Practical Education, Volume I

Practical Education, Volume I, is the influential 1798 treatise that Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) wrote with her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Drawing on the schooling of the large Edgeworth family, it argues for teaching by observation, experiment, and reason rather than rote and fear, anticipating much of modern child-centred education. Maria went on to fame as a novelist whose Castle Rackrent admirers included Walter Scott, but this book shaped the Enlightenment debate on how children learn. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.