Details the most important curriculum movements--which can be generally classified under the two headings of subject-centered curriculum and student-centered curriculum--their adherents, and their rationales. (Author/WD)

The educational theory and practice of the Escuela Modern (Modern School) movement of the Spanish educator Francisco Ferrer, born in 1850, are discussed. Two fundamental tendencies of the movement are child-centered education and education in didactic terms. (RM)

This book, the first full-length history of school-based writing instruction, demonstrates that writing instruction in 19th-century American schools was more important than has previously been assumed in the overall history of writing instruction. Drawing on primary materials that have not been considered in previous histories of writing…

George W. Kerby--minister, evangelist, and educational reformer--helped lead the Home and School movement in Canada during the 1920s and 1930s. He advocated child-centered relevant curriculum and cooperation between home and school. Kerby used ideas from both the progressive education and New Education movements but contributed to public…

Questions whether more student-centered instruction is occurring in block scheduled biology classes than in traditional classrooms. Explains the results of the study in terms of academic achievement. First published in 1998. (YDS)

Progressive education, open education, and whole language can be seen as part of a larger "progressive tradition" in American education. All three of these educational movements are "child centered," challenge the rigidity of traditional school organizations, view the nature of knowledge and the purpose of schools differently…

The late 19th and early 20th centuries child-study movement called for the widespread "scientific" observation and study of children. Movement leaders sought to reform the public schools and to make them more child-centered. Music educators adopted some child-study principles, incorporating them in textbooks. Psychological literature on…

The historical development of play within the public school curriculum is traced from its origins in eighteenth century French Revolutionary society through Pre-Industrial and Industrial America and Europe, the Progressive and Post World War II Eras, the Protest Era of the 1960s up to modern times. Predictions for the future are also offered. (JN)

Dewey-inspired educational progressivism in the early 20th century is generally seen as an urban phenomenon. This article traces a tradition of rural progressivism during 1910-50, centered at Teachers College in New York City, and explores the implications of that tradition for educators and rural education reformers today. (Contains 47…

The founders of General College, at the University of Minnesota, established the school in 1932 out of a belief in democratic access to higher education, the need to simplify the academic bureaucracy, and the desire for a liberalized curriculum. During its first 13 years, the college assumed and maintained three basic priorities: open admissions,…

John Dewey's profound influence on Alexander Dushkin's formulation of educational philosophy as it influenced the aims of Jewish education, cultural pluralism, the child-centered approach to education, and functional teaching ethics is examined. Dushkin's definition of Jewish education is developed from psychological, sociological, and religious…

Historical information about how teachers have taught over the past century was reviewed to determine what patterns of teacher behavior have persisted over time, despite reformers' efforts to change them. Although there were periods of change during the 1920s and the 1960s, teacher-centered instruction reasserted itself after reform efforts…

Two specific questions guide this study: (1) Did teacher-centered instruction persevere in public schools during and after reform movements that had as one of their targets installing student-centered instruction? and (2) If the answer is yes, to what extent did it persist and why? If the answer is no, to what extent did instruction change and…

Improving public school education, especially for the poor, requires defining and articulating some vision of the common good. This article reviews key positions taken by liberals and conservatives regarding educational reform during the 19th and 20th centuries and critiques these positions with regard to their disservice to the poor. (IAH)

Maria Montessori's child-centered teaching method came to the United States in 1913 and became linked with an approach to progressive education and child rearing which many Americans considered permissive. During the post-World War II years, advocates of Montessori's method combined this permissive mode with elements of an authoritarian mode to…