Martin Wagenschein

Martin Wagenschein (3 December 1896, in Gießen, in Germany – 3 April 1988, in Trautheim) was a science educator who worked in mathematical and scientific didactics.

Wagenschein is best known for his promotion of open learning techniques. He emphasised the importance of teaching students to understand rather than simply learning knowledge for its own sake. As such he was one of precursors of modern teaching techniques such as constructivism, inquiry-based science, and inquiry learning.

His work is little known in the English speaking world and little of it has been translated. Despite this, he sets the foundation for modern open learning techniques, mirroring the work of English-speaking science educationists such as John Dewey. Provided by Wikipedia