ran only by foreign missionaries and charity organizations. Thus, he pioneered the adaptation of kindergartens to Chinese condi- tions. Among the guiding principles of his kindergarten, first and foremost was that children should be allowed to play freely, par- ticularly outdoors and learn about nature. This was something quite new in China. Later on, this methodology and new set of teaching materials were made available to educators in others parts of the country.
In 1920, Professor Chen started to systematically record the growth and development of his eldest son, Chen I-ming, with a view to analyzing the characteristics of child psychology and physiol- ogy. This experiment continued for 808 days and his observations were recorded in writing and pictures. Through analyzing this com-
2
There 13
a BEZOR
plete record of the development of a child's sensori-motor system, who is 5
physical movement, feelings and emotions and learning process, he summed up the basic features of child's psychology. He wrote two books based on this and subsequent experiments. They are entitled: A Study of Child Psychology and Family Education. They were the
It is worth mentioning first books in China on child education.
that Professor Chen had seven children. They have all received a good education and `are engaged in the fields of education, jour- a nalism, foreign service and medicine.
Professor Chen believed that China must train its own pre- school teachers and work out its own system of child education,
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including curriculum, teaching materials, methods etc. Because of Chinage.
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his active participation in the resistance against Japanese ag- gression, the Japanese qnce threatened to assassinate him in 1939. He then left occupied Shanghai and went to unoccupied areas in China's heartland. In 1940, he founded the National Kindergarten Training Institute in Jiangsi Province on a small hill covered with pine groves. Funds were limited and much of the facilities were built by the students and faculty themselves with guidance from local carpenters. The Institute had under it, a training school, a primary school, a kindergarten and a nursery with a sub- sidiary toy factory and a farm. It was the first of its kind in China. It was here that Professor Chen began to formulate his theory of Living Education" whose three fundamental principles are "to make a man, a Chinese, and a modern Chinese", "nature and society at large are sources of knowledge" and "learning by doing, teaching through doing and making improvements in doing". He did not aim to dispense with all book learning. But he held that the knowledge one learned from books was a kind of indirect knowledge. Things learned directly from nature and society, however, were live and personal. Books, therefore, should not be regarded as the
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exchanges.
~13.10