In John Amos Comenius PEDAGOGICAL-PHILOSOPHICAL GARDEN, the passing of human life is equal to his PANSOHIC IDEA OF LIFELONG LEARNING. The statue of the Thinker entered the garden in October, the time when walnuts ripen. In the IDEA, they symbolize the prenatal period of human life. It is Comenius’ first symbolic school, the school for future parents awaiting their child to be born. In the GARDEN, this period is symbolized by STAGE 1: AUTUMN, with a pair of walnuts on a branch of the walnut tree (see the picture).
STAGE 2: WINTER is the period of EXPECTATION OF THE SPRING, OR THE PERIOD OF BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. It is a very important STAGE of the SCHOOL for the parents, who consider their children to be ”more lovable and precious than gold, silver, pearls or jewels” and learn to love them wisely. Such love will bear fruit throughout their life, at ALL THE STAGES OF THEIR PERMANENT EDUCATION. After the winter, when the statue of John Amos Comenius survives in the winter scenery of the GARDEN till the SPRING, the longed-for season will come and bring first flowers and buds on the trees and shrubs. In our GARDEN, in the hearts and other geometric figures in the form of red wooden fences, designed in the autumn, the flowers and shrubs will bloom, the leaves on the trees will develop, and the conifers will get green. We will see the statue of Comenius in the spring scenery of the GARDEN. COMENIUS ALLEY will begin to ”teem with life”, and we will bring Comenius’ basic IDEAS out of this scenery.
The creator of the GARDEN invites you to a virtual trip of it in WINTER.
John Amos Comenius’ garden is being created as part of the research PROJECT in the field of PEDAGOGY (2020 - 2022) entitled FROM JOHN AMOS COMENIUS TILL THE PRESENT. THE MEANING OF THE GREAT PEDAGOGUE’S IDEAS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION
Associate Professors of the University, PhDs, DScs:
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Barbara Sitarska manager- pedagogue |
Janina Florczykiewicz pedagogue |
Urszula Tyluś pedagogue |
Hanna Żuraw pedagogue |
Cezary Kalita philosopher |
Ewa Wyczółkowska PhD –mathematician, pedagogue |
The accomplishment of the PROJECT is supported by the editors: Piotr Świtalski, PhD, technical editor, Renata Matysiuk, PhD, assistant editor, and Izolda Lisowska-Popoilyk, MA, editor of English.
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Piotr Świtalski technical editor |
Renata Matysiuk assistant editor |
Izolda editor of English |
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Waldemar Kos SCULPTOR |
John Amos Comenius’ virtual GARDEN, based on Barbara Sitarska’s real garden, will be open in November 2020, on the 350th anniversary of the death of John Amos Comenius (1592 -1670). The pedagogue died on 15 November in Naarden, the Netherlands. This year Europe and the whole world are celebrating his anniversary. In the age of the COVID-19 coronavirus, this anniversary is being celebrated differently than planned. The celebrations are listed at our website.
Siedlce research CENTER of the Pedagogy Institute of the Department of Social Sciences is celebrating the anniversary with the opening of JOHN AMOS COMENIUS’ PEDAGOGICAL-PHILOSOPHICAL GARDEN and a virtual trip of it. Today we invite you to the GARDEN, to become familiar with its description. The GARDEN will be described in sections corresponding to the seasons of the year. Pictures of the GARDEN in each season will be posted systematically. The point is to capture the natural changes taking place in the plant life of the garden in spring, summer, autumn and winter. According to the Thinker’s idea, they symbolize the entire cycle of human life, the passing of time. For Comenius, the whole life is school, starting with the prenatal period (in the GARDEN it is symbolized by a walnut tree with branches holding pairs of walnuts exposed in the pictures), which lasts throughout your life and involves both institutional and symbolic schools (before you start school and after you leave it, till the school of old age and death). The plant life of the GARDEN in each season of the year will reflect Comenius’ idea of permanent/lifelong learning, which has had a real resurgence in the 21st century and is a priority issue all over the world.
The virtual GARDEN is being created in late autumn (STAGE 1 – AUTUMN 2020), based on Barbara Sitarska’s real garden, located in her home town Niewęgłosz near Radzyń Podlaski. It is where she was born and spent her childhood and early youth. The garden was created thirty-five years ago and since then it has been cared for with great emotional involvement. The idea of Comenius’ GARDEN emerged under the influence of a virtual trip of Comenius’ philosophical GARDEN in Berlin, which has a many years’ tradition.
With the development of the research of Comenius (since 2007) and the appearance of the annual publication “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, PEDAGOGY series” (since 2014), the idea of the garden emerged gradually. Last year (2019), the dream started to come true, with the garden being prepared with the main Comenius Alley, where a sculpture of John Amos Comenius was to be placed. It entered the garden on 26 September 2020, and belongs to Barbara Sitarska. The statue was made by Siedlce sculptor Waldemar Kos, member of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers.
Various shrubs and trees in the garden will symbolize the Thinker’s main pedagogical and philosophical ideas significant at present: the idea of permanent education, the idea of universal light and wisdom, the idea of self-cognition, and many others. The structure of the garden will be as follows: the main Alley, symbolizing PANSOPHISM – Comenius’ specific philosophy, with side alleys leading from it, marked with red fences (other objects in the garden are marked with labels in the shape of a heart and geometric figures), made by Piotr Kozak, the owner’s permanent collaborator. The alleys symbolize particular ideas as signposts leading to consecutive educational paths throughout human life, full of “labyrinths”. The virtual garden of the described ideas of Comenius’ will be mostly used by students (Comenius laid foundations for the scientific didactic system) and everyone interested in comeniology, a developing branch of science, which is described in Volume 6 of “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, PEDAGOGY series” (2019). It is easier to interpret Comenius’ pansophism relying on the described ideas (according to conducted qualitative research).
The year 2020 is the second year of the ministry project: Support for scientific magazines. The result will be the edition of Volume 7 of “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, PEDAGOGY series” entitled John Amos Comenius’ pansophism in interpretations and reinterpretations by Polish and European comeniologists. Its subject matter corresponds to the idea of the GARDEN.
Barbara Sitarska
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to invite you to submit your texts to be published in Volume 7 of our magazine. It will be entitled JOHN AMOS COMENIUS’ PANSOPHIA IN INTERPRETATIONS AND REINTERPRETATIONS BY POLISH AND EUROPEAN COMENIOLOGISTS (2020). After the “journey” Towards comeniology as a science, which enabled us to find many new leads for comeniological research, which inspire us for further research and interpretation, we are approaching pansophia, John Amos Comenius’ philosophy, which all of his writings are imbued with. Despite this fact, pansophia is still an abstract research branch for us, the contemporary dealing with John Amos Comenius’ life and output. It seems that only nowadays, in the 21st century, this idea based upon the message “to teach… everyone… everything about everything.. with all the senses… “ is coming true, mainly thanks to the modern media and their common availability. Comenius kept searching for the harmony of all things. Did he find it?
The subject matter of the volume is correspondent with the 350th anniversary of John Amos Comenius’ death celebrated in Poland, Europe and all over the world. Days of Comenius’ commemoration, conferences and seminars are taking place. The celebrations are certain to enrich the knowledge with new elements and deepen the interpretation of his ideas, including - or maybe first of all – of PANSOPHIA. However, to a large extent it depends on comeniological centres’ good cooperation. Will it be successful in the jubilee years?
Volume 7 of “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, PEDAGOGY series” is the second year’s accomplishment of the Ministry project Support for scientific magazines. For the first time, the whole process of text submission will take place online on the platform ICI Publishers Panel (see the file “Instructions of how to post an article on the platform ICI Publishers Panel”).
Barbara Sitarska
editor-in-chief
Dear Authors,
Please accept our sincere thanks and acknowledgements for preparing articles for the volume. It was devoted to the international discussion of comeniology as a science. Its subject matter was the most difficult - so far – and had emerged naturally from the subject matters of the previous volumes, mainly volume four, describing the Polish and European perceptions of John Amos Comenius, and volume five, about the critical interpretation of this controversial figure and his rich output in the CONTEMPORARY period. It could be stated that between 2014 and 2019 we created a unique system of knowledge about John Amos Comenius, his life and writings, and we started an international discussion of comeniology as a science. The publication is interdisciplinary and multilingual.
We present information about comeniological conferences in Europe in the jubilee years of John Amos Comenius (2020-2022):
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to invite you to submit your texts to be published in Volume 6 of “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, pedagogy series”. It will be entitled Towards comeniology as a science – discussions – polemics – dilemmas. I will be delighted if you agree to take part in this discussion and encourage others to do the same. Many professors from Poland and Europe have already declared their readiness to participate in this discussion, which is so important for all of us, dealing with John Amos Comenius. The deadline for text submission is 30 June 2019.
It is a pleasure to inform you that “Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin, pedagogy series” has taken part in the project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Support for scientific magazines and become its beneficiary. This year the publication has been indexed in the international list of magazines ICI Journals Master List / ICI World of Journals, and consequently, it has been awarded 20 points since 2019. We are going to use the electronic system ICI Publishers Panel to manage the magazine, which will enable us to spread the articles of Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin throughout the world more easily.
The articles published in all the five volumes of Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin can be read at the website www.comenius.uph.edu.pl. Here you will also find Editorial instructions for your texts. PLEASE HAVE A LOOK.
Yours sincerely
Barbara Sitarska
editor-in-chief of Siedlce Comeniological Research Bulletin
