The Great Didactic or (Latin : Didactica Magna), full title (Latin : Didactica Magna, Universale Omnes Omnia Docendi Artificium Exhibens), The Great Didactic, The Whole Art of Teaching all Things to all Man, is a book written by Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian, John Amos Comenius [1] [2] between 1627 and 1638 and first published in 1657. [3]
The Great Didactic is commonly referred as the first great work of pedagogy (education) at all. Its author, John Amos Comenius, described his work as a "didactic of life", the aim of which was "to teach everyone everything completely" or "to teach everyone everything in consideration of the whole" (Latin : omnes omnia omnino excoli). The background to this high claim is the contemporary view that only an educated person is a human being. Comenius thus represented an approach of optimistic anthropology, which sees something good in every human being and generally considers this to be expandable (educational). Parallel to this, the Didactica Magna serve as a guide to achieve a high learning outcome for the students in a pleasant learning atmosphere.
John Amos Comenius in his Didactica Magna (Great Didactic), outlined a system of schools that is the exact counterpart of the existing American system of kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, college, and university. [3] The book forwards a philosophy of teaching called pansophism (universal knowledge) whose aim it is to teach all things to all people from all points of view. Comenius believed that humankind through pansophic teachings could live in harmony. He presumed that children have a natural craving for knowledge and goodness. In Comenius's words:
We venture to promise a Great Didactic ... the whole art of teaching all things to all men, and indeed of teaching them with certainty, so that the result cannot fail to follow… Lastly, we wish to prove all this a priori, that is to say, from the unalterable nature of the universal art of founding universal schools.
— Comenius (1896, p.157).
In the Great Didactic, he stated:
“ ... not the children of the rich or of the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be sent to school.”
— Comenius (1896, p.218). [4]
In The Great Didactic Comenius recommended learning from nature too, outside school contexts. If a child is in a school, he argued that learning should extend beyond the classroom and take place in everyday life. He accomplished this acquisition of worldly knowledge by giving students contact with objects in the environment and systematizing knowledge to make it more accessible and relevant to the children's interests and life needs. [5]
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education is considered the second and final phase of basic education, and level 3 upper secondary education or senior secondary education is the stage before tertiary education. Every country aims to provide basic education, but the systems and terminology remain unique to them. Secondary education typically takes place after six years of primary education and is followed by higher education, vocational education or employment. In most countries secondary education is compulsory, at least until the age of 16. Children typically enter the lower secondary phase around age 12. Compulsory education sometimes extends to age 20 and further.
John Amos Comenius was a Moravian philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren before becoming a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. As an educator and theologian, he led schools and advised governments across Protestant Europe through the middle of the seventeenth century.
Bellum omnium contra omnes, a Latin phrase meaning "the war of all against all", is the description that Thomas Hobbes gives to human existence in the state-of-nature thought experiment that he conducts in De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651). The common modern English usage is a war of "each against all" where war is rare and terms such as "competition" or "struggle" are more common.
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.
Bluestocking is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Elizabeth Vesey (1715–1791), Hester Chapone (1727–1801) and the classicist Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806). In the following generation came Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741–1821), Hannah More (1745–1833) and Frances Burney (1752–1840). The term now more broadly applies to women who show interest in literary or intellectual matters.
Pedagogy, most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as an academic discipline, is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning. Both the theory and practice of pedagogy vary greatly as they reflect different social, political, and cultural contexts.
Orbis Pictus, or Orbis Sensualium Pictus, is a textbook for children written by Czech educator John Amos Comenius and published in 1658. It was the first widely used children's textbook with pictures, published first in Latin and German and later republished in many European languages. It has been described as "probably the first purpose-made children's picturebook". The revolutionary book quickly spread around Europe and became the defining children's textbook for centuries.
A didactic method is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to present information to students. The didactic method of instruction is often contrasted with dialectics and the Socratic method; the term can also be used to refer to a specific didactic method, as for instance constructivist didactics.
Sárospatak is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, northern Hungary. It lies 70 kilometres northeast from Miskolc, in the Bodrog river valley. The town, often called simply Patak, is a cultural centre, a historical town and a popular tourist destination.
This glossary of education-related terms is based on how they commonly are used in Wikipedia articles. This article contains terms starting with P – R. Select a letter from the table of contents to find terms on other articles.
Fulneck School is a small independent day and boarding school, situated in the Fulneck Moravian Settlement, in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. It provides education for pupils between the ages of 3 and 18. The School is part of the Fulneck estate which includes the Church, Museum, multiple resident buildings and shops and is named after Fulnek, Czechia.
Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept in the educational system of universal knowledge proposed by John Amos Comenius, a Czech educator. "[Comenius's] second great interest was in furthering the Baconian attempt at the organization of all human knowledge. He became one of the leaders in the encyclopædic or pansophic movement of the seventeenth century".
The Encyclopaedia Cursus Philosophici is an encyclopedia of Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638).
The Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum quos Unitarios vocant or Library of the Polish Brethren called Unitarians 1665, 1668, 1692 is a collection of writings of the Polish Brethren published by Frans Kuyper, Daniel Bakkamude, and Benedykt's father Andrzej Wiszowaty Sr. (d.1678) in Amsterdam, with Pieter van der Meersche in Leiden.
Johannes Rulicius (1602–1666) was a German Protestant minister.
Janua Linguarum Reserata is a Latin textbook written by the Moravian pedagogue John Amos Comenius in 1629. It was published in 1631 in Leszno, Poland, and was soon translated into most European languages.
Cyprian Kinner was a Silesian educator and linguist. He has been described as the bridge between the projects of 17th-century Europe concerned with a universal language, and those concerned with a philosophical language. He has also been called a pioneer of faceted classification.
Ana Conta-Kernbach was a Romanian teacher, writer, and women's rights activist. Educated at the Humpel Institute in Iași, she graduated in 1883 and began teaching there that same year. Continuing her studies at the same time, she enrolled at the University of Iaşi, studying both in the normal school and philosophical faculties. In 1885, she transferred to the Oltea Doamna Lyceum and graduated in 1888. In 1893, she went to Paris to study at the University of Paris and the Collège de France, earning her doctorate in 1895. Returning to Romania, she became the director of the Normal School of Applications and taught both pedagogy and psychology at the Mihail Sturdza Normal School for more than two decades.
Comeniology or Comenius studies is the academic discipline dedicated to the comprehensive study of the life, contributions, and educational philosophy of John Amos Comenius (1592–1670). Hailing from Moravia, Comenius was not only an educator but also a prominent philosopher and theologian. His enduring influence has secured him a significant place in the annals of education, making him one of the most pivotal figures in the history of education and pedagogy.
School of Infancy is the first written work in the field of preschool education in world literature on pedagogy. It was written by Jan Amos Comenius in 1632 in the Polish town of Leszno. The work emerged as part of efforts to reform Czech education, with the Informatorium intended to be a component of a well-thought-out plan for lifelong education, as further elucidated in the Great Didactics.