Pestalozzi’s Theory of Learning

New perspectives of learning were Pestalozzi’s wish to our modern learners since then.
In Pestalozzi’s existence, he noticed that learning in the classroom consisted primarily of
reading out of texts and using rote method in teaching songs, literature, and church music
(Hopkins 2013). This is not the type of learning that Pestalozzi was in favor of; rather, he
wanted children to be able to learn in a less restrictive setting. Pestalozzi wished to have the
students learn by a hands-on approach, this means that given tools and a simple overview of
what they will accomplish, students should be able to go out and gather information to come
up with answers of their own. During his time “Outcomes Based Education” in other words,
was proposed by this man, but maybe since educational system that day was very gripped with
traditional ones and still lasted for centuries. For him, children shouldn't be given answers or
the what we called “spoon-feeding” but instead they should arrive at answers themselves
(Hopkins 2013). Rather than having knowledge that was primarily taught orally, Pestalozzi
saw that knowledge that led to efficiency in useful doing performance/practical based was of
real use to humans. This is also related to one of the most realized theory of education in the
K-12 program the constructivism. Constructivism is an approach to learning that holds that
people actively construct or make their own idea and that reality is determined by the
experiences of the learner’- vice-versa; learning by doing. (Elliott et al., 2000). These
approaches of teaching and learning are very useful nowadays because of the new curriculum
with the integration of modern technology. Learners must be creative, critical thinker, good
speaker, hypothetical and skillful. Considering that children of today are expected to possess
these if not all but most especially the technology innovations are in big progress, where
everything they want, in just one click then it will serve.
Pestalozzi believed that parents needed to be the child's first mentor. The home was
the first and best school there could be. Parents and the home life were supposed to be a social
teacher that taught children the natural experiences needed to expand the child's moral,
intellectual, and technical powers within themselves (Hopkins 2013). In this new normal area,
strengthening parent’s help and guidance is really important. For me it’s the teacher-parent
partnership to mold and to make sure that the child is learning even in this time of crisis. 21st
Century education a very different from before. Empowerment of each people arises. The
learners of today are really expressive to tell their sentiments and complains in school. The new
curriculum also is catering to the learners’ perception. These things have negative and positive
impact just like also before. But letting our children to speak themselves is a good start to make
their own realizations and life discoveries. Just like what Pestalozzi wants to the learners that
they must be learn through their actions and own realizations. And for me, the best teacher is
our experience, through our trial and error moments everyday we learn and farther still learning
until the contentment of ourselves will be realized.