프뢰벨 '아동중심(child-centered)' 용어의 의미

초록

This study explores the meaning of Froebel`s term, child-centered. The major goal of this study is to contextualize Froebel`s use of the term, child-centered and his educational ideas within a larger philosophical and educational context and the local context of early schooling. Froebel`s notion of child-centered emerged from his view of childhood which was formed within the discourse of German Idealism. German Idealism valued human intuition, mystical experience, and the dialectic, which together were thought to comprise the human mind. In this context, Froebel formed his idea of the divine unity, which is fundamental to an understanding of his educational ideas. Divine unity was not a mystical belief but, rather, his philosophical understanding of the relationship between God and the world and human knowledge. Based on the idea of Divine Unity, Froebel explained development of knowledge of the divine world by the actions of human mind. The development of knowledge of the world was congruent with children`s mental development. According to Froebel, young children are not able to use reason in their effort to comprehend the world. Young children should be at the center of their immediate environment in order to facilitate their sense or acting on objects. For Froebel then, the notion of child-centered was based on his view of early childhood and its developmental characteristics especially children`s limited intellectual ability. Thus he saw kindergarten as a garden for children (only later did it become a garden of children). Development referred not to the unfolding of biological physical and mental structures but to the movement toward Divine Unity. Curriculum was to be designed to support this movement.