Comenius' Pansophism as a Historical Origin of Science Education

코메니우스의 범지주의적 교육학과 과학교육의 사상적 기원에 관한 문제

One of the historical origins of the modern science education was investigated in this paper. From the view point of the pansophistic educational philosophy which emphasized "man should teach completely all things to all mankind(Omnes, Omnia, omnino)", J.A.Comenius proposed in his book "Didactica magna"(1658) that 'physica' should be learned as one of the most important school subjects. He suggested the completion of human being as a wholeness of the universe could be achieved through the physics teaching. His ideas of science education was, however, directed not to the 'rational konwledge' about the natural world, but to the 'divine wisdom'. His main thoughts and influences on science education can be summarized as follows: 1) The human being as a God's image should know the divinely created nature, because the invisible God's existence can be sensorially recognized in the nature. 2) Physics or science should be regarded as more important objects than verbal learning in general school education. 3) The cognitive union between the words('representative' or 'das Dargestellte') and things('presentative' or 'das Dargebotene') can be achieved through the objects lesson ('Anschauungsunterricht') 4) The realistic and sensor-cognitive learning theory of the object lesson is yet very important especially in the science education of elementary school, even though the inquiry learning process has became more important in the last years. 5) The religious aspect of his idea could not satisfy the social needs of industrialization and the development of professonal technics in the 18 to 19th century.