Comenius

Comenius (28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a 17th-century Czech bishop, and an innovator in education.^[1] His name is spelt differently in almost every language.^[2] In English it is John Amos Comenius, but he is usually called just 'Comenius'.

Comenius

Via Lucis, 1668

Comenius is famous for arguing for universal literacy, and inventing the idea of a modern textbook which used pictures as well as prose to get its message across.^[1][3][4] Comenius also tried to design a language in which false statements could not be written.^[5]

Some books by Comenius

There are about 16 works, with many translations and versions.^[3]

• 1633–1638. Didactica magna ("The Great Didactic").
• 1642. A reformation of schools, designed in two excellent treatises. This is an English excerpt from the above. It explains his ideas for reform.
• 1658. Orbis sensualium pictus: quadrilingus. It is something like an illustrated dictionary, in two languages, Latin, and German

  1659. English edition.

  1685 in four languages: Latin, Czech, German and Hungarian (Magyar).

  Orbis Pictus had a long-lasting influence on children's education. It was a precursor of both audio-visual techniques and the lexical approach in language learning.^[6] There is a Kindle version in English.

References

1. Murphy, Daniel (1995). Comenius: A Critical Re-Assessment of His Life and Work. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7165-2537-0.
2. Czech: Jan Amos Komenský; Slovak: Ján Amos Komenský; German: Johann Amos Comenius; Polish: Jan Amos Komeński; Hungarian: Comenius Ámos János, in other sources: Hungarian: Comenius-Szeges János; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius
3. Sadler, John 1969. Comenius. London: Collier Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-975920-2
4. Donohue, William A. (2017). The New Realities. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-47850-2. ... a Czech, John Amos Comenius – the first person to advocate universal literacy – invented the textbook and the primer.
5. Hofstadter, Douglas R. (2000). Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Penguin Group(CA). p. 635. ISBN 978-0-14-028920-6.
6. "Learning from Comenius - the pedagogical underpinnings of the Orbis Pictus".