Germany has a long history of preschool education. Before the Renaissance, the main form of preschool education in Germany was family education. Known as the "father of preschool education", the famous German preschool educationist Froebel opened a preschool education institution in Brandenburg near his hometown in 1837, and officially named it kindergarten in 1840, becoming the first truly preschool education institution in the world, and Germany became the birthplace of kindergarten. Froebel has formed a set of educational theories and methods with his own characteristics in educational practice, which has promoted the leap in the quality of preschool education in Germany and exerted great influence on the development of preschool education in the world, marking that preschool education in the world has entered a new stage. Since Froebel, preschool education has developed as an independent discipline, and Germany has paid more and more attention to preschool education, and gradually embarked on the right track, forming its own distinctive characteristics.
Throughout the early childhood education in Germany, the author thinks that one of the most distinctive features deserves our in-depth thinking and research, that is, advocating nature. Early childhood education in Germany is very simple, which embodies the connotation of imitating nature and respecting children's natural growth everywhere. Compared with preschool education in China, Rousseau, an educator who discovered children more than 200 years ago, called for "cultivating natural people in nature", which has long been submerged by those innovative early education models.
First, a simple and warm environment.
Kindergartens in Germany are generally small. It is difficult to find this kindergarten from the outside, but when you push the door in, you will feel suddenly enlightened and a colorful children's world will appear in front of you. Kindergartens in Germany are warm and comfortable, without the modern facilities we imagined, and without the full set of teaching AIDS and characteristic classrooms of Orff or Montessori, which are all valuable in our imagination. Its elegance and simplicity are beyond our imagination. Hanging on the roof of the classroom are curtains made of thick hemp rope and light gauze, which are full of dreamy colors. Children crawling on the carpet, as if they were in a fairy tale world, roaming in the imaginary world described in the book; Children scribble on the wall at will, and branches, dried flowers and dead leaves picked up outdoors hang on the wall, recording the joy and surprise of children's outdoor life. Maybe it's because all the kindergartens we see are very traditional kindergartens. The desks, chairs and teaching AIDS in the classroom are old, and we can see the traces of time. We can also see that the educators here are running a history with their own hands.
In China, some private kindergartens with high fees have luxurious environmental facilities, expensive wooden floors, plastic venues and dazzling toys. Many kindergartens regard these external environmental facilities as a hard indicator to strive for a model advanced park, which is also a measure for many parents to choose kindergartens. It is true that perfect supporting facilities are necessary, but few of us think: is such a luxurious facility more beneficial than harmful or more harmful than beneficial to educating young children? When children grow up, they have to face various social environments instead of staying in a palace-style house forever. Too modern facilities also hinder the development of children's ability to explore nature and creativity.
Second, the forest kindergarten
In the 1990s, a kind of nursery called "forest kindergarten" appeared in Germany. There were no houses and walls, and teachers educated children in the Woods without classrooms. They organize children to walk on the grass, observe animals and plants, and expand children's originality and sports ability in these outdoor activities that are directly involved in the embrace of nature. "English Garden" is a natural park in Munich, which was later turned into a forest kindergarten in Munich. There are patches of birch forests and bushes in the garden, and there are clear streams on the grass. 15 children who are enrolled here 1 children over the age of half come here at 9: 00 every morning. They play games in groups, or do manual work freely, pick up branches, play with stones and pile sand. There are children who like to climb trees and race, and there are also insect fans who are willing to observe ants and snails. In addition to teaching singing at the specified time and answering all kinds of "why" in children's games at any time, teachers pay more attention to safety protection. Lunch is like a picnic on an outing. Everyone sits on the floor and puts their own food or food prepared with the help of the teacher. After dinner, the day's activities end around 2 pm.
Ms Hepburn Della, who initiated this forest kindergarten, is full of confidence in the future of the kindergarten: children are very happy to run around in the forest, which not only improves their sports ability, but also stimulates their creativity. Without too many constraints, there would be no depression, so they never quarreled, fought and rarely got sick. Hepburn Della has formulated three disciplines for young children: don't eat wild fruits and vegetables such as fungus; Don't run around with a stick; When you hear the whistle, gather in the direction of the whistle immediately.
Most kindergartens in our country are guarded by iron generals. In today's increasingly urbanized China, children have little chance to get in touch with things from nature, such as soil and insects, and even their daily outdoor activities are squeezed to a pitiful level. What we see in kindergarten is such a scene: children can't go out, so try not to go out. Even if you go out, the teacher's organization and management will take up most of the time, and it is rare to see that children can play freely. In order to get a moment of freedom, some children will find various excuses to avoid staying in a cage-like classroom, such as often asking to go to the toilet during class. Managers and teachers have good reasons to shut the doors of the iron generals and restrict children's outdoor activities: for safety reasons. Admittedly, it is much more difficult to manage children's free activities outdoors than to let them stay in the classroom, which also causes some security risks. However, if you deprive your child of his right to activities and limit his development space just because he is afraid of an accident, is it not worth the candle?
Third, mixed-age classes
Kindergartens in Germany are generally mixed-age classes, and each class has about 16 children. Children interact with each other in a family environment similar to that of brothers and sisters. Kindergartens are usually composed of children of different ages (similar to classes), and they are full of family-like warmth. German preschool teachers advocate that children should be regarded as a person with their own unique background and facing the future, a person who needs to communicate with peers, adults and communities, and a person who lives in a real and natural social environment. As a complete person, children need to face peers and adults of all ages in kindergarten and do things they are interested in.
Kindergartens in China are divided into small classes, middle classes and large classes. Of course, this arrangement is undoubtedly beneficial to management, but from the perspective of children, this mixed-age arrangement in German kindergartens is worth learning. Mixed-age education is conducive to children's all-round development, especially the development of social adaptability. Due to the implementation of the one-child policy in China, most children have no brothers and sisters at home and lack the experience of interacting with children of different ages, which leads to the lack of peer interaction in kindergartens of different ages, which can be said to be the lack of education. Of course, mixed-age education requires more teachers, which is also a problem we are facing. The author thinks that kindergartens in China don't necessarily need mixed-age shifts, so we can consider designing more mixed-age activities to help children gain peer communication experience of different ages.
Fourth, children who follow their inclinations.
Kindergartens in Germany are as warm as families. Children are free to choose their own learning methods. They can read books, participate in group activities organized by teachers, play with toys independently, and of course choose to be alone. In fact, every classroom has an independent small space for children, who call it a "quiet corner". There is usually a soft cushion in a quiet corner, with many soft dolls and dolls, interesting cushions and a small sofa. Children who don't want to participate in group activities can go to this corner and sit quietly, and naughty children can also somersault here to vent their extra energy. The design of the quiet corner shows that German preschool education has faced up to the normal psychological needs of children, and children also need to be alone. At the same time, this design also provides an observable representation for teachers to understand children. When a child frequently walks into a quiet corner, in fact, he has issued a call with his behavior, and he needs psychological help.
German preschool teachers believe that the most important thing for children is to play, and to teach by playing. Teachers are just observers and helpers, so we should give full play to children's nature. This is particularly thorough in the practice of German kindergartens. German kindergartens mainly focus on group and individual activities. As for what activities to carry out, the children decide for themselves, they can draw pictures, listen to stories, go to the doll's house and play outdoors. Teachers also respect children's wishes for lunch and nap. For example, Taoyuan Kindergarten provides three lunch hours: 12: 00, L: 00 and 2: 00, and children decide when to eat. In addition, the kindergarten provides a special place for children to sleep, and each child has a sponge sleeping pad. If the child is still awake for 20 to 30 minutes, he can get up and go out to play.
This is one of the most remarkable features of early childhood education in Germany, from which we can see that they really regard young children as independent and complete people. Looking back, what kind of scene is the kindergarten in our country: "small mouth, close-up, small eyes, look forward." Such rules are constantly reminding children to behave, not to make noise and not to move. Children who want to go to the toilet must report to the teacher and get permission before they can go. Some children who are considered naughty by teachers are not allowed to go to the toilet even after repeated requests. In short, in kindergarten, children can only do what the teacher allows. Teachers have an authority. Children are told when to do and when not to do it. Anyone who violates the teacher's requirements will be criticized and won't get the little red flower. Imagine what a normal adult would do if he were asked to do this. Because there is still a deep-rooted concept in the minds of our educators: they are just children or underage adults. We don't know how to respect them like adults around us.
In a word, Germany's preschool education gives us a strong feeling, which is warm, peaceful, energetic, gentle, without vanity and obedient to nature. Undoubtedly, this feeling has brought us a lot of thinking. ...
Pre-school education in Germany advocating nature
201July 1 1 Sina Public Welfare
At the invitation of the German-Chinese Friendship Association in Fort Donas, Germany, I conducted a 3-day education survey with the principals and teachers of several provincial kindergartens in Guangzhou. The area we went to was Rhineland-Falc, located in the southwest of Germany, near the French border, where there are world-famous castles and grapes, and not far from the Great Forest Scenic Area. Relying on such a unique natural environment, early childhood education also shows the characteristics of advocating nature. Of course, the nature mentioned here is not only close to nature, but also includes the connotation of imitating nature and respecting children's natural growth. German pre-school education is very simple, and there are few artificial elements, which really shocked us pre-school educators from China, because our early education has long been submerged in the flashy early "potential expansion".
We stayed in Germany 13 days. We dare not say that we have a deep understanding of German education, but we have seen many interesting clips. Through these fragments, we may be able to capture some mysteries of pre-school education in Germany, and also let us reflect on what is worth thinking about in our pre-school education.
Fragment 1: Environmental Language in Kindergarten
Kindergartens in Germany are warm and comfortable, without the modern facilities we imagined, and without the full set of teaching AIDS and characteristic classrooms of Orff or Montessori, which are all valuable in our imagination. The elegance and simplicity of German kindergartens are beyond our imagination. Curtains made of thick hemp rope and light gauze are hung on the roof of the classroom, which are full of dreamy colors; Children crawling on the carpet, as if they were in a fairy tale world, roaming in the imaginary world described in the book; There are children doodling on the wall, and there are branches, dried flowers and dead leaves picked up outdoors. Dead leaves and flowers hang quietly on the wall, recording the joy and surprise of children's outdoor life. Maybe it's because all the kindergartens we see are very traditional kindergartens. The desks, chairs and teaching AIDS in the classroom are old, and we can see the traces of time. We can also see that the educators here are running a history with their own hands.
The second part: the forest trip
There are more than 100 children in Dunli Kindergarten near Poland. They attach great importance to the cultivation of children's willpower, which is also a very distinctive feature of early education in Germany. Li and other kindergartens have a tradition of "forest trip" that lasts for many years. In the second week of every month, they organize children to go into the forest for activities. On this day, children will eat and play in the forest The key to this activity is rain or shine, continuous seasons, rain and snow as planned. The director thinks that bad weather can better exercise children's willpower and enhance their physique and adaptability. Of course, children also like to enjoy such activities. It is a child's nature to indulge in running in nature. Perhaps because of this constant training, the children in this kindergarten are very independent, not temperamental, keep their promises, and can adapt to kindergarten life well.
Segment 3: "I want to be quiet for a while"
Kindergartens in Germany are as warm as families. Children are free to choose their own learning methods. They can read books, participate in group activities organized by teachers, play with toys independently, and of course choose to be alone. In fact, every classroom has an independent small space for children, who call it a "quiet corner". There is usually a soft cushion in a quiet corner, with many soft dolls and dolls, interesting cushions and a small sofa. Children who don't want to participate in group activities can go to this corner and sit quietly, and naughty boys can also somersault here to vent their extra energy. The design of the quiet corner shows that German preschool education has faced up to the normal psychological needs of children, and children also need to be alone. At the same time, this design also provides an observable representation for teachers to understand children. When a child frequently walks into a quiet corner, in fact, he has issued a call with his behavior, and he needs psychological help. From a positive point of view, solitude is the release of imagination, and children who enjoy solitude must have delicate hearts.
Part IV: Fairy tale corner of Christmas market.
When we went to Germany, it was Christmas Eve. According to German custom, the celebration begins four weeks before Christmas, so we have the opportunity to visit the Christmas market in the town. The opening ceremony of the Christmas market was very grand. Community celebrities are usually invited to join, and community art groups will also perform live, giving people a happy and dancing scene. One day, our German friends took us through the intertwined pedestrians to an old building, and opened the door. It was dark inside. A few candles flickered in the quiet air, closed the door and the noise went away. Let's look at the room again. There are many people sitting on the randomly placed chairs, including children, adults and babies held by adults in their arms. Everyone seems to be waiting for something. With the rustle of clothes, a girl playing guitar and wearing a black cloak came out, and the children were very excited. The girl fiddled with the strings and began to sing. The children stared at her, listening to her singing and telling the story of the birth of Christ. The whole corridor is full of mysterious and quiet atmosphere. After coming out, German friends told us that there has always been such an arrangement for community activities in Germany, telling children fairy tales in the Christmas market and providing them with opportunities for spiritual enjoyment. Culture is passed on to children in this seemingly casual arrangement.
The fifth part: the artist's children
There are many "secular experts" living in simple towns in Germany. They are well-known at home and abroad, but they have settled down in these places far away from the noise. One of the artists we visited was the sculptor Rompf and his wife. The Rompf couple's works are very close to children. They are unrestrained and imaginative. Looking at their works, and then at those peaceful and even shy old people, you will marvel at the magic of people's spiritual world. There are several iconic designs in Rompf's works. One is the chicken with long braids, which has different shapes and becomes the symbol of the town. There are also little mice, dotted next to their big works, which are the favorite of German children. When adults appreciate brilliant masterpieces, children will squat down beside them and touch those lovely little mice. According to our German friends, many world-famous city sculptures were created by Rompf and his wife. Mr. Rompf's yard is full of their works, which are towering and exquisite. But the walls of their rooms are covered with children's works, including clumsy graffiti and interesting and childish descriptions, which truly reproduce the crooked footprints of children growing up. When asked about his children, he told us calmly that none of his children are engaged in the art industry, but they all love art until now. There is no expectation in their tone that the child will follow in the father's footsteps, nor is there any regret that the child will not follow in the father's footsteps. We appreciate and admire their understanding.
In fact, Germany's early childhood education gives us a strong feeling of warmth, peace and vitality; No vanity, obey nature. Undoubtedly, this feeling has brought us a lot of thinking. ...
Author: Liu Peiying
Source: Guangzhou Institute of Educational Science.
From advocating nature to teaching in kind
Upload: Liu updated on 2012-1-15 ■ Li Haisha (Master of Fine Arts College of Hangzhou Normal University)
-On Sketch Teaching in Western Children's Art Education
In today's children's art education, with the continuous criticism of stick figure teaching, the teaching method of sketch painting is gradually favored by teachers, students and parents, and the teaching scope of children's sketch painting is becoming wider and wider, which is no longer the traditional sketch painting teaching we understand.
The word "sketching" appeared as early as the Five Dynasties in China, but it was not widely known in the West until1impressionism in the 65438+60s of the 9th century. There are essential differences between China's traditional sketch and western sketch: western sketch is that painters use painting tools to describe objects; China's traditional sketch is painted with emotion and memories after the painter has enjoyed the beautiful scenery of nature. Until the beginning of the 20th century, a group of artists studying abroad introduced the western sketch teaching method with physical objects as the description object into China. The author will talk about the teaching of children's sketch from the perspective of the history of western art education, from the perspective of indoor sketch and outdoor sketch.
Nature teaches children how to observe things.
"In the endless imitation process, all the children are trying to draw, and I will let Emily study this art hard; But not for art, but for training the accuracy and dexterity of his hands ... so I am especially careful not to hire a painting teacher for him, because such a teacher will only teach him to imitate replicas and copy paintings. Nature should be his only teacher, and the physical object is his only model. What his eyes should see is the real thing, not the form that these things imitate on paper. Let him draw the house facing the house, the tree facing the tree, and the characters facing the people; Over time, he will develop the habit of observing things and pay close attention to the appearance of things, instead of making wrong and established imitations for the sake of principles. " This is a passage Rousseau said in Emile, from which we can see that he advocates the teaching method of children observing nature and should naturally be the best teacher. /kloc-people in the 0/8 th century advocated nature very much, thinking that all things and laws in nature are good and provide endless beauty for mankind, and human development should conform to nature. Undoubtedly, Rousseau's educational thought was also influenced by this thought at that time.
The development of Darwin's theory of evolution and psychology in the 20th century made educational researchers focus on children. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hall's children's research began with some children's research movements, such as manual training movement and nature research movement. In the nature research movement, researchers put forward the motto "learn from nature, not books", so that children can acquire knowledge through natural observation.
In the middle and late 20th century, schools founded by Francis Welland Parker and Dewey all started early sketch teaching. In his science class, the children draw while observing under the guidance of the teacher. In this way, scientific observation activities are combined with language art learning. It can be seen that Parker advocates children's own experience and expresses their feelings through experience. In Dewey's experimental school art teaching, children are exposed to various types of raw materials, and they are satisfied in the process of making these raw materials form various shapes according to their own design intentions. Under certain guidance, these shapes gradually become works with deeper meaning and artistry.
Creating Still Life Sketch in Geometry Teaching
Pestalozzi was an important educational practitioner and theorist in the early19th century. He very much agrees with Rousseau's educational thought, that is, advocating nature and thinking that nature is the best teacher. However, the method of teaching in kind advocated by him is not what Rousseau said, "painting a room with a room and painting a tree with a tree." He believes that lines, angles and curves are the basis of painting art, and the study of painting art begins with learning geometry, and then it can quickly and accurately describe the shapes of plants, animals and people in nature by decomposing them into various geometric figures. This kind of art teaching makes it easier for children to describe objects. Pestaloch's geometry teaching method teaches describing the laws of nature, not nature itself. But there is no doubt that Pestaloch's geometric teaching method paved the way for the later invention of geometric still life.
Froebel invented the physics teaching method of "kindness and homework" and launched the kindergarten movement. His "kindness and homework" refers to teaching AIDS that inspire children, and has no direct relationship with painting teaching. However, in the middle and late19th century, Mary Dana Hicks combined Froebel's Kindness and Homework with artistic activities, and created still life teaching such as cubes, spheres, cylinders and vertebral bodies. The purpose of still life teaching is to let students know the typical structure of all visible objects. The research and development of still life sketch teaching has continued to modern art teaching.
In the 2 1 century children's art teaching, the scope of still life painting has become more extensive. Geometric sketch, flower sketch, vegetable sketch, daily necessities sketch, figure sketch and so on began to be included in the field of still life sketch.
Using local natural resources to carry out teaching
Children's outdoor sketch painting focuses on drawing large-scale objects and landscapes, cultivating children's observation and sensitivity to the beauty of nature, allowing children to experience the changes of natural light, having a more real experience of the sense of space distance between far and near, and letting children understand that things in nature will change differently due to different conditions such as seasons, climate and time. For example, the shape of each tree in nature is different, and the color of the tree changes with the change of season, climate and time. This kind of real feeling can't be achieved by indoor sketch teaching and copying teaching.
Children's indoor sketch painting mainly draws small objects, and the things painted indoors will not change with the changes of seasons, climate and time, and children will not experience the changes of natural things. But its advantages are irreplaceable by outdoor sketch painting. For example, indoor sketch painting teaching can move vivid and easily overlooked things such as crabs and lobsters into the classroom. The early indoor sketch teaching was narrow in scope and simple in content, which was not popular with children. However, there are more and more objects of indoor sketch, and they are all things that children often come into contact with in their lives, and their enthusiasm for learning sketch is also rising.
Whether it is advocating children to be close to nature or indoor sketch teaching, it is advocating children to experience and feel things themselves. It can help children form the good habit of careful observation. As early as18th century ago, the teaching mode of children's painting was to teach children to imitate replicas and paint. Now many centuries have passed, the teaching mode of children's painting is still based on copying, and children have changed from copying the paintings of masters to imitating the paintings of teachers. The persistence of this painting method will make children forget how to think and observe. Children only learn the rules of painting, and the works presented often fall into stereotypes. Children should get in touch with nature, and what they see is the only model.
However, we should also see that children's sketch painting teaching also has its limitations, that is, it requires high painting space and venue. According to the author's field investigation, the realistic conditions for developing children's sketch education are not optimistic. Even primary and secondary schools in cities are rarely equipped with special painting teaching rooms, let alone rural schools in remote areas. Because children's sketch has many benefits, children's art education should pay more attention to and cultivate it. Schools in the city should provide children with a special painting space or outdoor sketching opportunities as much as possible. In relatively remote rural schools, the conditions for carrying out outdoor sketching teaching are superior. We should fully seize this opportunity, make use of the local natural environment, carry out outdoor sketching exercises, and improve students' observation and imagination of natural things.