Table Of ContentGiants
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
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Giants
in
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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
