A school of educational theory appeared in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, which spread widely and had great influence in some European and American countries. At the end of 19, due to the expansion of social production and the development of natural science, school courses are increasing day by day, students' learning burden is too heavy, and their physical fitness is declining. Therefore, it is an urgent task of educational theory to change the educational system, reform the curriculum and explore new teaching methods. At that time, science had expanded from the study of nature to the study of human beings, and scientific experiments were widely used in research. Especially after "experimental psychology" became an independent discipline, some educators used the methods of experiment, statistics and comparison to study children's physical and mental development and education problems, and experimental pedagogy appeared. Scholars of experimental education believe that only in this way can pedagogy become a real science.

The name of "experimental pedagogy" is 190 1, which was first put forward by German educational theorist E. Meiman. Man Mei criticized the previous pedagogy as conceptual, and thought that the theory used by teachers to guide their work often contradicted the reality. In order to avoid drawing conclusions only based on theory and accidental experience, he suggested that children's life and learning activities must be experimented with the research results and methods of physiology, anatomy, psychiatry and experimental psychology. He divided pedagogy into general pedagogy to study educational purposes and experimental pedagogy to study children's physical and mental development and educational methods. The research scope of the latter is: ① The characteristics of children's physical and mental development, and the differences between children's and adults' physical and mental development make the teaching materials and methods psychological. ② The process of children's physical and mental development and the difference of personality endowments make education and teaching activities personalized. (3) Children's learning and fatigue, that is, the degree of physical and mental fatigue when children finish their studies and homework, and study how to create less laborious and more effective learning conditions to make "learning economy". ④ Some practical problems about the school, such as making psychological and educational statistics through experiments, and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of teaching methods in various disciplines; According to the test of children's scores in various subjects, determine the teaching theory and methods; On coeducation and education for special children. Man Mei advocated the reform of curriculum and the determination of teachers' work and teaching methods on the basis of the above research.

A. Rai, another German educator, completed a systematic exposition of experimental pedagogy in the book "Experimental Pedagogy" published in 1903. He believes that the old pedagogy is based on perception, introspection and observation of others, and it is one-sided. He advocated that the old research methods should be supplemented by experiments, statistics and comparisons, so as to make the research methods of pedagogy more extensive and rigorous. So he called experimental pedagogy "complete pedagogy". Rye believes that the main characteristics of experimental pedagogy are: applying new research methods in education and teaching. He emphasized the important position of educational experiment in the process of establishing educational theory. It is believed that educational experiments can be carried out under artificial control, which is convenient to verify the respective positions and functions of various factors that constitute educational phenomena, so as to obtain accurate and reliable knowledge. He proposed that educational experiments include the following three stages: ① the establishment of hypothesis; ② Experiment planning and execution; ③ Prove the accuracy of the results in practice. The theoretical basis of Rye's experimental pedagogy is biology. According to this theory, he believes that human consciousness comes from the internalized reaction after muscle stimulation. Therefore, he understands the educational process as: first, let students feel the external things through feelings, then sort out feelings and impressions through thinking, and finally express the relevant knowledge of feelings and thinking through actions. Based on this understanding, he attached importance to curriculum reorganization. He criticized the shortcomings of the course at that time as "irrelevant", "unsystematic" and "lack of connection", which greatly damaged the students' energy. He proposed replacing the course with an organic course. Because Rai regards activities as the foundation of all education, attaches importance to the position of activity classes in teaching, takes activity training as the main content of education and teaching, and takes the cultivation of will as the educational purpose. He formulated a formula for the teaching process: "stimulation → internalization → reaction". He believes that according to physiology, anatomy, psychology, school practical experience and experimental research, stimulation, internalization and reaction are "three equal factors, which interact with each other"; However, he opposes conformity and sameness in teaching, and advocates that some disciplines should pay special attention to observation and internalization, that is, pay attention to teaching materials; Some disciplines should pay special attention to internalization and expression, that is, pay attention to teaching forms. He advocated that "the teaching of observing facts and the teaching of expression forms must be considered separately and cannot be confused". Rye criticized Herbart's "subjectivism" teaching theory according to his own understanding of the teaching process. Because he emphasized the important position of students' "action performance" in the teaching process, people also called his educational theory "action pedagogy".