to more public schools incorporating kindergartens into their systems. Eventually, Harris became the U. S. Commissioner of Education and he continued to press for the internalisation of kindergartens into public school systems throughout the United States. Before Froebel started his kindergarten, children under the age of seven did non attend school as it was believed that these young children did not have the ability to develop the cognitive and emotional skills needed to learn in a school environment.However, Froebel believed in early childhood education because learning begins when consciousness erupts, education must also (Pioneers, 2000, 7). In his book, Education of Man, Froebel states the idealist themes of his philosophy (1) all existence originates in and with God (2) humans possess an inherent spiritual essence that is the vitalizing life force that causes development (3) all beings and ideas are interconnected parts of a grand, ordered, and authoritative universe (Net Industries, 2008, Froebels Kindergarten Philosophy section, 1).This is what Froebel based his work on, claiming that each child had an internal spiritual essence a life force (Net Industries, 2008, Froebels Kindergarten Philosophy section, 1). This life force seeks to be manifested through self-activity. He also believed that child development follows the doctrine of preformation, the unfolding of that which was present latently in the someone (Net Industries, 2008, Froebels Kindergarten Philosophy section, 1).Froebels kindergarten created a special educational environment in which this self-activity and development occurred. Froebel used his kindergarten gifts, occupations, social and cultural activities, and especially play to promote this self-activity. Froebel also believed that children were to learn that they were members of a great universal, spiritual community (Gutek, 2005, p. 266). Thus the use of games and s ocial activities. According to Froebel, play was all historic(p) to educating the young child.He believed that through engaging with the world, understanding would develop. That is why play was so critical it is a creative activity through which children become cognizant of their place in the world and the world around them. Education was to be based on each childs interests and spontaneous activity. The kindergarten teachers job was to create an environment that would stimulate the childs development. She was also to create a safe, secure environment that prevented anything from disturbing this process.It was essential to the kindergarten childrens progress that the teacher did not hinder the childs free play and individuality. Each child would learn what he was plant to learn when he was ready to learn it. As Froebel states Education in instruction and training, originally and in its first principles, should necessarily be passive, avocation (only guarding and protecting), no t prescriptive, categorical, interfering (Sniegoski, 1994, p. 8). Froebel believed the kindergarten should have a pleasant physical environment.He recommended the use of an adjoining garden or a brightly variegated room with plants, animals and pictures. This should also be a prepared environment which would digest the teacher with the proper tools which the teacher felt would be most unspoiled to the learning environment. And instead of traditional books, the kindergarten should teach using geometrical play objects of different shapes, sizes and colors (gifts). He also believed in symbolism and that if a child played with the gifts, they would help the child to understand fundamental truths. Froebels gifts consisted ofsix soft colored balls a wooden sphere, closure, and cylinder a vast cube divided into eight smaller cubes a large cube divided into eight oblong blocks a large cube divided into twenty-one whole, six half, and twelve quarter cubes a large cube divided into eight een whole oblongs with three divided longitudinally and three divided breadthwise quadrangular and triangular tablets used for recording figures sticks for outlining figures wire rings for outlining figures various materials for drawing, perforating, embroidering, radical cutting, weaving or braiding, paper folding, modeling, and interlacing.(Net Industries, 2008, The Kindergarten Curriculum section, 1). Also, Froebel designed occupations to be used in the kindergarten. These allowed more exemption and were things that children could shape and manipulate. Examples of occupations are string, sand, clay, and beads. As always, there was an underlying meaning in all that was done in Froebels kindergarten. Even clean up time was seen as a reminder to the child of Gods plan for moral and social order (Nichols, n.d. , Occupations section, 1). Froebels careful study of the nature of children and their part in the world continues to be of great importance, as it opened a door to a new w orld in childhood education. Froebel attached importance to what originated in children, not merely what adults gave them to do or learn (Sniegoski, 1994, p. 15). He also discovered the educational value of play and the use of new non-book, hands-on materials in teaching children.Froebel provided a theoretical basis for early childhood education that recognized stages of quick growth (Sniegoski, 1994, p. 15). The one aspect of Froebels theories that has disappeared for the most part is the cabalistic symbolism that overcastted his educational philosophy. However, his ideals of freeing children to develop according to their own interests and needs and giving them a bright, playful, nurturing environment in which to learn remains an important and vital part of early childhood education today.References Gutek, Gerald Lee. (2005). Friedrich Froebel Founder of the kindergarten. In Historical and philosophical foundations of education a biographical introduction (4th ed. ) (pp. 256-273 ). amphetamine Sadle River, NJ Pearson Education, Inc. Lucas, Bill. (2005, October 24). Studying the creation of kindergarten. In Boxes and Arrows The Design Behind the Design, July, 2008. Retrieved July 12, 2008, from http//www. boxesandarrows. com/ get wind/studying_the_creation_of_kindergarten. Net Industries. (2008).Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) Biography, Froebels kindergarten philosophy, the kindergarten curriculum, diffusion of the kindergarten. In Education Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 10, 2008, from http//education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/ Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html. Nichols, Rachel. (n. d. ). Friedrich Froebel Founder of the first kindergarten. Retrieved July 11, 2008 from http//hubpages. com/hub/ Friedrich-Froebel-Founder-of-the-First-Kindergarten. Pioneers in our field Friedrich Froebel Founder of the first kindergarten Electronic version.(2000). Scholastic Early puerility Today, August, 2000. Retrieved July 11, 2008 from http//www2. scholastic. com/brows e/article. jsp? id=3442. Smith, Mark K. (1997). Friedrich Froebel. Retrieved July 12, 2008 from http//www. infed. org/thinkers/et-froeb. htm. Sniegoski, Stephen. (1994). Froebel and early childhood education in America. Retrieved July 12, 2008 from the educational Resources Information Center Web site http//www. eric. ed. gov/ERICDOCS/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/ 00000196/80/14/19/02. pdf.