Froebel - The concept of kindergarten

Froebel was a German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. He developed the concept of the “kindergarten”, and also coined the word now used in German and English.

Read more about them (pretty interesting):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Fröbel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Pestalozzi

but unfortunately, the concept of kindergarten was modified by most people (Dewey etc.) and the current form is a distorted version. Read more in this book (Chapter 3):-

Tinkering towards utopia - A century of public school reform

or a review of the book here:-

http://www.hepg.org/her/abstract/263