Herbartian psychology has taught an ideal psychology for the school teacher.
—Dewey, 1899
Humanity educates itself continuously.
—Herbart, 1830
Johann Herbart (1776–1841), a German philosopher and psychologist, was a precursor of modern cognitive psychology as well as the father of the science of learning. He is particularly inspirational when it comes to content design.
Building on the insights of Aristotle and Kant before him, Herbart helped transform German Idealism into German Realism, thereby propelling education into the modern world. By translating the philosophical concepts of evolutionary systems into everyday realities, he came up with profoundly simple methods and models for designing content.
Although Herbart's writings are burdened with the difficult language of Germanic philosophy and do not surrender maxims easily, here is a sample of his vast range and the innovative directions of his thought.
Herbart's model shows there is an art to instruction.
—Dewey, 1899
Designing a course, states Herbart, consists in following a four-step process, which repeats itself over and over again in the process of reconfiguring material for a course. Each spiral of development proceeds through four steps (as it flows from simpler to more complex):
Overview: Presentation of new material
Assimilation: Comparison of material with what is already known
Systematization: Integration of old and new into a unified whole
Application: Application of new systematic insight to a concrete example
Following Step 4, the design process repeats itself, engaging the next learning point and addressing this with a new overview, and so forth.
Herbart was popular and influential in the United States in the early 1900s, thanks to advocacy by John Dewey and others, but then fell into obscurity. It is time now, in the twenty-first century, to revive him. His best insights into content design can improve our understanding of how we actually design courses.
Learning's Foundation Is Psychology. "There is only one correct method for education: its foundation is psychology."
Information Is Not Learning. "Mere information does not suffice."
Learning Should Be Enjoyable. "To be wearisome is the cardinal sin of instruction."
Theory and Practice. "In education, theory and practice go hand in hand."
Sequencing and Linking Are Keys to Creative Design. "Sequencing, arrangement, and coordination of what is to be learned—these create the real impact in the instructional process."
1832 | Johann Friedrich Herbart: The Application of Psychology to the Science of Education (translated and edited by Beatrice Mulliner, 1898). |
1916 | John Dewey: Democracy and Education. |
1945 | Robert Ulich: History of Educational Thought. |
1992 | William Rothwell: Mastering the Instructional Design Process (section on "Content Analysis"). |