„Stjórnarbylting á skólasviðinu“ : um kennslufræði Ögmundar Sigurðssonar - Eggert Lárusson 1948-; Meyvant Þórólfsson 1951- (2010)
Ráðstefnurit Netlu Um 1890 skrifaði Ögmundur Sigurðsson, þá kennari við Gerðaskóla í Garði, athyglisverðar greinar um skólamál og kennslu. Ritstörf hans og kennslustörf hafa opinberað skólamann sem virðist hafa verið langt á undan sinni samtíð en hefur síðustu áratugi að minnsta kosti verið minna þekktur en vænta mætti. Í þessari grein er ætlunin að rýna svolítið í skrif hans og ummæli samtímafólks um störf hans. Einkum er sjónum beint að athyglisverðum kennslufræðihugmyndum sem eiga sannarlega margt skylt við skólamálaorðræðu nú á dögum. Ögmundur var án efa þátttakandi í því umbótastarfi, sem Steingrímur Arason lýsti í skrifum sínum sem „stjórnarbyltingu á skólasviðinu“ fyrir tæpum 100 árum. In the year 1889 Ögmundur Sigurðsson, then a young headmaster in a small elementary school near Reykjavík, published a 70 page long article titled "On Geography Teaching in Elementary Schools". The article caught the attention of the authors because of the remarkable approaches Sigurdsson pursues. In fact, the article is in most part devoted to what present educational discourse describes as constructivist education. His main philosophy is that geography teaching should always start from the pupil’s own experience and knowledge. The authors relate in some detail Mr. Sigurdsson’s constructivist approach and attempt to trace the sources of his ideas. Some evidence points to his secondary school education and his teacher there, Dr. Th. Thoroddsen, Iceland’s great 19th century geographer and explorer, who among other things had read Herbert Spencer. The authors have also found data suggesting that Sigurdsson was influenced by progressive ideas of the Parker-school in Chicago, which was Sigurdsson’s city of choice when, in 1891, he took a full year’s sabbatical.