FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam 2025 – Your Complete Guide to Success

The proposal that there are five steps in the teaching process comes from Johann Friedrich Herbart, a prominent educational philosopher and psychologist. Herbart's model emphasizes the importance of a structured approach to teaching that includes clear phases such as preparation, presentation, comparison, generalization, and application.

His educational philosophy is centered around the idea that effective teaching requires careful planning and execution, where each step builds upon the previous one, facilitating deeper understanding and retention of knowledge in students. By following these distinct stages, educators can better engage students and enhance their learning experiences.

While Skinner, Pavlov, and Piaget made significant contributions in their respective fields—behaviorism, classical conditioning, and cognitive development—none of them specifically outlined a five-step teaching process as Herbart did. Thus, recognizing Herbart's framework is essential for understanding systematic instructional strategies.