Editing Progressive education (section)

===Helen Parkhurst===
The American teacher Helen Parkhurst (1886–1973) developed the [[Dalton Plan]] at the beginning of the twentieth century with the goal of reforming the then current pedagogy and classroom management. She wanted to break the teacher-centered lockstep teaching. During her first experiment, which she implemented in a small elementary school as a young teacher in 1904, she noticed that when students are given freedom for self-direction and self-pacing and to help one another, their motivation increases considerably and they learn more. In a later experiment in 1911 and 1912, Parkhurst re-organized the education in a large school for nine- to fourteen-year-olds. Instead of each grade, each subject was appointed its own teacher and its own classroom. The subject teachers made assignments: they converted the subject matter for each grade into learning assignments. In this way, learning became the students' own work; they could carry out their work independently, work at their own pace and plan their work themselves. The classroom turned into a laboratory, a place where students are working, furnished and equipped as work spaces, tailored to meet the requirements of specific subjects. Useful and attractive learning materials, instruments and reference books were put within the students' reach. The benches were replaced by large tables to facilitate co-operation and group instruction. This second experiment formed the basis for the next experiments, those in Dalton and New York, from 1919 onwards. The only addition was the use of graphs, charts enabling students to keep track of their own progress in each subject.<ref name="Dalton education">{{cite web |title= Piet van der Ploeg &#124; Academica UoAS, Amsterdam - Academia.edu|url=https://xs4all.academia.edu/PietvanderPloeg/Dalton-education |last=van der Ploeg |first=Piet |website=Academia}}</ref>

In the nineteen-twenties and nineteen-thirties, Dalton education spread throughout the world. There is no certainty regarding the exact numbers of Dalton schools, but there was Dalton education in America, Australia, England, Germany, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, India, China and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/11012748 |title=Dalton School, Dalton Plan, Dalton Education |last=van der Ploeg |first=Piet |website=Academia}}</ref>