The German educator and philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart, b. May 4, 1776, d. Aug. 14, 1841, was one of the founders of modern scientific pedagogy. He taught at the universities of Gottingen (1802-09, 1833-41) and Konigsberg (1809-33) and produced a large number of works on pedagogy, psychology, and philosophy that had a substantial impact upon the theory and practice of teaching in Europe and the United States. He attacked the popular theory of faculty psychology, the belief that the mind is composed of relatively independent faculties that can be exercised and trained through the study of particular academic subjects. Herbart was a pioneer in the development of a systematic theory of learning and teaching based on a science of psychology. According to his theory of apperception, new ideas, when properly presented to the student, become linked to existing ideas and form a system of associated ideas called the apperceptive mass.

Johann Friedrich Herbart

Herbart saw the teacher's essential task as identifying the existing interests of the student and relating them to the great store of human experience and culture in order to help the student become part of civilized life. He also held that the ultimate goal of education was the building of ethical character rather than the acquisition of knowledge. After Herbart's death his philosophy was translated by his disciples into a rigid set of rules and steps of instruction. Herbartianism, the name of his disciples' pedagogical system, had a powerful impact on teaching practice in the late 19th century, especially in the United States. In its most widespread form, this system included five formal steps in teaching: preparation, presentation, association, generalization, and application.

Paul Nash, © 1995 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.

Bibliography:
DeGarmo, Charles, Herbart and the Herbartians (1895; repr. 1979);
Dunkel, Harold B., Herbart and Education (1969);
Ulich, Robert, History of Educational Thought (1950).