Heinrich Wettstein

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Heinrich Wettstein

Heinrich Wettstein (born March 27, 1831 in Fällanden ; † February 16, 1895 in Küsnacht ) was a Swiss educator , pioneer of the Zurich elementary school system and author of numerous textbooks and educational publications.

Life

Wettstein was born in Fällanden in 1831 as the son of the farmer Hans Jakob and Anna Gachnang. His father was a supporter of the Ostrich Party, which was overthrown by the Conservatives in the Züriputsch in 1839 . The family moved to Wiedikon , where the father found work in a silk factory. Wettstein attended primary school there and secondary school with Johann Jakob Schäppi in Altstetten . After elementary school, he completed high school in Zurich and studied theology at the University of Zurich from 1850 . In 1852 he switched to the philosophy faculty to study natural sciences.

After completing his studies, he taught at the newly founded secondary school in Hedingen from 1855 to 1864 . From 1864 to 1873 he was the class teacher at the boys' secondary school in Zurich. In 1873 he became a teacher of natural sciences at the Küsnacht teacher training college and its director from 1875 to 1895.

From 1867 to 1872 he was a member of the seminar supervision commission in Küsnacht. From 1881 to 1895 he was a member of the Zurich Education Council. At the same time he was editor-in-chief of the Swiss Teachers' Journal from 1882 to 1888.

He married Elisabeth Baumann in 1858. One of his sons was the geologist Alexander Wettstein .

plant

Wettstein shaped the Küsnacht seminar like its first director Thomas Scherr . In his new seminar curriculum from 1874, he put the emphasis on mathematics and natural sciences, while German and French received fewer hours. He was convinced that scientific and technical thinking formed the basis of progress and guaranteed Switzerland's economic existence.

In addition to his teaching activities, he advocated modern teaching and produced courses for most areas of the natural sciences (biology, physics, geography). In his book "Currents of the solid, liquid and gaseous and their significance for geology, astronomy, climatology and meteorology" from 1880, he anticipated various theses that reappeared in modern plate tectonics . For the subject of drawing at elementary school, he created instructions for free-hand drawing in elementary school in 1884. In 1872 he created the first Swiss school atlas with Johannes Randegger .

Plate XXXXII

A set of panels he designed ( school murals ) attracted international attention at the world exhibitions in Vienna in 1873 and in Paris in 1878. The accompanying natural history guide has been translated into French, English, Russian and Armenian, and the textbook for primary schools has been translated into Arabic. The Küsnacht seminar was subsequently attended by the then French Minister of Education, Ferdinand Buisson, and by the later Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau .

As an education councilor, together with government councilor Johann Kaspar Sieber , he had drafted a new teaching law that, among other things, provided for the dissolution of the seminars. The future teachers should first be trained at a secondary school and then at the university. In 1872, the bill was rejected outright in a referendum, because the aversion to university-trained teachers was particularly strong in rural areas. In 1875 Wettstein took over the management of a school that he had wanted to abolish a few years ago.

Recognitions

  • In 1873 the University of Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate for his services to the enhancement and promotion of science teaching at the elementary school of the Canton of Zurich.
  • 1873 Exhibition of the school blackboards at the World Exhibition of 1873 in Vienna.
  • 1878 Exhibition of the school blackboards at the World Exhibition in Paris 1878 . Appointment as Officier de l'instruction publique.
  • 1883 Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich: Wettstein was appointed the official reporter of the Education and Training Group.
  • A street in Küsnacht is named after him, which is immediately west of the seminar area.

Writings, teaching aids

  • School atlas by H. Wettstein in thirty-two sheets . Compulsory teaching material for secondary schools in the Canton of Zurich. Edited by Johannes Randegger. Zurich, Verlag der Erziehungsdirektion 1872, 3rd edition 1886
  • Textbook and reader for elementary schools : General and patriotic history, Volume 7, Educational Directorate, 1872
  • Guide to teaching natural history . Compulsory teaching material for secondary schools in the Canton of Zurich, Verlag der Erziehungsdirektion, 1874
  • The solid, liquid and gaseous currents and their significance for geology, astronomy, climatology and meteorology . J. Wurster & Cie., Zurich 1880

literature

  • Emil Gassmann: Seminar director Heinrich Wettstein. A contribution to Swiss school history . With catalog raisonné. Edited under the patronage of the Swiss Teaching Association, Vogel Verlag, Winterthur 1931.
  • AV Carozzi: Heinrich Wettstein (1880). A swiss forerunner of global mobilism . In: Earth Sciences History 2, 1983
  • Hans-Ulrich Grunder: Seminar reform and reform pedagogy . Lang Verlag, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-906750-43-4 .

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Wettstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Natural Research Society in Zurich 2007: Our wandering continents - the geotectonic ideas of the Zurich natural scientist Heinrich Wettstein (1831–1895)
  2. ^ University of Zurich: The first Swiss school atlas
  3. ↑ 150 Years of Zurich Elementary School, School and Parents, Education Authority of the City of Zurich, 1982
  4. ^ E-rara: school atlas by H. Wettstein
personal data
SURNAME Wettstein, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss educator and author of educational publications
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Fällanden
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1895
Place of death Küsnacht