John Dewey

Patty Smith Hill (1868-1946) was a leader in the Kindergarten movement and an advocate of the value of free play in the education of young children. Although the theory and methods of Friedrich Froebel were accepted in most kindergartens at the time, Hill studied the work of other leading educators, such as G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, and Francis W. Parker, and challenged the practice of following Froebel’s methods explicitly. Her work established the foundation for the modern kindergarten in America today.