"Practical Education" is an educational treatise written by Maria Edgeworth and her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth. It is a comprehensive theory of education that combines the ideas of philosophers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau as well as of educational writers such as Thomas Day, William Godwin, Joseph Priestley, and Catharine Macaulay. The Edgeworths' theory of education was based on the premise that a child's early experiences are formative and that the associations they form early in life are long-lasting. They also encourage hands-on learning and include suggestions of "experiments" that children can perform and learn fun. In Edgeworths' work, the attention of the child appears as a key site for pedagogical work and interventions. Following Locke's emphasis on the importance of concrete language over abstract, the Edgeworths' argued that words should clearly indicate "distinct ideas". This contributed to what Romanticist Alan Richardson calls "their controversial positions", including their resistance to reading fairy tales to children or discussing religion with them.

Contents:

Toys

Tasks

On Attention

Servants

Acquaintance

On Temper

On Obedience

On Truth

On Rewards and Punishments

On Sympathy and Sensibility

On Vanity, Pride, and Ambition

Books

On Grammar and Classical Literature

On Geography and Chronology

On Arithmetic

Geometry

On Mechanics

Chemistry

On Public and Private Education

On Female Accomplishments, &c.

Memory and Invention

Taste and Imagination

Wit and Judgment

Prudence and Economy

Summary

Notes, containing Conversations and Anecdotes of Children