View of Human Nature and 19th Century American Education

FAIN: FB-12388-75

Colin B. Burke
University of Maryland, Baltimore (Baltimore, MD 21201-1603)

To reconstruct and analyse the ideas of ante-bellum practicing American college and school educators on the learning modes and capabilities of their students. This study will later be linked to a recently complete statistical study of the American colleges, 1800-1860. The results of the seminar study will also be analyzed to test whether or not denominational, regional, economic, and institutional factors were related to particular belief patterns. Besides calling for readings in primary sources and 20th century views of the educational process, the study call for intensive reading in logic, model construction, and model testing.