Giants Education E L Explore the extraordinary K I N in history that has shaped D Developmentally Nursery Appropriate Practice In Giants in the Nursery, Professor Elkind uses his G the expertise in early childhood education to bring the history of DAP to life. Beneath the supposed fits and i starts that have been portrayed in other histories a of DAP, Dr. Elkind shows that there is a thread of n A Biographical History historical and conceptual continuity and unity. t s The book traces the evolution of developmentally of Developmentally appropriate practice from its early philosophical David Elkind, PhD, is currently in Professor Emeritus of Child beginnings, through its later practical implementation, Development at Tufts University. t Appropriate Practice to its contemporary underpinnings in scientific theory h He is a consultant to many e and research. It does so by providing biographical organizations and lectures both sketches and work summaries of the philosophers, at home and abroad. As an N practitioners, and researchers/theorists whose work expert in ECE, he has appeared u marked major turning points in this progression. In on shows including The Today Show and The Oprah Winfrey r so doing, the book also gives powerful arguments for Show. Professor Elkind has over s adopting DAP as the approach of choice in the support 500 publications, including e of young children’s learning, growth, and development. articles for a variety of magazines r and a number of popular books, y The Giants were ahead of their time in early childhood such as The Hurried Child and education, and, taken together, their perspectives give The Power of Play: Learning What us a fuller and richer appreciation of the child. Comes Naturally. “Professor Elkind has devoted his panoramic erudition and wisdom to distilling the essence of ‘developmentally appropriate practice’ bequeathed to us by eleven of history’s Giants of early child development. An indispensable contribution that should be compulsory reading for all practitioners, students, campaigners, and policy makers across the Western world.” — Dr. Richard House, Chartered Psychologist, retired university lecturer in early childhood, founder of Early Childhood Action, and editor of Too Much, Too Soon? ISBN 978-1-60554-370-3 $29.95 David Elkind, PhD GiantsFullCvr-f.indd 1 12/30/14 5:17 PM Giants in NNuurrsseerryy the A Biographical History of Developmentally Appropriate Practice David Elkind, PhD Published by Redleaf Press 10 Yorkton Court St. Paul, MN 55117 www.redleafpress.org © 2015 by David Elkind All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted on a specific page, no portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or capturing on any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet. First edition 2015 Cover design by Jim Handrigan Cover art by Hakki Arsian/ThinkStock Interior design by Dorie McClelland, Spring Book Design Typeset in Adobe Minion Pro Photo on page 176 © Ted Streshinsky/Corbis Photo on page 194 © Heritage Images/Corbis Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elkind, David, 1931- Giants in the nursery : a biographical history of developmentally appropriate practice / David Elkind. pages cm Summary: “Examine the evolution of developmentally appropriate practice with this biographical history of early childhood education. This book explores the theory’s progression--from its beginnings in writings of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philoso- phers, its experimental implementation by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practitioners, and its scientific grounding in contemporary theory and research”— Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60554-370-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-60554-371-0 (ebook) 1. Early childhood education 2. Early childhood educators. 3. Child development. I. Title. LB1139.23.E56 2015 372.21--dc23 2014030734 To Nancy McCormick Rambusch dear friend trusted and admired colleague originator of the American Montessori Association Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 A Prehistory of Early Childhood Education 9 Chapter 2 John Amos Comenius 23 Chapter 3 John Locke 39 Chapter 4 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 55 Chapter 5 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi 71 Chapter 6 Friedrich Froebel 89 Chapter 7 Rudolf Steiner 105 Chapter 8 Maria Montessori 123 Chapter 9 Sigmund Freud 141 Chapter 10 Jean Piaget 159 Chapter 11 Erik Erikson 177 Chapter 12 Lev Semenovich Vygotsky 195 Chapter 13 The Evolution of Developmentally Appropriate Practice 207 Index 219 Acknowledgments Acknowledging all the many friends and colleagues who have contributed to the conceptualization of this book over the years is impossible. But I must thank sev- eral people in particular who have helped to make it a reality. I am most indebted to Barbara Beatty, who insisted I read and include John Amos Comenius. I also want to thank George Scarlett for reading and commenting on many of the chapters. Punum Banta was kind enough to read the Montessori chapter and make many valuable suggestions. I owe enormous thanks to Kyra Ostendorf and Elena Futz for their thoughtful and thorough editing and fact-checking of all the chapters. They have made it a much better book than it would have been without their help. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife, Debra, for her gracious willingness to serve as a sounding board for, and gentle challenger to, my ruminations about each of the Giants. ix Let the main object of this, our Didactic, be as follows: To seek and to find a method of instruction, by which teachers can teach less, but learners learn more; by which schools may be the scene of less noise, aversion, and useless labor, but of more leisure, enjoyment, and solid progress; and through which the Christian community may have less darkness, perplexity, and dissension, but on the other hand more light, orderliness, peace, and rest. John Amos Comenius, dedication to the great Didactic xi