Models

Contemporary early childhood education models began to emerge in the late 19th century, reflecting changing beliefs regarding views of the whole child. Predecessors to contemporary models appeared throughout the 1800s. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi started designing schools based on the development of the whole child and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s romantic view of the child. The “father” of kindergarten, German educator Friedrich Froebel, based his schools on play and active engagement. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody and Susan Blow introduced Froebel’s concept of kindergarten to the United States in the late 19th century.

[Page 865]Psychology emerged as an academic field in the late 19th century and early 20th century, specifically developmental psychology with the work of G. Stanley Hall, Arnold Gesell, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Lev Vygotsky. These early developmental ...