| This is an historical description of the lives and educational endeavors of Francis Parker, John Dewey, Rudolph Steiner, Hughes Mearns, and Laura Zirbes. The lives and educational endeavors spanned 100 years. The findings have been divided into six areas commencing with the biographies of the five educators. This is followed by their study of children--the center of their schools and their curriculum--which includes a definition of childhood, how children learn, how they should be treated in a holistic classroom, of what they are capable, and the role of education and society in relation to children. Chapter III covers language and literacy and includes a theoretical base along with how children learn language, holistic methodologies for teaching and learning language, and practices to avoid. The section on academic and school discipline combines curriculum discipline and methodological discipline. This discussion of school structure includes the history of the schools involved--the Quincy (Massachusetts) Schools, the Cook County (Illinois) Normal School, the Laboratory School of the University of Chicago, the Chicago Institute, the Waldorf Schools, the Lincoln School of Teachers College at Columbia University, and the Laboratory School of The Ohio State University--their purposes, how they were organized, and the roles of the teachers, students, and parents. The study concludes with a comparatively brief presentation of the attitudes and practices of these five educators toward grading, evaluation, and assessment. |
