It's Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, the father of Modern Education.
He asserted that education should be centered on the child, not the curriculum. Since knowledge lies within human beings, the purpose of teaching is to find the way to unfold that hidden knowledge. Pestalozzi advocated direct experience as the best method to accomplish this.
Many of the principles of modern pedagogy have their roots in Pestalozzi’s philosophy and practice, including the ideas of student-centered, inquiry-based learning; a focus on the child’s interests and needs; cooperation and communication between the teacher and the parents; and active, rather than passive, learning.
He stressed that there should be balance between the head, hands, and heart, i.e. between intellectual knowledge (head), physical and technical education (hands), and moral and religious education (heart). Through developing a balance among these three areas, a person becomes a "whole man."
Check out these 12 pioneers in education who have explored much rougher terrain to shape modern learning shared by Teachhub.com.