Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer (1746-1827) · Switzerland · Educators · Died at 81

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He turned Swiss education inside out with a simple conviction: children learn through doing, not just listening. His schools and writings made "Learning by head, hand and heart" the template for modern pedagogy, and by 1830 Switzerland had nearly erased illiteracy.

Activists Singer / Musician Philosophy Politics Literature Law Activism Switzerland

A life in dates

1827Died17 February 18271818“Each of our moral, mental, and bodily powers must have its development based upon its own nature, and not based upon artificial and outside influences.”In their words12 January 1818Address to his household, Yverdon, Switzerland, on his seventy-second birthday (1818-01-12)Read the whole statement

1780“The circle of knowledge commences close round a man and thence stretches out concentrically.”In their wordsEvening Hour of a Hermit (1780)Read the whole statement

1774“Lead your child by the hand to the great scenes of nature; teach him on the mountain and in the valley.”In their words15 February 1774Diary entry (1774-02-15)Read the whole statement

1746Born12 January 1746

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid)

20060522300DR Dresden-Leipziger Vorstadt Pestalozzi-Schule

20060522305DR Dresden-Leipziger Vorstadt Pestalozzi-Schule

20060522310DR Dresden-Leipziger Vorstadt Pestalozzi-Schule

Biel-Bienne - Rue Basse 4 (Maison où habitait Pestalozzi)

Biel-Bienne - Rue Basse 4 (Plaque commémorative de Pestalozzi)

Christelijke encyclopædie voor het Nederlandsche volk 4-643

Coswig(Anhalt),Gedenkstein Pestalozzi

In their own words 3

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

3 statements, newest first

Each of our moral, mental, and bodily powers must have its development based upon its own nature, and not based upon artificial and outside influences.
Jan 12, 1818, Address to his household, Yverdon, Switzerland, on his seventy-second birthday (1818-01-12), Own words
The circle of knowledge commences close round a man and thence stretches out concentrically.
1780, Evening Hour of a Hermit (1780), Own words
Lead your child by the hand to the great scenes of nature; teach him on the mountain and in the valley.
Feb 15, 1774, Diary entry (1774-02-15), Own words

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Family

Parents

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Partners

Spouse Anna Pestalozzi-Schulthess

Child Hans Jakob Pestalozzi

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About this person

Born in Zurich on 12 January 1746, Pestalozzi came of age as Romanticism questioned old certainties about how minds develop. He founded schools across German- and French-speaking Switzerland, each a laboratory for his belief that education should engage the whole child - intellect, skill, emotion. His writings spread the method beyond his classrooms, and the results were measurable: 18th-century Switzerland's crushing illiteracy was almost entirely gone by 1830. He died on 17 February 1827, having rewritten the grammar of teaching itself.

Country

Switzerland

Educators from Switzerland 6

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