The origins of this trend in
psychology and pedagogy go back to the end of the 18th century with the separation of a branch of psychology that would form the basis of pedagogy, a pedagogic psychology or "experimental pedagogic psychology", "
experimental pedagogy", "experimental education".
G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) fostered pedology as a separate study, and also became instrumental in the development of modern
educational psychology. An American researcher,
Oscar Chrisman, proposed the term "pedology" in 1893. At the end of the 19th century, pedology as a comprehensive study of the child came to prominence in Europe as an attempt to create a study of children in the manner of
natural sciences. In 1909 Professor
Kazimierz Twardowski organized a Pedological Society in
Lviv,
Austro-Hungary (now Ukraine). In 1910 a similar society was organized in
Kraków. In 1911 the first World Congress in Pedology took place in
Brussels,
Belgium, with attendants from 22 countries.
World War I (1914–1918) effectively put an end to the development of this study in Western Europe. Since pedology as a branch of science never reached its maturity, there is no common established understanding as to the scope or instruments of pedology.
Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland became the first university in the United States to offer a bachelor's degree in pedology. A 2014 document from the university refers to "the pedology major (now known as child and adolescent studies)". At many universities in the United States, pedological study is generally classified under the major "child development." == Pedology in the Soviet Union==