Martin Wagenschein (3 December 1896, in Gießen, in Germany – 3 April 1988, in
Trautheim) was a science
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
who worked in mathematical and scientific
didactics.
Wagenschein is best known for his promotion of open learning techniques. He emphasised the importance of teaching students to understand rather than simply learning knowledge for its own sake. As such he was one of precursors of modern teaching techniques such as constructivism,
inquiry-based science, and
inquiry learning
Inquiry-based learning (also spelled as enquiry-based learning in British English) is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teache ...
.
His work is little known in the English speaking world and little of it has been translated. Despite this, he sets the foundation for modern open learning techniques, mirroring the work of English-speaking science educationists such as
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
.
The Wagenschein Effect
Wagenschein discovered that even highly educated people, and even students of physics, could not provide a realistic or simple explanation for even the most basic physical phenomena, despite being well qualified to do so, or being able to do so only with the use of complicated equations or language that is difficult to understand. One example of this is students asked to explain why the moon's phases occurred in the order that they did; another is students who are unable to explain in simple easy-to-understand language how to describe the speed at which objects fall. This phenomenon became known as The Wagenschein Effect. This effect is most prominent when people are unable to understand what appears to be basic scientific knowledge, hedged in scientific or overly complicated language.
Books and works
* Bildung durch Naturwissenschaft (1930)
* Naturwissenschaft und Bildung (1932/33)
* Zur erzieherischen Aufgabe des mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts (1933/34)
* Physikalischer Unterricht und Intellektualismus (1935)
* Zusammenhänge der Naturkräfte (1937)
* Natur physikalisch gesehen (1953)
* Die Erde unter den Sternen (1955)
* Zum Begriff des Exemplarischen Lehrens (1956)
* Die Pädagogische Dimension der Physik (1962)
* Ursprüngliches Verstehen und exaktes Denken (2 Bände, 1965/67)
* Verstehen lehren. Genetisch - Sokratisch - Exemplarisch (1968)
* Rettet die Phänomene, mit Hugo Kükelhaus (1975)
* Kinder auf dem Wege zur Physik (1990)
* Naturphänomene sehen und verstehen (1995)
References
External links
Martin Wagenschein (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagenschein, Martin
1896 births
1988 deaths
German educational theorists