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Title: A brief course in the teaching process
Author: George D. Strayer
Release date: December 24, 2023 [eBook #72495]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: The MacMillan Company, 1911
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A BRIEF COURSE IN THE
TEACHING PROCESS
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| |
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| Brief Course Series in Education |
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| EDITED BY |
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| PAUL MONROE, PH.D. |
| |
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| =BRIEF COURSE IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION.= PAUL MONROE, PH.D., |
| Professor of the History of Education, Teachers College, |
| Columbia University. |
| |
| =BRIEF COURSE IN THE TEACHING PROCESS.= GEORGE D. STRAYER, |
| PH.D., Professor of Educational Administration, Teachers |
| College, Columbia University. |
| |
| =BRIEF COURSE IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.= JOHN DEWEY, |
| PH.D., LL.D., Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University. |
| |
| _In preparation._ |
| |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
A BRIEF COURSE
IN
THE TEACHING PROCESS
BY
GEORGE DRAYTON STRAYER, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION, FORMERLY
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1916
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1911,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1911. Reprinted January,
March, April, September, 1912; January, July, November, December,
1913; October, December, 1914; May, 1915; January, 1916.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
TO MY WIFE
PREFACE
This book is the direct outcome of experience in trying to help
teachers grow in skill in the art of teaching and in power to
appreciate the work in which they are engaged. In the following
pages have been treated as concretely as possible the problems
which the teacher faces day after day in the classroom. Theories of
education have not been discussed at any great length, but rather
those processes through which these fundamental principles find their
expression in actual teaching.
Terminology which it is difficult for teachers to understand has been
avoided. Although the results of studies in educational psychology
and in experimental pedagogy have been included in the interpretation
of the problems discussed, it has not been thought advantageous to
discuss at any length any one of these investigations.
Many of the books which have been written for teachers have
discussed theories of teaching method without indicating clearly the
application of these principles in typical classroom exercises. In
other volumes a single type of teaching has been emphasized to the
exclusion of other equally valid methods of instruction. In this book
each of the several typical methods of instruction has been treated,
and the validity of the particular practice indicated in terms of
the end to be accomplished, as well as the technique to be used.
Since the technique of teaching method is not the only element in
determining the efficiency of the teacher, there is included in this
book a discussion of those other aspects of the teacher’s work which
determine the contribution which she makes to the education of the
children with whom she works.
In the chapter on lesson plans are given a number of illustrations
which conform to the types of exercises discussed earlier in the
book. One of the greatest needs in working with teachers is met by
this very definite provision for demonstrating the validity of the
types of teaching discussed. The exercises given at the end of each
chapter are intended to supplement the discussions of the book by
calling for an interpretation of the thought there presented in terms
of situations with which teachers are commonly familiar.
To Professors F. M. McMurry, Naomi Norsworthy, and L. D. Coffman,
each of whom has read the manuscript, I am indebted for many valuable
suggestions. To Miss Kirchwey of the Horace Mann School, Miss Steele
and Miss Wright of the Speyer School, to Miss Tall, Supervisor of
Grammar Grades in Baltimore County, Maryland, and to Dr. Lida B.
Earhart of the New York City Schools, I am indebted for lesson
plans. The outlines for the study of English, arithmetic, geography,
and history which are given in the appendix are published with the
permission of the authors and of the Teachers College Bureau of
Publications.
GEORGE DRAYTON STRAYER.
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
August 10, 1911.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE AIM OF EDUCATION
PAGES
Education measured by differences brought about in individuals—
Various statements of the aim—The individualistic point of view
has been emphasized—The social aim of education—Aim realized
in various types of education—Various teaching processes
contribute to the realization of the aim—Test of the teacher’s
work the _present_ realization of the aim 1-11
CHAPTER II
THE FACTORS CONDITIONING THE TEACHING PROCESS
Success in realizing the aim of education depends upon a clear
realization of the conditioning factors—The increased
responsibility of the school—The necessity for knowledge of the
home life of children—The instinctive equipment of children—
Play—Constructiveness—Imitation—Emulation—Pugnacity—Curiosity—
Ownership—The social instinct—Wonder—The importance of interest
in instruction—The danger of divided interest—Interest as means
and as end—Heredity—Individual differences 12-31
CHAPTER III
THE TEACHING PROCESS
Teaching a process of controlling adjustments—Types of
adjustment—The common element in these situations,
satisfaction—Types of attention corresponding to types of
adjustment—Passive, active, and secondary passive attention—
Illustrations of the types of attention—The problem of
securing continued attention—The importance of the problem
in teaching 32-40
CHAPTER IV
THE DRILL LESSON
The necessity for drill—The question of motive—Clear ideas of
the habit to be formed essential—Repetition with attention
essential in drill work—Attention held by initial motive, by
varying the procedure, by placing time limits, and by appealing
to emulation—Necessity for accuracy in practice—The periods
elapsing between repetitions or series of repetitions should
be gradually lengthened—Danger of the cramming method—In a
series of responses to be made automatic each member of the
series must be included—Drill especially on work that presents
peculiar difficulty 41-50
CHAPTER V
THE INDUCTIVE LESSON
The importance of thinking—Preparation should end with statement
of the problem by children—The gathering of data the work of
pupils in so far as is possible—Suggestions for conducting
excursions—The hypothesis in relation to comparison and
abstraction—Not everything can be developed—Respect for the
expert to be developed—Danger of helping children too much—The
steps of the process cannot be sharply differentiated—Teaching
by types 51-69
CHAPTER VI
THE DEDUCTIVE LESSON
The complete process of thought involves both induction and
deduction—The frequency of deductive thinking—The teacher in
relation to the thinking of children—Reflection—The problem
as essential in deductive as in inductive thinking—The search
for the principle or law which explains—The meaning of
inference—The importance of verification 70-77
CHAPTER VII
THE LESSON FOR APPRECIATION
Education should enable one to enjoy life—Power of appreciation
should be developed in our schools—Necessity for power of
appreciation on the part of the teacher—The relation of command
of technique involved in creation to power of appreciation—The
necessity for a right emotional attitude on part of children
at the beginning of such an exercise—Expression of feeling
should not be forced—The teacher as interpreter—Creative work
by children—Appreciation in fields other than those involving
the æsthetic emotions 78-85
CHAPTER VIII
THE STUDY LESSON
The importance of independent work—Children must become conscious
of the methods which can be most efficiently employed—Statement
of problem essential for study—Assignments—Children must be
taught how to collect data—Taking notes—Critical attitude
developed—Reflection—The importance of the habit of verification—
Teaching children to memorize by wholes—Importance of thought
in memory work—Children can be taught how to form habits 86-100
CHAPTER IX
REVIEW OR EXAMINATION LESSON
An examination involves a review—A review a summary and a new
view—Value of reviews—An abstract or topical outline a good
review—A review by application—The only real test of the
teacher’s work found in children’s everyday action—Examinations
as a test of the success of teaching—The needs for scales of
measurement 101-106
CHAPTER X
THE RECITATION LESSON
The weakness of this type of exercise as commonly conducted—The
topical recitation—The value of outlines prepared by pupils—Pupils
should learn how to use books—The danger of being satisfied
with words—Provision for supplementing the text—Danger of
accepting vague or incoherent answers—The danger in developing
an ultra-individualistic attitude—The recitation lesson
not comparable in importance to other types of exercises
discussed 107-113
CHAPTER XI
QUESTIONING
The importance of good questions—Types of questions—A lack of
scope a common fault in questions—Careful planning necessary—The
novelty of the form in which the question is put important—The
method of shock—The technique of questioning—The mistake of
asking questions in a definite order, of repeating questions,
of repeating answers—Questioning by pupils—Importance
of writing pivotal questions to be used in the recitation 114-128
CHAPTER XII
SOCIAL PHASES OF THE RECITATION
Social aim of education realized in the classroom—Motives commonly
operating in schools—Children naturally work together—Changes
in school work demanded by the aim of education—Illustrations
of coöperation in schools—Opportunity in manual work for group
work—Plan for individual contribution in all subjects—All kinds
of school exercises may lend themselves to the development of
the social spirit—Need for more purposeful work for children—
The social motive important in stimulating intellectual
activity 129-138
CHAPTER XIII
THE PHYSICAL WELFARE OF CHILDREN
The importance of physical efficiency—The teacher should know
something of the standards of lighting, heating, and
ventilating—Right habits of posture under the control of
teachers—The schoolroom and infectious diseases—The teacher’s
responsibility for discovering defects of sight, hearing, and
the like—The teacher and the movement for better health
conditions in the community—The teacher’s right to health 139-144
CHAPTER XIV
MORAL TRAINING
Intellectual and moral training cannot be separated—School
conditions offer advantages for moral training—Increased
responsibility of schools for moral training—Individual
differences, due to heredity, environment, and age important
in moral training—Physical condition and morality—Direct and
indirect method of moral instruction—Morality and taste—
Importance of calling for an exercise of the moral judgment—
The reform of the wrong doer—The influence of the teacher 145-156
CHAPTER XV
CLASS MANAGEMENT
Class management as a means and as an end—Conditions under
which management should result in habit—Situations which
demand self-control—Pupil participation in school government—The
daily program—Group instruction—Children should be
individualized—Individual instruction will not make children
equal in ability nor in accomplishment—Management in relation
to teaching 157-166
CHAPTER XVI
LESSON PLANS
Necessity for planning work—Teacher’s lack of interest in work
often repeated—Change in subject matter—Preparation, not
inspiration, counts in teaching—Importance of good questions,
illustrations and illustrative material, reference material,
plans for constructive work—The elements in a good plan—
Organization—Pivotal questions—Provision for summaries—
Assignment 167-223
CHAPTER XVII
THE TEACHER IN RELATION TO SUPERVISION
The purpose of supervision—Criticism, its various types—When
to discuss work with supervisors—School exhibits—Visiting
within and outside of the system in which one works—Examinations
and supervision—The function of teachers’ meetings—Institutes,
the better type—Supervision and growth 224-231
CHAPTER XVIII
THE TEACHER IN RELATION TO THE COURSE OF STUDY
The course of study as a taskmaster—The real purpose of the
course of study—Provisions for minimum, alternative, and optional
work—How the course of study may help the teacher—The
teacher’s contribution to the making of the course of
study—The interpretation of the course of study to children—The
doctrine of formal discipline—The vitalization of the
curriculum 232-246
CHAPTER XIX
MEASURING RESULTS IN EDUCATION
Efficiency demands that we evaluate our results—Progress by the
method of trial and success—Reasons why scientific work in
education has progressed slowly—Results already achieved in
measuring the results of our practice—Education means change,
and these changes are measurable—Lack of adequate units of
measurement not an argument against measurement—The steps in
scientific investigation—The teacher in relation to scientific
work in education—The school a laboratory 247-265
A BRIEF COURSE IN THE
TEACHING PROCESS
CHAPTER I
THE AIM OF EDUCATION
Education is worth just the difference it makes in the activities
of the individual who has been educated. The question is not how
many books did we compel the child to read; how much does he know of
arithmetic, geography, history, music, art, and the like: but rather
what use does he make of this knowledge; how is he different from
the person who does not possess this information; and, still more
important, are these differences in his activity desirable from the
point of view of the group in which he lives. It is important, then,
that we should consider, before we discuss the function of teacher in
bringing about changes in children, the ends which it is desirable to
attain.
The aim of education has been variously stated. In the popular mind
the aim of education is usually interpreted in terms of knowledge,
or the ability to make a living. The theorists have been more apt to
define the purpose of education in terms of the development of the
abilities of the individual, of growth, of culture, or of morality.
It might be interesting to examine each of the aims which has been
advanced in some detail. It may be as significant to note the element
common to all.
It is safe to assume that the advocates of each statement of aim
believed that their conception was broad enough to insure success
for the individual educated in accordance with the particular ideal
embodied in their statement of purpose. No aim would be at all
acceptable which did not take account of the society in which the
individual must work. The education in a tribal society, which
consisted in learning how to protect one’s self and to provide for
one’s physical needs, the acquaintance with tribal ceremonies and
tribal lore, quite as truly as our modern education, fitted the
individual to get on in life. The individualistic point of view has
been constantly emphasized. It has been a case of earning a living
for one’s self, of getting culture for the satisfaction that it might
bring, of acquiring knowledge for the sake of the advancement which
was thus made possible, of moral growth for the sake of individual
salvation. More recently it has been common to state the aim of
education in terms of social efficiency. It is the purpose of this
discussion of aim to examine this concept in order to make clear its
significance.
When society reaches that stage of development in which progress is
definitely sought and planned for, the stage of conscious evolution,
it is not enough that the individual be educated simply so that he
may attain his own selfish ends. Each individual is a part of the
organic whole, and in his functioning it is the good of the whole
which is of paramount importance. The aim of education must, then, be
broad enough to include both the welfare of the individual and the
good of society. Is there any real opposition between these ends? If
we think most of all of the welfare of the whole organism, must we
sacrifice the interests of the constituent parts?
No one can do the most for the group of which he is a member who has
not realized in his education the development of those abilities with
which he is peculiarly endowed. The nurture of those abilities upon
which society places a premium, and the inhibition of non-social
tendencies, means greater opportunity for the exercise of whatever
strength the individual possesses, greater individual growth and
development, than would otherwise be possible. It is only through
participation in social life that the highest individual development
is possible, and it is true that “he who loseth his life” for the
good of the group “shall find it.” There is, then, no opposition
between that view of education which declares that the welfare of
society is of paramount importance, and that which demands individual
well-being. If we are successful in obtaining the former, we must
have secured the latter.
If the analysis of the relation of the individual to society is
correct, we are justified in claiming that any adequate statement
of the aim of education must point unmistakably to the idea of the
common good. Education aims so to adjust the individual to the
group that the welfare of society as a whole may be advanced. This
adjustment can be brought about only through participation in social
activities, and thus the aim is constantly realized in the process.
In our democratic society, which makes possible free education for
all of its members, there can be no question of the right of society
to demand that education aim to develop men and women who work for
the common good. It is necessary, then, to analyze this aim of social
efficiency in terms of our society. The equality of opportunity which
we profess to offer is to be thought of in terms of possible service
which may be rendered.
In any community the contribution to the general welfare which may be
made by any one of its members is conditioned by the interests which
the individual has in the general good. The unsocial individual, the
one who seldom responds to the needs of the group, is out of sympathy
with social problems, and contributes little to social welfare.
But it is not enough that the individual be interested in the common
welfare. Interest may lead him to do that which is harmful rather
than helpful, or it may be that his interest may have no result
except to give him certain pleasurable emotions. There must be added
to sympathy, knowledge. Interest or sympathy in the welfare of
society may furnish the propelling force, but knowledge is necessary
for effective action. The world is full of men and women with the
best intentions who hinder rather than advance the common good.
Since each is responsible not only for his own conduct, but also for
the welfare of the whole group, it is necessary that our education
provide opportunity for growth in intelligence. Our schools have
always emphasized this element in education. We have often defined
the aim of education in terms of the development of citizenship.
Usually the chief qualification of the citizen has been interpreted
to be that knowledge which would enable him to exercise the right of
suffrage with intelligence. We do well, however, to remember that
intelligence must be exercised in all of the activities of life. Our
education must strive constantly to develop men and women who will
be _rational_ at all times. But we may not forget that our schools
have been so much concerned with the intellectual side of education
that they have tended to neglect other elements which are equally
significant from the standpoint of social welfare.
There is still another element which must be added, the habit of
acting on behalf of the group. We all know people who know just
what is demanded in a given social situation; they profess to be
interested in the welfare of the group; but they never act. When
their own private interests are involved they are quick to seize the
opportunity for improving their condition; but in social matters they
are inactive. It is in this particular, rather than in any other,
that our schools fall short. We do much to arouse the sympathy of
children in the general welfare; we give them the knowledge by which
their action may be guided; but we give them little opportunity to
form the habit of social service. This is due to the fact that we
so often think of adult social activities as the only ones that are
worth while, forgetting that for the child the important thing is
social activity now and in his society, that the only way to prepare
for adult social effectiveness is to secure social efficiency on the
part of the child.
These questions still remain: how can we, through education, produce
the individual who, because of social sympathy, knowledge, and
activity, will tend to advance the welfare of all; and what kinds of
education meet the demands of the aim which we have set up.
First of all, we must endeavor to produce the individual who is
sound physically. Modern education recognizes the fact that a man’s
usefulness is conditioned by his bodily condition, and is also coming
to find that physical activity is not without its effect on the
mental development and life of the individual. There is, therefore,
one large division of our work which we may call _physical education_.
On the side of mental development, education consists in preserving
and stimulating the child’s interest in the materials and processes
with which he may come in contact. Intellectual training aims
to develop the man or woman who is mentally alert, active in
investigation, and controlled by reason. It is to this _intellectual
education_ that our schools have devoted the larger part of their
time. The school is the agency set aside by society for transmitting
culture, and the teacher must always concern herself largely with the
intellectual life of children.
Our modern view of education is leading us to stress, along with
physical and intellectual education, a kind of training which aims to
develop the individual whose moral standards are positive rather than
negative. _Moral-social education_ should establish ideals of social
service as well as standards of individual righteousness.
Along with physical, moral-social, and intellectual-cultural
education, there is need for that type of training which will enable
each individual to do some particular work with a high degree of
efficiency. This type of education we commonly call vocational. It
is only recently that we have come to realize that it is not enough
to train an individual with respect to general intelligence and
morality, but that it is also just as fundamental that our education
provide the training necessary for success in the particular calling
which each individual is to enter. For the preparation of clergymen,
doctors, lawyers, teachers, and engineers, whose vocations require
a maximum of intellectual achievement, it is true that we have long
had our vocational schools. We are coming now to appreciate the fact
that equality of opportunity demands that special training be given
to those who are to enter the industries. Indeed, our vocational
schools must multiply until there is training offered for each and
every calling before we can claim to provide that training which is
essential for social efficiency.
Another problem is that of the training for leisure. In society as
at present constituted, it is possible for many individuals, and it
should ultimately be possible for all, to have a considerable amount
of leisure time. The contribution of each individual in his special
line of work, and his general interest in the whole community, will
depend in a considerable degree upon the proper use of leisure time.
Our education must, therefore, attempt to equip men with interests
and ideals which make for the nobler enjoyments.
Keeping in mind the sympathetic, wise, active social individual, made
so by the process of acquiring experience or making of adjustments,
both physical and mental, we have yet to reduce our aim to the terms
of schoolroom practice. What can a teacher hope to do in this hour,
with this group of children to work with?
First of all the teacher can work for the formation of habits which
are socially desirable and for the inhibition of those which are
undesirable. “Education is for behavior, and habits are the stuff
of which behavior consists.”[1] The school may be a very important
factor in the formation of habits in each of the fields of education
mentioned above. If the school is organized on a rational social
basis, it must continually present opportunities for actions which
should become habitual, and the future efficiency of the learner
depends upon gaining such control of much of the knowledge which
we teach that the response desired becomes habitual. The social
virtues of promptness, regularity, helpfulness, industry, fidelity,
honesty, truthfulness, cleanliness, both physical and mental,
patriotism, and the like, should be made habitual in connection with
the situations which demand their exercise. The physical habits
acquired in childhood are of the utmost significance throughout life.
Much of arithmetic, spelling, writing, geography, history, and even
of literature and art, will be significant in proportion as we have
reduced our knowledge to the automatic basis of habit. One cannot
stop to reason everything out; life is too short. We gain time and
energy for the higher activities of life in proportion as we reduce
the responses which occur frequently to the basis of habits. In
vocational schools one of the chief aims is the formation of habits
of skill. Later we shall want to discuss in detail the methodology of
habit formation.
Every teacher recognizes that one of the ends which must be achieved
by the school is knowledge. We shall not here enter into the
discussion of the problem of what knowledge is of most worth, since
for the teacher this choice is usually made and prescribed in the
course of study. One cannot, however, refrain from suggesting that
much that is taught would be eliminated, if we kept constantly in
mind the end for which we strive. The following criteria, proposed by
Professor Frank M. McMurry, will be suggestive from the standpoint of
teaching, whether the teacher determines the curriculum or not.
“We hold to the following propositions in the rejection of subject
matter.[2]
“1. Whatever cannot be shown to have a plain relation to some real
need of life, whether æsthetic, ethical, or utilitarian in the
narrower sense, must be dropped.
“2. Whatever is not reasonably within the child’s comprehension.
“3. Whatever is unlikely to appeal to his interest; unless it is
positively demanded for the first very weighty reason.
“4. Whatever topics and details are so isolated or irrelevant that
they fail to be a part of any series or chain of ideas, and therefore
fail to be necessary for the appreciation of any large point. This
standard, however, not to apply to the three R’s and spelling.”
These criteria indicate clearly that knowledge can never be in itself
an end of teaching. It is not that the child may have knowledge
merely, but that he shall have knowledge which will function. This
knowledge which we seek to have the child master will concern his
physical life, his social relationships, his vocation; and in each
field the knowledge he possesses will limit his intellectual activity.
The school must keep alive, or, in some cases, awaken those interests
which are socially desirable. It is not enough that habits have
been formed and knowledge acquired. Much of the usefulness of the
individual after he leaves school will depend on his interests which
lead him to acquire new knowledge, or to attempt some new activity.
It has sometimes been asserted that the school, as at present
organized, tends to kill rather than to preserve those interests
which are common to little children. It is probable that the passing
interests in things due to curiosity must disappear, regardless of
the education which we give; but it is a poor sort of education which
leaves the child without abiding interests which will help him not
only in making a living, but also in enjoying his life. Here, as
elsewhere in education, we may be satisfied with the result only when
we get the corresponding action. That child has an interest in good
literature who reads good literature. We can be sure that the boy
is interested in natural phenomena when he is willing to spend his
leisure time finding out more about nature’s ways. The only test that
we have of an abiding interest in the welfare of others is the fact
that the child is now active on behalf of others. In like manner are
we to judge of our success in arousing and maintaining those other
interests which are desirable.
Judgments of fact are called for constantly in acquiring knowledge
and in our everyday activity; but no less important in the life of
individuals are judgments of worth. Education must concern itself
with the ideals, purposes, and standards which should be acquired by
children. There is no field in which greater skill is demanded in
teaching than in bringing children to appreciate those things which
are good, true, and beautiful. Ideals, or, for those who do not agree
with them, prejudices, will always be of tremendous importance. They
determine the course of action a man will take. Because of their
ideals men have been willing to labor incessantly for a cause which
they considered just, to give up personal good in the pursuance of
public duty, to lose all, if they might but retain their honor, yes,
even to lose their lives because they felt that this extreme service
was demanded of them. The awakening and nurturing of ideals of work
(or industry), of honor, of duty, of purity, of service is the
greatest contribution of the best teacher.
There is one other aim which the teacher should have constantly in
mind, included possibly in the above, but which needs to be stated
separately for the sake of emphasis, _i.e._ that children should
be taught how to work independently. The best teacher is the one
who is constantly striving to render her services unnecessary.
There is nothing that the school can do which will take the place
of giving the child knowledge of the most economical means to be
employed in achieving desirable ends. Is it a matter of knowledge,
the child should be made conscious of the methods whereby truth may
be established; is it the need of establishing a new habit, or the
breaking up of the old one, we should make available for the pupil
the principles of habit formation so that he may apply them to his
own case; in matters of right and wrong, the school should have
supplied standards of reference which will help in the difficult
situation. Possibly the great weakness of many teachers in imparting
this knowledge of methods of work is best illustrated by citing the
well-known fact that children of high school, or even college age,
are found very frequently who do not know how to read a book, or
study a lesson assigned. This problem will be treated in considerable
detail when we come to consider the study lesson.
Pupils at work forming habits of thought, feeling, and action;
acquiring knowledge of nature and of society; forming ideals which
make for social well-being; and learning in all of this work to act
independently, to function in the society of which they are a part:
this is education, and these are the goals which we should strive to
achieve every day and every hour that we teach.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
Nicholas Murray Butler, _The Meaning of Education_, Chapter I.
W. C. Bagley, _The Educative Process_, Chapter III.
_Exercises._
1. How would you hope to contribute to the realization of the aim
of education in the teaching of English, arithmetic, cooking,
geography, or other school subjects?
2. How would you determine whether or not the children in your
grade are socially efficient?
3. What are the most important subjects, or parts of subjects,
which you teach? Why?
4. How would an application of the aim of education as discussed in
this chapter modify the work commonly done in arithmetic? In nature
study?
5. It has been claimed that education should provide for the
harmonious development of all of the powers. Criticize this
statement of aim.
6. Could you defend the statement that “the aim of education is to
produce socially efficient men and women,” and at the same time
deny that the greatest individual good comes from working for the
general welfare?
7. Why should education be free in a democracy?
8. Is society justified in offering special education to the
deficient and the delinquent? To the especially capable? Why?
9. Is the excessive rivalry which we sometimes foster in our
schools compatible with the aim of social efficiency?
10. Of the several types of education, physical, intellectual,
moral-social, vocational, and education for leisure, which is most
neglected?
11. How do you account for the fact that many children cease to
inquire, to investigate, or even to ask questions, although they
are regularly taught in our schools?
12. Why do you teach school? What do you hope to accomplish?
13. Can you name specific instances of changes brought about in
children under your instruction which justify you in believing that
you have fulfilled the aim of education in your teaching?
14. What justification is there for music, drawing, or literature
in the curriculum?
15. State briefly the aim of education.
CHAPTER II
THE FACTORS CONDITIONING THE TEACHING PROCESS
If it is essential that the teacher approach her work with a clear
view of the ends which it is desirable for her to achieve, it is
quite as necessary that she be conscious of the factors which
condition the teaching process. The school, with its limitations
and its advantages, the community and home life of the child, and,
above all else, the child himself, his instincts, impulses, and
abilities must be the subject of most careful study. Much progress
has been made in recent years because of a better understanding and
a more sympathetic attitude toward children. Teachers are beginning
to see that education has its beginning in, and that it is always
conditioned by, the life of the child outside of the school building.
The possibilities of the school as an institution for the education
of children are just beginning to be realized.
While it is true that the school shares with the home, the church,
and the community at large the education of children, no one can fail
to recognize the fact that the responsibilities and the activities
of the school have been very greatly augmented during the past few
decades. Where other institutions have lost or have become less
effective, the school has gained, or has been forced to accept
new responsibilities. Changed industrial conditions and life in
cities have made it impossible for the home to continue to hold the
important place which it once occupied in preparing its members for
efficient participation in the productive activities. Whether we like
it or not, we are forced to admit that the church no longer exerts
the power over the lives and conduct of men that it once did. Along
with the specialization of function which is so characteristic of our
modern life, citizenship in our democracy has come to require less of
that type of participation in public affairs which was once a great
educative factor in our community life.
As these changes in the effectiveness of other institutions have
taken place, men have looked to the schools to make good the
deficiency. The schools have responded to the demand made upon them.
Our curriculum no longer consists of the three R’s. Cooking, sewing,
gardening, and many other kinds of manual work, music, physical
training, and fine art are already found in our courses of study.
We are coming to recognize the need for more systematic training in
morals and civics, and vocational training is being introduced.
What is the significance of these changes for teachers? Is it
not true that they must teach whatever is demanded by the course
of study; and is not this the only difference in the teacher’s
function brought about by changed conditions? The answer is, most
emphatically, no. The situation which has already made necessary
the change in curriculum demands also changes in method quite as
revolutionary. It is more essential to-day than ever before that the
school present opportunities for coöperation and for group work, a
chance for pupils to work together for common ends, because there is
so much less demand of this sort made upon children outside of school
than was formerly the case. We ought to do more than we do to develop
the independence and the self-reliance which were so characteristic
of the boy and girl who lived in an environment which constantly
made heavy demands upon their strength, skill, and ingenuity. The
responsibility for taking the initiative, and of measuring the
success of one’s efforts by the results produced, is all too uncommon
in the lives of our children. The school must, if it is to adequately
meet its enlarged responsibility, develop those habits of thought and
action which enable one to get along with his fellows. The school
life of the child must, in so far as this is possible, present such
opportunities, make such demands, and judge results by standards
essentially social. The child must learn in school to serve, to
accept responsibility, and to produce results socially valuable. We
could do much to increase the efficiency of the school if we planned
more carefully to have schoolroom activities find their application
in the homes of children.
School education begins not with the ignorance of children, but
with their knowledge. Children come to us with a great wealth of
experience. Our work as teachers is to enlarge and to interpret this
experience, to give it greater meaning and significance. Can any
one question, then, the necessity for acquaintance with the life of
the child outside of school? And this study of the out-of-school
environment must continue as long as the child is in school, if the
teacher’s work is to be most effective. It makes a great deal of
difference when you wish to teach nature study that your children
have always lived in the city, at a considerable distance from a
park. The problem of teaching a great commercial center to children
living on farms presents some difficulty. But it is not alone these
more gross differences in the lives of children which demand our
attention. There are differences in ideals, differences in social
custom, in short, in ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, which
one must know if one would claim any adequate knowledge of the child
to be taught. Probably the best opportunity to gain this intimate
knowledge of the lives of children whom we teach is to be had in
the work with parents and older brothers and sisters which should
be carried on in the school building when the smaller children are
not present. The school which is a center of community life, a place
for study, for recreation, for physical development, and for social
intercourse is the school that is fulfilling its mission in the life
of the people; and the teacher who works in such a school will know
her children.
There is one other responsibility which we as teachers must
acknowledge which again leads us beyond the schoolroom. We should
work for the welfare of our children during the time that they are
not with us. No other body of men and women knows the needs of these
children better than we do. Our work is conditioned by the life of
the child before he comes under our influence. Our work is ofttime of
no effect because of the adverse conditions outside of the school.
What does it matter that we try to develop morality in children, when
the forces of immorality in the streets more than counteract our
influence? what does it matter that we strive earnestly to provide
hygienic conditions for work during five hours of the day, when
filth and disease are doing their deadly work outside of the school
for nineteen hours a day? Who knows better than we that children
with starved bodies cannot do great things intellectually? If we
were only organized to improve these conditions, we could do much
for the welfare of the community. The time is coming when it will
be considered as legitimate for a body of teachers to discuss the
problems of impure food supply, of relief for the poor, of means
for the suppression of vice, and of better hygienic conditions for
the children of our cities, as it is to discuss the problems of
method or the organization of school work. What we need, if we are
to be effective in the work, is better organization, more craft
consciousness. We now possess potentially great power for social
betterment. We are exercising this power in the school, and, as
individuals, outside of the school. We will, let us hope, in time,
recognize the larger social demand and perform the larger social
service.
The children with whom we work come to us equipped with many native
reactions or tendencies to behave. In any situation the child will
react in accordance with some native tendency or habit which has
grown out of the original tendency. Success in teaching depends
upon a recognition of these instinctive tendencies, the development
of some, the grafting of new but similar reactions on others, and
the inhibition of the native reaction and substitution of another
in still other cases. The instincts which are of importance in
education have been variously named; among these those of greatest
significance for the work of the teacher are play, constructiveness,
imitation, emulation, pugnacity, curiosity, ownership, including the
collecting instinct, sympathy, wonder. We shall deal briefly with
each of these in relation to the work of the teacher.
_Play_: Possibly the lesson which teachers need most to learn is
that play has real educative value. Before the school age has been
reached, the child has learned chiefly by playing. In play the child
gets his first experience in those activities which are later to
make possible a happy, useful life in the community. The number of
possible reactions possessed by a child of six is largely determined
by the opportunity he has had to play. _This_ is why we value so
much a life free from restraint, and in contact with nature, for
little children. Contact with the trees, the rocks, the birds, the
flowers, and association with other children mean possibilities of
learning for the child which no amount of instruction or exercise of
authority can equal. The child plays now with this object and again
with that; and in consequence comes to know not only the objects, but
his own power. In an imaginative way he experiences all of the adult
activities about him, sowing, reaping, building, cooking, cleaning,
hauling, fighting; and he is wiser and better prepared for the period
of struggle, which must come later, because of these activities.
Nor should this period of play end when the child enters school. The
skillful teacher makes a game of many of the exercises of the school,
which might be otherwise drudgery. The desire to win is common to
children six years of age, and many a hard task will become play, if
the element of competition is introduced and sufficient variety in
procedure is provided for. By playing, children may learn to work.
To achieve the ends desired in a game may involve the overcoming of
difficulties which require the most earnest effort. There can be
no better preparation for life than the playing of games where team
work, self-restraint, and fairness are demanded.
We need more careful study on the part of teachers of children’s
games, and more planning that all may secure the benefits which
come from this sort of activity. In the schoolroom, wherever it is
possible, the spirit of play should pervade the work. There will
be cases enough where results will depend upon the exercise of
authority. Let us never forget that the reaction of play may mean
just as valuable results as the reaction of necessity, and that the
ideal life is the one in which all work is play.
_Constructiveness_: Closely connected with the play instinct is the
instinct to make out of the material at one’s command that which
will represent some element in the play. In the beginning, gestures,
sounds, and whatever objects are present suffice in the make-believe
world of the child. But soon the materials are rearranged or shaped
into some new form in order to represent the object desired.
Materials become to the child just what he can make out of them.
And it is not simply in power to construct or to represent that the
child grows because of this activity. To make something, to work out
in materials one’s idea, means growth in definiteness and control of
ideas. The one adequate test of ideas must always be some sort of
expression; and, for the adult as well as for the child, construction
is one of the most important forms of expression. We would gain
much in all of our school work in clearness and definiteness, if we
resorted oftener to construction as a test. Of course, construction
is not to be limited to the making of things of three dimensions. The
map, plan, or artistic representation belongs to the same group, and
is developed from the same instinctive tendency.
Just one more word of caution needs to be given with regard to work
of this kind. In constructive work, whether with wood or clay, or
with pencil or brush, the point of departure should be the child’s
idea, not the model or pattern provided by an adult. After the
child has made his attempt, then let him see where he has failed by
reference to the object which he has tried to represent. And we can
afford to be satisfied in the beginning with a crude product, so long
as it satisfies the child. As for technique, there will come a time
when the desire for a better product will call for greater skill and
will furnish the very best possible motive for the necessary practice.
_Imitation_: In both play and constructive work a most important
element is the instinct to imitate. The child constantly imitates
adult activities in play, and in construction he represents the
objects about him. As has already been indicated, it is in this
way that he clarifies his ideas, that he gains experience. In
imitation, which is truly instructive, the child does not consciously
plan to imitate; it is enough that the model is present. This
kind of imitation is sometimes called spontaneous imitation, in
contradistinction to the other type of imitation, in which the
individual persistently tries to reproduce the activity of another.
In the latter case he is conscious of the process; and this type is
sometimes called voluntary imitation. This distinction is important
for teachers in many phases of school work. There are cases where
the only satisfactory response is that which accords with the model,
the standard which society imposes. We do not want a child to try to
spell a word without being conscious of the form commonly accepted.
He will succeed in spelling because he has studied _this_ word, or
is able to build it up from his knowledge of its constituent parts.
On the other hand, wherever creative work is to be done, wherever
originality is required, the educational value of the exercise is
inversely proportioned to the degree in which conscious imitation
of a model has entered to produce the result. In such subjects as
English composition, constructive work, science work involving
observation and experiment, what we want above all else is the
attempt on the part of the learner to express his own ideas; and it
is only after this expression that any adequate appreciation of model
or of criticism can be hoped for.
There is one other factor in connection with imitation which is of
great importance in teaching; namely, that children persistently
imitate what they admire. This has a double significance for the
teacher. Those things which can be made less attractive will tend to
be less imitated; and, conversely, that which is held up as worthy of
great respect will be much imitated. If we were only wise, we would
devote our attention to the leader of the group, trying to secure the
appropriate or desired reaction upon his or her part, rather than
devoting ourselves equally to the whole group. We can depend upon
it, the crowd will follow the leader whom they admire. Our appeals
often mean little to children, and the models which we set up have
little effect, because, however admirable these standards may seem to
us, they are beyond the power of children to comprehend or admire.
Instead of giving a boy a letter of Jefferson as a model, better
give him the one written by his classmate. Do not expect the girl to
imitate the noblest women in history, but make your appeal on the
basis of the virtue of the girl she likes.
_Emulation_: Much that has been said above under imitation might
quite as well have been written under the head of emulation. As
social beings, we tend to do what others do. Consciousness of kind
compels us to lay great store upon our ability to do as others do.
When in Rome the difficult thing is not to do “as Romans do,” but
to do otherwise. The desire to do not only as well as others, but
to accomplish more, is responsible for much that is achieved in
the world. If we did not have others with whom we are constantly
comparing ourselves, few of us would do as well as we now do.
Rivalry will always be one of the greatest means of bringing about
improvement or advancement in social conditions. In school, as well
as in the world at large, rivalry, if kept free from jealousy and
envy, will justify its existence by the results produced. The boy or
girl who is anxious to distance his fellows in school is apt to be
the man of ambition and of success in later life.
_Pugnacity_: More prominent in boys than in girls, but present in
some degree in every individual, is the instinct to fight, the desire
not to be overcome either by persons or conditions which surround
us. In so far as this instinct leads to physical encounter, for all
except the unusually strong physically, the correction comes by way
of defeat. For all, the substitution of games which involve physical
prowess for fighting, and the substitution of victories of intellect
for the victories of physical combat, point to the utilization of
this instinct in education. It is sometimes possible to appeal to
this instinct when discouragement and defeat in school tasks seem
inevitable. No boy likes to be told that he has been downed by the
task in long division, or that he has failed to make good in spelling
or geography. The whole world hates a quitter, and normal, healthy
children are no exception to the rule.
_Curiosity_: Children are proverbially curious about things.
They want to know more, to enlarge and make more definite their
experience. This desire shows itself in their actions in handling
materials, in making and unmaking, in questions asked, in reasoning,
in play, and in imitating others. The most striking characteristic in
the mental life of children is the breadth of their interests, due to
this instinct of curiosity. Most adults _think_ along very narrow and
restricted lines; not so with children. While it is true that they do
little abstract thinking, there is scarcely an object or an action
which comes within the range of their senses that is not followed by
the desire to find out more.
Children have the spirit of inquiry, have many problems, in short,
are mentally active to a degree most uncommon among adults. The
problem of the teacher is how to keep alive this spirit of inquiry,
how to insure a continuance of this mental alertness. Much of our
school work has certainly tended in the opposite direction. Reciting
what is written in books, without thought or question, has too often
been characteristic of recitations. The appeal to authority, whether
of the teacher or of the book, instead of the appeal to experience,
to observation and experiment, or to other methods of establishing
truth, tends to kill rather than to strengthen the spirit of inquiry.
We should place greater value upon the intelligent question than
upon the parrot-like answer. Respect for the problems of children,
even when they seem of little account to us, rather than ridicule
or evasion, will tend to keep alive this most precious heritage. Of
course it is not wise to encourage the scatter-brained boy or girl
who never thinks about the same thing for two minutes in succession.
One great function of the teacher is to help children to concentrate
upon the main issue, to show a child that his question is irrelevant
to the problem under consideration, and to guide him on the path
which makes thinking pleasant and profitable.
It would be a good thing for every teacher to ask herself whether
while under her direction the children whom she teaches are usually
mentally alert, thinking, asking questions, or whether they concern
themselves only with repeating the thoughts of others. If there be
any doubt with regard to the children’s natural aptitude, let her
observe them when out of school and contrast the result. Mental
laziness is a habit acquired in spite of our initial advantage, in
spite of our desire for knowledge and the pleasure which comes from
thinking. The school and the teacher must always be judged by their
success in keeping children awake mentally; for it is power to learn
rather than knowledge which counts in later years, and learning is
most of all dependent upon the initial impulses toward inquiry.
_Ownership_: Very early in the life of the child the idea of personal
ownership develops. There can be no doubt concerning the importance
of this instinct in its effect upon the achievements of men, but we
are concerned chiefly, in dealing with children, with one aspect of
this tendency which is commonly known as the collecting instinct.
This desire to have the most complete collection of buttons, postage
stamps, pictures, birds’ eggs, shells, arrowheads, or whatever else
it may be, may often be utilized to great advantage. Illustrative
material for work in history, geography, nature study, and to some
degree for other subjects can be had in this way. Such a collection
will mean not only a much greater interest in the work, but also a
livelier appreciation of the subject, more images upon which to base
its generalizations. I have never seen a class that learned more
geography in a short time than was mastered by a class who followed
the American fleet around the world, collecting pictures, products,
and stamps for each of the countries visited, and writing a full
account of the country visited to accompany these illustrations.
Another class made most interesting collections in connection with
their study of colonial history. It is a mistake to suppose that
ready-made collections will answer the same purpose. They may
illustrate better, but the added interest and enthusiasm growing out
of the exercise of the collecting instinct will be wanting.
The collecting instinct may be utilized in work which deals with
ideas rather than things. Children may be just as keen in collecting
ideas about a subject in which they are much interested as in making
their collection of stones, or birds. The transition from the one
type of collecting to the other is apparent, in collections which are
interesting mainly for the ideas which they suggest.
_The Social Instinct_: The school has often overemphasized the
individualistic point of view. Competition is a legitimate motive;
but if all of school life centers around this motive, the child has
lost much in the non-exercise of that peculiarly human instinct which
demands coöperation and sympathy. At the foundation of our society is
the idea of working together for the common good. Boys and girls who
are to be most useful to their fellows, who are to do the most for
society, _i.e._ those who are truly educated, must have kept alive
and developed this spirit, more than altruistic, which sees in the
good of society the greatest individual gain. In a later chapter this
topic will be dealt with in considerable detail; suffice it to say
here that many opportunities should be found for group projects, for
service on the part of each member of the group of the sort that he
is particularly qualified to render.
_Wonder_: The instinct of wonder or awe, closely related to or
possibly identified with the religious instinct, is one that our
modern critically scientific attitude tends to discourage. No one who
has had the experience can doubt the value of this element in mental
life. To wonder at the glory of the heavens will doubtless make more
difference in the lives of most men and women than the smattering of
astronomy they may acquire. The man who wonders at the manifestation
of the power of the forces of nature may get more real joy out of
life than he who feels that he has solved all of her mysteries. We
are not as a people remarkable for our reverence. It may be well
urged that our schools have often been responsible for the opposite
attitude. This instinct of wonder will thrive only in a sympathetic
atmosphere. No teacher can directly inculcate or develop it. Only
that teacher who has preserved and nurtured the instinct in her own
life can hope to be effective in keeping alive the same spirit in
children.
In the first chapter it was claimed that teachers should work to
develop the socially sympathetic, intelligent, and active individual,
and that the ends to be expected from any exercises might be
classified as habits, knowledge, interests, ideals or appreciations,
and methods of work. In our discussion of the native reactions of
children, we have endeavored to show that the possibilities of such
accomplishment are the common possession of normal children. It is
for the teacher who would accomplish these ends most economically
to discover the instinctive basis for the habit to be formed, the
knowledge to be acquired, interest to be awakened, or appreciation
to be aroused. The instinctive interests of children will furnish
the most powerful motives, and will serve as a basis for the most
lasting results. Even when the native reaction is undesirable,
the successful process may depend not merely upon negation, but
upon a grafting upon the original tendency of one that is socially
desirable; or, in other cases, the substitution of another reaction
based upon some other instinctive tendency. We may not always follow
where instinct seems to lead, but we can never ignore these native
tendencies. Whether we blindly ignore or attempt to work against
nature, or wisely utilize the instincts, the fact remains that all of
our work is conditioned by the native equipment.
It has become more or less the fashion in recent years to decry the
theory of those who discuss the teaching process from the standpoint
of the child’s native tendencies, and with due regard to his
interests. The reactionary who continually harks back to the good old
times is still with us. The term of ridicule most commonly used in
lieu of argument is “soft pedagogy.” We are told that the only way
to develop men and women of strength is to begin by making sure that
we make our appeal on the basis of our superior authority, or even
brute strength, instead of finding the foundation for our work in
the instinctive curiosity and tendency to mental activity with which
children come to us. It is presumed by those who argue on the side
of the importance of authority that, unless children are compelled
by others to do hard tasks, they will never attempt anything that
involves effort. Again, they interpret interest to mean the blind
following of the child’s instinctive tendencies.
In our previous discussion we endeavored to show that education
concerns itself quite as much with the inhibition of undesirable
tendencies as with the encouragement of those which lead to desirable
activity. The process is not one of following where children lead,
but rather of availing ourselves of the native tendencies in order
that the ends we desire to achieve may be accomplished with the least
waste of time or energy. In reality, the choice between the two
positions is not whether we will have regard for childish instincts
and capacities, but rather whether we shall approach our task from
the standpoint of one who has faith in an appeal to the lower motive
of fear, or whether we believe that children are best prepared for
later activity who work out their own problems.
The best teaching can never consist in driving pupils to tasks which
they do not understand and which have little significance for them.
The standard of efficiency is found in ability to present to the
child a need, a purpose, or a problem which solicits his attention.
It may be that we shall be but imperfectly able to accomplish this
result, but, nevertheless, this must be our ideal. And it is not
for reasons of sentiment that we adopt it. The learning process is
explained in this way only. We make a new adjustment, reconstruct
our experience only in a situation which makes such a demand
upon us. When a child is compelled to do a piece of school work
without realizing the significance of that which he does, there is
substituted for this realization of need or problem an artificial
need; namely, to avoid an unpleasant consequence.
There is another important argument which must not be overlooked.
When a child works under compulsion, he usually gives just as little
attention to his work as may be necessary to escape painful results.
It is not uncommon for children to divide their attention most
skillfully between distasteful school tasks and the out-of-school
activities in which they are vitally interested. This lack of
undivided attention to the work in hand results in a habit of work
which cannot fail to be disastrous to the highest intellectual
attainment. It is true also that children who have been subjected to
such treatment come to look upon books and lessons as something of a
nightmare, and are only too glad when the opportunity presents itself
to leave school and go to work. The child’s attitude, growing out of
his school experience, is quite as important as any result which we
may achieve in knowledge.
Professor Dewey’s summary of the relation of interest and effort
defines most adequately interest in its true significance, and
indicates the place of effort in educative process. He says:—
“Genuine interest in education is the accompaniment of the
identification, through action, of the self with some object or idea,
because of the necessity of that object or idea for the maintenance
of self-expression. Effort, in the sense in which it may be opposed
to interest, implies a separation between the self and the fact to
be mastered or the task to be performed, and sets up an habitual
division of activities. Externally, we have mechanical habits with
no psychical end or value. Internally, we have random energy or
mind-wandering, a sequence of ideas with no end at all because not
brought to a focus in action. Interest, in the sense in which it is
opposed to effort, means simply an excitation of the sense organ to
give pleasure, resulting in strain on one side and listlessness on
the other.
“But when we recognize there are certain powers within the child
urgent for development, needing to be acted upon, in order to
secure their own due efficiency and discipline, we have a firm
basis upon which to build. Effort arises normally in the attempt
to give full operation, and thus growth and completion, to these
powers. Adequately to act upon these impulses involves seriousness,
absorption, definiteness of purpose, and results in formation of
steadiness and persistent habit in the service of worthy ends. But
this effort never degenerates into drudgery, nor mere strain of dead
lift, because interest abides—the self is concerned throughout.”[3]
Interest, as Professor Dewey defines it, is intrinsic. The pupil
does his work not because he hopes to escape some punishment or get
a high mark, but because the work of itself commands his attention.
The teacher must constantly choose whether she will work for interest
of this type, which depends upon the recognition of the worth of the
task to be performed, or resort to an interest which has no relation
to the work to be done. Shall she appeal to the child through his
instinctive delight in finding out, in constructive work, or other
form of expression, or shall she appeal to his instinct of fear of a
whipping or dislike of ridicule or nagging?
It is true that, after the teacher has done her best to appeal on
the basis of the child’s needs for growth and development, not all
children will respond equally, and so, as in the larger society
outside of school, the child will need to be kept from interfering
with others, and required to do that which those who are wiser have
decided that it is advantageous for him to do. But this resort to
authority, an acknowledgment of lack of ability on our part or the
result of unfavorable conditions, must come last; it should never be
the point of departure.
There is one other distinction which it is well to keep in mind when
we think of interest. Our discussion thus far has considered interest
as a _means_ for securing certain desirable ends. We may not forget
that to secure interest which will persist in many of the types of
activity found in the school should be considered as an end worthy
in itself.[4] We may hope to have a boy interested in his history
lesson in order that he may gain the knowledge contained in this
subject. Interest is the _means_ we employ to secure the desired
result. On the other hand, we may hope that the boy we teach will
continue to be interested in history throughout his life. In this
latter case the interest which we hope to secure in history becomes
an _end_ for which we work. As a result of any system of education,
we are justified in expecting, not only an increase in the command
of facts and in a knowledge of the best method of procedure in
working in subjects taught, but also in hoping for the development of
lasting interests which will make for a continuance of the period of
education and for greater joy in life.
_Heredity in Education_: An inquiry into opposing theories of
heredity is not relevant to our main purpose; but we are concerned
with certain facts, commonly accepted, which condition our work.
No one will dispute the fact that the children assembled in any
schoolroom differ in native capacity, as well as in experience.
Whether genius or its lack are apt to be reproduced in the children
of gifted or dull parents is not the question the teacher has to
solve. For her the demand is too often that she turn out a uniform
product from a group of individuals who range from the genius to
the dullard or mental defective. It is well for teachers to realize
that in any non-selected group the majority of individuals may
be expected to be of ordinary ability, and that a few will range
above this standard, and a few will fall below. The important thing
to remember is that a group of normal children cannot be ranged
in ability in two or three distinct groups with clearly defined
boundaries, but that if any adequate test be given, we will find that
they distribute themselves over a wide range, with small rather than
large differences between individuals. For example: if a searching
test in fundamental operations of arithmetic is given, we know that
some child will probably get nearly all of the work done correctly,
and, even with our care in grading, some child in the group will
probably fail in more than half of the work; and that between these
two extremes we will have almost every grade of ability represented,
with a tendency for a considerable number to group themselves at
about that point which we consider ordinary or average ability.[5]
Not only is it true that individuals differ in ability of any
particular sort, but it is also true that the child who has little
ability in one direction may be up to the average or have more than
usual ability in some other direction. In our teaching we should
have a minimum standard of efficiency for all who are not mentally
defective, and we should strive earnestly to have all reach this
goal. If wisely selected, this minimum will include that which is
absolutely necessary for further advancement along the line of work
pursued. The majority of the class should achieve results beyond
this minimum, and for the exceptionally bright child the maximum
should be fixed only by the child’s ability and the requirements
of good health. It is useless to attempt to make all alike; it is
wrong to limit the accomplishment of the gifted by the capacity of
the majority; these are the lessons which the consideration of the
capacities of any group of children should teach. We cannot furnish
ability, but we may create an attitude of listlessness and mental
laziness, if we do not give the bright child enough to do. Education
demands a recognition of peculiar abilities and their nurture. We can
never create genius from mediocre ability, and we may not assume that
genius is irrepressible.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
E. L. Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_, Chapters V and VI.
E. L. Thorndike, _Individuality_.
E. A. Kirkpatrick, _Fundamentals of Child Study_, Chapter IV.
_Exercises._
1. What institutions contribute to the education of children?
2. Why has the responsibility of the school increased during the
past century?
3. How would you justify compulsory education? Medical examination?
Compulsory dental treatment?
4. Why do changed social conditions demand changed methods of
instruction as well as a different curriculum?
5. Why does the teacher need to know the home life of the children
in her class?
6. What is the significance of parents’ and mothers’ clubs, or any
other organization of the teachers and the patrons of the school?
7. Why should teachers participate in the campaign against
tuberculosis?
8. Give instances from your own experience of the educative value
of play.
9. Why can a boy write a better composition about making a kite
than on “Honesty is the best policy”?
10. What is the objection to providing children with model
compositions and asking them to write on closely related themes?
11. Give examples of a proper appeal to the instinct of emulation.
12. How do you account for the fact that in some classes children
seldom ask questions?
13. What value is there in a collection of birds’ nests, flowers,
minerals, woods, and the like, which one finds in some schoolrooms?
14. How would you hope to develop the social instinct in the pupils
you teach?
15. Give the children in your class ten problems in addition, score
one for each column added correctly, and compare the results. Can a
teacher create ability?
16. In a city school system forty per cent of the children have
been retarded one or more years during their school life. Do you
think that differences in ability justify the repeating of work one
or more years by so large a percentage of the children?
17. Should we try to have children develop equal ability in all of
their studies, or rather encourage them to do especially well in
one or two subjects?
18. Should a pupil who receives only forty per cent in his
arithmetic examination be compelled to repeat the grade?
19. State the argument of those who believe that disagreeable,
uninteresting work is most valuable in educating children.
20. What reasons can you give for the demand that teachers secure
the interest of their pupils in school work?
21. Why is it bad intellectually for a child to divide his interest
between his school work and some other activity while doing school
work?
22. There is always some motive present when work is accomplished
in the school. If the pupil is not interested in his work, what
motives will you be apt to find in operation?
23. Does the demand that children take an interest in their work
mean that we will require them to do only the sort of work which is
easy for them?
24. Name three situations in school work in which you would seek to
use interest as a means. Three cases in which you would consider
interests as ends.
25. In which situation will a boy write the better letter: when
asked to write a letter as a class exercise, or when he writes to
his uncle about their plans for his summer vacation?
26. The ends which we desire to attain may be relatively near or
remote. Classify the following aims presented to children according
to (1) the remoteness of the end to be achieved, (2) the interest
which you would expect children to take in the work for which these
aims are supposed to furnish some motive. Suppose the class to be a
seventh-grade group of boys.
1. Learn how to build a boat.
2. Become a writer of good English.
3. Gain in skill in the process of dovetailing.
4. Write for a catalog of sets of tools for boys.
5. Find out why England maintains the largest navy in the world.
6. Prepare a description of the building of the Panama Canal.
7. Decide why so many Russians come to the United States.
8. Make the drawings for a sled to be built for his own use.
9. Make a rabbit trap from plans furnished by the teacher.
10. Study algebra to get ready to go to college.
11. Write a story of an interclass basket-ball game for the
school paper.
12. Enjoy one of Kipling’s stories.
CHAPTER III
THE TEACHING PROCESS
Education means change, growth, development. The process is one
of adjustment in which the individual is not only affected by his
environment, but is also capable, in turn, of changing or even in a
measure creating the situation in which he lives. The experience of
any individual grows in meaning and significance through successive
demands for new adjustments. Among the lower animal forms there are
those who have very little power of adjustment; regardless of the
situation presented, they can react only in one way, or, as the
animal structure increases in complexity, in a very few ways. The
power of adjustment being small, the possibilities of learning and of
education are small. As has already been indicated in our discussion
of instincts, human beings are equipped with many tendencies to
react, and with power to react in a very great variety of ways. Man
has power beyond all other animals to profit by experience, and is
distinguished from them by his power to learn by means of ideas, not
simply by the process of trial and error. Our problem is, then, to
inquire concerning the conditions under which a situation demands
adjustment, under which experience is reconstructed, and, further,
to discuss the manner in which socially desirable reactions may be
made the permanent possession of the learner, while those inimical to
social welfare are eliminated.
In general adjustments are made in response to one of the following
situations: (1) when satisfaction of some instinctive need results;
(2) when satisfaction of an _idea_ of an end to be reached, the
attainment of which will satisfy some instinctive or acquired need,
results; (3) when satisfaction of an acquired need, functioning
at the time the adjustment is made, is the immediate result. In
these cases a type of adjustment not instinctively demanded and not
originally in itself pleasing reaches a point where it is in itself
satisfying. The value of the experience is intrinsic.
Little need be said concerning the first class of adjustments in
addition to our discussion of instincts in the previous chapter.
When one finds himself in a situation which threatens bodily harm,
he instinctively tries to get out of the way. In the presence of
materials, children instinctively handle them, or make a noise with
them, or attempt to construct something. The schoolboy, with his
questions, his collection of stamps, his adherence to his gang, is
making adjustments which satisfy instinctive needs.
Under the second class are included reactions in which the
satisfaction of the instinctive need is not the immediate result, and
those cases where satisfaction may be explained only by reference
to an acquired need. The essential characteristic of this class of
adjustments is the fact that the idea intervenes. It is for the
satisfaction of our _idea_ of an end which may be remote for which
the adjustment is made. A pupil may try to read well because he has
the idea that reading well pleases the teacher. The end desired
may be simply to get along with the teacher without the discomfort
of a scolding, or because of his instinctive desire for praise. A
boy may labor diligently in building a sled because of his idea of
the pleasure which will result to himself or possibly to others.
A group of children may save their pennies to buy books, instead
of satisfying their desire for candy, because of their idea of
satisfaction to be derived from the books to be bought. A man may
endure many hardships because of his idea of future wealth, political
preferment, fame, or other good which he hopes will result.
After a time activities which were stimulated by the idea of a
satisfactory end to be achieved may be repeated for their own sake.
This gives us our third class of adjustments. The boy may find
it very difficult to spend five hours a day with books, while the
man finds his chief delight in this form of activity, altogether
aside from a result beyond his present satisfaction. A child may
begin to read because of the authority of the teacher and his fear
of unpleasant consequences, and yet may later come to find great
delight in reading. In teaching we should strive to bring as many
as possible of the adjustments to be made under this last category.
The boy or girl who finds his greatest satisfaction in making the
adjustments, in gaining the experience, in doing the work that
the school provides, is getting the best possible preparation for
the life of the man or woman who finds his own greatest joy in
his everyday activity. We need not be discouraged because of the
seeming impossibility of the task, since its achievement would
indicate perfection, toward which we strive, and which, because it is
perfection, we never achieve. Adjustments are to be made, experiences
must be had; and our appeal, whether based upon the satisfaction
of instinctive tendencies, the idea of ends near or remote, or the
satisfaction of acquired needs which are socially advantageous, must
be the highest appeal which can now be made with the assurance that
the resulting reaction will be secured.
There is one point which all of these situations which call for
adjustment have in common; that is, satisfaction. This fact is
fundamental in teaching. Not only are we limited in our work
by native tendencies and capacities, but the results must give
satisfaction, else the reaction induced will tend not to be repeated.
Of course satisfaction or pleasure is a relative term; possibly it
would be fairer to say that the individual reacts in the way which
will result in the least dissatisfaction or pain. A boy may dislike
to write in a copybook, but he may prefer that to a whipping or to
being kept after school. There is one other possible misconception
which must be guarded against. That which the individual considers
most satisfactory may not be best for his well-being, nor for the
welfare of others with whom he associates. It is the work of the
teacher to encourage adjustments which are socially desirable, and to
make unpleasant the results which are socially disadvantageous, even
though they originally gave satisfaction to the individual.
Corresponding to the types of adjustment mentioned above are the
types of attention. When the adjustment is made in response to an
instinctive tendency to react, we have what is called _passive_ or
involuntary attention. The boy who looks at the door when it opens,
who makes a paper boat instead of doing his work in arithmetic,
or who talks to his neighbor about the ball game they are to play
after school, is passive so far as any attempt to control his
mental activities is concerned. He is following the line of least
resistance. He does not will to make these adjustments, or to attend
to these things; hence we say that he attends involuntarily, that he
is passive in the situation.
A second type of attention is that in which the individual makes
an adjustment, follows a given line of activity, voluntarily. He
is active in his determination to accomplish certain ends, and in
order to secure these results he resists the tendency to wander, to
give his attention to other elements in the situation which may be
natively more attractive. This type of attention we call _active_.
We have this type of attention wherever the individual works for the
satisfaction of his _idea_ of an end worthy to be accomplished. It
corresponds to the second class of adjustments mentioned above.
Through the exercise of active attention over a considerable period,
the necessity for effort, for the exercise of the will in order that
we may not wander from the main purpose, becomes less and less, until
finally a passive attitude is again reached. This type of attention
is designated as secondary passive attention.[6] It corresponds to
the third type of adjustments named above.
In teaching, we begin most frequently with passive attention; we
work most earnestly to secure and to hold active attention; and if
our work is successful, children will reach the stage of secondary
passive attention, at least with reference to some of the activities
found in the school.
In the first grade, in the beginning reading class, the teacher
appeals to the children on the basis of their instinctive delight in
movement, their desire to be like or to excel others, their pleasure
in drawing with pencil or crayon, their love of a good story, and
other like instinctive tendencies to react. The adjustments made
are in response to instinctive needs, and the attention is largely
passive. Gradually, as the work progresses, the ends to be achieved
will become more remote, and instead of immediate satisfaction of
instinctive needs, the children will work for the satisfaction of
their ideas of ends which are desirable, whether based on instinctive
or acquired needs. They may work diligently in the phonic or word
drill because they have the idea that this must be done in order to
read the story, and the end ultimately to be satisfied may be to give
pleasure to others. The adjustment is made here in response to the
idea of an end to be secured, which represents the satisfaction of
a need which probably has been acquired in the school or at home.
Later in the history of these same children they may read, overcoming
whatever difficulties may present themselves, simply because
this process is for them in itself worth while. Here we have the
adjustment which gives immediate satisfaction of an acquired need,
and the type of attention which has been designated as secondary
passive.
The problem for the teacher is to secure continued attention to
one thing. Almost any exercise which the school offers will be
interesting for a brief time because it is something new. The
difficult task is not to get attention, but to hold it. Children
attend to the situation at hand just as long as it proves more
attractive than some other. The boy who is called inattentive may
be most attentive to the plan he is making to earn money to go to
the circus. The teacher must endeavor to discover ends sufficiently
attractive to command the active attention of children for a
considerable period. The child must be willing to exert himself,
and the motive for his effort must be strong enough to bring him
back to the task in hand every time that he tends to wander. Often
the success of the work will depend upon a recognition of the fact
that it is very difficult to attend for any considerable period
to a situation in which the elements do not vary. We may secure
continued concentrated attention by recognizing the fact that variety
in procedure, or in appeal, will make it possible for the child to
keep his attention fixed. Take, for example, a topic in geography.
The teacher will question to bring out different aspects of a
topic, show the children pictures or use illustrative materials,
have children read the map, tell a story or incident relating to
the situation under consideration, and in this manner keep children
actively thinking on one topic for half an hour. We shall discuss
at some length the problem of aim, in connection with the inductive
development lesson. Suffice to say here that often we fail to secure
the continued attention of children because we ask them to attend to
that which for them lacks interest or significance.
Children work hardest when the problem to be solved is one that
they recognize as their own. They make adjustments which mean
immediate satisfaction, or which they believe will ultimately give
satisfaction. Our difficulty is often that the end we set up is too
remote. The idea of becoming a well educated man will not ordinarily
be powerful enough to keep a boy at work on a composition, but the
desire to be the author of a paragraph in the school paper, to write
to a boy in another city or country, or to compose part of a drama
which the class will act for their friends, may mean the hardest sort
of work, the most concentrated attention of which he is capable.
The children with whom we work come to us with tendencies to react,
and are capable of reacting in a great variety of ways. They learn
by making adjustments to a great variety of situations. The teaching
process consists in providing the situations and the stimuli to
action, in guiding the individual in such a way that the undesirable
reactions will be eliminated by disuse or because the results are
unpleasant, in making permanent desirable native reactions or those
which have been grafted upon or derived from them by making the
results pleasant.
The teaching process is, in general, as described above; but the
actual work of the teacher varies greatly as she strives now for one
end and again for another. There is a methodology of habit formation
which the teacher must command if she is to do successful work in
equipping her pupils with desirable habits. If our problem is one
that lends itself to the inductive method, we have one sort of
procedure; while if the thinking involved is deductive, certain other
elements enter. There is a kind of work in which we aim primarily
for appreciation, and at another time we are chiefly concerned in
teaching children how to study. The proper conduct of a review or
examination, and the type of exercise commonly known as a recitation
lesson, need to be discussed in some detail. In the chapters which
immediately follow, each of these types of schoolroom exercises will
be considered. Success in teaching consists quite as much in working
definitely for well defined ends which may be accomplished in this
fifteen minutes, this half hour, or during this week, as in keeping
in mind the more general aims of education. Indeed, the only way in
which we can secure the larger ends is by successfully achieving the
lesser tasks. The teacher who knows that she has fixed this desirable
habit of thought, feeling, or action, that this bit of knowledge has
taken its place in a usable system, that this ideal or purpose has
been awakened, that certain methods of work are available for the
group of children whom she is teaching,—that teacher can be sure that
she is fulfilling her mission.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
E. J. Swift, _Mind in the Making_, Chapter VI.
E. A. Kirkpatrick, _Genetic Psychology_, Chapter X.
_Exercises._
1. When a teacher raps her pencil against a desk and the children
look toward her, what is the type of adjustment made? When will
they cease to pay attention to the rap of the pencil? What
suggestion would you offer concerning the danger which may be found
in rapping the pencil against the desk, ringing a bell, clapping
the hands, shouting “be quiet”?
2. Name some exercises in arithmetic in which you may depend
somewhat upon instinctive adjustments to insure progress.
3. Where do you think you will find the most instinctive
adjustments,—in geography, arithmetic, drawing, English
composition, or physical training?
4. A boy who had done poor work in algebra improved greatly when
changed from a class taught by a man to one taught by a woman. How
would you account for the change, taking it for granted that the
teachers were equally competent? What type of adjustment did the
boy make?
5. Why is it that any new subject will prove attractive for a short
time, and children will later show a lack of interest in the work?
6. Is there any difference between making a class period
interesting and finding a motive which appeals to children which
will lead them to desire to cover the material which you have
assigned?
7. Which is the better, to have a girl study her geography lesson
to please the teacher or to have her at work trying to solve a
problem in which she is interested?
8. What sort of results do teachers secure who compel children to
learn their lessons through fear of being ridiculed or otherwise
punished? If these children know as much as other children whose
teacher has them at work satisfying their idea of pleasure,—which
will result in being able to read well to the class, prepare their
part of the class drama, or investigate in fields in which they
are much interested,—would you, then, consider the first sort of
teaching as satisfactory as the second?
9. To what degree can you depend upon the awakening of intellectual
interests to provide a motive for good work on the part of pupils?
10. Do you think the following list of questions would prove
intellectually stimulating to a group of sixth-grade pupils:—
“Where is Philadelphia? What is the capital of New York? What
are the principal rivers of the Middle Atlantic states? Where
is Pittsburgh? For what is Pittsburgh noted? What river forms
the eastern boundary of Pennsylvania? Bound Virginia. Locate the
capitals of the states in this group. Name two valuable products
raised near the coast. Describe the surface of this group of
states.”
11. How many children in your class find satisfaction in their
school work sufficient to keep them at it if no marks were given
and no one compelled them to attend school? Are there some subjects
or parts of subjects where you secure this sort of enthusiasm for
school work? Why do you succeed better in these phases of school
work than in others?
12. What is wrong with the boy who is quiet during the recitation,
apparently absorbed in the work, but who gets nothing out of it?
13. Why does the teacher who speaks in a loud tone of voice in
order to compel attention have to speak louder and louder as the
day advances?
14. What is wrong with a class which does good work in long
division at the beginning of the arithmetic period, and very poor
work at the end of thirty minutes?
15. Give examples of passive attention, active attention, and
secondary passive attention, from your own classroom work.
16. Describe the situations in which you believe your children did
the best intellectual work. How do you account for the excellence
of this work?
CHAPTER IV
THE DRILL LESSON
Many responses of thought and action must be reduced to an automatic
basis. It is the function of the drill lesson to accomplish this
result. In some schools this type of work has been overemphasized,
while in others it has been neglected. It is a mistake to spend the
whole of a child’s time and energy drilling him upon that which
some one else has thought. He must think for himself while a child,
if he is to show intellectual strength as a man. And it is just as
much a mistake to believe that the greatest progress in thought or
action can be achieved without careful attention to the formation
of desirable habits. Probably there is little need to-day to argue
against this conception of teaching, which makes the teacher simply
and solely a drill master. Our respect for the native tendencies
and for the experiences of children, our emphasis upon doing, our
belief that the best preparation for future efficiency is to be
found in present childish efficiency, all refute any such narrow
view of the educative process. There is, however, in some quarters a
danger that this insistence upon thinking and doing may be construed
to mean that drill work is no longer necessary. There are children
who are terribly handicapped in their later work because they have
not learned to spell common words, to write a legible hand, to give
without hesitation the addition combinations, to reproduce the
multiplication tables, to use without much thought the processes
commonly employed in arithmetic work. They find difficulty in
reading, because they lack that knowledge of phonetics which would
make easy the recognition of unfamiliar words in their reading;
they stumble in geography, fail in music, lack ability to comprehend
their work in nature study or history, all because facts essential
to further progress, once presented and understood, were not reduced
to an automatic basis by carefully conducted drill exercises. If it
is clear that much of the knowledge which children acquire must be
reduced to the basis of habit, we may next inquire just how this
drill work is to be related to the other part of the school work.
_Question of motive_: In the formation of habits not provided for by
native tendencies to react, the occasion for making the adjustment
is, as in the case of our thinking, the recognition of a need. Our
first attempts to talk or to use our limbs were due solely to the
compelling force of instinct, but later we learned a foreign language
or achieved success in the high jump because we had a definite aim in
mind. So far as the teacher is concerned with habit formation, she
can hope to utilize instinctive tendencies, but may not depend upon
them alone to secure the result. A motive must be provided for the
work. The stronger this incentive, the greater will be the attention
given to the work in hand and the sooner will the desired result
be secured. Very much of the drill work which is done is well-nigh
futile because it is imposed upon children. They do not see its
significance, and feel little interest in the accomplishment of the
results demanded.
Ideally, drill lessons should come when the children see that their
future progress is conditioned by successful formation of the habits
involved. And this is not so impossible of accomplishment as might
appear at first sight. If the material given to children to read in
the first grade is of such a nature that they really care to read it,
they are very quick to see that word drill, and later phonetic drill,
will help them to secure the end desired. Of course the reply may be
made: “What is the use of bothering one’s self with this attempt to
make a rational appeal to children? They will be completely satisfied
if you simply keep them at it. It is a game for them. They enjoy it
simply because they delight in accomplishment.” One might reply to
such a statement by calling to mind the fact that the school exists
to develop rationality. You may be perfectly sure that frequently
enough the children, and later the men and women, will be driven or
led without any appeal to reason. It will undoubtedly be true that we
shall have to appeal to motives other than rational; but surely this
appeal to reason should be made, and, if our education is successful,
should be increasingly potent as we advance from grade to grade.
Even when a rational motive has been made the point of departure, we
shall have to use many devices to keep alive the child’s original
intention. But let us frankly admit, both to ourselves and to the
children, that these subsidiary aims are merely aids in helping us
to achieve the more worthy aim. If such a standard of motive were
applied throughout our work, we should probably find it necessary to
postpone certain activities which we insist upon for no reason which
a child can understand, until there was some real use for the habit
to be formed. We might even find ourselves compelled to eliminate
much which finds no application in real life. The occasion for drill
is found in the demand for automatic control of thought or action,
and much of the later success of the children in thinking and doing
will be conditioned by the quality of the work done in these drill
exercises.
_Knowing what to do_: A clear idea of the result to be accomplished
is, of course, involved in the notion or aim as it has been discussed
above. The importance of this element in habit formation cannot be
overemphasized. It may seem superfluous to call attention to the
fact that every child should have a clear idea of what is to be done
before the drill work begins; but it sometimes happens that the
teacher takes too much for granted. Children stumble and fail, or do
nothing at all, simply because they do not know what it is all about.
It would seem impossible that any group of pupils should be asked to
commit to memory anything which they did not understand, and yet we
are constantly reminded by their later interpretations that they have
not understood. Such logical organization is not always possible,
nor, indeed, even desirable, as, for example, in learning addition
combinations. In such a case the value of the habit is largely due
to the fact that we no longer attempt to rationalize the process
nor attempt to fix it in a logical series. But whether the task be
the memorizing of a poem, the learning of addition combinations,
the formation of the habit of neatness, or the gaining of skill in
handling a saw, it is essential that the child know just what is to
be done and that he be provided with an adequate motive for doing it.
_Repetition with attention_: After a child knows what to do, has
the right idea, and the greatest possible motive for doing has been
provided, the teacher’s problem consists in keeping alive the desire
to achieve the result while the process of repetition is going on.
A child learns to spell a word not simply because he repeats the
letters or writes them in the correct order a hundred times. We
all have knowledge of cases in which this sort of repetition has
seemingly resulted in no advancement. The most economical method of
learning to spell requires that the maximum of attention be given
while the letters are repeated. The story of the boy who, after he
had written after school the phrase “I have gone” a hundred times,
wrote at the bottom of his paper for the information of the teacher,
who had left the room, “I have went home,” is a case in point. The
trouble with this boy was not that he had not repeated the correct
form often enough, but that he had not attended to it. He had failed
to realize the significance of what he was doing. Doubtless his
attention, instead of being fixed on the work in hand, was more
largely given to the game of baseball his companions were playing,
or to the prospect of the delights of the swimming pool. Much of the
concert work that one hears shows a lack of attention on the part
of the larger part of the class except in so far as is necessary
to follow the leaders. Such work is undoubtedly helpful to those
who lead, but it is of little use to the others who take part. It
is a very good plan to test concert work by listening closely to
distinguish those who are carrying the burden, have them stop, and
measure the success of the work by the result which can then be had.
_Means of holding attention_: No matter how strong the motive with
which we start, any one of us will grow weary when the task imposed
requires many repetitions. It is even more difficult for children to
keep their attention fixed for any considerable length of time. We
must, therefore, plan carefully to conduct the drill in such a way
that the maximum of attention may be secured. Among the devices which
are employed, one of the most important is variation in procedure.
Suppose, for example, we wish to spend ten minutes in drilling
children on addition combinations. The best results will not be
secured by spending the whole time in either oral or written work.
Probably the maximum of attention and consequently of result could be
secured by dividing the period into three parts: one devoted to oral
work, holding every one responsible for every answer; one to written
work on a series of problems provided on number cards or mimeographed
sheets; and one to work of the same sort placed on the blackboard.
Of course there is nothing peculiarly good in the order of exercises
suggested above, beyond the fact that they give variety. The next day
the teacher would want to change the order or to introduce a new type
of exercise.
Another means of securing the maximum of attention is to place a
time limit. Have the children see how many problems they can solve,
how many stanzas they can commit to memory, or how many words they
can learn to spell in a period of ten minutes. It makes a very great
difference whether the teacher says “work on this task for ten
minutes,” or “see how much you can get done in ten minutes.”
This leads us to consider a third means commonly employed to secure
earnest work, the appeal to emulation. The desire of a pupil to do as
well as other members of his class, or the desire of a class to equal
the record of another class of the same grade, will do much to keep
attention fixed on the work. Neither the devices mentioned nor any
others will avail unless the teacher is wide-awake and alert herself.
The greatest single reason for lack of interest and attention on the
part of the class is found in the indifference and lack of energy
on the part of the teacher. It is useless to expect vigorous action
on the part of pupils, when the teacher is half asleep or otherwise
either physically or mentally incapacitated for good work. It is
possible at times for a teacher to arouse her own flagging interest
by just such appeals as have been suggested above as applying to
children.
_Necessity for accuracy in practice_: Our nervous system is so
constructed that to do anything once leaves a tendency to do the same
thing the same way when next we are placed in a similar situation. It
is bad to allow careless work or random guessing, not simply because
the result in this one case may be wrong, but more especially because
the tendency to the wrong reaction is there and must be overcome
before the correct action can be fixed as a habit. If a child, the
day after he has studied the word _foreign_, has occasion to write
the word and does not know how to spell it, it is a mistake to permit
the word to be written incorrectly. It would be better to have the
child discover for himself or find out from the teacher the correct
form before attempting to write the word. It is well to insist on
the necessity for absolute accuracy. Better by far discontinue the
drill while every one is still fresh enough to give close attention
to the work in hand and while the responses are accurate, than to
make the serious mistake of allowing the work to be done carelessly
or to flatter one’s self that approximately accurate results are good
enough. Better be sure that in the drill work on the multiplication
table to-day the children have invariably given the correct response
when we have asked them how many are six times three and six times
four, than to have attempted to teach the whole table with the
knowledge that one fourth of the answers have been wrong. We should
not be misled; the child who gave us a wrong answer is not simply
wrong this time, but, what for us is more important, will tend to be
wrong ever after. We have more than doubled the task we set out to
accomplish. We must now get rid of the tendency to give the wrong
answer, and then teach the correct one. In our later consideration of
the moral life of the child, we shall have occasion again to point
out the significance of this principle.
_The periods elapsing between repetitions or series of repetitions
should be gradually lengthened_: The fixing of a habit so that it
shall always thereafter be available to determine our thought or
action requires that we do more than arrive at a point where the
response can be readily secured in a given situation. The word which
your pupils spell so readily, the table which they recite so glibly,
the poem which they have so completely mastered, will apparently
have completely disappeared next week or next month. Of course the
work you have done is not without effect. It will be easier to learn
the word, table, or poem again. But the child should command these
results for which we labored _now_. There is a body of knowledge, a
group of actions, which ought to be available automatically at any
time. If we are to succeed in fixing this body of habits, if they are
to be made permanently available, we must recognize the fact that
when we have first secured the result desired we have only begun the
process. The boy who recites Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address without any
mistakes to-day has made a good beginning; but if that address is
worth remembering always, he must recite it several times during the
next week, and go over it again next month, next term, and next year.
There will come a time, depending upon his native retentiveness and
upon his method of memorizing, when it will no longer be necessary
to repeat it for the sake of fixing the address in memory. It will
not take a great deal of time to recall that which we believe we have
fixed permanently last week or last month, and by doing this we shall
add greatly to the probability of possible recall a year or ten years
from now, and incidentally discover, much to our surprise, how much
has already escaped.
Teachers often unconsciously follow the cramming method in their
attempt to have children advance rapidly; and, as is always the case
when this method is employed, what has apparently been learned is
soon forgotten. Fortunately for all concerned, many of the responses
which need to be reduced to an automatic basis are demanded over and
over again as the child progresses from grade to grade, and are thus
provided for. But much that is now lost could be retained, and each
succeeding teacher could accomplish more than is now customary, if
only this principle of habit formation were commonly observed.
_In the case of a series of responses to be made automatic, be
careful to include each member of the series_: Much of our work is
weak because it lacks system. If we are engaged in teaching addition
combinations, we should be absolutely certain that we have taught
every possible combination. If we want to be sure that children know
how to write numbers up to one million, we must have given them
drill on all of the possible difficulties. If children are always
to respond correctly when problems involving two steps in reasoning
are presented, we must have been careful to provide for the purpose
of drill all of the combinations of situations involving addition,
multiplication, subtraction, and division which can occur. For any
other similar field, the same care must be exercised.
_The greater part of the time should be spent in drilling upon that
part of the work which presents special difficulty._ There is no use
in spending one’s time equally on all of the words included in any
list. Some of them can probably be spelled with little or no drill,
while others may require very careful study and many repetitions.
In any other field the same situation will be found. Many of the
responses desired will be reduced to the basis of habit readily, and
a few will require continued attention. It is the function of the
teacher to discover these special difficulties as soon as possible,
to clear up any obscurity in ideas which may stand in the way, and
then to drill with special reference to these special cases.
Briefly summarized, it is the function of the teacher in guiding
pupils in the formation of habits to see to it that they have the
correct idea of the thing to be done; to secure the maximum of motive
and to maintain the maximum of attention during the process; to guard
against carelessness and lapses by insisting upon the accuracy or the
adequacy of the responses; to provide occasion for repetitions from
time to time with gradually lengthened intervals; to be careful not
to omit any of a group or series of responses equally important; to
spend the greater part of the time and energy of both herself and
pupils upon those cases which present special difficulty.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. C. Bagley, _The Educative Process_, Chapter XXII.
S. H. Rowe, _Habit Formation and the Science of Teaching_, Chapter
XIII.
_Exercises._
1. Name the subjects or parts of subjects in which drill work is
essential.
2. What was there of value in the old-fashioned method of choosing
sides and “spelling down”?
3. Name some of the devices which you have used in drill work, and
justify their use.
4. What argument can you advance for postponing the beginning of
writing lessons until the middle of the first year or later?
5. Which would be better: to present the multiplication table in
regular series (3 × 1 = 3; 3 × 2 = 6; 3 × 3 = 9, etc.), or in some
other order? (3 × 5 = 15; 3 × 2 = 6; 3 × 7 = 21; 3 × 4 = 12, etc.)
6. If a boy was writing a composition and wanted to use a word that
he did not know how to spell, what would you expect him to do?
7. What are the objections to learning rules of spelling?
8. In a drill lesson in arithmetic, which would you consider the
better: to have the children work as individuals for the highest
score, or to divide them into groups and have one group try to do
better than the other?
9. Criticize the following lesson, as a fourth-grade exercise in
spelling. The teacher placed the following list of words on the
board, and told the pupils to study them.
believe conduct have
forget agriculture manufacture
store plow wagon
cultivate harness exports
crops dairy freight
drought fertilizer transport
depot wheat
10. A teacher who spent a large part of her time having the class
recite the multiplication tables in concert was distressed to
find that a majority of the class did not know the tables when
examination time came. What was the explanation?
11. In a school where the children had a forty-minute period for
a writing lesson, the results during the last ten minutes were
invariably poorer than during the first quarter of the period. How
could you hope to change the result?
12. In some schools the teachers always spend two weeks before
the examination period in review of the term’s work. Why are such
reviews necessary in some cases, while children do just as well in
examinations in other schools which do not have this review period?
13. A teacher taught children that they could always tell how much
nine times any number was by subtracting one from that number for
the tens place, then adding a number which will make nine for the
units place (_e.g._ 5 × 9 = ? 5 - 1 = 4 (tens); 4 + 5 = 9. ∴ 5 is
the number of units, and 5 × 9 = 45). Is this a good way to teach
this table?
14. How can you know when it is wise to discontinue drill work?
15. Do you think it necessary to plan for a drill lesson?
16. Could you plan your work so that your pupils will know at
the end of the year all of the poems you have taught during the
previous eight or ten months?
CHAPTER V
THE INDUCTIVE LESSON
We are skeptical to-day of that sort of teaching which aims mainly
to equip children with a body of accepted knowledge in order that
they may some time find use for this body of information in later
life. We emphasize, rather, the control of mental activity which
makes for the discovery of truth and the avoidance of error. Thinking
of this sort is purposeful. We control or direct our ideas toward
some end, toward the solution of some problem. One great purpose of
teaching must be to provide the opportunity and the stimulus for this
kind of thinking. We may not be able to lay down any fixed order of
procedure, nor to devise any set of rules whereby children may be
trained to be good reasoners; but we can consider what is involved
in the process, point out the possibilities of interference, and
suggest some of the means to be employed in encouraging this type of
mental activity on the part of children. In this chapter we shall
confine ourselves to that type of reasoning which we call inductive.
This type of schoolroom exercise has usually been treated as composed
of five steps; namely, preparation, presentation, comparison and
abstraction, generalization, and application. We shall employ this
classification to guide us in our discussion of the process.
_Preparation_: To prepare a child to reason in a given situation from
the data in hand to the conclusions which must of necessity follow,
it is first of all necessary that he should see that the situation
presents a problem. We reason only when we have some aim or purpose
which can be satisfied by the process. But if consciousness of aim or
problem is at the foundation of this type of thinking, and if we are
to deal with children in groups, it is essential that the situation
which involves the problem be made the common possession of all.
The step of preparation presents these two problems to the teacher:
(1) to find a basis in experience already had, or to provide the
experience which involves the problem to be considered; (2) to make
the children feel the necessity for the solution, _i.e._ to make the
problem vital to them.
In considering the necessity for common experience as a basis
for discovering the problem to children, we are dealing with the
principle of apperception. Briefly stated, it is this,—that any
object or situation has meaning for us only as it connects itself
with and is interpreted by our previous experience. Suppose, for
example, that a group of first-grade children were asked to tell what
made seeds grow. It is possible that some of them would not know,
could not interpret from past experience, the meaning of seeds. If
the class were at work in a large city, we could be sure that many
had never been conscious that growing plants had any connection with
seeds, and there would be few, if any, who had ever noticed the
conditions under which such growth takes place. The first problem for
the teacher in this case would be solved only when, through recall
of past experiences, observations, or experiments, the experience
“seeds growing” became the common possession of the group. This is
an extreme case, one in which the experience which involves the
problem is entirely wanting. At the other end of the series, we may
have a problem for consideration, the basis for which is found in
experiences common to all children. But even though this be the case,
there will still be need for the recall of the experience and for
making prominent some factor heretofore unnoticed before the children
will be ready to reason. We may suppose that all children have
had experience with streets or roads, but we shall want to recall
many of these experiences in order to make significant the problem
of transportation which we wish to consider in the class in home
geography.
The step of preparation has only partially accomplished its purpose
when the experience necessary to the realization of the problem has
been recalled or provided. Still greater skill is required in making
the child conscious of the problem. Indeed, it may well be argued
that in the curriculum as it is at present organized, very many of
the problems that we ask children to solve are problems for them
only because we, as teachers, require that that certain piece of
work be done. Often the child’s problem consists mainly in avoiding,
as far as possible, the work which we require, which has little or
no significance for him. Children would do much more thinking if
we were only more careful to give them childish problems to solve.
Too frequently the organization of knowledge which we impose is
influenced exclusively by our adult logical conceptions. Not that
children should be illogical, but rather that child logic and the
child’s ability to reason depend upon his ability to appreciate
problems, upon his experience, and upon his ability to interpret that
experience. When we impose our adult point of view upon him, when
we ask him to take _our_ problem and with the data that _we_ supply
ask him to work out our solution, whatever else may be said of the
exercise, it may not be called an exercise in reasoning by children.
If we do respect the child’s experience and point of view, the
task still remains of making all of the group of children we teach
conscious of the aim as _their_ problem. There is no greater test of
teaching skill than this. Can the teacher, after having brought to
mind the experiences which are relevant to the work she wishes the
children to do, make them conscious of a lack in this experience;
can she awaken the need for further consideration of past experience
and a desire to reconstruct and to amplify it? In proportion as she
is able to accomplish this result, we may be sure that children
are reasoning upon problems which are vital to them, and that the
motive has been provided which will secure the maximum of controlled
intellectual activity on their part. The best single test of the
accomplishment of this ideal is to require that the statement of
aim be made by the children themselves as a result of the guidance
we have given. This conception of the meaning and significance of
the aim suggests the solution of the difficulty which some people
find in harmonizing the idea of instruction with the doctrine of
self-activity.
Instruction, when properly conducted, does not impose the ideas, the
problems, or the conclusions of adults upon children. Rather we are
concerned in instruction with the child’s experience, his tendency
to react, his need of adjustment; and our function as teachers is
to guide him, to stimulate him to his own best efforts, to insure
the maximum of self-activity while we guide this activity toward the
accomplishment of ends which are desirable. The difficulty is, of
course, that the problem for solution at any given time may not be
equally vital to every member of the group. Here is where the element
of control enters somewhat in opposition to the self-activity of
the individual. But this condition of affairs is necessarily true
both in school and out of it, for society sets up for us certain
norms or standards of experience which must be realized by all, and
we must for the sake of economy handle children in groups. If the
problem is not beyond the child’s comprehension, if it deals with
situations which are significant to him, if the solution derived has
some bearing on his future action, if he has carefully scrutinized
his experience in the light of the problem stated and has brought to
bear those elements which are significant for its solution, we may be
confident that the activity resulting is closely akin to that which
is found in the controlled thinking of men the world over.
In order that it may be more easy for children to focus their
attention upon the problem in hand, there is considerable advantage
in a clear, concise, concrete, and preferably a brief statement of
the aim.[7] A problem is half solved when one can state it clearly.
So long as the problem is not sufficiently well defined to admit of
accurate statement on the part of pupils, there is danger that there
may be much wandering in its consideration. One of the great lessons
to be taught in work of this sort is the need of examining the ideas
as they suggest themselves to see whether or not they are relevant.
The argument as it has been stated above points to the statement of
aim as the culmination of the step of preparation. This does not
mean that a considerable period must always elapse in the conduct
of an exercise of this type before the aim can be stated. There
are occasions, and when the teaching has been good they should
be frequent, when the lesson should begin with the statement of
the problem discovered in a previous lesson and made clear in the
assignment of work. In other cases the same aim may hold for several
days; _i.e._ until the problem is solved. In general, as we advance
through the grades, the ends for which children work should become
relatively more remote, and the achievement of these ends should
require a longer period of work. There is an advantage in setting up
subsidiary aims which will make steps of progress in the realization
of the larger purpose.
Another distinction that it is well to keep in mind concerns the
development of intellectual interests on the part of children.
The characteristic aim for a first-grade child may make its
appeal chiefly to his desire for satisfaction, which has little
intellectual significance; but education fails if it does not make
for an increase of interest in intellectual activity. For example,
a first-grade boy may be led to count because he wants to be able
to tell how many marbles he has, or how to measure the materials
he uses in constructive work; while the mathematician may work
night and day upon a problem of mathematics because of a purely
speculative interest in the result. We may not hope to produce the
great mathematician in the elementary school, but we may hope after
a certain point has been reached in our study of arithmetic that a
boy will recognize the necessity for drill in addition simply because
he realizes that in the ordinary affairs of life this knowledge is
required.
_Presentation_: The full realization of the problem to be solved
involves a consideration of data already at hand in experience. When
we have the problem clearly in mind, we examine this experience more
carefully to see what bearing it may have upon the solution, or we
gather further data, observe more critically or more extensively,
or experiment in such a manner as to involve the solution of our
problem. What is the function of the teacher during this part of the
process? There is no single answer to this question. Sometimes the
work of the teacher will consist almost wholly in helping children to
recall their past experience and to apply it to the question at hand.
At another time, when experience is lacking, the teacher must direct
children to the sources of data, guide them in their observations
or experiments, or even give them outright all of the data that she
can bring to bear on the situation. It will not always be economical
to wait for children to gather the data for themselves, just as
it is not _always_ feasible to require them to reach conclusions
for themselves. There are times when the best teaching consists in
demonstration, and occasions arise when the only feasible course for
the teacher is to literally flood the children with data from which
they may draw their conclusions.
Again the problem of gathering data becomes the problem of memory. We
want children to think, and we should insist that they gather facts
with reference to the solution of some problem; but the _solution_
may not always be immediate. We may suspend judgment while we
gather further facts and organize them. The facts gathered for one
purpose, when rearranged with reference to a new problem, take on
a new meaning. If this be true, we may not in our zeal for clear
thinking neglect the tools with which we work. There may be some
people who have a great many facts and who reason little, but no one
can reason without data. Our ability to think logically upon any
topic is conditioned by our ability to see facts in new relations, to
reorganize our data with reference to new problems; but facts we must
have, and a memory stored with facts is one of the greatest aids to
thinking.
One of the means mentioned above for the gathering of data was
observation. It is necessary that we appreciate the fact that
observation involves something more than having the thing present to
the senses. Our observations are significant for our thinking when
we have clearly in view the problem which the observations are to
help solve. Teachers sometimes make the mistake of supposing that
when children have objects with which to work they have a problem. It
is not unusual to hear teachers speak of objective work as concrete
work. Now the concreteness of a situation is not at all dependent
upon the presence of objects. Logically a situation may be concrete,
and yet present no objects to the senses. On the other hand, objects
may be present, children may be directed to use them, and yet in the
absence of any real problem the work done may be of the most abstract
sort. Objects help to make a situation concrete when the problem
under consideration demands their presence, or when they help to make
clear the situation under consideration. For example, children may
have peas or beans in solving problems in addition; they serve to
present objectively the reality which is symbolized by the teacher
or pupils in their written work, but this does not make the work in
addition concrete. The concreteness of these exercises will depend
upon the need which children feel of the ability to find the sum of
two or more numbers. The beans will be significant, beyond their
use as objects, to illustrate the one-to-one correspondence between
symbolic representation and reality, only if the problem of summation
which at that time engages their attention concerns the sum of
certain numbers of beans. Indeed, it may be claimed that the use of
one set of objects continuously to illustrate a process in arithmetic
hinders rather than helps the child in his ability to reason in this
situation, since he may come to consider this chance relationship of
beans and addition as essential. He may think that he ought always to
add when he is given beans.
A good illustration of the necessity for a well defined problem for
guidance when observations are to be made is found in the futility
of much work that is done, or rather left undone, when children are
taken on excursions. The directions which follow for the conduct
of excursions are those which should be followed whenever work in
observation is required, those which have reference to the handling
of a large group of children in the field being added.
1. The teacher must have clearly defined in her own mind the purpose
of the observation. If the teacher has not definitely formulated the
problem, the observation of the children will surely be purposeless.
2. It is not enough that the teacher know just what data she expects
the children to gather toward the solution of a particular problem;
she must know exactly what data are available under the conditions
governing the observation.
3. The preliminary work must have prepared children for their
observations by giving them very definite problems to solve. Often it
will be advantageous to have these problems written in notebooks.
4. Children not only need to want to see, but also need to be
directed while they are observing. Nothing is easier than to look and
not see that which is essential.
5. It is always advisable to test the success of the observations
while they are being made. There is nothing more difficult than
to correct a misconception growing out of careless or inadequate
observations.
6. It is well to remember that not merely number of observations
counts in the solution of a problem. It is rather observations
under varying conditions which give weight to our conclusions. One
intensive observation may be worth a thousand careless ones.
7. When children are taken on excursions, great care must be
exercised to keep them under proper guidance and control. The
organization of children into smaller groups with leaders who are
made responsible for their proper observance of directions will help.
These leaders should have been over the ground with the teacher
before the excursion. The assistance of parents, teachers, or of
older pupils will at times be necessary.
8. There should be definite work periods during the excursion, just
as in the schoolroom or laboratory.
9. A whistle, as a signal for assembling at one point, will help in
out-of-door work, provided it is clearly understood that this signal
must be obeyed immediately, and under all circumstances.
_Comparison and abstraction_: With the problem clearly defined and
the data provided, the next step consists of comparison and the
resulting abstraction of the element present in all of the cases
which makes for the solution of the problem. In the ordinary course
of our thinking the sequence is as follows: We find ourselves in a
situation which presents a problem which demands an adjustment; we
make a guess or formulate an hypothesis which furnishes the basis
for our work in attempting to solve the problem; we gather data in
the light of the hypothesis assumed, which, through comparison and
abstraction, leads us to believe our hypothesis correct or false; if
the hypothesis seems justified by the data gathered, it is further
tested or verified by an appeal to experience; _i.e._ we endeavor to
see whether our conclusion holds in all cases; if this test proves
satisfactory, we generalize or define; and lastly this generalization
or definition is used as a point of reference or truth to guide in
later thinking or activity.
There is danger that we may overlook the very great importance of
inference in this process. We cannot say just when this step in the
process will be possible, but it is possibly the most significant
of all. A situation presents a problem. Our success in solving the
problem depends upon our ability to infer from the facts at our
command. Often many inferences will be necessary before we succeed
in finding the one that will stand the test. Again with the problem
in mind we may be conscious of a great lack of data and may postpone
our inference while we collect the needed information. There is
one fallacy that must be carefully guarded against in dealing
with children, as also with adults; namely, the tendency once the
inference has been made to admit only such data as are found to
support this particular hypothesis.
It is this ability to infer, to formulate a workable hypothesis,
which distinguishes the genius from the man of mediocre ability.
It is the ability to see facts in new relations, the giving of new
meaning to facts which may be the common possession of all, that
characterizes the great thinker. Other people knew many of the
facts; but it took the mind of a Newton to discover the relationship
existing among these data which he formulated in the law that all
bodies attract each other directly in proportion to their weight and
inversely in proportion to the square of the distance separating
them. As we teach children we should encourage the intelligent
guess. We would not, of course, encourage mere random guessing,
which may be engaged in by children to have something to say or to
blind the teacher. A child who offers a guess or hypothesis should
be asked to give his ground for the inference, should show that his
guess has grown out of his consideration of the data in hand. It is
fallacious to suppose that this kind of thinking is beyond the power
of children. They have been forming their inferences and testing them
in action from the time that they began to act independently.
There is one element in the consideration of the step of comparison
which cannot be too much emphasized, and that is that it is not the
comparison of things or situations which present striking likenesses
which gives rise to the highest type of thinking. To look at a dozen
horses and then to conclude that all horses have four legs is
merely a matter of classification; to observe that the sun, chemical
action, electricity, and friction produce heat, and to arrive at the
generalization from these cases, apparently so unlike, that heat is
a mode of motion is the work of a genius. In general, it is safe to
say that we would greatly strengthen our teaching if we were only
more careful to see to it that our basis for generalization is found
in situations presenting as many variations as possible. For example,
if we want to teach a principle in arithmetic, the way to fix it and
to make it available for further use by our pupils is not to get a
number of problems all of which are alike in form and statement;
but rather we should seek as great a variety as is possible in
the language used or symbols employed that is compatible with the
application of the principle to be taught. In an interesting article
on reasoning in primary arithmetic, Professor Suzzallo has pointed
out the fact that children’s difficulty in reasoning is often one
of language.[8] The trouble has been that teachers have always used
a set form, or a very few forms of expression, when they described
situations which involved any one of the arithmetical processes.
Later when the child is called upon to solve a problem involving
this process he does not know which process to apply because he is
unfamiliar with the form of expression used. To succeed in teaching
children when to add involves the presentation of the situations
which call for addition with as great a variation as is possible,
_i.e._ by using not one form, but all of the words or phrases which
may be used to indicate summation. In like manner in other fields
the examples for comparison will be valuable in proportion as they
present variety rather than uniformity in those elements which
are not essential. Equally good illustration can be had from any
other field. If we want pupils to get any adequate conception of
the function of adjectives, we should use examples which involve a
variety of adjectives in different parts of sentences. In geography
the concept “river” will be clear only when the different types
of rivers have been considered and the non-essential elements
disregarded.
_Generalization_: When we feel that we have solved the problem,
we are ready to state our generalization. There is considerable
advantage in making such a statement. One can never be quite sure
that he has solved his problem until he finds himself able to state
clearly the results of his thinking. To attempt to define or to
generalize is often to realize the inadequacy of our thought on the
problem. Children should be encouraged to give their own definition
or generalization before referring to that which is provided by the
teacher or the book. Indeed, the significance of a generalization
for further thinking or later action depends not simply upon one’s
ability to repeat words, but rather upon adequate realization of
the significance of the conclusion reached. The best test of such
comprehension is found in the ability of the pupil to state the
generalization for himself.
There is very great danger, if definitions or generalizations are
given ready-made to children, that they will learn to juggle with
words. The parrot-like repetition of rules of syntax, or principles
of arithmetic, never indicates real grasp of these subjects. Children
think most when the requirement for thinking is greatest, and none
are readier than they to take advantage of laxness on the part of the
teacher in this respect. It is not only when the formal statement of
principles or definitions is called for that the teacher needs to be
on her guard. At any stage of the process, if the teacher will only
take their words and read meaning into them, some children will be
found ready to substitute words for thought. It is really a mistake
to tell a child that you know what he means even though he did not
say it. Language is the instrument which he employs in thinking, and,
if his statement lacked clearness or definiteness, the chances are
very great that his thinking has failed in these same particulars.
Instead of encouraging children in loose thinking by accepting any
statement offered, it would be much better to raise the question
of the real significance of the statement, to inquire just what was
meant by the words used. Such procedure will help to make children
more careful in expressing themselves, and will inevitably tend to
clearer thinking.
_Application_: Whatever conclusions we have reached, whatever truths
we have satisfactorily established, influence us in our later
thought and action. But even though this is true, there is a decided
advantage in providing for a definite application of the results
of the thinking which children have done as soon as possible and
in as many different ways as is feasible. In the first place, such
application makes clearer the truth itself, and helps to fix it in
mind. Again, the conclusion arrived at to-day is chiefly significant
as a basis for our thinking of to-morrow, and it is as we apply
our conclusions that new problems arise to stimulate us to further
thought. Then, too, the satisfaction which comes when one feels
his power over situations as a result of thinking is the very best
possible stimulus to further intellectual activity. Finally, we need
to show children the application of that which they have learned to
the life which they live outside of the school. We are not apt to
err on the side of too frequent or too varied application of the
generalizations we have led children to make. Rather we shall have to
study diligently to provide enough applications to fix for the child
the habit of verification by an appeal to experience.
A few words by way of caution concerning the inductive lesson may not
be out of place.
_First_: Not all school work can be undertaken on this general plan.
There are times when the end to be accomplished is distinctly not the
discovery of some new truth, but rather the fixing of some habit.
There are exercises which are distinctively deductive, some which aim
to produce habits, and others which seek to secure appreciation. But
more of this is in the succeeding chapters.
_Second_: Even when we seek to establish truth, we cannot always
develop it by an appeal to the experience of children nor to
observations which they can make. We shall have, on some occasions,
to supply the data, and in still other cases it will be most
economical to demonstrate the truth of the position which we desire
to have them take. There are occasions when the solution of the
problem is not possible for children. In this last instance we shall
have to provide the authoritative statement. Indeed, it may be argued
that one of the lessons which we all need to learn is respect for
the expert. We cannot settle all of the problems which arise, but we
may choose from among those who profess to have found a solution.
Our education ought to help us to avoid the quack and the charlatan.
The habit of logical thinking on the part of children, and expert
knowledge in some field, however small, is the only protection which
the school can give against the pretensions of those who represent
themselves as the dispensers of truth.[9]
_Third_: There is a grave danger that we may help children too much.
Some teachers interpret the inductive development lesson to mean
that each step in the thinking required must be carefully prepared
for and quickly passed. They consider that they have taught the
best lesson when there has been no hitch in the progress from the
statement of aim to the wording of the generalization. The suggestive
question which makes thinking on the part of children unnecessary is
a favorite measure employed. If we stop to consider what thinking
means, we cannot fail to see the fallacy of such work. We all do our
best thinking, not when the problem to be solved is explained by some
one else and all of the difficulties removed, but rather when we find
the problem most difficult of solution.
If children are at work on problems which are vital to them, we may
expect them to continue to work even though they make mistakes.
Indeed, the best recitation may be the one that leaves the children
not with a solution skillfully supplied for them by the teacher, but
rather with a keen realization of the problem, and with a somewhat
clearer idea of the direction in which the solution may be sought.
It is the teacher’s work to help the child to see the problem,
and, seeing the problem herself from the child’s point of view, to
stimulate the child to his best effort. The teacher must know not
only the pupil’s attitude of mind toward the problem and how his
mind is most likely to react, but also the mental activity required
to master properly the issue that has been raised. On the one hand,
the teacher’s equipment consists of a knowledge of the minds of
the children whom she teaches, and on the other a knowledge of the
subject to be taught, not simply as a body of knowledge more or less
classified or organized, but as a mode of mental growth.[10] What
the teacher needs is a clear realization of the difficulties which
the pupils must meet, and the way in which childish minds may best
overcome these obstacles. When such sympathy exists between teacher
and pupil, we may expect that pupils will constantly grow stronger in
their ability to think logically, instead of becoming more and more
dependent upon the teacher. And this is our great work as teachers,
to render our services unnecessary.
_Fourth_: No teacher should attempt to outline her work on the basis
of the steps indicated in the discussion of the inductive method
without a clear realization of the fact that these steps cannot be
sharply differentiated, that they are not mutually exclusive. To
define a problem adequately may mean that we have passed through
the whole process. At any step in the process after the problem is
defined, and some hypothesis formed, we may wish to verify our guess
by an appeal to known facts, and often we shall find it necessary
to abandon the hypothesis already formed and provide another as a
basis for further thinking. It is true that the natural movement
of the mind is roughly indicated by the steps named; but it must be
remembered that no mind can possibly arrive at the solution of a real
problem by adhering to a fixed order of procedure. We do not by our
teaching create the power of logical thought; we rather guide a mind
that naturally operates logically. We can never teach children to
reason, but we can provide the occasion for logical thinking, and can
guard against the common fallacies. Our success will depend upon a
clear realization of the possibilities of the child mind and of the
subjects we teach as part of their growth and development.
_Teaching by Types_: Teaching by means of types is sometimes
discussed as a separate method, while in reality it is simply one
form of the inductive process. As was indicated in our discussion of
observation above, there are times when the consideration of a single
situation or object in detail may be worth more than a thousand
careless observations. It is especially true that a thoroughly
adequate knowledge of one object or case of a class prepares in the
best possible way for future observations of members of the same
class. Familiarity with the life history of one animal or plant will
help us greatly to understand other animals and plants, because that
which is most essential in all has been carefully observed in the
case considered. Now let us suppose that several plants and animals
have been studied. If the cases which are considered are truly
typical, it may be possible for the student to appreciate not simply
the individuals belonging to the classes studied, but also something
of the interrelation of the several classes. This illustration,
given because it represents in a general way something of the method
followed in the study of science, represents a very common method
of procedure in the ordinary affairs of life. None of us can hope
to support our conclusions by a careful scrutiny of all possible
cases. We take something on authority; namely, that the individual
case considered is representative of a large group, then after we
have investigated the one case we apply our conclusions to the whole
group. Of course there is one great danger. We may be overhasty in
our generalizations. No fallacy is more common than the emphasis
placed upon non-essentials by those whose observations have been
limited. The stories of the traveler who generalizes, after seeing
one red-headed child or after eating at one hotel, concerning the
children and hotels of the country visited, are too common to need
repetition here. Where observations are necessarily limited, the
important consideration is to get cases that seem as different as
possible in order that that which is essential may be differentiated
from the non-essential or accidental.
Teaching by types in our ordinary school work has been applied most
frequently to the subject of geography. Applying the principle stated
above, we shall be careful in teaching rivers, mountains, cities,
commerce, or any other geographical notion to see to it that the
individual cases considered are as widely different as possible.
To teach New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago only would give
children a very erroneous idea of the concept “city.” They are all
exceptionally large, all American, all modern. There are cities
smaller, with peculiarities due to age, to location, and to the
ideas and resources of the people building them. A better selection
would be New York City, London, Tokyo, Venice, Cairo, and Munich.
Objection could still very well be offered that this list is too
short to include all classes. There can be no doubt that to have
taught any city carefully will aid greatly in understanding the
notion “city” and in appreciating other cities, but manifestly any
final generalization concerning cities must wait until our knowledge
of geography has been widely extended. The same conclusion would
be reached were any other notion of geography, or any other study,
subjected to the same test. There is, however, no harm in forming
tentative judgments. Indeed, we must all do this every day of our
lives. The main issue is to see to it that there is no mistake as
to the tentative character of the conclusions reached, that the
open-minded attitude be preserved.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
C. A. and F. M. McMurry, _The Method of the Recitation_, Chapters
VI to IX inclusive.
John Dewey, _How We Think_, Chapters XII to XV inclusive.
_Exercises._
1. What is the purpose of the step of preparation in the inductive
lesson? When would you begin an inductive lesson with a statement
of aim or problem? What value is there in having children state the
aim of a lesson? When during the lesson should the aim be referred
to?
2. How would you hope to have country children get a clear idea of
a city? Could you develop this idea with sufficient definiteness by
asking questions?
3. What preparation would you think necessary for a class that were
taking their first trip to a dairy?
4. What was wrong in the class where, after a trip to the country,
a small child said, “A cow is a small animal with four legs that
likes to live in the mud and grunt”?
5. Would you allow a boy to perform an experiment in nature study
that you knew would result unsatisfactorily?
6. A teacher used the following sentences in her attempt to teach
the function of an adjective; criticize the list given.
The red apple is sweet.
The green grass is soft.
The yellow house is large.
The tall man is sick.
The largest horse is fast.
Suggest a better list of sentences for the purpose indicated.
7. In what sense is it true that an induction begins with a
generalization? How do you proceed when you modify a generalization
which you once held as true?
8. A pupil defined a river as a stream of water flowing through the
land. How would you hope to secure a more accurate generalization
from him?
9. What is the function of a lecture on Germany to a group of
children studying the geography of Europe? Do you think such a
lecture would be as valuable as a lesson in which the pupils are
asked to find out why German commerce has developed so rapidly
during the past twenty years?
10. Under what conditions would you require children to commit to
memory the definitions found in their textbooks?
11. If your pupils were reading Kipling’s _Jungle Book_, would you
try to make your lessons inductive?
12. What difficulties would you encounter in trying to teach
children who live in the Mississippi Valley the meaning of the term
_mountain_? How could you hope to overcome these difficulties?
13. The following illustrative problems were used by a teacher who
was presenting the subject of percentage to a class for the first
time. Can you improve the list?
A man who had $10,000 lost 25 per cent of his money. How much did
he lose?
A horse which cost $250 was sold at a loss of 10 per cent. How much
did the owner lose?
A house which cost $25,000 was burned. It was insured for 50
per cent of its value. How much did the owner receive from the
insurance company?
A suit of clothes which cost the dealer $18 was sold at a gain of
25 per cent. How much did the dealer gain on the suit?
14. Which would be better, to tell a group of children of a trip
which you took to a cattle ranch, show them pictures, and possibly
read a description of ranch life, or spend the same amount of time
questioning these same children in the hope of developing some
adequate idea of this type of life? If you follow the first method,
could you be sure that children had derived accurate ideas from
your description?
15. Write a series of questions which you would use in developing
the generalization, “Men who live in cities are dependent upon
those who live in the country for the necessities of life.”
16. How would you defend the following statement: It is more
important that a pupil should have worked out the solution of a
single problem in which he is interested, than that he should have
learned, without solving the problems for himself, the answers to a
dozen problems from books which he is asked to read.
17. Why do most lessons in which pupils recite from the material
assigned in textbooks require little thinking? How can such lessons
be made to stimulate thinking?
18. Would you ever allow children to accept an incomplete
generalization as a result of their own experience and thought? An
incorrect generalization?
CHAPTER VI
THE DEDUCTIVE LESSON
The complete process of thought involves both induction and
deduction. Every general principle, unless it is self-evident,
must either be arrived at through the process of induction, or be
accepted without any attempt at verification. Having formed our
generalizations, we use them as a basis for further thinking. If
we find that the principle always holds, we are satisfied with
its validity. In this testing of the generalization tentatively
made, the process of thought is deductive. The fact is that in the
process which we designate as induction, deduction enters to verify
our inference. In the face of the problem which can be settled
only by reference to some established principle, we find ourselves
questioning the generalizations formerly accepted, and the process
of thought in solving our problem will involve induction as well as
deduction. For convenience we treat the problems of teaching under
the two heads, the inductive and the deductive lesson, according as
one or the other type of thought seems to predominate in reasoning
required to solve the problem involved.
Every one thinks deductively who has had sufficient experience to
form any generalizations. In the early life of the child we find
the psychological basis for deduction in the tendency to act in
accordance with ideas. Children define things in terms of their
function. Thus a hat is something to wear on the head; a drawer
something to pull out and push in; a shovel something to move the
sand with; and so for the other objects in the child world. A child
makes a dog in clay, draws a picture of a flower, makes a house
of his blocks—and in this way tests his ideas. Not all deductive
thinking ends in motor activity; but we can never be satisfied with
our deductions until we have established them experimentally. The
question concerning our ideas always is, will they work?
Whenever we offer an explanation of our ideas or of our actions,
the process of thought is deductive. Not that either adults or
children often state the general principle upon which they base their
statement or action. We are all only too prone to assume the general
principle. The foolish answers which children give may be logical
enough. From his very limited experience a boy may have generalized
that grass is something to look at and not to be walked on, and that
people always live in houses from four to ten stories high, with
many families in a house. Now, if such erroneous generalizations
have been developed, the way to handle the boy is not to laugh at
his deductions from these premises, but rather to require him to
state the generalizations upon which he has based his thinking, and
to lead him to discover their inadequacy. It matters not what group
of children one works with, this same need for a declaration of the
principle upon which the argument is based, the generalization which
covers the situation under consideration, will be found essential.
That teacher does much for the children who frequently pushes them
back to a statement of what they assume to be true. This statement
is not always easy to make. Even with adults it is very common to
explain action by reference to some feeling or attitude which it
is assumed has some basis in reason. Some instinctive tendency, or
a mode of feeling, thinking, or acting which has become habitual,
frequently explains, but fails to justify our actions. The ability
to state clearly what one assumes, and to claim as valid only such
conclusions as are based on premises which are admitted to be true,
is the mark of the man of unusual rationality.
There is no set of rules which a teacher may follow in order to make
the children she teaches logically minded. On the other hand, all of
her activity tends in some degree to encourage or to eliminate the
logical habit of mind. The teacher who dogmatizes continually in her
teaching can do little to overcome a like tendency in the children
by conducting exercises logically correct. The wrong emphasis on
correctness of the result, instead of correctness of the method
employed in getting the result, encourages much illogical work and
develops careless habits of thought. And it is just as true that an
open-minded attitude on the part of the teacher will be reflected
in the children. The teacher who insists upon the verification of
generalizations, who asks children frequently to give the ground for
the statements which they make, and who encourages reflection, will
engender logical habits of thought.
To recognize the wide application of the deductive method in our
thinking, one has only to consider what is meant by reflection.
It is well also in this connection to remember that the habit of
reflection distinguishes the educated from the uneducated man. It
is not the number of experiences which makes the difference between
men, but rather the use that has been made of those experiences.
When we reflect, we think over, organize, and relate our past
experiences. Suppose, for example, that some one makes the statement
that corporal punishment should be banished from all schools. If
you reflect upon such a thesis, you bring to bear your experiences,
whether of action, observation, or thought stimulated by reading
what some one else has said; and, as a result of your thinking, you
consciously or unconsciously assume a general principle under which
you feel satisfied that this question of discipline falls; and then
you will refer all of your experiences to this principle, testing its
validity by seeing whether or not it does uniformly hold. The process
of thinking which you have employed is essentially deductive. If
stated in the form of a syllogism, it might be expressed somewhat as
follows:—
1. Any action which tends to brutalize either pupil or teacher should
not be permitted in any school.
2. Corporal punishment tends to brutalize both teacher and pupil.
3. Hence corporal punishment should be banished from all schools.
The process of thought employed has led you to search for a general
principle which you accept as true and which offers an explanation
of the position which you take in agreeing that corporal punishment
should be banished. If you are really reflecting, you will not stop
with this reference to a generalization apparently true. Rather you
will inquire whether in your experience the infliction of corporal
punishment has tended to brutalize you. You will also ask yourself
whether this is true of others, and to what degree. You will recall
specific cases of punishment of this sort, and will try to decide
whether the disadvantages or evil outweighed the good. Only after
such careful thought is the process of reflection complete, and it
is only then that you can feel satisfied of the soundness of the
position which you have taken. It will be noted that the process of
thought has been both inductive and deductive.
If children are to learn to reflect, they must have leisure to think
over their past experiences. There is danger that in our desire for
more knowledge and more activity on the part of our pupils, we may
give them little time for reflection. To ask a child to state the
significance of what he has done, to encourage him to examine every
assumed truth in the light of his experience, and to state somewhat
formally the result of his reflection is worth much more than the
new experiences which might have been gained in the same length of
time. The habit of reflection will be developed only when sufficient
time is given for children to stop and take account of the experience
which they have had, when respect is accorded the experiences of
the individual, and when the teacher requires such work and guides
children in the process.
An attempt has been made in the preceding pages to indicate in a
general way the significance of the deductive method in our school
work. It remains to indicate briefly the method of procedure in the
conduct of class exercises which are essentially deductive in their
nature. Such exercises will be found in any subject in which there is
developed a body of general principles. For example, the real test
of a pupil’s knowledge of a principle of arithmetic is found, not in
familiarity with the process of induction by which the principle is
derived, nor in his ability to apply this principle to the problems
given in the book, immediately following the rule, all of which fit
the generalization, but rather in his ability, when a miscellaneous
list of problems is given, to pick out the principle which applies
to this one case. The test of one’s knowledge of geography is found
not simply in the facts which he knows, but also in his ability to
explain phenomena or to anticipate situations by reference to a body
of general principles.
_The problem_: From what has already been said it is clear that in
deductive thinking, as well as when the process is inductive, the
occasion for thought is found in a problem to be solved. We wish
to know why a certain region is arid or what the possibilities of
agriculture are in another, and we, therefore, recall our knowledge
of the principles of geography in order to solve our problem. A moral
situation confronts us; we need to act; and in response to this
necessity we endeavor to refer the situation to some norm or standard
of conduct which we accept as fundamental. The success of our work in
securing clear thinking by children will always be conditioned by our
success in enabling them to realize the significance of the problem
presented for solution.
_Finding the generalization or principles_ which fit the situation
to be accounted for or explained is the next step. In order to
accomplish this part of the process successfully one must be able to
discover that which is essential and to neglect the non-essential in
the problem to be solved. Suppose, for example, that the problem is:
Why has the greater part of Africa not been settled by civilized men?
The factor which is significant is the climate of this region, and it
will be of no use for the pupil to recall the size of the continent,
the color of its inhabitants, the fact that Livingstone made a
journey across it, except that by eliminating these facts he may be
brought to realize that none of them determine the situation, and
hence he need no longer pay any attention to them. It is the function
of the teacher to suggest to the pupil a number of alternatives
and then to guide him in his search for the determining factor.
For example, the teacher might ask: Is it because of the savage
inhabitants, because of a lack of means of transportation, because
the country is overrun by dangerous wild animals, or because of
climate? Each of these classes of facts may be known to the pupils,
and each in turn may be eliminated as non-determining factors until
he comes finally to the last. He must then, provided he decides that
climate may determine the availability of a region as a habitation
for civilized man, discover under what condition of climate civilized
man fails to make advance. He has thus fitted his situation, his
problem, to the generalization under which it falls, and has, in
fact, taken the next step in the process.
_Inference_: The inference that the greater part of Africa is not
inhabited by civilized men because of adverse climatic conditions
is arrived at just as soon as the pupil settles upon climate as
the essential factor. Just as in the inductive process we pass
immediately from the step of comparison and abstraction to the
statement of the generalization, so in the deductive lesson, when
once we have related the particular case under consideration to
the principle which explains the situation, we are ready to state
our inference. There is real value in making such a statement. The
further process of verification depends upon a clear and definite
statement of the inference; and the best test we have of the
completion of the preceding step is the ability which the pupil shows
to state his inference.
_Verification_: When the inference has been made, we have yet to
satisfy ourselves concerning the validity of our reasoning by an
appeal to known facts. Following the illustration already used,
we should ask ourselves what has happened in the past to civilized
men who have gone to Central Africa. We will be satisfied that our
reasoning has been correct, only if all of the facts we are able to
discover point unmistakably to the conclusion that the climate of the
larger part of Africa is unendurable by civilized men.
The element which needs most emphasis in deductive teaching is the
realization on the part of the teacher that the success of the
process is directly proportional to the independence with which
the pupil discovers for himself that which is essential in the
situation under consideration, his attempt to fit or relate the
particular case to the principle or generalization by which it will
be explained, and his willingness, when he discovers his error by
an attempted verification, to repeat the process. We do not think
logically by having some one else do our thinking for us, nor is our
growth measured by the uniformity with which we hit upon the correct
solution of the problem at the first attempt. Rather we may measure
success by the power of our pupils to criticize the reasoning which
appears plausible until carefully scrutinized, and by their readiness
to retrace their steps and to search for firmer ground when they have
of their own accord given up a scheme of reasoning which has proved
invalid.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. C. Bagley, _The Educative Process_, Chapter XX.
I. E. Miller, _The Psychology of Thinking_, Chapter XVIII.
_Exercises._
1. A class is engaged in deriving inductively the generalization
that multiplying the numerator of a fraction by any number
multiplies the fraction by that number; will there be any occasion
for deductive thinking as the work proceeds?
2. A history teacher has tried to develop the generalization that
taxation without representation is tyranny. A girl in the class
says that this proves that women should have the right to vote.
Analyze the process of thought by which the girl arrived at her
conclusion. Was the process essentially inductive or deductive?
3. Some people pride themselves upon the fact that they never
change their minds. What comment would you feel justified in making
concerning their processes of thought?
4. Why can the leader of a mob influence his followers to most
unreasonable action?
5. An eighth-grade boy remarked that he thought that we should
forbid all foreigners to come to the United States. How would you
lead such a boy to change his point of view by means of his own
thought on the subject?
6. A class in grammar was required to commit to memory fifty rules
of syntax and later to correct sentences in which the mistakes in
syntax were covered by the rules already learned. Could you suggest
a better way to teach English syntax?
7. What is the value of the miscellaneous problems given at the end
of each section of the arithmetic? A teacher of arithmetic went
through one of these lists and had the class indicate opposite each
problem the case, or rule, which was involved. Was this a good
thing to do?
8. What sort of reasoning is demanded of a class in parsing?
9. Do you consider your teaching of arithmetic, in so far as it
involves reasoning, mainly inductive or deductive?
10. In what sense is it true that in deduction we begin with
a particular rather than with a generalization? Compare the
significance of the problem in induction and deduction.
11. In some textbooks in geometry, the problem is stated, and then
the proof is presented step by step with a reference wherever need
be to the principles involved in developing the proof; what is the
weakness of this sort of an exercise?
12. How can the teacher best help children who are unable to refer
a problem in arithmetic to any one of the principles which have
been learned?
13. Children often make mistakes in reasoning which seem ridiculous
to teachers; how can teachers be most helpful in such situations?
14. Do you think it possible to teach children the meaning and
significance of reflection? How would you attempt to secure such
insight?
15. Why would it be valuable for us many times to write the reasons
for our action before carrying into effect our plans?
16. What can you do as a teacher that will stimulate children to do
their best thinking? Is it possible that you may actually interfere
or discourage them in this part of their work? How?
CHAPTER VII
LESSON FOR APPRECIATION
Education aims not only to enable one to avoid error, to discover
truth, and to equip him with desirable habits, but also to develop
the power to appreciate and to enjoy that which is beautiful, whether
in literature, painting, sculpture, art, or music. It is not enough
that a man be able to make a living; he ought, as a result of his
education, to be able to enjoy life. Matthew Arnold’s definition of
culture, “the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known
and said in the world,” embodies much that is essential in modern
education. The ability to enjoy a drama of Shakespeare, a picture
of Millet, or an opera of Wagner, means the possibility of noble
pleasure, of leisure time spent in such a way that inspiration and
strength, instead of possible waste, or, even worse, degradation
and weakness, result. It is, then, a vital part of our school work
to give opportunity for and to encourage in every way possible the
development of power of appreciation.
Some of our schoolroom exercises ought to aim primarily to develop
power of appreciation in the several fields mentioned above. Not
that appreciation can be taught directly, but because there are
conditions which are negative in their influence. No one will ever
learn to appreciate music or literature or art because some one tells
him that he ought and that this is worthy and that unworthy. This
sort of teaching will result in hypocrisy and cant. On the other
hand, the best guarantee of development along these lines is found
in association with those who do genuinely appreciate. It is in this
fact that we find our first suggestion for work of this kind.
Do not try to teach any one else to enjoy that which you do not fully
appreciate yourself. The fundamental qualification for the teacher is
power to appreciate. She must enjoy to the full that which she hopes
to make appear beautiful in the eyes of her pupils. It is useless to
ask children to enjoy one of Stevenson’s child rhymes, if you find
yourself unable to enter into the spirit of the poem. Pictures may be
hung on the wall and religiously taught; but children will not want
to buy good pictures, nor are they apt to frequent the art galleries,
unless they have associated with those for whom pictures are a
genuine source of pleasure. The best preparation for the teacher who
feels that her teaching is inadequate in those phases of her work
which involve appreciation is to plan to do what she can to insure
her own growth in this particular. Read more poetry, and especially
read it with those who derive great pleasure therefrom, if you wish
to teach poetry better. If you are familiar with the great musicians,
and have through your acquaintance with their work developed some
measure of appreciation for this type of expression and for the
method by which the musician has been able to build up his wonderful
composition, then you may rest assured that your pupils will not find
music uninteresting.
The question most frequently asked concerning the teaching of those
subjects in which we seek to develop appreciation is whether one must
command the technique involved in creation in order to grow in power
to enjoy the work of the masters. For example, must one be able to
read music in order to appreciate music; must one be able to state
the rhetorical excellence of Stevenson’s narratives in order to enjoy
his stories; is it essential that one fully appreciate the technique
of painting in order to get the most out of Corot? In general, the
answer is that such knowledge of technique may either help or hinder
one in his actual power of appreciation. It will hinder, if the
consideration of technique is constantly uppermost in one’s mind;
it will help in so far as knowledge of technique gives one the
feeling of excellence or perfection of form, provided always that
it is this beauty of the product which most engages the attention,
and that interest in technique is subsidiary. To express the same
idea in another way: if one’s knowledge of technique makes him
overcritical or oversensitive, he is apt to lose all enjoyment in his
concentration upon the technique, in looking for weaknesses, or in
his feeling of discomfort because of imperfection. What significance,
it may be asked, has this for our teaching? Mainly this, that we
must remember that appreciation is in large measure a matter of the
emotions, and that any attempt to overintellectualize the process
will defeat the end we desire to secure.
There is no other kind of work in which the attitude of the
individual at the beginning of the exercise is as important. There
is a story told of a teacher who wished to teach a beautiful poem,
the burden of which was the beauty of kindness to birds. She began
with the birds that the children knew—sparrows. In a short time the
children developed the notion, and very justly, that sparrows were
a pest, that they had driven away our song birds, and that it would
be a good thing to exterminate them. The children were ready to go
forth to the slaughter; and then came the poem with its admonition
to kindness toward birds. These children would, of course, have been
more impressed had this preparatory work been omitted entirely. Very
frequently for work of this kind, the very best preparation is found
in placing children directly in contact with that which you hope
to have them appreciate. Read the poem, play the music, expose the
picture to view, and allow them to do their work. Later a somewhat
more detailed treatment, possibly involving many repetitions, will
give opportunity for increased appreciation.
Children should not be forced to give expression to the feeling
awakened. The teacher may accept gladly such expression as comes
spontaneously. She may at times ask for a selection of the part
most enjoyed. Especially to be avoided are expressions such as:
“Don’t you think this beautiful?” “Don’t you enjoy this?” and the
like. Children under such stimulation are apt to say that they enjoy
whether they do or not. They are just as anxious to do the right
thing as are some of their elders. To be constantly directed, always
told what to admire, means lack of confidence in one’s own ability to
judge of excellence, or, even worse, the attitude of the hypocrite
who admires that which he thinks it fashionable to favor. It is
probably safer to judge of the success of work of this kind by the
expression on the faces of the children than by the words you may
persuade them to use.
In a lesson of this type the teacher does the best work when she acts
as interpreter. Success depends not so much upon initiative on the
part of the children as upon the ability of the teacher to sympathize
with the childish point of view, and to lead them to greater heights
by the force of suggestion growing out of her own joy in that which
she presents. It is by voice, by gesture, by suggestion, and by
explanation,—in all, by providing the most favorable opportunity
possible for appreciation, keeping herself as much as possible in the
background,—that the teacher makes provision for the development of
this power by children.
Much is gained in power of appreciation by giving opportunity for
creative work on the part of children. The group of children who
have composed a song, and who have labored diligently to make the
music which they have written fit the spirit and rhythm of the words,
will find a new meaning in the lullaby which they are asked to learn
to-morrow. Music will mean so much more than pitch, time, notes of
different value, and the like. Through their own attempt they will
have realized in the best possible way the fact that the music of
the song is intended to express feeling in harmony with the words
that they sing. The child who has attempted to draw a landscape will
by virtue of that fact grow in power to enjoy the landscape placed
on the wall for his enjoyment. And so for any other field in which
we seek to develop power of appreciation; to attempt to create for
himself will give the child a better understanding of the elements
which go to make up excellence, and the contrast between his own
effort and that of the master will greatly enhance the value of the
latter in his eyes.
Thus far in our discussions of the lesson for appreciation we have
interpreted it to mean the development of the æsthetic emotions.
There is another sort of appreciation which involves rather more of
the intellectual element, but which, so far as teaching method is
concerned, may probably be treated to greatest advantage in this same
connection. Indeed, there are cases, as in literature, where both
elements are involved. In the study of a drama of Shakespeare we are
concerned not only with the beauty of expression, but quite as much
with the portrayal of the lives of men and women as they have acted
and reacted on each other in their common environment. In history
we have this drama extended to include a nation or the nations of
the world in their relations to each other. In either case we have
the record of cause and effect, an account of social experience
fundamentally akin to our own. Appreciation here involves the ability
to follow the logical relations which are recorded. In proportion
as one becomes aware of the motives which have actuated men, the
relationships which have existed among them, the organization and
outcome of their activities, he has widened his own experience. This
possibility of a vicarious extension of the child’s social experience
is one of the reasons for giving history and literature a place in
our school curriculum.
Let us inquire what is involved in securing appreciation of this
type. Take, for example, the appreciation of the period just
preceding the Civil War. How are we to understand this remote
situation? We cannot observe directly; we cannot, as is the case in
the solution of a problem in our present experience, gather data by
means of observation; nor can we test our conclusions by experiment.
Our first great need is to have presented all of the facts possible.
We may read the historian’s account, or have it read to us; we may
get hold of the newspapers published at that time; read the debates
which took place in Congress; peruse the letters of men and women
who lived and wrote at that time; make inquiry concerning the number
of slaves, and the value of the Southern plantations worked by them;
try to find out why slavery had been abolished in the North, and by
every means possible familiarize ourselves with what men said and
did and the conditions under which they worked at that time. We must
have this material made accessible to the children through books or
by word of mouth before we ask them to follow the logical relations
established among these facts by the historian. Appreciation has its
beginning in the abundance of data supplied which makes possible
the imagery with which the children are to work, and is consummated
when the child has, through his own efforts and by following the
development of another, come to understand the play of cause and
effect, the organization and relationship existing among these human
activities. Work of this sort has in the last step something in
common with the inductive lesson, but with this difference, that the
children are in the main concerned with appreciation of facts and of
the relationships established among them by some one else, presumably
the expert historian. It is more a matter of understanding than the
discovery of new truth. Of course, there are lessons in history in
which the problem is just as distinct as in any science, and where
the work can be best described as inductive or deductive reasoning.
And so likewise for literature. The author presents the situation,
and draws his conclusions, supposedly true to the logic of human
action. The teacher may need to supply details which are missing,
may need to guide the children in their attempt to follow the
interpretation of the author, but it must be mainly interpretation of
facts provided; and presumably, if great literature is studied, the
appreciation of the author’s interpretation of the human relations
is of vastly greater importance than the attempt at interpretation
which the children may make.
Appreciation does not mean quiescence,—far from it. Neither does
it concern itself primarily with the discovery of new truth or
excellence. Rather we aim to understand, and to enjoy, when the
æsthetic emotions are involved, the work of the masters. If we can,
even in some degree, lead children to think their thoughts, to
interpret human activity and human feeling as they have interpreted
it, we shall have most signally widened and enriched their
experience, and shall have made available for them for all their
lives a source of recreation and enjoyment, a storehouse of wisdom,
which may constitute their greatest indebtedness to our efforts in
their behalf.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
E. L. Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_, Chapter XII.
E. A. Kirkpatrick, _The Fundamentals of Child Study_, Chapter XIII.
_Exercises._
1. Why is it worth while to train children to enjoy literature,
music, or painting?
2. Do those who look at the pictures in the art gallery which have
been specially mentioned in the catalogue or guide book necessarily
show any power of appreciation of good pictures? What would be a
better test of such power?
3. Why is it essential that you should enjoy a poem which you try
to teach to children?
4. What advantage is there in changing the pictures on the walls of
the schoolroom from time to time?
5. Is there any good argument for having children write poetry?
6. What could you do to grow in ability to teach art appreciation?
7. Does your technical knowledge of music interfere with your
enjoyment of good music?
8. What advantage is there in having children compose the music for
a song which they have written?
9. Why is it important that we arrange our poetry, music, and
pictures with reference to the seasons?
10. How would you hope to discover whether or not children enjoyed
a new picture?
11. Why ask children to choose from among three or four poems the
one that they will commit to memory, instead of requiring that they
all memorize the same one?
12. What value is there in reading great literature to children
without comment?
13. In what way may a good history lesson differ from an inductive
lesson in geography?
14. Do you think it essential that children should always have
problems to solve in their lessons in literature?
15. Choose a poem which you teach in your grade. Tell what it means
to you. What may it mean to the children? Write four questions
which you would ask to help bring out meaning which might escape
the pupils.
CHAPTER VIII
THE STUDY LESSON
That it is the main business of the teacher to render her services
unnecessary cannot be too often reiterated. To be able to reason
clearly one’s self; to have control of one’s habits; in short, to
know how to use one’s energies to best advantage when the problems
of life are encountered, is the greatest benefit to be derived
from education. We shall concern ourselves in this discussion with
study as it involves controlled thinking, whether inductive or
deductive; with the most economical method of making knowledge more
available for use by increasing the possibility of recall; and with
the possibility of reducing certain knowledge or responses, whether
physical or mental, to the basis of habit.
In general, our problem in teaching children to study consists
in making them conscious of the best methods to be employed in
logical thinking, or in the formation of habits, and then in giving
sufficient practice in the use of these methods to make them the
habitual manner of reaction, as far as this is possible. It is true,
of course, that one who applies the logical method to a question of
mathematics or geography may be swayed by prejudice when the question
concerns politics or religion; and that the man who knows best how to
form desirable habits may be so bound by some other that he will fail
to achieve that which he knows to be desirable. Be this as it may, if
the school makes the child conscious of the most economical methods
of work, the chances for later efficiency are greatly increased.
Strangely enough, what we have been prone to call good teaching
has not always accomplished this desired result. It has too often
happened that the direction and help offered by the teacher have
tended to make the child dependent, utterly unable to do a piece of
work for himself. Even when children have supposedly been required
to do much thinking, the teacher has sometimes weakened her work by
continually stepping in to propose the next step whenever a critical
point has been reached. The argument which proves conclusively
that children do not learn to work independently is found in their
inability in the upper grades, in the high school, and even in the
college to use their time to good advantage.[11]
In teaching children how to study, the first step involves a
clear statement of the problem to be solved. The teacher who says
“take the next five pages” cannot expect that the children will
do anything more, so far as learning how to study is concerned,
than waste time in fulfilling her demands. We think hard when we
have a problem to solve. If it be true that children need to have
an aim clearly in mind when they are at work with the teacher, it
is much more essential that they should have clearly in mind the
goal toward which they are striving when they work alone. Whenever
children are expected to do any work at their seats or at home, the
type of assignment becomes a determining factor. It is a mistake
to suppose that a minute or two at the end of a recitation will be
sufficient to make clear to the pupils the problem involved in the
work to be accomplished during the study hour. The best time to make
assignments is when, as the subject is developed, a problem arises
which cannot then be solved. A good recitation ought to culminate in
the statement of the questions yet to be answered quite as much as
in a statement of what has been accomplished. If the class has been
kept intellectually alert, there ought to be raised by the children
many questions, which may be assigned either to the whole class or to
individuals for report at a succeeding recitation.
A very good incentive to study is found in making assignments
to individuals or groups for report to the whole class. Even if
the problem itself is not of surpassing interest, the desire to
contribute one’s share to the group project, and the wish to do
as well as one’s neighbor, will stimulate to greater effort. It
would be well if teachers tested their own work and the children’s
comprehension of the assignments made by asking frequently during
the study period for a statement of the problem. To read a book
intelligently, to perform an experiment to advantage, children must
know what they seek. The attitude which we hope to develop should
lead a child to ask, when in doubt, such questions as these: “What
am I to try to find out from reading this chapter?” “What am I to
look for on the excursion?” “What is the problem which we are now
discussing?” “Is the report which has just been made to the point?”
“Did John’s answer have anything to do with the question we are
discussing?” and the like. When children have learned to expect to
work toward the accomplishment of some definite result in thought as
well as in action, when they hold to the main issue regardless of the
allurements of subsidiary problems which should be held for later
investigation, when they become critical of the contributions offered
by books or by their companions, then, and not until then, have they
taken the first step in learning to study.
When children have become conscious of the meaning of the aim or
problem as an element in successful study, and when their practice is
guided by this consciousness, they will meet with another difficulty
in learning how to secure the data adequate for the solution of the
problem. Before leaving the elementary school, children should know
how to use dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, year books, and
the like. It is passing strange that college students often seem not
to know the purpose either of the table of contents or of the index
in the books which they use. It is pitiful to see a person leafing
through a book trying to find information on some question at issue,
when in a minute he could find in the index just the page or section
in which this topic is treated, and so spend the time gathering data
instead of wasting it in a random search for the information desired.
It is necessary to teach children to consult the indices and tables
of contents of books, and to give them frequent practice in work of
this kind, if they are commonly to employ this device or method.
Another help to the collection of data might very well begin to be
used in the intermediate grades of the elementary school; it is the
practice of noting, when more than one book or source of information
is used, just where the information is to be found, and something
of its nature. If the pupil consults more than one authority, the
one read last may raise questions which must be answered by a return
to those used earlier, and one ought to be able to turn directly to
the sources formerly consulted. Or it may be that a similar problem,
or one having much in common with it, will arise a week or a month
later, when a record of the sources of information consulted before
will lighten the work by half. A record of this sort could be kept
in notebooks, or, as is done by older people who know how to work,
in a card index. Of course work of this kind presupposes the use of
some books other than a single textbook; and to go very far in giving
children the command of the technique of study we shall have to
provide ourselves with more than a single book for a subject.
Another way by which children can be greatly helped is teaching them
how to take notes and how to annotate. There is no exercise more
valuable to the student, so far as his future work is concerned, than
practice in writing in a very few words the gist of a paragraph or
page. As they reflect later, they may want to know the argument of
this authority or that, but they must have it in condensed form or
they will be little better off than when they began their work. A
very helpful exercise is to have children to abstract, either orally
or in writing, a page or two of a book which they are studying, and
to compare results. In this work the problem is that which confronts
the thinker at every stage of his work, the selection of that which
is relevant and the discarding of that which is less significant.
If we think logically, among the mass of possible data we must
always choose that which in our judgment is relatively most valuable
for our purpose. The teacher in the organization of material for
presentation in any subject is confronted constantly with the problem
of relative values. Not all can be presented, even though relevant to
the issue involved; hence, choice must be made. And just so, if the
child learns to study, to conduct his own investigations, he must be
made conscious of this need of discrimination, and he must be given
practice in its exercise.
Adequate study demands not simply that an abundance of data which
bear on the problem be secured, but that the validity of the data
be brought into question. Children ought not to accept blindly the
statements of books or even of the teacher. The one thing which
characterizes the student is his search for truth, his attitude of
inquiry as opposed to an appeal to authority. It is well for children
at times to question the statements found in their books when
experience suggests the doubt. It is equally important, of course,
that they be willing to acknowledge their mistake, should proof
be forthcoming in support of the book. If a child really studies,
he must, even as an adult, find statements of fact, the records
of observations or experiments, which are at variance with the
evidence which he already possesses. It is just in this particular
that the student differs from ordinary men who allow others to do
their thinking for them. The student may not be able to settle
the question, and so forms a judgment which is frankly tentative.
Children ought to have the experience of finding that there are some
questions to which a definite answer cannot, in the present state of
knowledge, be given. They should be shown, wherever possible, how the
conclusions of men on some of the most important problems that have
been studied have changed from time to time. They can at times be
made to realize the folly of overhasty generalization.
No one has learned how to study who has not been trained to reflect
upon his experience, whether the experience has been recently
acquired with the express purpose of solving his problem, or is
some more remote element in experience which may shed light on the
question in hand. A skillful teacher can guide in this process of
reflection, and will later tell them what is meant, and demonstrate
for them something of the value of the practice. It is quite worth
while for a student to know when he has concentrated his attention
upon a problem, and just what is meant by reflection. Many older
people deceive themselves into thinking that they are exercising
themselves in these directions when a slight acquaintance with the
elements involved in fixing attention or in reflection might awaken
them to the futility of their practices. There need be nothing occult
or hard to understand about the practice of study. It is not a matter
of terminology nor of a systematic course in psychology, but rather
consists in guiding the individual in his practice of the art,
and then making known to him the elements in his experience which
have meant success or failure. It may be enlightening to compare
the emphasis upon careful examination of data, the formation of
tentative rather than fixed judgments, the guarding against hasty
generalizations, and the emphasis upon reflection with the steps of
presentation, of comparison and abstraction, and of generalization
in the inductive lesson, and with the corresponding steps of the
deductive lesson. The conviction will probably be deepened that when
the teacher instructs the student in the art of study she is making
available for him the method which she employs in instruction. This
must be the relationship; for the teacher can do nothing more than
take account of the way the child learns, and adapt her method to his
possibilities.
The habit of verification is one of the most important from the point
of view of learning how to study. The questions which the student
must constantly ask himself are: “Can the conclusions be applied?”
“Do they always hold?” “Does it work?” Fine-spun theories are of
little avail, however much satisfaction the originator of them may
have found in deriving them. At every step in the progress of his
thought the conclusions must be tested by an appeal to known facts.
The teacher cannot too frequently insist upon this step as the
criterion of the worth of the thinking which has been done. And the
insistence will be necessary, for it seems natural for human beings
to become so enamored of their theories that they hesitate to expose
them to the test which may prove them false.
_Teaching children to memorize_: Throughout the school life of the
child, memorizing is a regular part of his work. If practice alone
were necessary, every child should soon learn how to do this kind
of work in the most economical manner. The great difficulty is
that often neither teacher nor pupil has given any thought to the
method employed, their attention having been wholly engrossed with
success or failure in achieving the result. It is a well established
principle of psychology that the possibility of recall is conditioned
by the system of ideas with which that which we wish to recall has
been identified. The more associations made, or the more perfect our
control of any system of ideas which involves that which we wish to
remember, the greater the probability of bringing to mind the fact
when we need it. As Professor James puts it: “Of two men with the
same outward experience, _the one who thinks over his experiences
most_, and weaves them into the most systematic relations with each
other, will be the one with the best memory.” And along with this
fact is another equally important for the teacher: that we may not
hope to increase the native power of retentiveness. The child whom
we teach may be endowed by nature with little or much power of this
sort, and we cannot change it; but we can improve his method of
memorizing.
The first step in memorizing is to understand. If we try to commit
to memory the words of a book when we do not fully comprehend the
meaning, we are depending very largely on our desultory memory,
_i.e._ upon our ability to remember the things because they have been
once present in mind; and our efficiency will depend wholly upon our
quality of native retentiveness. But, unfortunately, for want of
knowledge of a better method, children are frequently satisfied that
they are doing adequate work when they are repeating over and over
again the words which they have made little attempt to comprehend.
Even when the sense of the words to be memorized is fairly clear,
it is uneconomical to employ this method of accretion. The child
who studies the poem by saying first the first line, then the
second, then the first and second, then the third, then the first,
the second, and the third, depends upon mere repetition, not upon
thinking, for the persistence of the impression. It has been
demonstrated that on the basis of the amount of time required
this method is uneconomical. Add to this the fact that after the
first complete repetition, later successful recall depends upon
the efficiency of the system of associated ideas which have been
established; and there can be no doubt of the folly of such a method
of procedure. It is no wonder that children who commit to memory
in this way forget so readily. They may have understood what they
said when they first repeated the poem; but the method they employed
almost precludes the building up of a system of associated ideas on
the basis of careful thinking.
If the child has read aloud and understands the selection to be
memorized, the next thing to be done is to analyze it into its
principal thought units; and then each of these large units of
thought may be again carefully scrutinized until a full appreciation
of the thought has been accomplished. The thought of the whole
may then be stated, using as far as possible the words of the
author, and then each of the subdivisions or thought units may be
examined in more detail in order to get the shade of meaning that is
brought out by this or that word, by relationship of coördination
or subordination of clause, or the modification indicated by this
word or phrase. It will be necessary, as the work progresses on the
large thought units into which the selection has been divided, to
return constantly to the whole thought in order to keep clear the
relationship of the part to the whole, and to establish the part in
the system of ideas which we seek to build up. “All the evidence we
have goes to show that the method of memorizing by wholes is most
economical.”[12] If children were taught to work in this way, there
would be little drudgery about memorizing. The careful, thoughtful
study once completed, memorization has been accomplished. The energy
and attention of the child have not been centered upon a merely
technical process, but he has been concerned mainly in trying to
appreciate fully the thought that he is to make his own. Memory work
of this kind is highly educative, not merely because of the product,
but also because of the process employed. Suppose, for example, you
wish children to memorize Stevenson’s _Bed in Summer_:—
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
You would begin by reading the whole poem, calling to mind the
experiences of the children in going to bed before dark on the long
summer evenings and of the cold, dark winter mornings when they
may have dressed before it was light. The number and the kind of
explanations which will need to be made will, of course, depend
upon the previous experience of the children and the time of the
year. Then the poem might be read again a time or two. After this
preliminary work has been done, you might ask some one to tell you
the story. Let us suppose that the reply was about as follows: “A
little boy had to get up before it was light in the winter, and go
to bed before it was dark in the summer. In summer when he went to
bed he heard the birds hopping on the trees and the people walking
past him in the street. He thought it was hard to have to go to bed
when it was still daylight, when he wanted so much to play.” If the
main facts were less well told, or if there were notable omissions,
it would be necessary to get at least an outline of the main thought
before proceeding. Now we are ready to call the attention of the
children to three main thoughts, each told in a stanza. First, the
difference between getting up in winter and going to bed in summer.
Second, what did the boy in the story see and hear when he went to
bed before dark? Third, how do you feel when you have to go to bed in
summer while the sky is still so clear and blue, and you would like
so much to play?
It will be very easy to get the thought of the first stanza impressed
in the words of the author. It will help to read the whole poem
again, the teacher meanwhile asking the children to pay particular
attention to the way the author says it. Possibly there will be some
difficulty with “quite the other way,” but skillful questioning will
get the correct form. And so for the second and third stanzas;
if the thought is clear, the words will follow very easily. After
each thought has been thus carefully developed, with the whole
story always in mind, and the words of the author have been made
the vehicle of expressing the thought by the children, it will be
advantageous to have the poem repeated several times by individual
members of the class. In this repetition the dramatic element should
enter as far as possible. To suit the action to the word, to really
feel what one recites, helps greatly to strengthen the impression,
and thus aids recall.
It may be thought that the illustration used was particularly well
adapted to illustrate the theory advanced. Or some teacher may say
that children would memorize _Bed in Summer_ without teaching. It
may, therefore, not be out of place to suggest that the best way to
discover for one’s self the value of the method is to try it. It will
work equally well if the subject is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,
a selection from the Declaration of Independence, the Twenty-third
Psalm, or any other masterpiece of English.
The principles to be applied are essentially the same even when
verbatim memorization is not required. To get lasting control of
the facts of geography or of history, one must have reduced them
to a system. There must be a relating of less important facts to
more important, a clustering of important points of reference to
any other facts which are logically related. This, indeed, is just
what scientific organization means, and the main purpose of such
organization is to render facts more available, to save labor.
The memory is relieved of much of its burden when once we have
established the relationship of cause and effect, of equivalence,
of similarity, or of analogy among facts. It is this association of
ideas on a logical basis which counts most in the possibility of
recall.
It is quite possible for children, very early in their school life,
to begin to apply these principles and to become conscious of the
fact that the way they do their work has an important bearing
upon the ease with which it is accomplished and the permanency of
the results gained. The work of the teacher is not done by merely
dictating the method, even though that may help greatly to establish
right habits of study; our best assurance that the method will be
employed when the teacher is not present to direct the work is found
in our knowledge that the children not only habitually, but also
when a question arises or there is a suggestion of another way,
consciously employ the right method.
_Teaching children how to form habits_: Our next problem is to
inquire how children may be led consciously to employ the principles
of habit formation when their school work involves work of this
type. They can be taught the function of drill or repetition, and
can be led to see under what conditions such work will prove most
successful. It is not difficult to prove to a boy that his listless,
half-hearted work in repeating the spelling of the words he has
missed is making little improvement in his ability to spell them. A
boy can be led to see by an illustration in which he himself is the
chief actor that concentrated attention will make much difference.
Let him see how much he can accomplish in ten minutes, and thus get
him in the habit of using this means when he finds that he is not
working up to his normal capacity. Show him that a new impetus will
be given and that attention will be easier if he reverses the order,
writes instead of spelling orally, or closes his eyes and attempts
to visualize the words. No matter what motive the boy has for the
attempt he is making, he will welcome the suggestions which make the
task easier.
Later you can teach this same boy the need of verification before
drilling himself whenever a question of fact is raised. In the
beginning, of course, the doubt or question will be raised by the
teacher, and it will be the chief work of the child to find an
authority and assure himself that he has the right idea or form
before proceeding. A big step in the education of a child has
been taken when he is able to say, “I know I am right, because I
have consulted the commonly accepted authority.” Occasions will
arise constantly in the study of any subject where, instead of
asking the teacher or being satisfied with information which is
of questionable validity, the child should, as a matter of habit,
turn to the authority for verification. It is not at all unusual
for children to have misgivings, but they too frequently end by
going ahead and ignoring their doubt. To respect one’s doubts, to
be somewhat critical, is significant for education only when one is
led thereby to endeavor to discover the truth. Children will work to
advantage when they realize that these steps of doubt, verification,
repetition, with undivided attention, are essential to good work.
Children can be taught the necessity of accuracy in practice. Any
day’s work in a schoolroom will furnish illustrations of the danger
of lapses and the necessity of guarding against them. The fallacy of
the notion that “this one doesn’t count” can be made just as clear to
children as to adults. So, too, the mistaken notion that cramming may
be substituted for systematic work day in and day out can be brought
to the attention of pupils.
It would be a good plan for every teacher to ask herself questions
like the following: “What would the children do if I did not
carefully direct their work?” “How much better able are they now to
work independently than they were at the beginning of the year?”
“Can they take a book and find in it the part which bears upon the
topic assigned for study, and do they do it with the least possible
waste of time and energy?” “Do they know how to memorize; what it
means to concentrate their attention; how to reflect?” “Are they
more open-minded or more dogmatic on account of the year spent
with me?” “Have they established the habit of verification?” “Do
they appreciate the method to be employed in habit formation?” To
answer these questions honestly will give the teacher some idea
of her success as a teacher, for the teacher’s goal is realized
in proportion as her pupils have advanced in power to work
independently of her guidance or control.
In teaching children how to study, it will be well to devote whole
periods to this type of exercise. The teacher will gain much in the
progress which her class will make by taking a period frequently
during which she studies with the children. By example rather than
by precept, by guiding children in correct methods of study and then
making them conscious that they have done their work to the best
possible advantage, rather than by telling them what to do, she will
secure the maximum of results in her endeavor to teach children how
to study.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
F. M. McMurry, _How to Study_.
Lida B. Earhart, _Teaching Children to Study_, Chapter VIII.
_Exercises._
1. What is the relation between a knowledge of the principles of
teaching and the attempt to teach children how to study?
2. How would you teach a boy to study his spelling lesson?
3. What exercises would you give your pupils to make them able to
use books to the best advantage?
4. State five problems which you have assigned to your pupils which
seem to you to have furnished a sufficient motive for study.
5. Which would be better as an assignment for a class in history:
“Study the topic of slavery for to-morrow”; or, “Try to find out
why slaves were not kept in the Northern states”; or, “Did all of
the people in the Northern states believe that slavery should be
abolished?”
6. What is the advantage in individual or group assignments? Give
a list of such assignments which you have recently given to your
class.
7. Why is it necessary in studying to restate the problem under
consideration at frequent intervals?
8. When children study, should they try to remember all that they
read in their books?
9. Is it wise to have children critical of each other’s
contributions during a recitation?
10. How could you hope to train children to discriminate between
the material of greater and of less importance when they read books
to find the answers to their problems?
11. What do you think of the success of a study period where ten
problems are given, each independent of the others?
12. How would you expect children to verify the conclusions which
they reach in solving their problems in geography, nature study, or
arithmetic?
13. Take any poem of from four to ten stanzas, and have your pupils
commit it to memory as a whole by reading it over and discussing
the thought as often as may be necessary. Take another poem of
equal length and of equal difficulty, according to your judgment,
and have them commit it to memory line by line and stanza by
stanza. (A good plan would be to take four stanzas for each test
from the same long poem.) Three weeks after each selection is
learned, without suggesting to the pupils that the selection is to
be called for again, find out what part of each selection can be
recalled.
14. How could you teach your pupils that the repetitions which
count when studying a spelling lesson are the ones which are made
with attention concentrated upon the work in hand?
15. Is a study period in the schoolroom properly regarded as a rest
period for teachers and pupils?
16. Are the children you teach better able to get along without a
teacher than they were when they came to you? What evidence can you
give to show that they can work independently?
CHAPTER IX
REVIEW OR EXAMINATION LESSON
The review or the examination, in so far as methods of teaching are
concerned, present the same problem. We seek by means of exercises of
this type to bring about a better organization of knowledge, to test
the efficiency of our work by finding out whether or not pupils can,
when put to the test, utilize the knowledge or habits which we have
labored to make available for them, whether they are actuated by the
ideals and purposes which we have sought to inculcate, whether they
do actually employ the most economical methods of work when they meet
a situation which challenges their strength. It will be recognized
at once that work of this sort is a part of every recitation. But
for our own satisfaction, and, possibly, in order to meet the
requirements which may be imposed by those higher in authority, we
may at times feel the need for a stated exercise of this sort.
A review should mean a new view, a placing of facts in their true
relationship. It should mean a clearer view of the topic or the
subject which the children have been studying. It avails little
to go over the ground that has already been covered more rapidly.
The purpose to be accomplished is not to fix in mind a series of
unrelated facts. In our discussion of memory we had occasion to call
attention to the fact that recall of past experiences was conditioned
by the number and the quality of the associations which had been
established. And it is not simply a matter of recall. The use that we
can make of a fact depends upon our ability to relate it logically
to other facts. It is quite possible that a man of great native
retentiveness might be able to recall thousands of facts, and yet
be stupid, utterly unable to do the thinking required for effective
action. To bring about such an organization of ideas demands that
from day to day the new facts or principles that are learned be
consciously related to the old. It will not be economical to put off
all reviewing until the end of the month, or quarter, or term. The
step taken in advance to-day can be properly appreciated only when it
is seen in relation to that which has gone before; and the work of
the past week or month will, in turn, by this additional effort be
seen in truer perspective.
There are, however, convenient units into which subjects naturally
divide themselves; and when one of these units has been completed,
it may be well to take a period or two for the express purpose of
review. We may then clear up any misconceptions, give a chance for
additional verification and application of the knowledge thus far
gained. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the review which
really counts is one in which the teacher works with the children,
guides them and instructs them, rather than sits in judgment over
them. There is nothing more disastrous to the best type of work
than the idea on the part of children that the review lesson is the
teacher’s opportunity to ask catch questions, or to overemphasize
unimportant details. Children respond very quickly in such a
situation by their endeavor to cram, with little or no effort at
organization, all of the facts that they have been taught.
A convenient stimulus to the proper sort of review is found in the
requirement that pupils prepare an abstract or topical outline of the
ground which has been covered, and submit it, preferably from memory,
for class criticism and discussion. If the teacher asks questions,
she should be very careful to see that they are questions of large
scope which demand organization, or still better the application of
organized knowledge. This brings us to the problem of testing.
The only adequate test of school education, as of all other
education, is action. The nearer we can in our tests reproduce the
conditions which will confront the child in actual life, the better.
Not that we can always have him actually present in the situation;
but when that is impossible, we can present for his consideration
ideal situations which correspond to those which he will later find.
The possibilities of presenting precisely the test which he will
meet and is meeting in life are, I believe, much greater than most
examiners suspect. We have discovered after many years that the best
test of a child’s ability to spell in the only situation in which he
will ever need to spell is to test him in that situation; _i.e._ by
judging his ability in writing words in connected discourse. The way
to discover whether one can speak or write grammatically is to listen
to him speaking or reading what he has written, and not to ask him to
recite rules of grammar. The only real test of a child’s ability to
give adequate oral expression to the story or poem is to see whether
or not he can make clear the thought and furnish enjoyment to others,
preferably to those who have not before heard the selection which
he reads. We can assure ourselves that we have awakened an interest
in literature and history, when we know that children read good
books other than those which we compel them to read. The success of
manual work, the time spent in art or music, ought certainly to be
measured by ability to make and to decorate, the singing of songs,
and the desire to hear music, or to see pictures. The more occasions
that can be found for the application of the arithmetic we teach in
actual measurements and computations which have real significance to
children, the better will children understand their work, and the
more certain we can be of their future efficiency.[13] It is coming
to be a recognized principle of nature study that the common things,
the animals and plants which are significant for our living, are the
ones which should engage our attention; and we expect that children
will, on account of the teaching, enjoy more, take better care of,
and utilize to better advantage the plant and animal life with which
they come in contact. Even in such subjects as history and geography,
one can hope to find just such applications while the child is
studying as are apt to occur in his later life. The presentation
of the results of the study of a country to a school assembly with
the aid of pictures and a lantern, or the interpretation of current
events in the light of their geographic setting will afford no
mean test of the children’s knowledge of geography. The comparison
of to-day’s happenings in the light of the events of a decade or
a century ago; the explanation of the historical reference in the
period devoted to literature; the writing and presentation of a
historical drama, will afford as great application of one’s knowledge
as most of us ever make.
Work of the sort indicated above will not only serve to test the
value of the work that children have done, but will also add greatly
to the interest and enthusiasm with which children do their work.
We can scarcely hope that all examinations will satisfy this ideal;
but of this we can be sure, the more work of this kind we do with
our pupils, the firmer will be their grasp upon their work and the
greater is apt to be their power to satisfy even less adequate tests.
Examinations have another function which we as teachers should
not overlook. Any adequate test of children’s abilities is also a
test of our teaching. It will probably not be best for us to try
to defend ourselves by pleading the inadequacy of the test, nor
the backwardness of the pupils when they come to us, nor their
parentage, nor any other less common reason. If children do not
write as well as they should, if they misspell words they commonly
use in their written work, if they cannot tell the story, recite the
poem, solve the problem, describe the geographical area, or relate
the events of the historic period, we had better inquire whether we
have helped them to work to best advantage, whether we have clearly
differentiated the several aspects of our work and have then applied
the methods suitable to accomplish the desired result. There may be
mistakes made, but, all things else being equal, the teacher who gets
results is the best teacher.
We shall do better work, children, teachers, and supervisors, when we
have provided for our use more definite standards or scales by which
to measure our results. There is no reason why we should not have a
scale which would enable us to tell with a fair degree of accuracy
just what the standing of this group of children is in writing, in
ability to perform the fundamental operations in arithmetic, in
spelling, in writing compositions, in discussing the geography of
North America, in decorating a cover for a notebook, or in any other
subject or aspect of their school work. Beginnings have been made in
this direction, and we may hope for more as time passes.[14] As these
units of measure are perfected and applied in examining the results
of school work, we will, of course, hear the cry of those who will
tell us that the best things that a teacher does cannot be measured.
The obvious reply will be that efficiency in accomplishing results
which can be measured need not in any way prevent a teacher from
exercising that influence or doing that sort of work which is not
recorded on examination sheets. Rather it will be found, I venture,
that the efficient teachers, as measured by the results which we can
test, are, on the whole, the teachers that are doing the noblest
work. Strength of personality, appreciation of child nature, a life
which by its example makes for truth and beauty in other lives, are
qualities not uncommon in the teacher who is glad to be judged by the
results which pupils can demonstrate.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. C. Bagley, _The Educative Process_, Chapter XXII.
W. W. Charters, _Methods of Teaching_, Chapter XI.
_Exercises._
1. What is the purpose of an examination?
2. Would you be willing, in a review of a large topic in history,
to demand fewer details than in the original study of the topic?
3. What is the value of an outline prepared by pupils as a part of
their review work?
4. Which is the better test of a boy’s ability in English, a high
mark in an examination in grammar, or a well written story of a
fishing trip written for a school paper?
5. Prepare a series of questions which you think might be used to
advantage in the examination of a class that has been studying the
geography of Europe.
6. Give as many illustrations as you can of the application of the
knowledge gained in school to situations in which the pupils use
their information or skill to satisfy needs comparable to those
which one meets in everyday life.
7. What is meant by saying that a review should mean a new view?
8. Do children commonly fail in examinations when they have been
well taught?
9. Should children be promoted solely upon the marks made in
examinations?
10. A boy’s average in an examination was 67 per cent. An
examination of the marks he received showed the following results:
geography 80 per cent, history 100 per cent, composition 80 per
cent, spelling 70 per cent, arithmetic 40 per cent, grammar 40 per
cent, and drawing 60 per cent. The passing mark was 70 per cent;
would you have promoted the boy?
11. How often should reviews be conducted?
12. Should children be notified in advance that examinations will
be held on certain days or weeks of the term?
CHAPTER X
THE RECITATION LESSON
The recitation lesson as commonly conducted consists in having
children tell what they have read in their textbooks. Sometimes the
teacher accepts or even demands that the pupils recite by repeating
the words of the book. Better teaching requires rather that they
render the thought of the author in their own language. In this
chapter we shall discuss some of the worthy ends which may be
accomplished by such an exercise, some of the common deficiencies in
work of this type, and the modifications which are advisable in the
light of the principles already enunciated.
The recitation lesson commonly tests the pupil’s memory for facts.
The questions asked and answered serve to reveal to the teacher the
knowledge or lack of it on the part of the pupil. In a way this
testing also gives the teacher some idea of the amount of work done
by the pupil. The great weakness of work of this kind is found in
the tendency to demand and to accept words, the rehearsing of facts
unrelated and unorganized. Of course this need not be true, since it
is entirely within the power of the teacher to frame her questions in
such a way that the pupil’s grasp on the whole topic rather than his
memory for isolated facts is tested.
The recitation which tests the pupil’s ability to present in orderly
fashion the substance of the thought found in the sections assigned
in the book for study is of genuine value. The topical recitation
affords an opportunity to develop on the part of children the ability
to stand on their feet and speak to a question for some minutes.
And it may be suggested in this connection that we should develop
more power of this sort than is commonly found in our schools.
The ability to express one’s self adequately on the topic under
consideration will always make for effectiveness in social life. It
would be well to test the progress of our pupils from grade to grade
by their ability to speak more effectively and for a longer period as
they advance through the school, on some topic connected with their
school work.
When pupils are required not simply to recite on some topic which is
presented for their consideration, but are required to furnish their
own outline and to recite on the basis of their own organization of
the selections which they have read, the recitation may become a
valuable exercise in thinking. The success of work of this kind will
depend upon the definiteness with which the problem or aim of the
work has been provided. It will not require much thought simply to
follow the paragraph headings or marginal notes of the author and to
present the organization as a basis for recitation. If, however, a
problem has been suggested the solution of which may be found in the
pages assigned for study, then the recitation may test the pupil’s
power to analyze and organize the material which the book provides.
And this is the only test of a thorough mastery of the book. We
do not read to find out everything that an author says. Our needs
may demand a very different ordering of facts, we may use facts
in entirely new relations, and may ignore much that was essential
from a different point of view. Children have read their textbooks
thoroughly when they have derived from these texts the facts or
ideas which are essential in the solution of their problem, the
satisfaction of the aim which they hope to realize.
This ability to use to best advantage a book is a very valuable
accomplishment. When the recitation lesson accomplishes this result,
it justifies its use. Too frequently we find adults who seem to feel
that they must try to gather all of the knowledge and must try to
follow none other than the author’s point of view in their reading.
These persons read one book, and, as a result, believe one theory.
It seems not to disturb them greatly that the next book they read
takes the opposite point of view and that they range themselves
on that side of the question. Books are, or at least ought to be,
our servants, not our masters, and in the handling of books in his
regular school work the child ought to come to realize their true
function. There is no greater proof of a lack of thought than the
ready acceptance of whatever one finds in print.
There is great danger in the use of textbooks that children and
teachers will become satisfied with words, that they will come to
think that the repetition of the formula of the textbook is proof
of knowledge. Textbooks are all too often merely books of texts.
They have been made frequently enough by those who possess a very
wide knowledge of the field in which they write; and by some strange
process of thought they have apparently reached the conclusion that
the way to make a subject simple is to condense it. Many of our
most used textbooks are merely summaries or outlines of the subject
treated. They lack richness of detail, and state conclusions instead
of furnishing a large number of experiences, from which one may,
through processes of logical thought, derive the generalizations of
the subject. Take, for example, most of the textbooks in history
for elementary schools, and read carefully upon any topic selected
at random, and then ask yourself just what these _words_ mean to
twelve-year-old children; or, better still, ask these children who
repeat so glibly the words or reproduce the statements of the book
just what they mean by the words they use. Try to discover whether
they have any adequate knowledge of facts, or any command of images,
which would make possible the generalizations which they give as a
result of the process of thought. Remember that a textbook is not
logical for children because it has been logically arranged by the
scholar. The test is rather to be found in the pupil’s ability to
reproduce in his own thinking the steps which have made possible the
conclusions of the author.
Any wide-awake teacher can make her work more interesting and more
significant for children, if she will carefully provide for the
enrichment of the text. The sources from which data can be gathered,
regardless of the subject under consideration, are almost without
number. Especially to be recommended are the standard works in the
subjects. It will be interesting to discover that children would
rather read Parkman than to study the text in which some less
competent person has endeavored to tell his story in a few paragraphs
which mean absolutely nothing to the child. The magazines which
publish articles of wide social interest will furnish much helpful
material. There is no school that may not greatly enrich its work by
an appeal to the actual experiences of the children and by carefully
directed observations and experiments. We need our textbooks as a
summary, as a convenient condensed outline, or as books of reference;
but we must provide as best we can other books of reference which
will furnish the details which are impossible in the limited number
of pages allowed to the text. In every room of every school a library
of books, pamphlets, magazine articles, and illustrative material
should be found, and every teacher should expect to increase this
collection and to improve its quality as the years go by.
It will give new meaning to notebooks and note-taking, if both
teacher and children realize that the books thus prepared are a
real addition to the texts used. A comparison of the work done by
different members of the class will add interest in the work. One of
the greatest deficiencies of the recitation lesson is the danger that
nothing new will be presented. It is not intellectually stimulating
to listen to others who repeat simply the thought with which you
are already familiar. Where good notebook work is done and reported
upon, the chance for new ideas, the stimulus to thought, through the
presentation of new material, will greatly strengthen the work.
A tendency in work of this type to accept vague and indefinite
answers is another argument against the recitation lesson which
consists merely in rehearsing the words of the book. Statements are
apt to be vague when ideas are vague, and we may not expect ideas
to be very clear when the child lacks experience. The child’s power
of expression, aside from the difference in original talent in this
direction, is conditioned first of all by his acquaintance with
things and processes. The recitation lesson, as it is ordinarily
conducted, gives little opportunity for this sort of firsthand
knowledge. To work at the sand table, to construct with wood, clay,
paper, or yarn, to experiment, and to observe carefully the working
of nature may mean more for the command of language than much more
time devoted to so-called language lessons. But the effective use
of such experience for language growth depends in a measure upon
the requirement that the teacher makes for adequate expression.
The teacher who accepts the vague and indefinite answer encourages
slovenly habits of expression and incidentally slovenly habits of
thought. It is usually a mistake to say to a child: “I know what
you mean even though you have not said it.” Children are often lazy
enough to allow the teacher to do their thinking for them, if the
teacher willingly accepts the burden. Thinking is necessary for
expression; language is the tool of thought; we can do no greater
service to children than to hold them for what they say, give them
credit for the thought which they express and no more. Words for
children, as well as for adults, are used to conceal ignorance as
well as to reveal thought. A child is quick to take advantage of the
teacher who will accept any sort of an answer and interpret it as a
statement containing thought. Indeed, it is possible that a child may
even come to think that his incoherent statements, his word juggling,
really represent thought.
Another danger in the recitation lesson is found in the tendency to
develop the purely individualistic attitude. If excellence consists
in endeavoring to repeat more of the book statement than any one
else, manifestly it is your advantage to hinder rather than to help
others in their work. The attitude of excessive competition on the
one hand, and of indifference on the other, are both avoided when
children work together for common ends. The standard of the school
should be coöperation and helpfulness.
The recitation lesson in its least desirable aspects will not
disappear until all of our teachers realize that teaching does not
consist in hearing lessons. The broader the training of the teacher,
the better her understanding of child nature and of the meaning
of education, the less likely is she to resort to this method to
any considerable degree. We shall, it is true, so long as we use
textbooks, take occasion to discover what use children have made of
them; but this testing will be incidental to our teaching, and not
the sum and substance of it.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. C. Bagley, _The Educative Process_, Chapter XXII.
_Exercises._
1. Why is a recitation in which the teacher asks fifty questions
which test the pupil’s knowledge of the facts recorded in the book
not particularly valuable?
2. Why ask pupils to recite by topics rather than ask questions
which will bring out the facts concerning each topic treated in the
book?
3. Discuss the use of the textbook in teaching from the point of
view of both teacher and pupil.
4. When have you read a book thoroughly? Ought we ever to try to
remember all that the book tells?
5. It is essential in a democracy that people think for themselves;
how would you develop this independent attitude in children?
6. When children say that they know but cannot tell, how well do
they know; how clearly have they thought?
7. If a pupil recites the words of the book, does he know the
subject? How would you test further the extent of his knowledge?
8. Find examples in some textbook which you use of statements which
mean little to children who use the books.
9. How would you plan to supplement the textbooks which you use?
Give examples?
10. Why do children show a lack of interest in recitations where
the teacher tests the class on their knowledge of the facts
recorded in the text? How can the situation be improved?
11. Why is it generally a mistake to interpret to the class the
answers given by the pupil reciting?
12. Under what conditions is it better to have books open in class
than to test pupils on their knowledge of the facts recorded in the
text?
13. If a pupil reproduces accurately a line of reasoning recorded
in his book, has he necessarily thought through the situation for
himself?
14. What do the following paragraphs mean to a class of pupils from
twelve to fourteen years of age? Have they definite images? Do they
fully understand what the author means?
“_The Puritans._—The New England colonies were founded by English
Puritans who left England because they could not do as they
wished in the home land. All Puritans were agreed in wishing
for a freer government than they had had in England under the
Stuart kings, and in state matters were really the liberals of
their time. In religious matters, however, they were not all
of one mind. Some of them wished to make only a few changes in
the church. These were called Non-Conformists. Others wished to
make so many changes in religion that they could not stay in
the English State Church. These were called Separatists. The
settlers of Plymouth were Separatists; the settlers of Boston and
neighboring towns were Non-Conformists.”
“Unlike the poor humble Pilgrims were the founders of
Massachusetts. They were men of wealth and social position, as,
for instance, John Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. They
left comfortable homes in England to found a Puritan state in
America. They got a tract of land extending from the Merrimac
to the Charles, and westward across the continent. Hundreds of
colonists came over in the year 1629-1630. They settled Boston,
Salem, and neighboring towns. In the next ten years thousands
more joined them. From the beginning Massachusetts was strong and
prosperous. Among so many people there were some who did not get
on well with the rulers of the colony.”[15]
Professor Johnson asks, “Do the children see or feel anything but
words? Do they see Puritans? Do they see anything that the Puritans
might change or any reason for changing it? Do they see anything that
happened in America?... But what do the words actually tell about
the circumstances of the Puritans?... Can any one think that such
statements really convey information about the Puritans to one who is
being introduced to them for the first time?”[16]
CHAPTER XI
QUESTIONING
In all teaching much depends upon the skill with which the teacher
stimulates and guides the class by means of the questions which she
asks. Occasionally one finds a teacher who seems to think that the
sole purpose of questioning is to test the knowledge of her pupils.
She asks hundreds of questions which can be answered merely by an
appeal to the memory. This sort of testing is valuable for review,
but it does not necessitate thought. When a teacher habitually asks
these fact questions, the children respond by trying to remember the
words or the facts given in their books.
A type of question still less worthy is the direct question,—the one
that can be answered by yes or no. The teacher who asks, “Is Albany
on the Hudson River?” does not expect the children to think. If they
are fairly bright, they will probably guess from her inflection
whether the answer is yes or no. In any event, after one guess has
been made there is only one alternative, and the pupil who answers
second often deceives both the teacher and himself into thinking that
he really knew the answer. The question which suggests an alternative
is in effect the same as a direct question with its alternative
answer of yes and no. “Does the earth turn on its axis from east to
west or from west to east?” is no better than to ask, “Does the earth
turn on its axis from west to east?” Indeed, the alternative question
in the example given is worse than the direct form, since it suggests
a wrong answer which may make sufficient impression to confuse the
pupils when the question arises again.
The leading or suggestive question is much used by teachers who
attempt to develop with children generalizations for which they have
no basis in knowledge. It is perfectly possible to have children
give some sort of expression to the most profound generalizations
of science or philosophy, if one is only skillful in suggesting
the answers which they are to give. As an example of this sort of
questioning, the following is taken almost verbatim from a teacher
who thought she was having her children think about the growth of
plants. “Did you plant your flowers where the sun would shine on
them? Do you think plants would grow in a very dark place? What do
plants need to help them to grow? When the ground gets dry, what will
you sprinkle on the ground to help the plants to grow? What do plants
need besides light to make them grow? Would your plants grow if it
was very cold? What do plants need besides light and moisture to make
them grow?” If such a series of suggestive questions is asked, the
responses will be prompt and the waving of hands most vigorous, but
surely there has been very little necessity for thinking on the part
of the children. This brings us to the crux of the whole problem. A
question in order to be most stimulating must be of sufficient scope
to demand that the experience of the children be organized anew with
reference to the problem under consideration.
The teacher who wants to test the quality of her questions ought
frequently to ask herself whether her questions are of sufficient
scope. If all the children can answer every question asked
immediately, the questions have not been very successful from the
standpoint of provoking thought. It takes time to think. The question
of large scope will be followed, not by a wild waving of hands,
but rather by a period of quiet reflection. The teacher who was
trying to have her pupils think about the conditions of plant growth
should have asked one or two thought-provoking questions instead of
the larger number of suggestive questions. She might have put the
following questions: What have you known any one to do to get good,
strong, healthy plants? Would it be possible to change any of these
conditions and still have the best plants? What is necessary for the
growth of plants? If questions similar to the above are asked, one
might naturally expect children to relate and to compare experiences,
in fact, to solve the problem by bringing to bear as best they could
the facts concerning plant growth which had been observed in their
experience. If the teacher wants the children to get some adequate
idea of a mountain, in their work in home geography she might tell
them about it or read them a description; but even after the best
description she would want to question them in order to have them
think about the facts which had been given. She might ask: How long
do you think it would take a man to walk to the top of a mountain?
What would be the difficulties in getting to the top? If you stood on
the top and threw a stone, how far down the mountain do you think it
would go?
To ask good questions takes careful thought and planning on the part
of the teacher. A half dozen thoroughly good questions often make a
recitation a most stimulating exercise in thinking, while the absence
of this preparation on the part of the teacher not infrequently
results in the ordinary listless class period, which may actually
be harmful from the standpoint of the child’s intellectual growth.
It would be well for every teacher to ask herself the following
questions when she is dissatisfied with the results of her teaching:
Were my questions clear and concise? Did they challenge the attention
of all the members of the class? Did the children need to think,
to organize their experience with reference to the problem in hand
before they answered? Was the sequence good? Was it possible for
every child to answer some of the questions? Did each child have a
chance to answer? Did the children ask questions?—When children are
active mentally, they will have questions to ask.
In asking questions much depends upon the novelty of the form in
which the question is put or of the issue which is presented. The
writer has enjoyed asking several groups of teachers why they teach.
The answers have been most varied, and on the whole indicate the real
attitude of these men and women toward their work. A very different
response is secured, however, when you ask the same groups to define
the aim of education. They will all profess that they hope to realize
the aim of education in their teaching, and that it is because they
hope to participate in the development of socially efficient men and
women that they teach; always provided you have asked a question
concerning the aim of education. The difference in the two situations
is accounted for by the difference in the wording of the question. In
the one case these teachers really asked themselves the question—why
do I teach? They answered in terms of their experience. Some taught
for money, some because it was a respectable calling, some for want
of anything better to do, some because they liked children, and some
because of their appreciation of the significance of education in
our modern democratic society. In the other case, the answers were
given in words conveying ideas which were supposed to be those most
acceptable to the teacher.
It is often helpful to state the opposite of the common expression
of a generalization and to suggest that you are willing to maintain
this point of view. The best lesson that the writer ever conducted
on induction and deduction was begun with the statement: “Induction
always begins with a generalization and moves to the consideration of
particulars. Deduction always begins with a particular and moves to
a generalization.” The class was excited because the usual form of
expression had been reversed, and, before the period was over, did
some thinking about the commonly accepted definitions of induction
and deduction. These definitions had really been nothing but a lot
of words to juggle with, rather than the embodiment of clear ideas.
This method of shock through the unfamiliar form of the question,
or by means of a statement which challenges attention because it
is seemingly contrary to the accepted formula, is one of the surest
means available to the teacher who would stimulate thought.
It may be objected by some teacher that the form of question
indicated above gives little or no place to the necessary reciting
from books; that when one wants to discover whether the pupils have
studied carefully the content of a text, the one way to be sure is
to ask the fact question. In reply, it may be said that questions
which call for the use or organization of facts demand not only the
knowledge demanded by the fact question, but the more significant
use of these data. It is true that some teachers still hear lessons.
On the whole, there is too much telling of what the book says and
too little teaching. The skillful teacher, in the assignment of her
lesson, will give the children problems concerning which they can
find information in their books. The recitation will demand the
answer to the questions that have been put previously, as well as to
such other questions as may be necessary in the development of these
problems. If the book is to be given a larger place, the recitation
may be topical. Here, again, the large topics which are assigned
should demand not a repetition of the headings and paragraphs of the
book, but rather the outline furnished by the teacher, or, better
still, made by the class; should necessitate a reorganization of
the material of the text. There is little use in trying to furnish
children with the knowledge of an encyclopedia. They will forget all
except that which has become part of a system or scheme of ideas
which have meaning and significance because of their organization.
It is true that facts are the raw material of thinking, and it is
equally true that those facts which have had some place in our
thinking are the ones which we retain for future use.
Aside from the form of the question, the teacher must consider the
technique of questioning. One of the most common mistakes is to call
on the bright children almost to the exclusion of the less capable.
The writer has repeatedly followed closely the distribution of
questions among the members of a class, only to discover that often
from one fourth to two thirds of the class were not called upon at
all, and that generally three fourths or more of the questions were
addressed to a very small number of children. Most teachers would
find it interesting to keep a record for a few days of the number of
questions assigned to each child. Such a score would help to explain
the lack of interest and backwardness of some pupils.
One hesitates to suggest that questions should not be given to the
pupils in any regular order from the beginning to the end of the
class by rows of seats or otherwise. Of course the teacher who does
this notifies the members of the class that they need not be troubled
about the work until their turn comes. Almost as bad, from the
standpoint of maintaining the feeling of responsibility by the whole
class, is the method of asking questions which prefixes the question
with the name of the child who is to answer. When the teacher says,
“George, will you summarize the points which have just been made,”
John, Henry, Mary, Catherine, and all the rest realize that there
is nothing for them to do. The teacher should rather announce her
question, and then wait long enough for all to be active before
calling on any one.
Another source of lack of attention is found in the question which is
repeated. Children soon come to know whether they must listen when
the question is first put, or whether they may wait until the second
or third statement before they will be called upon. There is another
weakness often shown in repeating questions, viz.: the question is
varied in form, which, in some cases, leads to confusion in the minds
of attentive pupils, or the different forms used enable the child
to guess the answer which is desired. To repeat questions is to
acknowledge either that the form in which it was first put was not
good or that the children were not expected to attend to the first
statement of the problem. Either alternative will be avoided by a
thoughtful, well prepared teacher.
The besetting sin of most teachers is the practice of repeating
the answers given by children. If the recitation is a place where
children are to discuss their problems together, then every answer
should be addressed to the whole class, not to the teacher. The
teacher who repeats each answer cannot expect the children either to
recite to the class or to pay attention to the one who is speaking.
Here is another chance for an interesting experiment. Score one
every time you repeat an answer, and then try to see how soon you
can eliminate this bad habit. It is often helpful to stand or sit in
some part of the room not directly in front of the class. The fact
that the teacher is among the class, one of them at least in position
in the room, will make it somewhat easier for children to talk to
the whole group. This habit of repeating the answer really grows
out of the feeling which so many teachers have that the function of
questions is to test for facts, and that in the recitation the answer
should be addressed to the teacher and given by her to the class so
that all may be made aware of the correct answer. The position which
has been maintained is that the main purpose of questioning is to
stimulate thought. Even if questions were mainly useful as a means of
testing for facts, it would still be unwise to repeat the answers.
Questioning by the teacher which does not lead to the asking of
questions by pupils is unsatisfactory. If the children are thinking,
really trying to solve the problem at issue, they will have questions
of their own. If any single test were to be applied to the strength
of the teacher’s questions, this would probably be best. Needless to
say, the questions which children ask should, as a rule, be addressed
to the class, or to some one member of the class, and not to the
teacher. Some of the best lessons are those which end with children’s
questions still unanswered, these problems furnishing the point of
departure for the study which is to precede the next day’s work.
If any one thinks that questioning is a simple matter, one that
deserves less consideration than has been given to it, let him sit
down and write four or five good questions which might be used in
teaching a first-grade lesson on the dog; a fifth-grade lesson on the
Southern states; a seventh-grade lesson on making jelly; or a high
school class on the law of gravity. The teacher who will get some
one to write down for her the questions which she asks in a single
recitation will be surprised both at the number (it will be almost
unbelievably large) and the quality of the product.
There is nothing more searching than to attempt to write down
beforehand the half dozen or more pivotal questions which are to
be used in a recitation. When the attempt is made, any weakness in
knowledge, in organization of subject matter, or in appreciation
of the pupil’s point of view with relation to the material to be
presented, will become apparent. There is no one thing that a teacher
can do which will bring a greater reward in increased teaching power,
than systematically to prepare questions for one or more recitations
each day. If the writer could be sure that any group of teachers
would try conscientiously to improve in the art of questioning, he
would be just as sure that these same teachers would be rated by any
impartial critic as superior to those who are willing to trust to
inspiration in this most important part of the teacher’s work.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
J. A. H. Keith, _Elementary Education_, Chapter IX.
_Exercises._
1. What is the chief function of questioning?
2. Why is the direct question of little value in teaching?
3. Give examples of leading questions. Why should a teacher avoid
questions of this class?
4. Write the questions which you would ask a class who had read a
description of a glacier, in order to stimulate their thought and
test their knowledge of this topic.
5. How many questions did you ask during one hour’s work? Observe
some other teacher, and score the number of questions.
6. Why is it important to consider the form or the wording of the
question you ask?
7. How can you challenge the attention of every member of your
class by the questions which you ask?
8. Why is it poor method to repeat the answer given by one of the
pupils?
9. Do your pupils recite to you, or to the class?
10. When would you expect children to ask questions? To whom should
such questions be addressed?
11. Criticize the questions used by the teacher in the following
stenographic report of a high school recitation in English. A
lesson on the old ballads has been given before. The text used was
Seward, _Narrative and Lyric Poems_, pp. 20-35.
_Teacher_: Before we begin to talk about modern ballads, let’s
see what you got from your first impression of the old ballads
last time. In the first place, give four or five subjects that
the old ballad writers were especially interested in.
_Pupil_: Fighting, principally, and some romance.
_Teacher_: What do you mean by _romance?_
_Pupil_: _Romance_—that is all.
_Teacher_: People meant different things—fighting, or love—do you
mean _love?_
_Pupil_: No, fighting—romance. (_Teacher writes on board_
“romance.”) That is about all I know, in the first—old ballads;
oh, yes, one gruesome one, about c—.
_Teacher_: Corbies?
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: Horror, perhaps.
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: Elsworth?
_Elsworth_: It only happened once,—lovers separated and met again.
_Teacher_: Yes. (_Writes_ “Fighting, Tales of Horror, Shipwreck,
Parted Lovers.”) Is that a fair list? I should think so. Let us
see about the spirit in which they were written, that is, the
kind of qualities the people in those ballads showed, and the
kind of qualities in human nature people of that day liked.
_Pupil_: I think bravery.
_Teacher_ (_writing_ “bravery”): Anything else?
_Pupil_: A hero and a villain.
_Teacher_: Hero and villain; in other words, you take sides?
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: What other qualities besides bravery?
_Pupil_: Treachery, of the kind in the ballad of Johnnie
Armstrong.
_Teacher_: Yes, and the hero shows what quality?
_Pupil_: He believes in the king even when he is summoned before
him.
_Teacher_: Good faith on one side, and treachery on the other.
Anything else?
_Pupil_: Honor.
_Teacher_: Honor, yes. (_Writes_ “honor.”)
_Pupil_: A great deal of honor among themselves.
_Teacher_: Loyalty to each other; and as regards their enemies,
what?
_Pupil_: They used to fight for fun, and they had certain rules;
they were not really angry, they had to keep certain rules.
_Teacher_: In other words?
_Pupil_: They couldn’t do just as they wanted to.
_Teacher_: There were rules of honor even toward your enemy, a
sort of amateur spirit.
_Pupil_: Courtesy to their enemies.
_Teacher_: Courtesy,—and perhaps we might say this includes being
true to the rules. Could we say anything about the style in which
these poems were written, kind of language, and kind of verse
form?
_Pupil_: Could be put to music.
_Teacher_: Easy to sing, for one thing?
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: Complicated tunes, or simple?
_Pupil_: Simple.
_Teacher_: How about the words, the English?
_Pupil_: Old English and Scotch.
_Teacher_: Old English and Scotch; easy or hard to understand?
_Pupil_: After you have read two or three, I don’t think it is
hard.
_Teacher_: If you had been an old Scotchman of those times,
should you say they were written in hard or easy language?
_Pupil_: Simple,—quaint.
_Teacher_: Simple and quaint—old-fashioned. Let us turn to the
ballads you had for to-day; see how they compare with these old
ones. The first one, _Lord Ullin’s Daughter_—as regards the
subject matter, is it the kind of story you think would appeal to
ancient writers?
_Pupil_: It seems so; this one was about an elopement, they seem
to write that kind of story.
_Teacher_: Anything else?
_Pupil_: Shipwreck.
_Teacher_: Do you think the old ballad writers would have been
satisfied with the way the story came out?
_Pupil_: I don’t think so; they liked to see their side win; the
lovers won in this case, but were drowned; I don’t think they
would have liked it that way.
_Teacher_: If they are going to get away from the father, they
ought to get away clear. I think that is true; things end simply
in the old ballads, it is an out-and-out tragedy or a happy
ending.
_Pupil_: They had some death, like Johnnie Armstrong, where the
hero was killed.
_Teacher_: How was he killed?
_Pupil_: By treachery.
_Teacher_: Was there any here?
_Pupil_: No.
_Teacher_: Were they killed through anybody’s fault, or by
accident?
_Pupil_: By accident.
_Teacher_: How is it in the old ballads?
_Pupil_: In the first stories they were not,—a shipwreck.
_Teacher_: But in most cases it is a matter of somebody’s
treachery. In _Sir Patrick Spence_ who gets drowned?
_Pupil_: The Scotch nobles.
_Teacher_: There it is the lords and all those other fine
noblemen. As far as the style goes in _Lord Ullin’s Daughter_,
should you say that the story goes rapidly, as rapidly as
possible, or should you say that if an old ballad singer were
telling the story, there is something that could be left out?
_Pupil_: I think so.
_Teacher_: Can you see any group of verses that could be left out
without breaking the story up?
_Pupil_: I think where it described the boat (_reads_):—
“The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her—
When, oh! too strong for human hand,
The tempest gather’d o’er her.”
Those descriptions could be left out; and (_reads_):—
“For sore dismay’d, through storm and shade,
His child he did discover:—
One lovely hand she stretch’d for aid,
And one was round her lover.”
_Teacher_: You think the picture of how she looked in the boat
does not count?
_Pupil_: I like it, but it could have been left out.
_Teacher_: The old ballad singers would have left out that part.
Are there things in the earlier part of the poem that could be
left out if you just wanted the story?
_Pupil_: The first verse.
_Teacher_: Better if they got started at once, perhaps. Miss
Weiss?
_Miss W._: The third verse:—
“And fast before her father’s men
Three days we’ve fled together,
For should he find us in the glen,
My blood would stain the heather.”
He says right after that that the horses are right behind him, so
he could have left that out.
_Teacher_: He spends too much time in talking to the boatman,
that is true.
_Pupil_: The seventh verse.
“By this the storm grew loud apace,
The water-wraith was shrieking;
And in the scowl of Heaven each face
Grew dark as they were speaking.”
_Teacher_: You can’t help wondering why they didn’t get in the
boat, and stop talking. The old ballad writers pared it all down
to nothing but the story. Turn to the next one,—_Lady Clare_;
would that have pleased the old ballad writers?
_Pupil_: I think it would have. It is just the kind of love story
they liked,—it all turned out well.
_Teacher_: Turns out well in the end; and in it the lovers show
what kind of qualities?
_Pupil_: Faithful.
_Teacher_: You like that?
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: The sort of things anybody would like, all the
admirable qualities of a good love story. I wonder if any one
noticed the language of this poem, anything that would show that
Tennyson was trying to imitate the language of the old ballads?
_Pupil_: “I trow they did not part in scorn.”
_Teacher_: “I trow”—that sounds old-fashioned. Anything else?
_Pupil_: The way he brings in the nurse:—
“In there came old Alice the nurse,
Said, ‘Who was this that went from thee?’
‘It was my cousin,’ said Lady Clare;
‘To-morrow he weds with me.’”
And “thee” and “thou.”
_Teacher_: How about the word “Said”; has that any subject?
_Pupil_: “Alice the nurse” is subject of both _came_ and _said_.
_Teacher_: Yes: anything else?
_Pupil_: The last of that verse, “To-morrow he weds with me.”
_Teacher_: That sounds old-fashioned; anything else?
_Pupil_: Some of the repetition.
_Teacher_: What line?
_Pupil_: “Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse?”
_Teacher_: And
“Yet here’s a kiss for my mother dear,
My mother dear, if this be so,”
sounds like the kind of repetition a man would make on a guitar,
or something like that.
“‘Play me no tricks,’ said Lord Ronald,
‘For I am yours in word and in deed.
Play me no tricks,’ said Lord Ronald,
‘Your riddle is hard to read.’”
It comes again and again. When you come to _Lucy Gray_, a poem
which was very famous, and which is, perhaps, a little hard to
get the real spirit of at first; did any one feel especially
attracted by that? Miss Graves? What did you like about it?
_Miss G._: It was entirely different from the others,—the way
it turned out,—well, just the description in everything,—the
snow,—then, it seemed to go easier than the others.
_Teacher_: We have rather taken it for granted all along that all
these were very easy,—easy to sing.
_Pupil_: I don’t think the later ballads are nearly as easy to
sing as others.
_Teacher_: You think this _Lucy Gray_ is different, you like the
descriptive verses in it? Any special phrases or description that
particularly struck you, Miss Graves?
_Miss G._: I don’t see any just now—
_Teacher_: Any one happen to remember any?
_Pupil_: “The minster-clock has just struck two.”
_Teacher_: Miss Thibaut?
_Miss T._:
“Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.”
_Teacher_:
“Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.”
Would that be in place in one of the old ballads? They weren’t
interested in the appearance of the snow very much. Miss Weiss?
_Miss W._: I think I like this ballad because it leaves something
to the imagination, the rest tell you everything; it doesn’t say
surely that she is still alive, it leaves it to you to think
about it.
_Teacher_: Do you think Wordsworth himself thinks she is still
alive?
_Pupil_: I think he does; I don’t know if he does, but I think he
does.
_Teacher_: In this remote country region, the people who would
maintain that she was alive would be—?
_Pupil_: The country people.
_Teacher_: What is Wordsworth’s attitude?
_Pupil_: I don’t think he credits it very much; I think he
respects it, but I don’t think he credits it.
_Teacher_: He doesn’t tell you whether he expects you to believe
it or not; but at any rate, there is a fineness of feeling
toward the country people that makes him respect the country
superstition.
_Pupil_: I think she must have been lost, because if she hadn’t,
she might have come back to her mother and father.
_Teacher_: Of course, your imagination there is piecing it out;
Wordsworth doesn’t tell you out and out that she was drowned.
_Pupil_: I think he does; he says her footsteps stopped in the
middle of the plank, and something must have happened there.
_Teacher_: The actual drowning was not described; you cannot help
feeling that in the old ballads they would have given you a full
description, like _Sir Patrick Spence_; the ballad ends how?
_Pupil_: Wordsworth was not trying to imitate the old ballads,
was he?
_Teacher_: No; it is a good deal further away from the old
ballads than the others we have had; it is a more imaginative
poem, more beauty of phrasing and thought. Any other questions or
comments about _Lucy Gray_?
_Pupil_: I like this verse:—
“They follow’d from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none.”
_Teacher_: You think that is because of the things Wordsworth
does not say, the fact that he keeps a certain amount to himself?
_Pupil_: Yes.
_Teacher_: That quality of reticence, isn’t it? How is it in
modern times; have you noticed how you respect people who do not
say quite all they feel; they keep their deepest feelings largely
to themselves, and you can only guess at it by what is left
unsaid? Are the kind of people who are represented in this poem
the sort of people you ordinarily encounter in the old ballads?
_Pupil_: I don’t think we do; the chief characters were the
nobles and barons, the highest people in England and Scotland.
_Teacher_: These people were what?
_Pupil_: Common people.
_Teacher_: You get that from what phrase in the poem? Any one?
_Pupil_: Just after he asked her to go for her mother: “At this
the father raised his hook”; he wouldn’t have done that if he
hadn’t been a working man.
_Pupil_: I don’t think he would have sent Lucy Gray after her
mother in the snow; they would have been riding in a coach and
four.
_Teacher_: How is it with some of the other early writers? Was
Shakespeare more interested in common people or wealthy?
_Pupil_: Wealthy.[17]
The questions and answers quoted represent about two thirds of the
work of a period.
Note the number of questions, their scope, the amount of thought
necessary on the part of the pupils, the explanations offered by
the teacher, and the relative amount of talking done by teacher and
pupils.
CHAPTER XII
SOCIAL PHASES OF THE RECITATION
Emphasis has already been given to the social aim in education. This
chapter will discuss in some detail the possibility of realizing this
aim through the conduct of the recitation. The real advantage to be
derived from grouping children in classes is found in the opportunity
which is afforded for exchange of ideas. A group of children seated
with faces to the front responding to the teacher’s questions
and anxious only for her approval is an educational anomaly. The
recitation is more than a place for the teacher to test the knowledge
of the children, or to explain to them as a group some phase of their
work with which they have had difficulty. It may be well to inquire
concerning the motives which operate, the activities present, and the
results commonly achieved by the recitation.
In many classes children seem to feel that the main purpose of the
recitation is to please the teacher. Nor is the teacher’s attitude
different. She praises or blames in proportion as the children answer
her questions or follow her directions. Of course there are times
when it is the main business of the teacher to test children or to
direct their activity; but more commonly it is the office of the
teacher to work as a member of a group who are working together for
the realization of some worthy end. Both teacher and pupil should be
pleased when progress is being made in the work at hand because of
the active participation of all of the members of the group.
There are other motives commonly operating which are even less worthy
than that of pleasing the teacher. Children not infrequently are
somewhat attentive to the work of the class because they fear the
punishment which follows failure. The more ambitious, on the other
hand, come to look upon the recitation as an opportunity to display
their superiority. They believe, and too often they are right, that
the chief end of school work is to get ahead of some one else,—to
get a higher mark. In each of the cases mentioned, the motive is
essentially individualistic. Better have the boy at work in order
to please the teacher than to have him idle; better use punishments
and rewards and secure some results in knowledge and habits than to
fail of these desirable ends: but the socialization of the boy and
the maximum of intellectual activity for each member of the group can
only be brought about in a situation which is genuinely social.
What could be more natural than that children should ask each
other questions; that they should exchange experiences; that they
should work in coöperation for the satisfaction of a common end?
This presupposes that they have a problem or purpose which is
genuine. But that is only to assume that there is some real reason
for intellectual activity. Or let us suppose that the children are
at work in order that the product of their effort may be used in
some social situation. It is not particularly difficult under such
conditions to get the liveliest kind of discussion, to secure the
most earnest coöperation, or to have pupils themselves accept in a
considerable measure the responsibility for progress in their work.
This difference in attitude toward school work, if once established,
is apparent in all subjects. The work of a class in reading or
literature will be transformed when children work together to
understand and appreciate its content. Instead of the complaint
that John has lost the place, it will be discovered that he not
infrequently has a question to ask, or that he can contribute an
explanation. The writer has seen a class of third-grade children as
active in questioning each other concerning a reading lesson as they
were on the playground in inquiring concerning the games they played
or the novel experiences in which they were interested. The teacher
had attained this result by making the children understand that they
ought to ask each other questions when they did not understand the
thought expressed in their books, and that one of the best ways to
explain was to tell of a similar experience which they had had.
In a class in nature study in a fourth grade a boy told a wonderful
story of the activities of a squirrel. Ordinarily the teacher might
have been expected to tell the boy that the story was untrue and
that she did not want that kind of stories. In this class, however,
the children felt responsible for the contributions which were made.
The story had no sooner been told than the narrator was plied with
questions. Where had he seen the squirrel? On what kind of a tree?
What was the color of the squirrel? Just when did the events related
happen? The boy could not answer these questions satisfactorily, and
finally admitted that his story had a very slight basis in fact. The
rebuke thus administered by his classmates probably did more toward
giving this boy respect for truth than a dozen statements by the
teacher that his contribution was unsatisfactory.
In an eighth-grade class the children were discussing the panic of
’73. One of the boys maintained that the causes of panics were, in
general, the same, regardless of the activities of a few individuals
occupying important positions in government or in the commercial
world. His contention was mainly that it was unfair to charge a
president or a political party with the distress occasioned by
a panic, when in reality the cause was to be found in economic
conditions over which neither president nor party had control. One
of the girls in the class objected, and cited as proof the panic of
’37, which she claimed was caused by President Jackson. The teacher
could have settled the question immediately by an authoritative
statement, which most classes of children would have accepted. In
this class, however, the teacher encouraged the class to participate
in the discussion. In the end the members of the class consulted
textbooks and other more complete histories, and reached their
own decision with comparatively little help from the teacher. The
value of this work in history consisted mainly in the fact that the
children, having once discovered the problem, felt responsible for
its solution. They were engaged in the liveliest kind of thinking and
discussion. They were learning where to go, and what materials to use
in the solution of this kind of problem.
Possibly work in the industrial arts offers the very best chance for
group work. At every turn in work of this kind there is the demand
for careful planning involving discussion of ways and means, and for
coöperation in the execution of the plan. A group of second-grade
children were occupied most profitably with the partial furnishing
and daily care of the teacher’s rest room. They had first of all
to decide what they could do to make the room more comfortable or
more beautiful. They decided that they could make pillow, table,
and couch covers, and window curtains, and that they could keep the
room clean. In determining materials and design, as well as in the
execution of the work itself, there was need for coöperation. The
children gained not only in appreciation of some of the elements
of home-making, but also in ability to plan and to work together.
They were being socialized both by the content of their work and
by the method employed in executing it. Another group of children,
fifth grade, spent a number of weeks working together in planning
and building a playhouse for the first grade. A wide-awake teacher
enlisted the coöperation of three grades in the making and selling of
candy in order to get money enough to buy pictures for the school.
The preparation of a picnic luncheon, or meal for guests invited by
the cooking class, the making of a large rug from many smaller rugs
woven in such a way as to contribute to the pattern of the final
product, the building of window boxes, the writing of the account of
an excursion or other school exercise in order that the best results
may be brought together in the final account which is to be used in
a school paper, are examples of the kind of work which may involve
the kind of activity which makes for present social efficiency,
and, therefore, for that social efficiency which it is the ultimate
purpose of education to achieve.
One of the best ways to transform the recitation from a place where
lessons are heard to an active social group is to plan definitely
for a variety of contributions from the individual members or small
groups of the class. When each member of the class studies the same
pages of the same book, there is little incentive either to try to
tell well what the book contributes to the problem in hand, or to
listen to the recitation of one’s classmates. If, however, one group
of children have been referred to one book, another to a second
book, and still another to a magazine article, to pictures, or other
objective representation, there is some reason why each should do
his best in reporting, and a genuine motive for following closely
the contribution of each member of the class during the recitation
is provided. Work of this sort is easily available in history,
geography, nature study, or manual training.
In the subjects which seem to lend themselves less easily to variety
in assignment, many possibilities will be found by the teacher who
is anxious to prove the efficiency of this method. The best reading
that the writer has ever seen in a third grade was done by children
who read to each other. They used the readers in the school and books
from home and from the public library. Each child was permitted to
make a selection and submit it to the teacher for approval. Then
came the period of preparation, extending often over two or three
days or even a week. During this time the child was supposed to
study the selection carefully, learn the pronunciation of difficult
words, and practice reading the selection so that he might give
pleasure to those for whom the reading was done. The one good reason
for reading aloud is to read to an audience who cares to hear what
you have to offer. These children were participating in a social
situation which demanded much of them, and they enjoyed the hard work
which was necessary because the motive back of it all was genuine.
In arithmetic, if arithmetic deals with the quantitative aspect of
the experiences which the children are having, it will be possible
to allow for some variety in the work which is assigned. If the
problems are real, there will be a considerable interest manifested
by the children in the solution of the problem and the results which
are secured. Suppose a class were given a list of the articles
which are to be put in a Thanksgiving basket, with instructions to
find the cost of the basket so that a friend may pay for one of the
donations which the class plans to distribute. In such a situation
the children will be most eager to compare prices and total cost when
the class next meets for the arithmetic lesson. Of course the carping
critic will say that it is easy to devise a few cases of the sort
listed above, but that in real school work you haven’t time to make
such plans. The only answer is that the difference between superior
teaching and the kind that one sees all too commonly is found in the
ability and willingness of the artistic teacher to be more nearly
true to her ideals than are others. Any teacher, who is sufficiently
interested, can find many situations in which she can vary the
work of the class in such a way that the recitation period shall
become a place where each member of the class brings his individual
contribution.
Possibly the greatest need in our schools to-day is for more
purposeful work for children. We are so much concerned about the many
things which children ought to know that we are tempted to spend most
of the time drilling children on facts which have very little meaning
for them. The demand that the school be socialized is only another
way of saying that the work of school children should function in the
school itself and in their lives outside of school. It has seemed
possible, in a few schools, to give children opportunity in the
industrial arts to work at making something which they really want
for themselves, or upon a project which may involve the welfare of
the group, as, for example, when they work upon school apparatus or
furniture. An eighth-grade group of boys made the furniture for the
principal’s office; the children at Hyannis, Massachusetts, make
baskets, brooms, hammocks, raise vegetables, build a boat or a fence,
as occasion demands.[18] At Tuskegee the more mature students have
even burnt the bricks and constructed the buildings for the school.
If a significant project in the industries is undertaken, it may
furnish the motive for doing work along many lines. The raising of
vegetables may involve arithmetic in the measuring of beds and the
buying of seeds, in finding the value of the product, and, if the
product be sold, in the keeping of a bank account. The study of
dairying might very well involve a visit to a farm; the measuring
of an acre; the estimating of the cost of production of milk and
butter; and the return from the investment. The cost and means of
transportation might be studied; a churn, butter bowl, and paddle
might be constructed; and finally a complete account of these many
experiences might be written and printed. If children are engaged in
activities of this sort, there will be no question of socializing the
school. By the very nature of their activities children will be led
to question each other and their teachers; they will of necessity
coöperate in those phases of the work which involve team work.
But it is not in the industrial arts alone that school work may deal
with genuine situations. A good teacher finds a hundred situations
in which children can write for an audience. The writer recently
attended the closing exercises of an elementary school where the
graduating class had composed a play which they presented. The main
plot of the story centered in a prize essay contest, and, as might be
inferred, the essays which were read were those which the children
had written during the regular class work. In geography the members
of a sixth-grade class prepared talks to accompany pictures thrown on
the screen from a lantern. In history certain incidents of the period
which a class was studying were dramatized and presented to the whole
school.
The president of a water company in a middle-western city told the
writer that they kept things in better shape at the water works since
they had agreed to allow the children to come to visit the waterworks
whenever a teacher chose to bring a class. In the same city there is
an unusual number of pianos in the schools, school playgrounds are
being established, parents’ associations are active in coöperation
with the teachers to improve school conditions. If one were asked
to explain why the schools in this city are better, why they are so
loyally supported and so proudly spoken of by all classes of people,
the answer would be found, I believe, in the fact that there is a
closer relationship between the school and activities outside the
school in home and city than in most other places. If teachers more
commonly had in mind the needs of the children during the time they
are not in the school, it would be easier to find situations in which
the school activities would be significant because of the genuine
needs which are felt by the children.
If there were nothing gained toward socializing children through
activities involving the coöperation of the whole group, the fact
would remain that the best type of intellectual activity can be
secured only with this most genuine of all incentives. Most people,
even as adults, think better when they have some one with whom to
discuss the problem in hand. It is true, too, that often the best
teacher is one whose experience is somewhat similar to our own and
whose attitudes and difficulties are similar to ours. Children
can often interpret where teachers fail. It cannot be too often
reiterated that it is the chief business of every teacher to render
her services unnecessary. If the children taught are not at the end
of any term’s work better able to work for themselves, more ready
to take the initiative, more capable in defining their problems,
in gathering data, and in finding solutions than they were at the
beginning of the period, then the work has been a failure. Creative
work[19] is not done when some one stands over the child and dictates
his every step, nor does thinking consist in answering the questions
which a teacher may put concerning the facts recorded in a text.
There is entirely too much truth in the charge which is sometimes
brought against our schools, that they fail to keep alive the
intellectual activity which is natural to childhood.
We must never lose sight of the fact that a child who is vigorous
intellectually, actively sympathetic with those causes which make
for the general welfare, and able and willing to work in coöperation
with others, even though this may mean that he subordinate himself to
others for the time being, is the type of individual upon which our
democracy depends for its perpetuation and for its future progress.
It is necessary to emphasize the social side of school life because
we have, in our anxiety to impart information and form habits,
neglected this aspect of school life. The pity of it all is that in
neglecting the child’s social development we have done less efficient
work in the fields we sought to emphasize because of the lack of
genuine motive. Whether we are concerned with habits, with the
acquisition of knowledge, with development in clear thinking, or in
fixing ideals, the maximum of return will be secured in the genuinely
social situation. Children working together on real problems are
being socialized through participation in social activities. There is
no other way in which the school can contribute so certainly to the
accomplishment of the aim of all education.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
John Dewey, _Moral Principles in Education_, and _The School and
Society_.
_Exercises._
1. What are the advantages to be derived from teaching a group
rather than an individual?
2. What is the ideal relationship between teacher and pupils?
3. Why should a pupil face his classmates when he recites?
4. How could you provide for class discussions with the pupils you
teach?
5. Name class projects which your class has undertaken which
involve coöperation and end in a product which children consider
worth working for.
6. Why do the household and industrial arts lend themselves
especially well to the development of the social phases of the
recitation?
7. When should it be wrong for one pupil to help another? Name as
many occasions as you can where you would encourage coöperation and
helpfulness.
8. Give an illustration of one project which may furnish an
adequate motive for work in several school subjects.
9. Of what value are associations of parents and teachers from the
standpoint of increasing the efficiency of school work?
10. Why is a genuinely social situation the best for the
development of intellectual vigor?
11. Do you think children ought to accept any social responsibility
outside of the school and home?
12. How may we hope to develop in children the desire to serve, the
willingness to work for the general good?
13. How would you change your work in order to accomplish the most
possible for the development of children who are now socially
efficient?
14. Ought we to expect all children to accept the same social
responsibilities, either as to kind or degree, in the school or in
their out-of-school life?
15. If children do not work together for common ends in our
schools, if the spirit of coöperation and service is not present
there, ought we to be surprised at the non-social or anti-social
attitude and practice of adults?
CHAPTER XIII
THE PHYSICAL WELFARE OF CHILDREN
Intellectual development, and more especially intellectual
efficiency, are conditioned in no mean degree by one’s physical
condition. Schools have too frequently, and with justice, been
accused of producing physical defects in children. It is coming to
be recognized that we must in increasing measure take account of
the hygienic conditions under which school work is done, as well as
provide for the elimination or amelioration of physical defects. We
now have open-air schools for consumptives, medical inspection, and
dental clinics. There are some schools which provide school lunches
at a nominal price or without cost to the pupils. Corrective physical
training is coming to be recognized, along with special playground
work. Everywhere appreciation of the importance of physical health
as a condition prerequisite to intellectual vigor is leading those
who have the welfare of the community at heart to demand that active
measures be taken to protect and nourish the bodies of school
children. It is the purpose of this chapter to indicate briefly the
relation of teachers to this movement for physical well-being.
The demand that light be sufficient and that it come from the right
direction is familiar to all teachers. It may be argued that teachers
cannot control the lighting of their rooms. The author has known
teachers who have had blinds properly placed, walls and ceilings
painted or papered with respect to proper distribution of light.
Some teachers have even been instrumental in securing alterations in
buildings or the erection of new buildings. Teachers who know that
the area of windows should be one fourth of the floor space, that
the light should be admitted from one side of the room, and that it
should come over the children’s left shoulders, may not be able to
meet all of these conditions; but they can do all that is possible to
ameliorate defects, and can call attention to the dangers which the
situation possesses for their pupils’ eyesight by giving or having
given tests and making known the results.
Modern school buildings are built with artificial ventilating
systems. The success with which any system works depends in no
inconsiderable measure upon the teacher. By opening windows in one
room the efficiency of the ventilation of all other rooms in the
building may be impaired. Failure to note the temperature may mean
that children and teacher are suffering from a condition easily
remedied by the janitor or engineer. Every teacher should have the
temperature of her room recorded on the blackboard, where every one
can see it, at least twice during each school session. Needless to
say, the thermometer should be accurate, and, if possible, hung in
the center of the room, not more than four or five feet from the
floor.
Teachers are responsible for right habits of posture. If seats need
to be adjusted, the teacher should note the fact and notify the
principal. Although special cases may demand expert advice and care,
the teacher must hold herself responsible for the posture of the
majority of the class. Defects of vision may be either the cause or
the effect of improper position of the body, and should bring from
the teacher an urgent appeal for careful examination and correction.
Frequent rest periods should be provided, the habit of correct
posture insisted upon, and simple corrective exercises given by the
teacher.
Schoolrooms are not infrequently the center of infection for the
community. Any teacher can insist upon separate drinking cups,
if sanitary fountains are not provided in the building. When a
child appears with a rash, with an abnormal temperature, and not
infrequently with _only_ a cough, the teacher should appeal to the
principal, the health inspector, or others in authority for the
elimination of the child from the group. The author has been in
schoolrooms where two or three children in the incipient stages of
whooping cough were allowed to infect the whole class. A school
superintendent was distressed with what proved to be a veritable
scourge of scarlet fever in one of his schools. Upon visiting the
school he found one child on the playground proudly showing the
other children how he could take flakes of skin from his arm. No
one expects teachers to be expert diagnosticians, but any teacher
should acquaint herself with the more common indications of childish
diseases, and should act promptly when her suspicion is aroused,
even though she prove to be wrong in half the cases. If anything is
wrong, eliminate the child from the group, suggest that a physician
be consulted, and await developments: this is the only safe rule.
In addition to her activity in eliminating contagious diseases, the
teacher may often be the first to detect deficiencies in sight or
hearing. Children who are inattentive and apparently dull may often
be found to hear indistinctly. A very simple test for hearing is to
tap a pencil against a desk out of sight of the child, and ask him to
tell how many taps he hears. Headaches, squinting, the position in
which the book is held, often indicate to the teacher eye deficiency
which parents have not suspected. Any child who gives indications of
eye trouble should be tested by teacher or principal, and, if any
indications of difficulty are found, the parents should be urged to
consult a competent oculist.
Dr. William H. Allen gives the following suggestions to teachers who
would discover cases of adenoids and enlarged tonsils:[20]
“1. Inability to breathe through the nose.
“2. A chronically running nose, accompanied by frequent nosebleeds
and a cough to clear the throat.
“3. Stuffy speech and delayed learning to talk. ‘Common’ is
pronounced ‘cobbed,’ ‘nose,’ ‘dose,’ and ‘song,’ ‘sogg.’
“4. A narrow upper jaw and irregular crowding of the teeth.
“5. Deafness.
“6. Chorea or nervousness.
“7. Inflamed eyes and conjunctivitis.”
Any one who has known a child with a bad case of adenoids or enlarged
tonsils, and who has followed the progress of the same child after
the removal of the defect, will not think it too much trouble to
insist that suspected cases receive the attention of a physician. In
these cases, and where the child is suffering because of the ills
superinduced by bad teeth, the teacher must work with the parents.
Often through mothers’ clubs or parents’ associations, addressed by
a physician and by teacher, the necessity for action, from a purely
economic point of view, if from no other, can be impressed upon
parents. It is possible that we shall have to resort to an appeal to
private charity to save the child, or perhaps we shall in time have
free compulsory dental, surgical, and medical clinics.
The children are society’s greatest asset, from whatever point of
view we consider them, and teachers should be most active in all
movements which make for child welfare. There is no other group of
people better acquainted with the needs of children, none other which
stands in so strategic a position with relation to parents and the
community at large. Parents should be taught the necessity of plenty
of sleep, wholesome food, and clean skins for children. Better devote
time and energy to this education of parents than attempt to teach
children handicapped by the lack of proper living conditions. The
anti-tuberculosis campaign, the pure milk crusade, the demand for
medical inspection, should be earnestly supported, if not instituted,
by the teachers of children. Health is not an individual matter. The
welfare of the whole group is bound up in conditions which spell
disaster for the individual.
Finally the teacher has a right to good health. Living under bad
hygienic conditions, with children who are unclean and diseased,
should not be demanded of any teacher. The efficiency of the work
which the teacher does, no less than that of the children, is
conditioned by her health. If it is true that the teacher may suffer
because of diseased children, it is none the less true that a teacher
in poor physical condition injures all of the children she is pledged
to help. Happy, healthful lives for children and teachers is a
condition which will be brought to pass when all teachers work for
this end.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
S. H. Rowe, _The Physical Nature of the Child_.
_Exercises._
1. How may the school superinduce physical defects in children?
2. Why are schoolroom floors oiled and swept rather than scrubbed
and swept?
3. What suggestions for the improvement of all schoolrooms do you
gather from the establishment of open-air schools for the anemic
and tubercular?
4. What would you do to provide relaxation and plenty of fresh air
on a day so stormy that children could not go out of doors for
recess?
5. What could a teacher do to help a near-sighted boy or girl?
6. Is it safe to trust your feeling that it is too warm or too cold
in regulating the temperature of the room?
7. When do you get your best work, when it is too warm, or when
the thermometer is between 65° and 68° Fahrenheit? (If there is
sufficient moisture in the air, a temperature as low as 65° will
not seem colder than a temperature of 70° when the air carries very
little moisture.)
8. What is the reason for using only pencils with large, soft lead
or crayons for writing during the first year?
9. What can a teacher do to protect the community against
contagious diseases?
10. If the school has no playground, what provision would you make
for recreation in the schoolroom?
11. A large percentage of children have decayed teeth; how would
you hope to provide that proper treatment should be given?
12. Why may we not consider health as an individual matter?
13. Why has the teacher a right to demand hygienic conditions in
the schoolroom?
14. Why has the community a right to demand good health as a
prerequisite for teaching?
15. How might teachers hope to secure hygienic conditions for
children in their homes?
16. If a schoolroom needs redecorating on account of improper
lighting, or a new heating and ventilating plant, and the school
board does not supply these necessities, how would you hope to
secure such improvements?
CHAPTER XIV
MORAL TRAINING
Character building must always be recognized as a most important
function of the school. It is a mistake to divorce the intellectual
training of children from growth in morality. If our country demands
increased industrial intelligence, the training of men and women for
leadership in manufacture, trade, and commerce, much more must it
demand citizens of sterling character. Industrial and intellectual
supremacy can mean nothing to a nation unless righteousness prevails
both in public and in private life. The idea that the schools of our
democracy are to train for citizenship has always been interpreted to
mean an education which will fit for a life of service to the best
interests of humanity. The fact that religious instruction, as such,
is barred from our schools, does not mean that we are as a people
irreligious, much less that we undervalue the significance of the
moral training of our children.
School conditions offer advantages for moral training, even though
the overemphasis on intellectual attainments may at times seem to
give the teacher little opportunity for work in this direction.
The fact of a group of children who may learn to work together, to
help each other, to respect each other’s rights, to serve the best
interests of the whole group, in fact a situation which demands just
those virtues which are demanded in society outside the school,
makes the school in some respects an ideal situation for training in
morality. Of course it is possible that the demand for intellectual
attainment may so occupy the mind of the teacher that she will
resort to repression in order to get results in habits and knowledge.
It is true, too, that the curriculum may be so narrow as to give less
opportunity than might be desired for the type of activity which best
lends itself to the development of social virtues. But if adverse
conditions hinder somewhat the work of the teacher, they cannot deny
a very important place to the school in the formation of character.
The increased responsibility of the school for the moral training
of children becomes apparent at once when the influence of the home
and the church of to-day are contrasted with the strength which
these institutions once possessed. Regret it as much as we may,
neither home nor church is as potent in the development of morality
as they once were. Before the dominance of the factory system the
boy or girl who participated in the activities of the home gained in
appreciation of necessity for coöperation and in understanding of his
responsibility to the group in a way that is denied the modern child.
To be a party to those industries through which food was secured,
clothing obtained, and shelter provided meant the exercise of all
of the social virtues. It was fitting under such a régime that the
school should devote itself largely to the tools of learning. But
under our present conditions the demand is insistent that the school
provide, in some measure, through its curriculum, its organization,
and by means of its methods of instruction, for the development of
the attitude of responsibility, and that positive morality which
places a premium upon doing good.
Let us inquire still more closely concerning the conditions under
which moral training must be effected in the school. First of all
there is the fact of heredity. The children with whom we work are
different by nature, and nothing that we can do will make them all
alike. Then, too, there is the added factor of training before
the school age. Many children come to school with bad habits and
low ideals. The one thing that every teacher ought to realize as
fundamental in moral training is the fact that differences in
children must be met by a corresponding difference of appeal on the
part of the teacher.
Over against the differences due to heredity and previous training,
there is to be found the common instinctive equipment. Children
instinctively imitate, construct, collect, inquire, emulate,
sympathize, contest, wonder, are proud, and the like. This
instinctive equipment furnishes the basis for actions which in turn
become habits. The problem of the teacher is to use these instincts
in securing desirable responses. Of course, undesirable responses
have their basis in instinct. Here it is the business of the teacher
to make the undesirable response result in discomfort, or, better, to
substitute a desirable response. To be too proud of one’s attainment
as contrasted with others may be unlovely, but to be proud of work
better done to-day than yesterday is a positive virtue resting upon
the same instinctive foundation. The teacher may be worried because
of the imitation of that which is socially undesirable, but she
may use this same tendency to react to produce the social graces.
There are cases in which the attempt to substitute may fail, and the
necessity for inhibition by accompanying the undesirable response by
unpleasant results arise. The important thing is not to neglect this
instinctive equipment. The tendencies shown in childhood furnish the
one basis for moral development, and their neglect may result in lack
of moral strength throughout the life of the individual.
Besides the differences among individuals, there are differences
corresponding roughly to stages of development. The authority which
is accepted without question by children of six will be seriously
questioned by the adolescent. Children grow not only in their
ability to judge of the right action, but also in their demand that
authority be amenable to reason. There can be no doubt but that
rational morality is the type which the school should attempt to
develop. To this end it is essential that the responsibility of
children for their own actions and for the welfare of the whole
group should increase as they pass through the school. There is a
possibility of controlling little children through fear, but the
time comes when threats no longer avail. It is a sorry spectacle to
see a mature individual who must still be controlled by fear of the
results which will follow misconduct. It may be questioned whether
the continued use of corporal punishment may not result in arrested
development in morality. The desire for social approval develops
throughout the school period. When children or adults fail to see the
reasonableness of a demand, this appeal to approval of the group may
be most effective in securing desirable responses. The rule which
the teacher must follow is never to appeal to a lower motive when a
higher may be used. Fear, respect for authority, faith in the wisdom
of the one directing, desire for social approval, ability to pick
out the essentially moral element in the situation, and desire to
act in accordance with one’s best judgment,—thus runs the hierarchy
of motives which control. In any group some children can be appealed
to by one motive and some by another. The teacher who is developing
moral strength in the group will constantly seek to appeal to the
children on a plane just higher than that which they have hitherto
occupied.
Another factor which plays an important part in conditioning the
work of the school in developing morality is the generally accepted
standards of the community. Social heredity furnishes the basis for
belief in the continued development of society. The progress that has
been made, the standards once established, become the common heritage
of the members of the group. Drunkenness is no longer considered
gentlemanly; we do not lie to our enemies when they have a right
to know the truth; our ideal of civic righteousness demands that a
man be as honest when he serves the whole people as he is when he
deals with individuals. The importance of this factor of environment
in determining the moral life of the individual is admitted even
by those who emphasize most strongly the importance of original
nature. For the school it gives hope because of the influences
which may there be brought to bear upon the child; and it adds a
problem, because the school may not ignore the home or the street
from which the child comes. It does not seem unreasonable to expect
that teachers will at no far distant day become most active in all
activities which make for better, cleaner, more worthy surroundings
for the children whom they attempt to train during a relatively small
part of their waking hours.
The physical condition of children and teacher has much to do
with the possibility of effective school work, and training in
morality is not an exception to the rule. There is not much use in
trying to form moral habits, nor in asking children to form moral
judgments, in a room filled with foul air, with the temperature above
seventy-five. Poor physical condition on the part of the teacher is
often responsible for lack of control on the part of children. A
nervous, worn-out teacher is apt to nag, is almost sure to magnify
insignificant acts, and by virtue of her lack of control of herself
is in no position to control or instruct children. It would seem
at times that we need medical care for teachers even more than for
children. One child in poor physical condition may be hard to manage,
and may fail to gain much either intellectually or morally from the
school; but one teacher in poor physical condition may do positive
injury to a roomful of children. A few days with a dyspeptic teacher
may mean the formation of bad habits which it will take weeks or even
months to eradicate.
We are beginning to realize that there is a direct relation between
hygiene and morality. The underfed, overworked, physically unfit are
so frequently immoral that we had almost charged their condition
to their immorality. In doing so we were often confusing cause and
effect. However the problem may be solved so far as adults are
concerned, we are satisfied that children of school age are entitled
to happy, healthful lives in so far as it is possible to achieve
this result. The work done to secure better physical conditions, both
in school and at home, is probably as significant for the morality of
children as is any instruction that is given; and such care for the
physical welfare of children is the condition without which we have
no right to expect them to grow morally strong.
While all are agreed as to the necessity for moral training in our
schools, there is a difference of opinion concerning the method to
be used. One school advocates direct moral instruction by means of
fairy tales, history, and other stories, and by moral precepts. The
advocates of this form of instruction believe that they can in this
way make children understand clearly what is right, and because of
the emotional reaction produced by tale or story the children will
not only know the right, but will also want to do right. Those who
believe in indirect instruction find in the regular work of the
school, in the teaching of all subjects, as well as in the control of
the children in school, the best opportunity for moral instruction.
With regard to the direct method, it seems to the writer that it
is assumed that “to know right is to do right.” So far as the
emotion aroused by a story of bravery, or honesty, or temperance is
concerned, the chances are that it will have entirely evaporated
before any occasion for action is found. And right here is one very
great danger in this sort of instruction. To have the emotions
aroused without any outlet in the corresponding action may result in
developing individuals who are entirely satisfied with the emotion.
They learn to delight in emotions, and lack efficiency in action.
The time to tell the story of bravery is when bravery is actually
demanded; or for the child who knows the story simply as a story
and without any attempt to use it to teach morality, the story may
be referred to when this virtue is demanded. Likewise with the
moral precept. For one who has had some experience in acting in
accordance with his best moral judgment, the precept may be used as
a significant generalization. Honesty may be the best policy after
you have won in the struggle and have the approval of conscience,
and of those whose judgment you value. You may be ashamed to be
designated by the name of the unlovely character in the story, when
you are really guilty of his weakness of character. It would seem
safer, from what we know of the emotions, to assume that actions are
responsible for emotions rather than to expect the emotion to produce
the corresponding action.
In support of the indirect method of teaching morality, it may be
argued that the school presents continually a situation in which
moral action is demanded.[21] It is possible, of course, to deny to
children any considerable responsibility for their actions. Children
who are hedged about by rules and regulations, who are constantly
directed and commanded by the teacher, will grow little in power
to form correct moral judgments. But the ideal school is in fact
a society, and the demand for moral activity, and consequently
the chance to grow in morality, is as great as in any other life
situation. It must be remembered, too, that the main purpose of
the moral training which the school gives is to make moral growth
continuous. New situations will demand new adjustments, and it is not
possible to supply the child with a morality which will be sufficient
for his future needs. The one preparation which will certainly be
effective in making possible later growth is to be found in the moral
action of to-day.
The subjects of instruction lend themselves to moral training. Moral
strength depends upon interest in those activities which make for
social welfare, in the exercise of judgment in determining the course
of action which will contribute most to the general welfare, and in
action in accordance with the judgment rendered. Our course of study
contains much which should result in increased appreciation and
sympathy in the activities which characterize our modern society.
Geography, history, nature study, literature, all deal with men in
their relationship with one another in a common environment. If
teaching means anything more than gaining knowledge, the method
employed in school subjects cannot be without moral significance.
Teachers who demand accuracy, who are more interested in the truth
of history than in a moral tale, who are open-minded rather than
dogmatic, who seek to exalt the intellect and to hold the emotions
under control, are doing more effective moral teaching than those who
preach by the hour.
As has already been indicated,[22] the ordinary school work lends
itself to the development of positive moral virtues. To work
together, to contribute to the welfare of the whole group, to
determine conduct in view of the possible effect on others, is to
exercise those virtues which are demanded in all social situations.
Pride and joy in one’s work and contempt for the shirker are as
natural in school as in any other situation. The so-called school
virtues of punctuality, regularity, obedience, and industry are
virtues outside of schools by virtue of the same sanction which gives
them validity in the school society. It is important to realize
that many of these virtues must be reduced to the basis of habit in
order to be most effective. Acts of kindness, courtesy, punctuality,
repeated often enough, become second nature. They need no longer to
be thought about.
In the field which requires judgment, it is also true that one’s
attitude may become habitual. Much which we call morality can be
accounted for by taste. Many boys and girls have been saved the
struggle through which others pass by ideals and contempts which they
have derived from their associates. Fortunate, indeed, is the boy or
girl who can say: “The members of our set do not frequent saloons,
do not lie or cheat, play fair, work hard, dare to do right.” All of
us tend to derive our moral code from the group of people with whom
we are constantly associated. There is honor even among thieves,
because they have a code which they respect. The teacher who secures
the coöperation of the leaders of the group can modify, indeed
transform, the moral attitude of a class by this appeal to the code
which the whole group accepts and upon which the leaders insist.
The highest type of moral action is that which involves judgments of
worth. When one asks himself the question, is this right, will it
be for the general welfare, and then acts in accordance with that
judgment, he has performed an essentially moral act. Training for
this sort of action is of the same sort that is demanded wherever
the judgment is involved. The child must be taught to analyze the
situation and to pick out the essentially moral element. The writer
once knew a high school class who habitually cheated in examinations.
They said that they were getting ahead of the teacher. The principal
explained that they were dishonest, that cheating was stealing.
The attitude of the class changed. They responded to this analysis
of the situation which pointed out the moral element. What we call
thoughtlessness and the sowing of wild oats is often to be explained
by the lack of analysis which makes prominent the moral significance
of the contemplated action. The school should give opportunity
whenever possible, whether in ordinary schoolroom work, on the
playground, or with reference to extra-school activities, for the
exercise of the moral judgment. Power to analyze new situations and
to act morally depends entirely upon previous judgments and actions.
Any discussion of moral training would be incomplete which did not
take account of the reformation of the wrong doer through school
punishments or discipline. “Discipline and punishment are teaching
processes as much as are grammar or arithmetic lessons, and when we
remember that conduct and behavior is the whole of life, we must
welcome the occasions for discipline, and even for punishment. No
sane person is glad that a child’s instincts, impulses, and habits
have taken wrong forms, but the real teacher is glad that these forms
manifest themselves, so that they may be worked over into correct
reactions.”[23] The key to the situation is found in placing the
responsibility with the child. If a wrong has been committed, either
he has failed to think of the moral significance of his act, or he
has chosen to do wrong. In the one case reformation may be brought
about by making clear the nature of the act; in the other the child
must will to do differently, and must by his own act regain his place
in the group whose welfare he has transgressed. What the ordinary
situation demands is more of thinking on the part of children and
less of resentment and anger on the part of teachers.
Punishments need to be differentiated to fit the child. The writer
has known boys in active rebellion against school authority who
would accept corporal punishment rather than give any evidence of
intention to submit. In such a case this form of punishment was
justified. Happily such cases are rare with the teacher who knows how
to work with children. Even in cases where the offense is seemingly
identical, the punishment must be varied to suit the individual to be
reformed. Suggestion may suffice for one, another may be persuaded,
and still another must be labored with at length in order that the
judgment which the teacher has passed may be accepted by him as
valid. In any event it is the thoughtful individual, who has the
habit of analyzing the situation when in doubt, and then acts in
accordance with his judgment, which it is the purpose of the school
to develop.
The importance of the moral influence of the teacher has always
been recognized. At times, however, the negative rather than the
positive factors have been emphasized. It is well enough to demand
that the teacher be free from vices, petty or great; but it is even
more important to inquire concerning the positive virtues which
characterize the instructor of children. We may hope that our schools
will develop open-minded children, provided the teachers are not
dogmatic. Courage, industry, integrity, are fundamental virtues.
Does the teacher possess them? Sympathy with all activities which
make for public good is demanded of all in a democracy. Does the
teacher participate, is the teacher a factor, in those movements
which make for improvement in the community? The ideal teacher is an
intelligent, hard-working public servant, whose field of endeavor
is limited only by the needs of the community which he serves. The
number of teachers who have thus exalted the office of teacher in
the community is happily increasing. The moral effect upon the
lives of children of association with such a man or woman cannot be
overestimated.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
_Moral Training in Public Schools_, Chapter I, by C. A. Rugh.
J. MacCunn, _The Making of Character_.
_The Essentials of Character_, by E. O. Sisson.
_Exercise._
1. Why is the school a good situation in which to train children in
morality?
2. Is the man who simply does not injure others to be thought of as
living a moral life?
3. Do you think any teacher has a right to claim that she is not
responsible for the moral training of her pupils? Why?
4. In what way do the instincts furnish the basis for moral
training?
5. Should you treat all of the children alike in situations which
involve a moral issue?
6. How would you hope to have boys come to render the moral
judgment that it is wrong to throw stones through the windows of a
vacant house?
7. How may school spirit and school standards contribute to the
development of morality?
8. Name some troublesome things which boys do that might be
explained by bad physical conditions in the school or in the home.
9. What do you understand by the direct method of moral
instruction? What is the strength and the weakness of this method?
10. Do you think the moral significance of a story or a poem should
be taught in a lesson in literature?
11. Name school situations which involve moral judgments and which
offer opportunity for training in morality.
12. How would you hope to train children to form the habit of
asking themselves whether a proposed line of action was right
before acting?
13. How may the one who does wrong in school provide the
opportunity for the best sort of training in morality?
14. Is there ever any defense for corporal punishment?
15. How important do you consider the influence of the teacher in
developing morally sound boys and girls?
CHAPTER XV
CLASS MANAGEMENT
In any discussion of class management it is necessary to distinguish
clearly between organization and control as a means and as an end.
Much of the discussion of school and class management assumes that
its sole purpose is found in economizing time and energy for teacher
and pupils. Class management, from this point of view, is important
as the means without which effective work cannot be done in the
school. Such a view neglects to consider the opportunity afforded in
managing a class for growth on the part of pupils in the power of
self-control. Any school which plans to reproduce in its life the
conditions commonly found in life outside of the school must allow
children to accept responsibility for their own acts, and will,
therefore, look upon management as an end.
The discussion has not been wholly one-sided. At times there has been
considerable controversy concerning the kind of management which
was most to be desired in the schoolroom. Those who have thought of
management as a means only have been apt to overemphasize routine;
while those who have thought only of the opportunity afforded for
growth in self-control have neglected to realize the importance of
habit in situations which are invariable. The adherents of the one
type of control want everything done at the tap of the bell, in
accordance with the rules which have been made by the teacher. Their
opponents would do away with “mechanized routine,” and would expect
children to exercise their judgment as each question arises. This
difference in point of view is easily reconciled when we look at
management now as a means and again as an end.
If a fire drill is to be effective, every one must drop the work
in hand when the signal is given and march out of the building in
an order and by a route which has been determined previously and
from which there is no variation. Here we have the best example of
management as a means. There can be no question in this situation
concerning the right of the individual to exercise his judgment. The
safety of all depends upon the absolute following of rules, upon the
degree to which the response to the fire drill has become a matter of
habit. If we analyze this situation, we will discover the elements
which characterize situations in which we are to look upon management
as a means. In these situations we should strive to secure habitual
responses.
In the first place the response demanded is invariable. It will not
do to march out of the building one way to-day and another to-morrow.
The class may not go before or after its place in the line. The speed
with which the building is emptied depends upon every individual.
Here we have the second element: the welfare of the whole group
demands that the situation be followed always by a certain response.
Let us examine now some of the schoolroom situations in the light of
these criteria. In passing books, paper, pencils, and the like, a
definite order should be followed. In this situation the end desired
is invariable. What is wanted is to place the desired material in the
hands of each pupil with as little delay as is possible. The welfare
of the whole group depends upon this invariable response upon the
part of each pupil. If any one fails to do his part, there is delay
and loss of time in the work which it is desired to accomplish. For
the same reasons it is wise to have a definite order in getting
wraps, a rule concerning the manner of passing in the room, the habit
of rising and facing the majority of the class when reciting, and the
like.
Let us now examine other situations which afford an opportunity for
the exercise of self-control, in which management is an end. In some
schools children are formed in lines five minutes before the hour
and marched into the building. There is no good reason why children
should march into the building. The end desired, that they all be in
their places promptly, can be secured by ringing a warning bell and
requiring that all enter the building as they see fit and be in their
places on time. In the latter instance they have a chance to act
as normal human beings who accept and fulfill their responsibility
to themselves and to the group. The desired end is secured, and,
far more important, the children are learning to exercise that
self-control which is demanded outside of school. Of course, it may
be objected that it is much easier to control the children, if you
march them into the building. The answer is found by suggesting that
the school does not exist primarily for the ease of teachers, but
rather for the development of socially efficient children.
A principal who had some difficulty in having the boys come from a
somewhat distant playground promptly lined them up for a race to
the schoolhouse. They found that it took them little more than a
minute to reach their schoolrooms. The boys understood his suggestion
that the warning bell, rung five minutes before school opened,
afforded ample time to reach their rooms and be ready for work when
school opened. It would have required less thought on the part of
the principal and less self-control on the part of the boys to
have marched them to the schoolhouse at the right time each day.
Many school situations offer similar opportunity. Passing through
halls, asking the teacher questions, leaving one’s seat for books
or materials, consulting with one’s neighbor may, in the hands of a
skillful teacher, become a most efficient means of training children
in self-control. In all such cases management is an end, in the sense
that these opportunities are sought by the teacher because of their
value in training children.
Pupil participation in school government has been much advocated of
late as the best means of securing a feeling of responsibility on
the part of pupils for the welfare of the whole group, as well as in
the exercise of self-control. As long as these ideals control, it
matters little what particular form of organization is utilized to
secure the ends desired. What sometimes happens is an exaggeration of
the importance of the machinery of government, with a corresponding
lack of self-control, or exercise of social responsibility. The
writer once visited a school which was much talked of because of
its system of “pupil self-government.” He found there the worst
bullying of small boys by those who held offices that he has ever
seen in any school. Many of the children declared that they were not
parties to the government supposedly in control of the school. When
the teachers were absent from their rooms, the children droned over
certain set exercises which were constantly before them and from
which type of activity they were not permitted to depart. Now these
defects in school management may not all be charged directly to the
overemphasis of the machinery of government, but they were due to the
fact that this machinery, this form, had taken the place of genuine
self-government on the part of the pupils.
A wise principal or teacher may secure good results by inaugurating
a system of pupil participation in school government, but the wise
guide and counsellor must be there all of the time. Introducing
children dramatically to the machinery of government will not place
old heads on young shoulders. Children will still be childish in
their judgments and in their ideas of punishment, even though they
be called senators, aldermen, policemen, judges, and the like. The
dramatization of city or state government will undoubtedly help in
the understanding of the function of citizens and of their servants,
the officeholders. This alone would be sufficient justification
for introducing in the upper grades, in dramatic form, a system of
government, without expecting that it would in any considerable
measure relieve teachers or principals of the necessity of guiding
children in their development in power of self-control, and in their
acceptance of social responsibility.
The same system of pupil participation in school government will
succeed with one principal and set of teachers and fail in another
situation. The results which are most worth while, self-control and
the exercise of social responsibility, will be secured without any of
the forms of civil government in one school, while another principal
will claim that success in his school is due to his system of “pupil
government.” No teacher need feel condemned because she cannot
succeed with a particular scheme of government, and none should be
unduly elated because of the invention or use of some particular form
of organization. The essential element in school management is found
in the spirit of coöperation and helpfulness which should actuate
teachers and pupils.
The questions of management considered above cover much of the ground
usually considered under the head of school discipline. The same
problems, especially from the standpoint of punishments and rewards,
are considered in the chapter which deals with the moral training of
children. It may be well to add here that the problem of discipline
is largely one of good teaching. Children who are hard at work seldom
worry the teacher. Right conditions for work may play an important
part. The consideration of some of the problems of organization is,
therefore, in place in a chapter on management.
The ordering of the daily program is one of the most important
elements in classroom management. The desire for variety is strong
in children, and their power to concentrate their attention upon a
single kind of work is correspondingly short. In the primary grades
periods of from eight to twelve minutes, with a possible extension to
fifteen, will give sufficient opportunity for change of work. These
periods may be lengthened to thirty or even forty minutes in the
upper grades. The length of the period will depend upon the variety
which may be found in the work of a single period. In a reading
lesson which includes word drill, reading, and oral composition, the
maximum period may be used, while a period devoted to number drill
may be worse than useless after the first five or six minutes. It
is undoubtedly better for children to work to the maximum of their
capacity for short periods than to dawdle for twice the time. In
the upper grades twenty minutes may be as long as children can work
on the development of a difficult problem in geography, while they
may be active and willing to continue work in a literature lesson
after thirty-five or forty minutes. The writer has seen a class of
seventh-grade children who worked consistently for forty-five minutes
on a history problem which involved discussion, map work, and the
consulting of reference works.
Group instruction has long been recognized by teachers of large
classes as essential to the best work. In a class of forty or
fifty children, however carefully they may have been graded at the
beginning of the year, there will appear differences in attainment
which make it necessary to divide the class into two or more groups
in some subjects, in order to work to best advantage. In the lower
grades, especially in the first, where grading is least able to
place children on the basis of their ability, there is the greatest
demand for group work. As many as three or four classes in reading
may be necessary in the first grade. It must be remembered that such
grouping should never be made to apply to all subjects, nor is it
necessary to apply the group plan to any subject without variation.
Children divided into three groups for reading may do very well in
two for arithmetic, and may all work together in nature study or
constructive work. In reading it will be worth while to have all work
together at times on work which is possible for the least capable and
which may serve as a review for the more advanced group.
By the time the fourth or fifth grade is reached, the pupils will be
somewhat more evenly graded. It will still be necessary, however,
to group pupils in those subjects in which the sequence is such that
the pupils’ advance depends upon the complete mastery of the part of
the subject already covered. In arithmetic, in the more formal part
of the work in English composition, and sometimes in geography or
history, two groups are advantageous.
When pupils all work together it is not expected that all will be
able to do an equal amount of work. It is especially important that
provision be made for the brighter members of the class, in order
that they may have enough work to keep them active and alert. It too
often happens that in large classes the work is scaled down to meet
the ability of the poorest half of the class, in consequence of which
the brighter pupils learn to loaf and tend to lose interest in school
work. However many groups the class may be divided into, there will
always be the necessity for individualizing the children of each
section. The brighter ones must be given assignments which are beyond
the ability of the less capable, while a minimum of achievement
must be accepted when it represents the best effort and means the
continued development of the pupil who is weaker intellectually.
Good teachers provide for individual needs, not only by grouping
their classes on the basis of their ability, but also by giving
individual instruction. No daily program should fail to provide a
period during which the teacher can devote herself to the needs of
those individuals who need special help. It may be to help the boy
or girl who has been absent on account of sickness, to explain a
difficult problem in arithmetic, to help in the interpretation of
a map or diagram, or to teach the pupil how to study; always there
will be plenty for the teacher to do who thinks of her pupils as
individuals during the half hour or more devoted to individual
instruction.
The idea of providing individual instruction may be made the central
idea in organizing the daily program, as is done in the Batavia
system,[24] which allows one half of all school time for individual
instruction. There would seem to be little need for devoting so
much time to individual instruction in a school having any adequate
system of grading and promotion. Indeed, as has already been pointed
out in the discussion of social phases of the recitation, there is
a positive advantage in teaching in groups. The extravagant claims
sometimes made for particular systems of organization, especially
when it is declared possible by means of the system for _all_
children to reach the same standard of excellence, bear on their face
the evidence of their fallacy.
Any attempt to give group or individual instruction must be
accompanied by provision for seat work for those who are not working
with the teacher. In the lower grades much has been accomplished by
allowing children to express themselves with colored crayons and
paints, with scissors and paste, as well as with the more common
pencil and paper for copying, or the letters and words for word and
sentence building. There is probably as much worth in the seat work
which results in the expression of the ideas gained from a story by
means of crayons or with scissors as there is in the conversation
concerning the story in class. As children advance, more difficult
problems in constructive work and in study may be assigned.
In the intermediate and upper grades the problem of having children
occupied who are not directly under the supervision of the teacher is
largely the problem of teaching these children to study. A child in
the fourth grade ought to be able to discover and note carefully the
difficulties which the lesson assigned presents, and he should, in
some measure at least, be able to satisfy the problems which arise.
In succeeding grades, if children are being taught to study, they
ought in increasing measure to be able to gather data, organize it,
and proceed to the solution of their own problems.[25]
The conduct of the recitation has been discussed at length in
preceding chapters. It may be well to emphasize here the more
essential criteria. In a well managed recitation all of the children
are responsible for the progress of the class all of the time. To
this end the teacher addresses her questions to the whole class
before calling on any individual. The pupils are held responsible
for the answers which are given. The teacher does not constantly
repeat and explain answers. When they do not understand, children
are expected to ask each other questions. To secure these ends the
class should, when possible, be seated so that the one reciting may
easily face the other members of the class. The ideal seating is
found in the kindergarten circle. In a room with sufficient space
in front, the children may be seated or may stand in such a way as
to gain most of the advantages of the circle. If pupils must sit in
rows of seats with their backs to each other, it may help to have the
children reciting face the majority, and to encourage those whose
backs are toward the speaker to turn in their seats. It would seem
possible that we may sometime furnish our schoolrooms with reference
to our ideals of education; that a classroom may sometime become a
place fitted for a group of children who are to work together in the
solution of their problems.
The lack of proper management of a class may hinder the work of a
teacher whose work is excellent in other respects; but no skill in
management, however efficient in keeping children in order, can
take the place of good teaching. Most men and women who know how to
teach learn to manage a room full of children. There are still a few
who call themselves teachers who exalt management unduly. For them
the essential elements in school teaching are discipline, control,
organization. To the young teacher, or to the one who would grow,
the ideal of better teaching must constantly lead toward greater
efficiency. Observe any successful teacher, and you can discover the
devices of management which allow her to work to best advantage,
and the use which she makes of the opportunities which the school
presents to develop self-control and social responsibility on the
part of her pupils.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. C. Bagley, _Classroom Management_, Chapters I to VIII inclusive.
J. A. H. Keith, _Elementary Education_, Chapters VI and VII.
_Exercises._
1. Distinguish between class management as a means and as an end.
Give examples of each.
2. How would you hope to have pupils feel their responsibility for
good order in the class?
3. Why do schemes of “pupil self-government” sometimes fail?
4. What is the argument in favor of having pupils pass into or out
of the building without marching in line?
5. Why is it important not to have the class periods too long?
6. Why do teachers sometimes divide their classes into two or more
groups even though they are all of the same school grade?
7. Can you ever expect to find a group of children all of whom will
do equally well in all subjects? Are the weaker pupils necessarily
lazy?
8. Why is it important to make special provision for bright
children?
9. What is the relation between the proper organization of class
work and teaching children how to study?
10. What do you think of a program which provides for class
instruction during every period of the day?
11. What criteria would you apply in judging your own class
instruction?
12. What is “good order” in a schoolroom?
13. How would you judge of the success of a teacher in managing a
class?
14. Name all of the activities of a class which in your judgment
should be reduced to routine.
15. What rules would you make on the first day of school for the
guidance of your pupils?
16. What is the relation of good teaching to good class management?
17. If a majority of the class are misbehaving, where would you
expect to find the cause?
CHAPTER XVI
LESSON PLANS
The best teachers never reach the point where preparation for the
day’s work is unnecessary. The teacher who stimulates her pupils to
their best effort must herself be interested in the work in hand.
If nothing new in material or method is found to vary the work,
interest soon lags. The lesson often repeated is as dry and lacking
in power to interest or inspire as the proverbial sermon taken from
the barrel. Even when a teacher has taught a most successful lesson,
it is dangerous to try to repeat that exercise in precisely the same
way. The two situations will not be alike. The fact that she tries to
repeat will take the edge off the lesson for the teacher, and make it
correspondingly dull for the pupils. Young and inexperienced teachers
are often most successful because of the zest with which they attack
the problems which are new to them. The older teacher may be able
to keep a class in order and teach them something with a minimum of
preparation; but her best work will be done only when she has planned
as carefully as the novice for whom the need of preparation is so
apparent.
The subject matter which should be drawn upon for any lesson
constantly changes. No two groups of children have had exactly
the same varieties of experience; hence the need for varying the
approach, as well as the demand for differences in observations,
experiments, reading, or other methods employed to bring the data
necessary for the solution of their problem before children. Subject
matter is growing, is being made all of the time. Last year’s
discussion of the geography of Europe, of South America, of Africa,
or of Asia will not suffice for this year, because interesting and
important events have occurred in these countries during the year
intervening. For the wide-awake teacher, even that most exact of the
sciences, mathematics, represented by arithmetic in our curriculum,
will change; since the number aspect of children’s experience will
vary. If spelling means the study of words which are needed for
use in written expression, the work in spelling will vary just as
surely as the occasions for written expression vary among children.
No teacher could, if she would, repeat a series of lessons which
deal with natural phenomena. In any field, the need for preparation
becomes apparent for one who would command the material which should
be made available for children.
In the preparation of a lesson plan the first and in some respects
the most important step is to become acquainted with the subject
to be taught. There is no method of teaching which can take the
place of a thoroughgoing knowledge of the material which bears upon
the topic to be treated. The teacher who finds in the life of the
children outside of school, in school activities, in books, pictures,
magazines, in study and travel, material for her daily class work,
will make any course of study vital and interesting to children. In
such an atmosphere pupils will grow not only in knowledge, but also
in the desire to inquire and investigate and in power to satisfy
their intellectual craving.
After the teacher has in hand an abundance of interesting material,
the next step in the plan is to organize the data to be presented.
Some organization is usually found in textbooks and courses of study,
and it is possible simply to try to fit any additional material which
may have been collected to the scheme provided. The difficulty with
this ready-made organization is found in the fact that it has little
or no relation to the needs or problems of the particular group of
children to be taught. Any organization which is to be significant
to children must take account of their point of view, and attempt
to present subject matter in response to the need which they feel
for the material to be presented. This is precisely what is meant
by the difference between the logical and psychological methods of
presenting subject matter. Not that the psychological method is
illogical, rather it takes account of the child’s needs and is for
him logical beyond the most complete adult logical scheme. It may
seem logical to the adult to teach the crayfish by calling attention
to the large parts and then to the smaller parts in order, or to deal
with the structure of the skeleton, nervous and circulatory systems,
connective tissues, and the like. To an eight-year-old child, the
problems which will probably be most logical, most satisfying to
his desire for investigation, will deal with the way in which the
crayfish gets his living, how he protects himself from his enemies,
how he brings disaster by making holes in levees, and how important
he is as an article of food. In satisfying these childish problems,
much of the information which might have been imparted, had the adult
scientific order been followed, will be mastered by the pupils. Much
more will be remembered, because the information is associated with
the solution of interesting problems. It may seem logical in teaching
India to a sixth-grade class to treat of prevailing winds, surface
features, climate, vegetation, animals, mineral products, and people;
but the children whose teacher approached this subject by asking them
to try to discover why they have had such terrible famines in India
probably remember more of the geography of India to-day than those
who followed the adult logical order. In organization, then, the
starting point is to get the child’s point of view, to discover his
problems, and to organize the material to be presented with reference
to these childish aims.
Good organization demands that material presented to satisfy the
demand made by the child’s problem be grouped around few coördinate
heads.[26] Many topics of equal value in an outline generally
indicate a lack of organization, a lack of appreciation of the
relation of the various facts to be presented. For example, one might
think of a great many facts about plant growth; the seeds must be
put in the earth, the weather must be warm enough, they must have
water, they need to be hoed, the ground should be fertile, they need
air, they grow best when they have sunlight, they may have too much
moisture, in rocky ground the soil may not be deep enough, they must
not be too close together, weeds and insects must be destroyed, the
roots should not be disturbed, the choice of the seed is important,
and so on. For a group of lower-grade children there are two
problems; namely, (1) what kind of plants do we want, and (2) what
can we do to make them grow well. Under the first head would come the
plants which are suitable for our conditions of soil and climate, and
the question of seed selection. Under the second head the topics will
be moisture, sunlight, air, and cultivation, including the destroying
of insects or other pests. Each of these topics will be suggested in
answer to the problems which have been raised (what plants we want,
and how we can make them grow well) by a group of children who have
had any experience with growing plants. If any important topic is
omitted, the teacher will call for it by a question which suggests
the lack of a complete solution to the problem which is being
considered. This brings us to the next step in plan making.
A good lesson plan will include pivotal questions which will serve
to call for the data as indicated by the main topics given in the
organization of the subject matter. The problem of questioning has
been discussed at some length in a previous chapter.[27] In planning
a lesson, a question or two which will discover to the children the
problem to be solved should come first in the plan. With the problem
before the children, the function of the question is to stimulate
thought in the direction of the solution of the problem. The writer
is familiar with the objection that questions cannot be prepared
ahead of time.
It is true that the form of question may need to be varied because
of progress or the lack of it, not anticipated by the teacher, but
the question carefully prepared ahead of time will help rather than
hinder in the formulation of a question to meet the situation. It
is true, too, that not all of the questions can be prepared ahead
of time. All the more reason for careful preparation of a few
questions which will enable the teacher to prevent wandering by
children during the development of the topic. Thought-provoking
questions which guide and stimulate children in the solution of
their problems are dependent upon the aim which has been established
and upon the organization of material which it is desired to follow
in the solution of the problem. One might as well deny the need of
organizing material, as to question the value of preparing a few
pivotal questions as a part of the plan.
Lessons often fail because the ground covered during the period
cannot be retraced by the children at the end of the exercise. In a
well-organized plan the teacher will provide for summaries as each
main point is covered. In general these summaries should aim to
recall the subject matter covered from the beginning of the lesson.
It may be suggested that any good teacher summarizes her work as she
passes from point to point in her teaching, and that no artificial
reminder is necessary. The difficulty is that a good summary is not
accomplished merely by asking for a recapitulation of the material
covered. The skillful teacher puts her question which involves a
summary in such form that the pupils get a new view of the ground
already covered. In the experience of the writer, questions which
involve a summary of the work covered, with the added element of a
new view as a stimulus to further thought on the subject, are more
rare than good questions introducing new topics.
A good plan will include a list of illustrations, illustrative
material, books including references to chapter or page, maps or
charts which are to be consulted during the recitation. Teacher and
children are often disappointed because of the lack of materials
which could have been at hand had the teacher only thought about the
lesson before teaching it. In like manner, the opportunities for
motor expression, other than reciting or discussing, should be noted
in the plan. Dramatization, constructive work, graphic representation
at the seat or on the blackboard, may make the difference between
success and failure in a recitation.
A lesson which has been well planned will naturally end in the
assignment of work to be done in preparation for the next recitation.
In the discussion of any problem there must arise questions which
cannot then be answered. A good lesson is characterized not
simply by the ability of children to report progress, but quite
as much by their statement of the questions still unanswered. The
direction sometimes given to call up again the question which is
left unanswered during the recitation indicates a teacher whose
assignments provide a real stimulus for study in preparation for the
next day’s work. If it is necessary to have a live problem before
children during the recitation conducted by the teacher, obviously it
is much more necessary to make assignments which involve real issues
for children to meet.
In outline form the discussion of plan making given above would
appear as given below. This lesson on plan making may be taken as
an illustration of the type of plan a teacher should prepare for a
development lesson. In this plan, as in others, it seems wise to keep
the subject matter separate from the method of procedure.
_A plan for teaching lesson plans_: Their importance and the elements
which enter into their composition.
_Teacher’s aim_: To show the importance of plan making and to
indicate the elements which enter into the construction of a good
plan.
Preparation (which aims to get the problem before the class). How
do you prepare for your day’s work? Do you think you would do better
work if you planned your several recitations somewhat systematically?
_Pupil’s aim_: Why do I need to make plans, and what are the elements
of a good plan?
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
Do you ever grow tired of teaching
I. Necessity for planning. the same subject over and over
again?
_A._ Lack of interest in old Why does a sermon out of the
work. “barrel” lack in interest or power
to inspire?
_B._ Subject matter changes. Do you know a subject
_a._ Subjects grow. thoroughly to-day because you
_b._ The experiences of once studied it?
different groups of Why do different groups of children
children vary. respond differently to the
same material?
_C._ Not safe to depend upon Formulate three good questions
the inspiration of the which you might use in teaching a
moment for lesson on the oak tree to
_a._ Good questions. second-grade children.
_b._ Illustrations and Do you think you might have
illustrative material. asked better questions if you had
_c._ References to books or had time to think them over?
magazines. What picture or other illustrative
_d._ Plans for constructive material would you use in
work and the like. teaching this lesson?
Do you think the children would
gain by drawing a picture of the
oak near by?
When do you think you will
have had enough experience in
teaching to be able to get along
without making plans?
II. The elements in a good plan. (The questions in this part of
the plan will be few. I should
_A._ A thoroughgoing knowledge expect questions, suggestions,
of the subject matter. and discussions on the part of the
class. I should probably use the
_B._ The organization of blackboard to show the organization
material depends upon of subject matter as given under
the problem to be subject matter.)
solved by the children,
hence the necessity What would you do first, if I
for discovering a asked you to teach a lesson on
problem to the pupils habit formation?
which can be satisfied
by the subject What will determine the
matter to be presented. organization of the material which
you are to present?
_a._ Problems essential to
thinking.
_b._ Logical _vs._ the
psychological organization
of material.
_c._ Organization involves
sequence and the subordination
of less important points.
McMurry, _How to Study_, Chapter III.
_C._ Pivotal questions.
_a._ Thought-provoking One cannot prepare all of the
questions prepared in questions to be asked in advance.
advance in order to What is the function of those
guide the children in questions which should be placed
the development of in the plan?
the topic as well as
to stimulate them to
their best thinking.
_D._ Provision for summaries. When children have been interested
_a._ A summary enables throughout the lesson,
children to keep sequence why are they sometimes unable to
and gives new solve for themselves the problem
point of view. which has been discussed?
_E._ Illustrative material, and What aids does a teacher need
references noted on to use in teaching a lesson other
the plan. than the textbook and her own
_a._ Materials prepared plan?
ahead of time.
_b._ References to maps,
charts, books indicated
definitely to save time
and conserve interest.
_F._ Provision for assignments.
_a._ A good lesson makes What do you do with questions
provision for definite which are not answered during the
progress and makes recitation?
clear the questions
yet unsolved.
_b._ Children need definite How do you prepare children to
problems more when work at their seats, or at home?
working by themselves
at home than when with
the teacher.
Show class plans found in Is plan making worth the time
McMurry, _Method of the Recitation_, and energy which it requires?
pp. 329-339; Third Yearbook,
National Society for the Scientific
Study of Education, pp. 60-64;
syllabus on _Theory and Practice of
Teaching_, pp. 14-18.
A PLAN FOR TEACHING THE TOPIC OF IRRIGATION[28]
_Teacher’s aim_: To arouse or increase the interest of children in
the development of the western part of the United States, and to
acquaint them with the problems of irrigation.
What effect would a long drought in this part of our country have
upon the price of fruits and vegetables? What would happen if the
drought were to be continuous? There are arid regions in the United
States. Can they be made to raise good crops?
_Pupil’s aim_: Can the arid regions of the United States be made to
raise good crops? What effect would that have on the other parts of
the country?
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
I. Arid regions of the United In what parts of the United
States. States are the arid regions
located?
_A._ Continuous drought. Look at your rainfall maps.
_B._ Size of area. See maps. Name the states included.
_C._ Description of region. Compare the population of the
plateau states with a like area
Dodge, _Adv. Geog._, pp. 44. Tarr in the Mississippi Valley, or on
and McMurry, second book, p. 120. the Atlantic coast.
II. Why should we desire to reclaim Is it significant to the country
arid lands? as a whole that these regions
remain unproductive?
_A._ Increase in population
with consequent increased
demands for food at home and
abroad.
_B._ Capital seeks a good What would be the effects
investment. produced in case these large
tracts of land could be brought
III. How arid regions are made under cultivation?
productive.
_A._ Conditions necessary for In order that plants in the garden
plant growth. or crops in the field may grow,
what conditions are necessary?
_a._ Fertile soil.
_b._ Heat and light.
_c._ Moisture.
_B._ The effect of drought When the lawns or gardens in
overcome. our part of the country grow too
_a._ In limited areas—by dry, how are they kept growing?
sprinkling. What means must be employed to
provide water in very large areas?
_b._ In extensive areas—by Are these means used in the
irrigation. Plateau and Pacific states? (Class
consult the references named.)
Tarr and McMurry, p. 120.
Dodge, _Adv. Geog._, p. 166.
King, _Adv. Geog._, pp. 141-146.
_C._ Sources of water supply. Where can the water be obtained
for irrigating purposes in these
_a._ Rivers. dry areas?
_b._ Mountain streams fed
by rain, snow, or glaciers. (Conversation. Assignment to
_c._ Artesian wells. books in use by all of the class.
_d._ Lakes. Assign article in _Review of
Reviews_, 31:701-704, to a pupil
as a special topic.)
Tarr and McMurry, pp. 129-133.
Dodge, _Adv. Geog._, p. 172.
King, _Adv. Geog._, p. 142.
_Review of Reviews_, 31:701-704.
_D._ The process of irrigation. How can the supply of water
which falls during the rainy
_a._ Water storage, reservoirs, season be kept for use during
dams. the dry season?
_b._ Ditches or canals. (Assignment of special topics
_c._ Surface irrigation. relating to particular subjects.)
_d._ Subirrigation.
How is the water in the reservoirs
See geographies quoted under _C_, or rivers distributed to the
above. fields when it is needed?
_Popular Science Monthly_, (Illustrate by an outdoor lesson;
67:648-686. or if the nature of the country is
not suited to illustrate the
process, use the sand table and
construct a system of irrigation
showing reservoir, main canals, and
the distributing ditches. Assign
subirrigation as a special topic.)
_E._ The reclamation service. How does the United States
_a._ The nature of its work. government aid in reclaiming the
_b._ The territory affected. waste lands of the West?
(See the _World’s Work_, Dec., 1907.)
_F._ How the government gets What disposition does the
its money back. government make of the reclaimed
_a._ Sale of land in tracts lands?
not exceeding 160
acres to an individual.
_b._ Payment in ten equal
annual installments.
Ref. the _Cosmopolitan_, 37:715-722.
The _World’s Work_, Dec., 1907.
_G._ The effects of irrigation. Would it pay a man to buy a
forty-acre tract in the irrigated
_a._ Upon agriculture. region? What crops could he
produce? Value of crops?
(Estimated.) Where there are
(See geographies quoted above; prosperous farming communities,
also the _Cosmopolitan_, 37:718-722; what other industries are
the _World’s Work_, Dec., 1907.) possible? Are they found in the
irrigated districts? With
agriculture, fruit growing, and
_b._ Upon secondary industries other industries made possible
and profitable, what effect is
_c._ Upon population in produced upon immigration to
the areas irrigated. the Western states? What problems
did we set out to solve in
(King, _Adv. Geog._, pp. 152-154; these lessons on irrigation?
also other geographies quoted What is the answer to each?
above; the _World’s Work_, Dec.,
1907.)
Further topics for class study:—
1. Value of forests to systems of
irrigation.
2. Our relations to the irrigated
regions.
3. Advisability of introducing
irrigation in the Eastern states.
4. Irrigation in Egypt.
5. Irrigation in India.
Individual assignments:—
1. Economy of water in irrigation.
2. Fruit growing on irrigated
land.
3. Advantages and disadvantages
of farming in the East and
in the West.
4. Relative value to a state of
gold mining and of farming.
5. Relation of irrigation in the
West to the people of Europe.
6. To the people of the Eastern
states.
The plan given above for the topic “irrigation” is typical of many
plans which the teacher should make. It indicates the development
of the whole topic, which will need the time of several recitations
for its complete development. The topics given at the end of the
plan for class study and for individual assignment show that the
teacher had thought over the problems which might arise as the
subject was taught, and that she was ready to make such assignments
as the situation demanded from day to day. If such a list of possible
assignments has been prepared before the topic is taught, the chances
are that the ground will be much more thoroughly covered than would
be the case if the teacher trusted to her ability to select an
interesting problem at the end of each day’s work. Lesson plans
should, as a rule, cover a complete unit of work or topic. One plan
will commonly include inductive development work in the derivation of
principles, drill work to fix these generalizations or to give skill
in their application, and at times deductive work in the use of the
principles derived to explain new situations. A complete plan for
teaching percentage in arithmetic would include all of the elements
mentioned. A lesson for appreciation or a recitation lesson may
often be followed by drill work. When the topic lesson plan has been
prepared, the teacher will need to consider from day to day the best
method of proceeding with the subject. She may wish to vary somewhat
the approach or order of development.
A PLAN FOR A DRILL LESSON
The work indicated here can be done in one period. The plan is given
as an illustration of the principles involved in good drill work. It
is especially necessary, in planning for lessons of this type, to be
ready to vary the exercises in order to maintain the interest and
attention of the class. Repetition with attention is what counts for
habit formation. The children have been playing a game in which the
score secured by throwing a bean bag in squares, numbered from one
to ten, has been multiplied by two and later by three. The class has
been divided into sides, and the competition has been keen. They want
to make larger scores, and, therefore, have a compelling motive for
studying the next table.
_Teacher’s aim_: To teach multiplication by four. If we are to make
larger scores, what table must we learn next? How many think they can
learn half of the table of fours to-day? If you learn it, we will
play our game for ten minutes.
_Pupil’s aim_: To learn the multiplication table of fours.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD
4 × 4 = 16 Teacher writes the table on the
blackboard, as indicated under
4 × 2 = 8 subject matter.
4 × 6 = 24 How many are sure they know
the first two? Look at me and
4 × 3 = 12 answer as I ask the results.
Don’t answer unless you are sure.
4 × 5 = 20
Now let us take the first three.
Proceed as before.
I’ll erase the first three. Look
at them carefully. Now write
them on your tablets.
4 × 4 = 4 × 2 = 4 × 6 =
Don’t write the answers unless
you are sure you are right.
Let four or five children read
their answers.
Margaret may ask for answers.
She drills on the first three
combinations.
The other two are easy to
remember,—four times three we
know; it is the same as three
times four, and four times five
are twenty we can all remember.
Look carefully; I am going to
erase them.
Drill by teacher on last two
combinations.
All combinations put on board
again and read and written by
children.
Robert tries to discover whether
there is any girl who has forgotten
any part of the table.
Katharine tries to catch the
boys.
All write at the dictation of the
teacher, supplying the products.
The game is then played. When
any one makes a mistake in
recording his score on the
blackboard, his side is penalized
the amount of his mistake.
Possibly all the plans the experienced teacher needs for the lesson
outlined above are a few notes concerning the variations to be
introduced from time to time in the drill. She must plan, however,
to put zest into the lesson by means of the variety which she
introduces, and she must, if she is to get the best work, provide
some motive which will make the drill work seem worth while to the
children.
A LESSON ESSENTIALLY DEDUCTIVE
A part of a larger topic plan on taxation. The children have begun
the study of taxation by inquiring how policemen, street cleaners,
firemen, and other city employees are paid; how money is secured to
run the schools, to provide water, and the like.
_Teacher’s aim_: To teach how to determine the amount of taxes to be
paid when the assessed value of the property and the rate of taxation
are known.
George, did you find out the assessed valuation of your father’s
house and lot?
Henry, did you find the rate on real estate?
_Pupil’s aim_: Let us try to find out how much tax George’s father
must pay on his house and lot.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
A knowledge of percentage is If you want to find six per cent
assumed. of $3500, how do you proceed?
To find the percentage we If George’s father pays $1.80 on
multiply the base by the rate. each hundred dollars, how can you
tell how much he must pay on
House is worth $3500. Rate of thirty-five hundred dollars?
taxation is $1.80 on the hundred
dollars.
$1.80 on one hundred dollars Do you discover in this example
35 times $1.80 would be the anything like the problems in
------ amount due on thirty-five which you find a certain per cent
900 hundred. of a given sum?
540
------
$63.00
Find .018 (1-8/10 per cent) of
Taxation is simply an application $3500. If you multiply the
of percentage. assessed value by the rate, will
you get the amount of the tax?
Why must you point off two
places?
Do you think you can find the
amount of the tax to be paid on
any house and lot in the city, if
I tell you how much the assessed
value of the house is?
Houses worth $4,250 Is the rate of taxation the same
$18,400 on all houses?
$1,260
$1,500 Teacher gives problems to the
$7,500 whole class and has each explained
$800 in turn on the board.
$12,000
For to-morrow you may solve
How much tax must each pay? the following problems (written on
the board):—
ASSESSED RATE OF
VALUE TAXATION
$4,200 $2.20
$16,750 $1.35
$425,000 $1.90
$1,000 $0.78
$56,000 $1.64
$400 $2.18
PLAN FOR A SERIES OF TOPICS IN HISTORY—SIXTH GRADE
A plan covering the work for several weeks given in the form of a
topical outline with suggestions as to methods of treatment. This
general plan would need to be supplemented by definite additional
preparation from day to day. This plan was prepared by Miss Lida Lee
Tall, supervisor of grammar grades, Baltimore County, Maryland.
_Aim_: To teach the colonization of Maryland and show its development
as a part of England’s colonial empire in the New World.
_Topical Outline (for the Teacher)_
I. Conditions in Europe at the time of the settlement of Maryland.
II. Conditions in the New World.
III. Life of George Calvert.
_a._ In England.
_b._ In the New World.
IV. The settlement of Maryland.
V. The development of Maryland.
_Textbooks_
Any good history of England, as Walker’s, Gardiner’s, or Andrews’.
Warren. Stories from English History.
Harding. Stories of the English.
Mowry. First Steps in the History of England.
Browne. Maryland: the History of a Palatinate.
Cheyney. European Background of American History.
Cheyney. A Short History of England.
Hall. Lords Baltimore and the Maryland Palatinate.
Gambrill. Leading Events of Maryland History (class text).
Coman and Kendall. History of England.
TOPIC I: CONDITIONS IN EUROPE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Monarch. King James. Much of the work can be developed
from assigned readings for
2. Incidents of the reign that will which the pupils must be held
help interpret the life of responsible. Where textbooks are
the times: not available the teacher, or a
pupil who reads well, may read to
{Religious the class. Of course, the
Controversies {Political assignment must be very definite.
{Commercial. For example:
{ vain _a._ As you read see if you can
{ arrogant tell from incidents in the
{ weak story the kind of man King
3. Character of { amiable James must have been.
the King { loved peace at You must argue for what
{ all costs you think about him.
{ ambitious
{ approved _b._ England was interested
{ learning particularly in Spain,
Holland, France, and the New
{ Sir Walter World. As you read find out
{ Raleigh why this was so.
{ Sir Robert
{ Cecil Half the class may be given the
4. Men of Eng- { George Calvert first assignment, the other half
land { Cromwell the second.
{ Guy Fawkes
{ Robert Carr When at the close of the study
{ Francis Bacon period, the teacher calls for the
work, it will be through her
sequence of questions that the
5. Reason for England’s interest subject matter will be organized
in other countries: according to the outline under
“Subject Matter.” If the
_a._ Trade. discussions are lively and
argumentative, the spirit of the
_b._ Spain’s success in seventeenth century will be felt
colonization in the New and the life of the time pictured.
World. Pictures of castles, London
streets, Ireland, the continent,
_c._ Spain’s usurpation of sea vessels, etc., will help to
Holland. make impressions more vivid.
Topic 6 makes a good summary
_d._ Increase in woolen and can be conducted in a way to
manufacture in England. make the work most attractive to
the pupils.
6. Topics of the day at the English
court:
_a._ Spanish king and his power.
_b._ Spanish resources.
_c._ New World.
_d._ Religion.
_e._ England’s { Stock companies.
trading { Proprietary
companies { privileges.
TOPIC II: CONDITIONS IN THE NEW WORLD
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Spanish America. Assign readings from available
2. French America. textbooks.
3. English and Dutch America. A further assignment which
correlates with geography is the
following: Draw a map of the
world; show Old World; show New
World; color the part of the New
World that belonged to Spain, to
France. Also draw a map of
Europe; show the Catholic
countries, show the Protestant
countries.
As the teacher develops the
lesson from the class, by means
of thought-provoking questions,
she can make an outline on the
board, the class helping; then
this outline may be copied by the
pupils in notebooks used for
history lessons only. These
outlines should serve as
summaries and also as reviews
as the lessons continue.
TOPIC III: LIFE OF GEORGE CALVERT
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. George Calvert in England at 1. Assigned reading for class:
this time. Gambrill, pp. 3-6.
_a. Early life:_ Teacher may fill in with details
from Browne’s _Maryland_, or
Born in Yorkshire (locate). Hall’s _Lords Baltimore and the
Palatinate_. Much of this, however,
Educated at Oxford (picture may be developed. By this time the
of school). class will have been put into a
mental attitude, both historically
Traveled on the Continent and geographically, to answer
(map showing university problems very intelligently.
towns).
_b. Later life:_
Important position in England.
Interests in the New Assignment for map work:
World: Trade: religion.
A map of England—locate
Yorkshire, Oxford, London.
2. George Calvert. In the New A map of Europe showing
World: George Calvert’s travels on the
Continent.
_a. Newfoundland._
Management. 2. (_a_) Draw a map of the New
{Climate World showing Newfoundland
Difficulties {Soil and other settlements of
encountered {The that time.
{ French
Disappointment and Why was Newfoundland bought?
departure.
_b. In Virginia_ (_b_) Why in Virginia and not
Reception unwelcome because Plymouth?
of religion, character
troubles, business 3. Textbook assignment.
relations.
Result.
3. His return to England.
New charter from Charles I.
Death of George Calvert.
TOPIC IV: THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Cecilius Calvert—To carry 1. Assigned reading: Gambrill,
out his father’s plan of pp. 6-8.
making a settlement in
the New World. As has been indicated, where no
problem development is possible,
_a_. Conditions of the new use textbooks or the teacher’s
charter. (Gambrill, pp. 6-8.) wealth of details to fill in the
connecting links. The texts should
be read just when the need for the
(_a_) Rights and duties of information arises: for instance,
the proprietor. when it is necessary to know the
conditions of the charter granted
(_b_) Rights and duties of to Cecilius Calvert, the books
the colonists. should be opened, the page found,
the page or paragraph read silently
Kind of man necessary to by the class, and the information
rule the colony wisely. then given.
_b._ Preparation for the trip: If the previous situations have
been vividly presented, then the
{Hostility of problem of the difficulties of
{the old London getting such a trip under way that
{Co. confronted Cecilius Calvert should
Difficulties {Objections to be eagerly discussed by the class.
{the charter There can be map work—England:
{by Claiborne. locate Gravesend, Isle of Wight;
also make the flag of England
under which the expedition sailed.
Getting {The _Ark_. (The flag of 1608 was the united
ready at {The _Dove_, flag of England and Scotland,
Gravesend {Nov., 1633. the flag of St. George and St.
Andrew combined. Lord Baltimore’s
{Men bound to own banner can be made
{service (probably and colored, though it was not
{Protestants), known to have been used until the
{300. battle of Severn; it was adopted
Men for the {Freemen (probably as the state flag in 1904.)
expedition {Catholics), 20;
{priests, 2. 2. The voyage can be treated as
{Members of the a recall of the knowledge
{Calvert family. gained from the
celebration of a holiday
like Maryland Day in
a previous grade, or an
Stop at the Isle of Wight. outline map may be
drawn and pupils may trace
Off for the voyage. the route if they can.
2. The voyage.
(More map work can follow to
_a._ The stop at the Barbadoes. indicate the stop at the Barbadoes,
the route up the Atlantic to Old
(It is necessary that Point Comfort, another stop, and
the class understand on to Blackiston Island.)
something of England’s
colonial territory _a._ Why was a stop at the
at the time: Barbadoes planned?
England colonized
Barbadoes in 1625, _b._ Why was a stop at Point
after it had been Comfort planned?
depopulated by the
Spanish. The island
had, therefore, been
under English control 3, 4, 5, 6. From the landing on
for eight years. Blackiston Island to the
It was possible that end of this topic the
the _Ark_ and the method followed should
_Dove_ carried mail be: developing questions,
for the Barbadoes. with the use of a
The colonists textbook which should
stopped for three be read either before the
weeks, in that time lesson or after the
repairing the vessels, development in order to
securing negro verify conclusions made;
slaves, and buying but this must be left to
supplies, among the judgment of the
which was seed corn teacher and her own
for the Maryland individual plan for dealing
settlement.) with the subject.
Assigned reading: Gambrill,
_b._ The stop at Point pp. 17-19.
Comfort.—Letters from
Cecilius Calvert and 7. For the life in the colonies,
the king were to be reading periods may be
delivered with great occupied with readings
respect, by the hands from any good book that
of a messenger who gives a graphic account
was conformable of the times, such as
to the Church of England, Alice Morse Earle’s
to Sir John _Home Life in the Colonies_.
Harvie, the governor If the sand table
of the Virginias. is used, the children
should consult these
3. The landing on Blackiston’s books. Another way to
Island, March 25, vary the procedure, if
1634. Why not a there are books enough,
suitable place for a is to assign readings and
permanent settlement? let the pupils bring to
the class accounts of the
4. The visit to the Pascataway details of the life in the
Indians. The sale colonies that seemed
of the Yaocomaco most interesting to them
Village. The advantages individually.
of such an
arrangement with In the Affairs of Interest
native Indians. it will be necessary for the
teacher to tell about the
5. The settlement on St. George’s conditions in England.
Creek, afterward known as Mowry, Guerber, or
St. Mary’s Creek. The Warren may have all
settlement was named the information necessary
Augusta Carolina. for this purpose,
but Cheyney’s _European_
6. The favorable conditions of _Background of American_
the settlement. _History_ should be
studied by the teacher.
_a._ Spring of the year. The European background
can be very
_b._ Houses of the Indians (log) simply drawn.
could be occupied
temporarily by the The Kent Island affair may
settlers while deciding be read before being discussed,
upon sites for building. but there is good
problem work there, and
the better plan would be
_c._ Aid of friendly Indians: to read the text last.
_Text:_ Gambrill, pp. 21-25,
1. Routes through the country. 99-111.
2. Protection. _References:_
Tudor Jenks, _When America_
3. Education—corn _was New_. Chap. IV, “Maryland
planting, harvesting, and the Dutch.” Chap. V, “New
clipping tobacco, World Living.” Chap. IX, “What
hunting game, fishing, the Colonists Knew and Thought.”
climate.
4. Land was already
cleared and cultivated.
_d._ Condition of plantation
grants:
Wm. H. Browne, _Maryland, The_
A man with five persons—2000 _History of a Palatinate_.
acres.
Alice Morse Earle, _Home Life in
A man with less than five—100 Colonial Days_.
acres for self;
100 acres for wife; The chapters on Virginia
100 acres for each plantation life will serve
child under sixteen to show the life in Maryland
years; 100 acres for colony also. The
each servant; 100 material is as follows:
acres for each laborer. Light, Kitchen, Fireside,
Serving Meals, Food of
_e._ Physical features of country Forest and Sea, Indian
for tobacco industry: Corn, Meat and Drink,
Flax Culture, Wool Culture
Tide water. and Spinning, Girls’
Occupation, Dress of the
Estuaries—wharves for Colonists, Jack-knife Industries,
each plantation. Travel, Transportation
and Taverns, Colonial
7. Life in the colony: Neighborliness,
Sunday, Oldtime Flower
_a._ Plantation—extent, Gardens.
sheds for drying tobacco,
slave quarters,
barns, rolling roads,
chapel, house.
_b._ Food—wild turkey,
venison, oysters,
hominy, corn pone.
_c._ Amusements—hunting,
dancing, singing by
slaves.
_d._ Travel—boats, horse.
_e._ Affairs of interest—Virginia
news.
Claiborne’s trading post in
the Chesapeake.
Relations with the Indians.
English politics (Charles I,
Cromwell, and Parliament.)
Military arrangements in
the settlement.
Currency for trading.
Need for an assembly to
settle matters in a legal way.
_f._ First Assembly—1635.
Matters taken up—Boundaries,
Military protection,
Claiborne trouble,
Framing laws to be sent
to Cecilius Calvert, the
proprietor in England.
_g._ Sending back these laws;
also letters, and products,
as well as the two
Indian arrows required
by the king.
An interesting account of
the arrival and departure
of the trading ships
can be given. They
came from November to
January, and the captains
were entertained
at the different plantations.
They brought
new settlers, indentured
servants, more slaves,
letters from England,
news of the world.
_h._ Trouble in the colony. _h._ Textbook assignment:
Gambrill, pp. 27-30, 34-47.
Claiborne on Kent Island.
Virginia’s hostility.
Troubles with the Indians—
Susquehannoughs and
Pocomokes.
Civil War in England.
TOPIC V: DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Assemblies— 1. Discuss the organization of
the several assemblies.
First Assembly in 1635.
Explain hundreds.
Second Assembly in 1638.
Why three years later Textbook: Gambrill, pp. 14-19;
than first? penal laws; prisons, 21-23;
judicial courts, 63-68.
What was its organization?
Freemen, governor, and
Council. Importance.
Third Assembly in 1659.
Representatives from the hundreds
making a House of Burgesses,
governor, and Council.
2. The Claiborne affair and its
settlement.
3. The effect of the Civil War 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Textbook
in England upon the colonies: Assignments: To be given by
teacher.
_a._ Colonies in general:
1. Increase or decrease in
population according
to the sentiments of
the colonists regarding
the questions in England.
2. Strife in colonies.
Councils called on to
decide for or against
king or Parliament.
3. Effect on commerce.
_b._ Upon Maryland in particular:
1. Increase in Catholic
population.
2. Caused strife and dissension.
3. Return of Leonard Calvert
to England for advice; Giles
Brent left governor _pro tem._
4. Invasion of Ingle.
5. Ingle and Claiborne.
6. Leonard Calvert’s return
from England.
7. Leonard Calvert’s refuge
in Virginia.
8. Return of Calvert and
restoration of the
colony under his government.
9. Death of Leonard Calvert,
June 9, 1647.
Thomas Greene made
governor _pro tem._ by
Leonard Calvert on
his deathbed.
4. The appointing of a new governor
by the proprietor and
the reorganization of
the government: Factor
in this—Civil War;
the Protestants in
power in England.
1. William Stone appointed
governor.
Effect—he chose
Protestants for his
Council, from those
brought into Maryland
from Virginia.
They made a settlement
on Severn River.
5. Trouble with the Puritans
resulting in the battle
of the Severn.
6. Reconcilement with Virginia.
7. Change in organization of
government—Upper House.
Lower House.
Due to growth of colony;
freemen; indentured
slaves who became freemen.
8. Removal of the capital to 8. For “Life in Annapolis” see
Annapolis. Churchill’s _Richard Carvel_:
Chapter on “Christmas at
Carvel Hall.” This should
be read to the class.
Note.—Here the development of the Maryland colony may be closed
because of the political difficulties which are entirely beyond the
experience of the sixth-year child. The French and Indian Wars might
be studied; also the opening up of western Maryland by the coming of
the Germans; but the main point has been accomplished. The children
have worked their way through the study by living in the conditions
of the colony and solving Leonard Calvert’s problems for him. To work
such a plan out in detail, to give just enough to whet the appetite
of the child and then make him think for himself, to have him live as
a colonist of the times, interested particularly in the details of
government that concern the colonists as a united body until finally
a “two house” legislature is demanded because of the growth in
population, area occupied, and interests represented, is a task for
the skill of the teacher, and is worth while.
LIDA LEE TALL,
Baltimore County Schools.
A LESSON IN NATURE STUDY INVOLVING A REAL PROBLEM
This lesson was planned and taught very successfully in the third
grade by Miss Roxana A. Steele of the Speyer School, Teachers
College, Columbia University.
_Teacher’s aims_:—
1. To teach pupils why and how to transplant.
2. To prepare for the transplanting of the salvia plants in our
school garden.
_Pupil’s aims_:
1. To be able to select good plants for transplanting.
2. To know how to transplant in order to plant salvia plants without
help.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
Box of young salvia plants for What are we planning to do with
observation and comparison with our salvia plants when they are a
cabbage and tomato plants. little larger?
(Salvia plants to be transplanted Why didn’t we plant the salvia
into garden later.) seeds in the garden?
_Advantages of transplanting_: What are some of the advantages
Plants get an early start. of transplanting? disadvantages?
Opportunity for good arrangement.
_Disadvantages_:
Extra work.
Extra care.
How many children feel that
they know just the best way to
transfer a plant? (Pupils’ Aim.)
Do you think we can afford to
practice with the salvia plants
when we have so few? Who can
suggest a good way to learn to
transplant?
Cabbage and tomato plants discarded Let us look at those cabbage
by Teachers College gardener. and tomato plants which I have
brought from Teachers College
I. Choice of Plants. and see what we think about them.
Very small plants: These are from the box from
Do not root well. which plants were selected by the
Are slow in getting started. gardener last week.
Large plants: I shall divide the plants into
Stalks too long and weak. small, large, and medium-sized.
Bend very easily. Tell which you think are best for
If used, need to be planted transplanting and why.
deep.
Roots have not had room Why would you not select the
enough in hotbed. very small ones? the very large
ones?
Medium-sized, strong plants:
Best for planting. When a gardener has not enough
Good roots. fine, straight plants, can you
Good stalk. think of a way of planting by
Green leaves. which he might use a crooked
plant?
Crooked plants.
Can be straightened by the sun.
Now that we know _what kind_ of
a plant to select, can you think
of something else we must learn
before we are ready to transplant
our salvia plants?
(Statement of Pupils’ Aim.)
II. Manner of Planting. Can you think of some things
Preparation of hole. which might help a very young
Water at roots. plant to get a good start?
Planted deep enough for Has any child ever seen a farmer
branching of first leaves to plant cabbage or tomato plants?
be but an inch or two above Tell us exactly how he did it
ground. and why.
Earth pressed firmly around
plant.
Practice planting of cabbage Several children who can select
and tomato plants in a box a good plant may plant them in
of earth. this box of earth. The class will
Trowel. decide whether they are good
Choice of plant. gardeners.
Water.
Account of what is being done. Each child will have an
opportunity to plant a salvia
Summary. plant in the garden. Can you tell
How to select a plant for which plants will be most liable
transplanting. to grow well?
How to plant it.
A LESSON PLAN IN GEOGRAPHY WHICH IS PREDOMINANTLY DEDUCTIVE
The study of maps forms the basis for inferences which are later
verified by referring to the text. This plan was written by Miss Mary
F. Kirchwey of the Horace Mann School, Teachers College, Columbia
University. This lesson was most successfully taught to sixth-grade
pupils in the Horace Mann School.
_Teacher’s aim_: To teach the geography of India and to give practice
in the application of principles of geography known by the pupils.
_Children’s aim_: Why do they have such terrible famines in India?
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
What is a famine?
Sufficient conversation to
impress upon the children the
suffering attendant upon famine.
Failure of crops—dense population What are some of the conditions
directly dependent upon agriculture that bring about a famine?
for a living—lack of sufficient
means of transportation.
We have abundant rainfall— Have you ever heard of famines
temperature favorable to crops— in our country? Why not?
great land area in proportion to
our population.
In Egypt—even as far back as In what part of the world have
in the days of Joseph (Bible)—also you heard of famines?
in recent years.
Nile’s overflow less abundant What were some of the causes
than usual—dense population. of famine in Egypt?
The Indus Valley in India is
one of the regions that is subject
to terrible famines. Let us see if
we can find the reason for it.
Location and approximate extent Point out the Indus on the map.
of the Indus Valley. Where does it rise? Where empty?
Draw your pointer along the
length of the valley—across it.
In what latitude is it?
Between latitudes 23° and 30° N. What temperature conditions
the temperature is warm. must prevail there? What part of
North America is in about the
Florida is in about the same same latitude? What do you know
latitude, but the extremes of about the temperature of Florida?
temperature are not so great owing Do you think that the Indus
to the water mass that surrounds it Valley has about the same
and tempers both heat and cold. temperature? Look carefully at
the location of both places—
Florida and the Indus Valley.
Can you see any reason for
thinking that temperature is not
the same? How are the summer and
winter temperatures of Florida
affected by the waters about it?
How are the summer and winter
temperatures of the Indus Valley
affected by the land mass about it?
Isothermal maps for January Find out whether your conclusions
and July verify the class are right.
conclusions.
JAN. JULY.
Indus Valley, 40°-60° 90°
Florida 50°-60° 80°
Is the temperature of Florida
favorable or unfavorable to crops?
Is a temperature somewhat
hotter in summer and colder in
winter unfavorable to crops?
Is there anything, then, in the
temperature of the Indus Valley
that explains their famines?
Rainfall. We must evidently look for
some other cause for the famines.
Upon what other climatic
conditions do crops depend?
Indus Valley is in the trade wind In what wind belt does the
belt. Indus Valley lie?
North of the equator the trades From what general direction
blow from the northeast. do the trades blow in the northern
hemisphere?
The air over the land becomes Let us see if there is ever any
heated and expands. The cooler exception to this rule. How does
air from the water blows in. the temperature of the land
compare with the temperature of
the water in summer? What effect
has this upon the air over the
land? What naturally follows?
From a general southerly direction. From what direction, then, do
the winds blow in India?
Arrows on map show that the
winds come from the southwest. Turn to the map of the winds
and find the exact direction.
These winds are called the
_Southwest Monsoons._
From the northeast in winter. Tell again from what direction
the winds of India come.
From the southwest in summer.
There can be practically no What, then, do you conclude as
rainfall in the Indus Valley in to the rainfall of the Indus Valley
winter because the winds blow over in winter? Is there apt to be more
the great land mass of eastern and or less rainfall in summer? Why?
south-central Asia before reaching Look at the map very carefully
the Indus and have lost their and see if it is likely that even
moisture. the summer winds bring much
rainfall. Is the rainfall equally
There is more rainfall in summer light all through the valley? Where
because the winds from the southwest is it apt to be heaviest? Why?
come directly from the
ocean. The valley lies so low,
however, that the winds sweep
over the southern part of it without
having much of their moisture
condensed. There is little
condensation until they near the
highlands on the north.
Refer to rainfall maps which Prove that your conclusions
show well-watered regions in the are correct.
upper valley—desert in the lower.
Generally favorable in the upper Would you then say that the
valley—unfavorable in the lower. rainfall is favorable or
unfavorable for agriculture?
Does this mean, necessarily,
that agriculture cannot be carried
on in the lower valley?
The Nile Valley—Egypt. What other river valley have
you studied that is noted for its
agriculture in spite of a very
light rainfall?
The annual overflow of the What makes agriculture possible
river. in the Nile Valley?
The heavy precipitation in the To what is the overflow of the
mountainous districts that feed its Nile due?
tributaries.
Indus has many tributaries that Is there anything in the location
rise in the Himalayas. In the of the Indus that makes it
summer, when the snows on the likely that it, too, overflows?
mountains melt, these tributaries
carry to the main stream such a
quantity of water that an inundation
results.
Overflow is less and a What is the result if the
correspondingly smaller area rainfall is less abundant than
productive. usual?
Character of the soil. Upon what beside temperature
and rainfall does the
productiveness of a region depend?
River valleys in general have a Can you come to any conclusion
rich soil. A river that overflows in regard to the soil of the Indus
leaves a deposit of rich mud that Valley?
makes its banks very fertile.
Favorable—warm climate, rich State again the conditions in
soil, overflow of the river. the valley that are favorable to
agriculture. Those that are
Unfavorable—scanty rainfall. unfavorable.
Crops grow so rapidly and easily What has been the effect of
when rains do not fail, that vast these physical conditions upon
numbers of the people engage in the occupations of the people?
farming. It is almost purely an
agricultural region.
It has attracted vast numbers of What has been their effect upon
people. the density of population?
Principal products—millet, What crops would you expect
rice, cotton, sugar cane, wheat, to find in the Indus Valley?
tea. Consult your textbooks and see
what else is grown there.
Practically all needed for home Do you think that much is
consumption. exported? Why, then, do they have
such terrible famines in India?
More railroads might be built Can you suggest anything that
in order that food products could might be done to lessen the danger
be carried readily from one section of famine?
to another.
Better methods of irrigation Consult your textbooks and see
might be employed. what steps have already been taken
in this direction.
More variety of occupation
might be introduced, so that fewer
people would be directly dependent
upon agriculture for a living.
A LESSON FOR APPRECIATION
A lesson for appreciation which includes creative and interpretative
work. The interpretation of the song in the dance, or dramatic game.
This lesson was planned and taught to a group of second-grade
children by Miss Eleanor Wright of the Speyer School, Teachers
College, Columbia University.
The lesson was based upon the little German folk song which follows:—
[Music:
Das Steckenpferd
1. Hopp, hopp, hopp! Pferd-chen, lauf’ Ga-lopp,
2. Tipp, tipp, tapp! Wirf mich ja nicht ab!
ü-ber Stock, und ü-ber Stei-ne,
sonst be-kommst du Peit-schen hie-be!
a-ber brich mir nicht die Bei-ne!
Pferd-chen, thu’ mir’s ja zu lie-be;
im-mer im Ga-lopp! hopp, hopp, hopp, hopp, hopp!
wirf mich ja nicht ab! tipp-ti, tapp-ti, tapp! ]
_Teacher’s aims_:—
1. To have the children make a dance which will be suitable to the
music of _Das Steckenpferd_.
2. To help the children to appreciate this form of
self-expression,—expression by means of the whole body.
_Pupils’ aim_:—
To make a little “folk dance” which they will present at the May
Festival for the entertainment of parents and friends.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
I. _A._ Getting the problem before I. _A._ 1. Do you remember,
the children. children, that I promised
you a great surprise this
1. The surprise. morning? Well, this is it.
2. Reason for doing this work. 2. One day, not long ago,
Miss S., Miss T., and I
were talking over our
program for the May
Festival, and we decided
that the little people did
not have enough to do.
The first-grade children
are to play a little story,
and our two grades, you
know, are to sing _The
Little Princess_—so we
thought that the second
grade ought to have
a little part of its own.
Now what do you think
it is to be? I am going
to tell you.
3. Nature of the problem. 3. We are going to make
our own little dance to
the music of _Das Pferdchen_.
Don’t you think
that will be very interesting?
_B._ 1. Set the standard for 1. When we made the
judging the value tunes for our songs last
of the work done: winter, what did the
that is, to have music always have to tell?
the dance tell the
same story as the music. Just so, as we make
our dance to-day, it must
tell the same story as the
folk song.
2. Consider some other 2. Let us sing one of our
familiar melodies, little songs that we have
and show, in physical known for a long time,
expression, and see if we can tell,
what they tell. in a dance, how that
makes us feel.
_a. Soldier Song._ Different children
(Bentley Song Primer.) may here give different,
individual interpretations.
Encourage much
freedom.
_b. Bye-Low._ I am thinking of another
(Bentley Song Primer.) tune that is quite
different from this one.
You may sing it with
me if you like.
Virginia may show us
how that song makes
her feel: what she wishes
to do when she hears it.
_c. Old Black Joe._ (Handle these two
songs in a manner similar
_d. Robin Hood and Little_ to that used for the
_John._ other two.)
_C._ Choose those pupils to I am going to choose
interpret a song to whom James to dance this, for
it seems to appeal most. he knows so much about
soldiers.
1. _Soldier Song_—boys.
2. _Bye-Low_—girls. Whom do you think
3. _Robin Hood_—partners. could best show us how
_Bye-Low_ “goes”? Yes,
I believe the girls can.
Henry may choose a
little boy and girl to
show us how this tune
(_Robin Hood_) seems to go.
II. _A._ _Das Pferdchen._ II. _A._ Our little song,
_Das Pferdchen_, is very
different from all these.
Let us sing it together,
to “_la_.”
1. Kind of song—gay. 1. What kind of song
do you think it is?
How does it make you feel?
2. Things a little horse 2. This song is about
would do. a little horse. Now what
can a little horse do?
_a._ Gallop.
_b._ Jump.
_c._ Trot.
_d._ Paw the earth.
_e._ Stamp.
_f._ Step very high.
_g._ Carry his head
proudly.
_h._ Prance.
3. Find any or all of these 3. Now we shall sing our
movements in the song. song again, and this
time you must listen
very carefully so that
you can tell what _this_
little horse does.
4. Analysis of stanzas. 4. Is this stanza alike
First stanza—3 parts. throughout, or are there
different parts to it?
_a._ Jumping. You may raise your
hands when we come to
_b._ Galloping. the end of each part.
Name each part.
_c._ Jumping lightly.
5. Interpretation of each 5. You may show us how
part by several that first part makes you
different children. feel, Leland.
Irving may show us
his way of doing it.
6. Criticism.
_a._ Suggestions and You have seen these
constructive criticism two boys work; have you
of work done. any suggestion to give?
_b._ Judgment of the Which piece of work do you
class as to the relative consider more appropriate?
values of work. Why?
_c._ Selection made for Are you willing to accept
permanent dance. this for your finished
dance?
7. _a._ Analysis of second Now we have gotten the
stanza—3 movements. movements for our first
stanza, we shall see if
the second stanza is very
like it.
How many movements
did you hear in it?
_b._ Contrast the general _b._ Is the general spirit
spirit of first and of the second stanza just like
second stanzas. that of the first? Compare?
8. Encourage timid pupils Will you not show us,
to put forth effort. Josephine, how that little
Have a very weak horse seems to go, in
one work with one this second stanza.
who is strong in
this line. Now William is a very
strong horse, so we shall
put you with him and
make a fine “team.”
III. _A._ 1. Review the whole dance. III. _A._ 1. Since we have
gotten all our dance, in parts,
maybe you would like to
see some one dance it all
the way through.
Who will be strong
enough to do this without
any help?
We liked that very much.
2. Give the incentive to 2. But I wonder if you
work upon this feel ready to give this at
until it is a very the May Festival, just
finished product. as it is?
Why not?
What will be necessary,
then, before we can
feel satisfied with it?
3. Provide for a way of 3. Now we know how our
getting on and off dance is to go after we
the floor, when the have gotten out on the
dance is given. floor, but we have not
said how we shall get to
and from our places.
Don’t you think this
is very important?
4. Assignment. 4. I am going to ask you
to be ready to answer
this question on Monday:
What will be the most
suitable and pleasing
way in which to get before
our audience; and also,
back to our places after
our dance has been given.
A LESSON IN ARITHMETIC BASED ON A REAL PROBLEM WHICH WAS INTERESTING
TO CHILDREN
Such a lesson gives little opportunity for practice in arithmetical
computation, but gives the very best possible motive for the drill
work which is to follow. This lesson was planned and taught in
the third grade of the Speyer School, Teachers College, Columbia
University, by Miss Roxana A. Steele.
_Teacher’s aims:_ To have children appreciate the practical value of
itemized bills.
To make children conscious of their need for the multiplication table
of six.
_Pupil’s aim:_ To find the cost of the basket of food to be given to
a poor family on Thanksgiving Day.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
Thanksgiving baskets are sent How many children know about
annually to the needy families of the Thanksgiving baskets which
the neighborhood. are sent from the Speyer School?
Voluntary offerings of money, You may tell the rest of the
groceries, help in preparing and class how this work is planned
distributing. for.
An offer to pay for a Thanksgiving Miss S. was telling me yesterday
basket if the value were that a gentleman offered to pay
estimated. for one of the baskets, but she
did not know the value of one. She
said that she knew the different
articles which are put into the
basket, but did not know the value
of each. I thought Grade III could
find the cost for her. Would you
like to try to do it?
(Pupils’ Aim.)
List of things for the Thanksgiving Miss S. gave me a list of the
basket: things which are to go into the
basket.
1 squash.
2 cans of vegetables. As I put the list on the board
3 qt. of potatoes. try to think of the price of each
2 qt. of apples. article.
6 lb. of beef.
1 qt. of cranberries. We will choose the average price
1 lb. of sugar. because our goods will be average
1 lb. of nuts. goods.
Market list prices:
Small squash 12¢
Large squash 18¢
Canned vegetables 10¢
Potatoes per qt. 8¢
Apples per qt. 12¢
Cranberries per qt. 12¢
Sugar per lb. 6¢
Nuts mixed per lb. 18¢
Small squash 12¢ How many are ready to tell the
Large squash 18¢ price of squash? How can you
------- find the medium price? You may
2 ) 30¢ record the squash. Who can fill
------- in the second line and explain
Medium squash 15¢ it? Class be ready to criticize.
6 lb. of beef at 16¢ = $.96 Same method with the other
items except item about meat.
How can we find the cost of 6
lb. of beef at 16¢ a pound?
$.16 Teacher do the multiplying,
.16 showing the practical value of
.16 $.16 a lb. the knowledge of the 6 table.
.16 × 6 Which is the better way and why?
.16 ----
.16 $.96 for 6 lb. Is there any question before
---- finding the value of the basket
$.96 as a whole?
_Suggestions._ Who can give helpful suggestions
to make sure that the answer is
Numbers in straight columns. correct?
Add up and down.
Give proper name to answer.
Board addition. Checking of results at board by
pupil whose work is incorrect.
Papers for Miss S. and the These three children may choose
gentleman. the two best papers and tell why
they select them.
Neat.
Correct.
Good writing.
Cost of Thanksgiving basket, What have we found out in
$2.15. to-day’s lesson?
Need of 6 table. What do you think we ought
to do in the arithmetic lesson
to-morrow?
(Problem to carry over.)
Aim for next lesson to be
expressed by pupils.
We cannot always follow in every detail the plan which we make for a
lesson. It is interesting in this connection to read Miss Steele’s
accurate account of what actually happened when the lesson, as
planned above, was taught. The description which follows appeared in
the _Atlantic Educational Journal_ for November, 1910.
A PRACTICAL LESSON IN ARITHMETIC
BY ROXANA A. STEELE, SPEYER SCHOOL, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY
_Pupil’s aim:_ To find the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner.
_Teacher’s aim:_ To make children conscious of their needs in
arithmetic.
Last fall Grade Three had been studying the wholesale market in
industrial work. The wholesale market was compared with the retail
market, prices contrasted, etc., and much language and arithmetic
work was based upon this work.
A few days before Thanksgiving a gentleman stepped into the school
office and offered to pay for one of the Thanksgiving baskets which
the school sends out to poor families in the neighborhood. No one
seemed to know the exact value of one of the baskets, so Grade
Three was asked to make the estimate.
This could have been done by an adult in a few minutes, but it
would have been done no more accurately than the children were able
to do it after having made a careful study of market lists. The
exercise also furnished an excellent child’s aim for the arithmetic
lesson. The class felt its responsibility and was anxious to do
good work.
The list of things generally put into one of the baskets was given
to the class. The children decided upon the _average_ price of
each item. This called for an appreciation of the word _average_.
The work was done orally with class discussion. For instance, when
the price of a squash was asked, one child said “twelve cents,”
another, “eighteen cents,” etc. The class finally agreed that a
medium-sized squash would cost about fifteen cents.
Small squash 12¢
Large squash 18¢
----
2 ) 30¢
----
15¢
The child who recorded the price of the squash on the board wrote
fifteen cents—$.15. Before the lesson was over, several children
had a little trouble in writing cents without dimes ($.06), keeping
the money columns straight, using the dollar mark and decimal
point, etc. With suggestions from other members of the class, the
list was complete.
In the item “6 lb. of beef @ 16¢” the class found that it was
necessary to multiply by six. As they had never had the six table,
I did not expect them to be able to do it, but it chanced that one
boy knew his six table and did the work readily.
Marion Thalman. Nov. 23, 1909.
The Cost of a Thanksgiving Dinner
1 squash $.15
2 cans of vegetables @ 10¢ .20
3 qt. of potatoes @ 8¢ .24
6 lb. of beef @ 16¢ .96
2 qt. of apples @ 12¢ .24
1 qt. cranberries .12
1 lb. sugar .06
1 lb. nuts .18
----
$2.15
When the price of each item had been decided upon, the children
found the total cost at their seats, and their results were
compared.
The lesson closed with the question, “What did you find out in
to-day’s lesson?” The answers were: “The cost of a Thanksgiving
basket”; “That Russell is the only child who knows his six table”;
“That we need to write dollars and cents so that we won’t make
mistakes.”
At the beginning of the arithmetic lesson the following day, when
the class was asked, “What do we need to do to-day?” there was a
division of opinion as to whether the drill on dollars and cents
or learning of the six table should come first. The decision was
in favor of the drill on writing money, and the six table was
presented later in the same period.
The result of the lesson on the cost of the dinner was sent to the
principal. The class received a note of thanks for the help which
it had rendered. The children were proud of their accomplishment
and anxious to work out more real problems.
A LESSON FOR APPRECIATION
_Teacher’s aim:_ To help children to enjoy Stevenson’s _Bed in
Summer_.
Did any child in the room ever have to go to bed before it was
dark? Did you ever get up in the morning before daylight? Stevenson
remembered how he used to feel when he had to go to bed before dark,
and wrote a story about it. Would you like to hear the story?
_Children’s aim:_ To enjoy Stevenson’s story about going to bed
before dark.
SUBJECT MATTER METHOD OF PROCEDURE
BED IN SUMMER I want you to tell me all you
can about the place where
“In winter I get up at night Stevenson lived, when I am through
And dress by yellow candle light; reading the story.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day. Read the poem.
“I have to go to bed and see Who will describe the place
The birds still hopping on the tree, where he lived?
And hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street. Were there other children who
lived near by?
“And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue, Were there any trees near the
And I should like so much to play, house?
To have to go to bed by day?”
I’ll read the poem again and you
will see how many reasons
Stevenson had for not wanting
to go to bed by day.
Read the poem again twice.
Why does he tell you that he has
to get up at night in the winter?
When do the birds go to bed?
Do the grown-up people go to
bed when children do?
How was he able to see the birds
in the trees? Do you think he
ever got out of bed?
Do you think all the children in
the street had to go to bed as
early as Stevenson? Let me read
the last stanza and see whether
you can tell.
Recall the Mother Goose Rhyme:
“Girls and boys come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright
as day;
Leave your supper and leave
your sleep,
And come with your playfellows
into the street.”
How did Stevenson know the other
children were in the street?
Read the last stanza.
I’ll read the whole story again,
and then ask some one to tell me
Stevenson’s story about going to
bed in summer.
Read the poem, calling attention
to the different scenes: (1) The
boy that gets up by night and
dresses by yellow candle-light.
(2) In summer quite the other way,
he has to go to bed by day—he
has to go to bed and see the birds
still hopping on the tree and hear
the grown-up people’s feet still
going past him in the street. (3)
The little boy lying in bed who
feels very much abused.
And does it not seem hard to you,
etc.? Let us see all of the
pictures again. Read in same way
again. Who will tell the story?
I am going to write it on the
board, so that we can tell the
story as Stevenson did.
After the treatment indicated above, memorization will be very easily
accomplished. The preliminary study for appreciation will make the
poem mean more to the children than it could have meant had the
teacher simply read it to the children two or three times and then
asked them to memorize it.
In a study lesson, the plans will vary from a single exercise in
finding the principal thought in a paragraph to a development
lesson, not dissimilar as to plan to other lessons of the same type.
The recitation lesson may be a development lesson, inductive or
deductive, or a drill lesson. The plans would therefore be similar to
those given above.
In conclusion, it may be suggested that any teacher who feels that
it is impossible to plan all of her work will gain greatly if she
will plan carefully for a single subject. As facility is gained in
plan making, it will be possible to write plans for two or three or
for more subjects. A topic plan should result in definiteness in the
work of both teacher and pupils. Good plans give the teacher more
freedom in conducting her work, and enable her to tell definitely the
progress which the class has made. Plans are necessary in teaching.
No one has a right to pretend to teach without previous thought
concerning the subject to be taught, and the method to be employed in
giving children command of this material.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
W. W. Charters, _Methods of Teaching_, Chapter XIX.
C. A. and F. M. McMurry, _The Method of the Recitation_, Chapter
XIV.
_Exercises._
The plans which follow were offered to teachers as suggestions
rather than as outlines of subject matter or of procedure to be
followed absolutely. Reorganize these plans so as to show subject
matter and method separately. Add to the subject matter or method
wherever necessary. If you think best, change the organization of
material, the statement of aim, the references to books, and the
like. Do not change the topic. As a result of your work you should
be ready to present a plan for which you are willing to stand.
LITERATURE—THIRD GRADE
ATALANTA’S RACE
NOTE.—The story of Atalanta’s Race furnishes material for several
lessons. The following outline embraces the whole set of lessons.
Aim:—
To teach the story of Atalanta’s Race.
I. Division into parts.
1. Atalanta.
2. Hippomenes.
3. The Race.
II. Outlining of each part.
1. Atalanta.
_a._ Her home.
_b._ Swiftness of foot.
_c._ Beauty and grace. Desire of youths to win her.
_d._ Her determination.
2. Hippomenes.
_a._ Who he was.
_b._ His decision.
_c._ His resort to strategy.
3. The Race.
_a._ Atalanta’s self-confidence.
_b._ The first apple; the result.
_c._ The second apple; the result.
_d._ The third apple; the result.
Preparation:—
Tell me of a game in which one child outruns another.
Tell me of a story in which two animals played a game like this
race of Atalanta. (Hare and Tortoise.)
Let us play a game in which two boys run a race.
Let us play the Hare and the Tortoise.
Which is the faster runner, the hare or the tortoise?
How, then, did the tortoise win the race?
Presentation:—
Let the teacher tell the story of the Hare and the Tortoise.
Find in the Atalanta story the person who takes the place of the
hare, and the one who takes the place of the tortoise.
By showing the picture in the book, have the children solve the
problem.
Did Atalanta expect to win the race? Why not?
How did this make her act?
Did the hare expect to lose the race? Why not?
The teacher may tell the story of the girl going to market with a
basket of eggs on her head. She was so sure of getting sale for
her eggs that she set to dreaming of the pretty things she would
buy with the money she was to get for the eggs. She would buy, she
thought, a bright new dress and a new hat; and then how mean and
shabby she could make the other girls look; and how she could walk
past them all, tossing her head in pride! Forgetting that she was
still only on her way to market, she then gave her head a proud
little toss; and—what do you think happened?
Let the children give the story of the Hare and the Tortoise in
their own words.
What is likely to happen to any one of us who is too sure of
winning?
What will we say, then, of any one who is too sure of anything?
It has been said, “Count not your chickens before they are
hatched.” What does this mean?
ARITHMETIC—FIFTH GRADE
Aim:—
To teach division of decimals.
The following is assumed as class knowledge upon which the process
should be based.
1. Ability to read and write decimals.
2. Vivid knowledge of the relations of one hundred to ten, ten to
one unit, one unit to one tenth, one tenth to one hundredth, etc.
3. Knowledge of the process of division of whole numbers.
4. The principle: multiplying or dividing both dividend and
divisor by the same number does not change the quotient.
Preparation:—
1. Division by an integer.
_a._ Find the value of 1 acre of land if 15 acres cost $77115.
$ 5141
-------
15 ) $ 77115
75
---
21
15
---
61
60
---
15
15
_b._ Find the value of 1 acre of land if 15 acres cost $771.15.
$51.41
-------
15 ) $771.15
75
---
21
15
----
6.1
6.0
----
.15
.15
Compare the steps in (_b_) with the corresponding steps in (_a_). The
pupil will experience no difficulty in telling the unit that each
quotient figure represents, for he knows that dividing any number
into parts does not change its unit.
Presentation:—
_a._ 12 is contained in 36 how many times?
12 ) 36
--
3
_b._ Multiply both dividend and divisor in (_a_) by 2.
24 is contained in 72 how many times?
24 ) 72
--
3
_c._ Multiply both dividend and divisor in (_a_) by 10.
120 is contained in 360 how many times?
120 ) 360
---
3
Compare the quotients. Recall the principle: Multiplying both
dividend and divisor by the same number does not change the quotient.
_d._ .2 is contained in 2.4 how many times?
Multiplying both numbers by 10, to what is the divisor
changed? To a whole number.
2 is contained in 24 how many times?
2 ) 24
--
12
_e._ .22 is contained in 2.42 how many times?
Change .22 to a whole number, by multiplying both the
numbers by 100.
22 is contained in 242 how many times?
11
---
22 ) 242
22
---
22
22
_f._ .005 is contained in .125 how many times?
By what shall both numbers be multiplied so that .005 may
become the whole number 5?
5 is contained in 125 how many times?
5 ) 125
---
25
_g._ 2.88 is contained in 3.456 how many times?
By what shall both numbers be multiplied so that 2.88
may become the whole number 288?
288 is contained in 345.6 how many times?
1.2
-----
288 ) 345.6
288
----
57.6
57.6
Many such examples will enable the pupils to formulate the
generalization: “To divide a decimal by a decimal, multiply the
dividend and divisor by the power of ten that will change the divisor
to an integer, then divide as in simple division.”
NATURE STUDY—FIFTH GRADE
DETAILED PLAN FOR A SERIES OF LESSONS
Topic:—
The horse.
Materials:—
The horse seen on the street; drinking fountains; horsemanship
observed; harness; shoes; protection; different kinds of vehicles;
printed matter issued by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals and by the Department of Agriculture.
Aim:—
To train the children to meet sympathetically and intelligently
their responsibilities to the horse.
Preparation:—
Years of interest in horses; directed observation of other periods.
Presentation:—
1. Stories of horses known to the children—those owned by their
parents, fire horses, horses of the mounted police, showing their
faithfulness, intelligence, strength, training, treatment.
In the city of Baltimore the old fire horse is practically
pensioned when unfit for further service. This is one way in which
right-minded people acknowledge their obligations to horses, by
providing for their comfort in their old age.
Have stories like the _Pacing Mustang_ read to the class; allow the
children to take the storybooks home, and encourage them to bring
to the class other stories about horses. Encourage the children
to read brief histories of the great breeds of horses—the Norman
horses, Clydesdales, etc.—horses that hold the world’s records for
speed.
2. Observations to identify horses that show normal blood, and
discover their fitness of blood and temperament for the work they
are doing.
Are they strong enough for the work they are required to do?
Are they disturbed by passing street cars? If so, how do they show
it?
What is the effect upon them of the confusion of other city noises?
Notice that while some horses are evidently distressed by the
confusion of city life, others love it and become homesick when
sold for use in the country.
Blanketing:—
Call attention to the manner in which large firms so carefully
blanket their horses.
Why should a horse be blanketed when he is standing?
Shoeing:—
Notice the cause of slipping, stumbling, and falling on icy or
wet pavements, and therefore the necessity for rough shoes, rubber
shoes, etc.
If possible, bring into the class a specimen of a patent horseshoe;
the shoe and shield of a cart horse.
Harness:—
Is the horse easy in harness?
What sort of a checkrein would you use? Why?
Why is the back pad used with the two-wheel cart?
What are the effects of an ill-fitting harness?
What do you think of the law which in some places punishes a man
whose horses show galls?
Horsemanship:—
Have the children report critical situations which have happened
within their observation and how they were met by drivers; their
observation of the affection shown by a horse toward his master.
General Condition of Horses:—
Discuss the effect of grooming upon the horse’s coat.
Why should the horse be fed regularly?
Why should ground food be given to an old horse whose teeth are
poor?
Discuss the necessity of allowing the horse freedom in traveling.
Temporary lameness is frequently due to a stone in the foot; how
may it be removed?
What should be done for a horse that is seriously lame?
3. The economic value of such knowledge as the foregoing:—
Horses are stiffened by standing unblanketed in the wind or cold.
Foundering is caused by watering a horse when he is over-heated.
A properly fitted harness and a comfortable checkrein, if any is
used, save the strength of the horse.
The selection of a horse whose strength and temperament fit him for
his work adds to his value and usefulness.
Skillful drivers, especially those who like their teams, can secure
a great amount of work from them and yet save much of their energy.
It frequently happens that after a day’s work one man will bring in
a team comparatively fresh, while under a different driver the same
team will be worried into exhaustion.
4. Knowledge of the work of the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals:—
The work of this society demands judgment based on a fuller
knowledge of conditions and causes than most children of their ages
possess. Its work, therefore, is not intended for children, but
they should know what help they may give the society, and be taught
to use it.
5. Knowledge of the city law for protecting horses.
Seat Work:—
Sketches of horses’ hoofs showing how a stone may cause lameness.
Sketches of different kinds of shoes.
Sketches of different kinds of checkreins: the overdraw check and
its effect; side check and its effect.
Different head and ear postures of horses indicative of their
conditions and feelings.
Getting records of observations into shape to present to class.
Have each member of the class imagine himself to be his favorite
horse,—a fire horse; mounted policeman’s horse; a United Railway
repair wagon horse; a hospital ambulance horse; an express-wagon
horse; a carriage horse; a broken-down carriage horse, etc.,—and
write a story of his part in a fire, a serious accident, or some
other situation.
Give related language work.
GEOGRAPHY—FIFTH GRADE
DETAILED PLAN FOR A SERIES OF LESSONS
Topic:—
Pittsburg as a trade center.
Materials:—
Pictures, maps, sand table, specimens of iron ore, coal, coke,
limestone, reference books, railroad folders.
Aim:—
To show how natural advantages have determined the location
and growth of Pittsburg; to show the direction and extent of
manufacturing and commerce in Pittsburg.
Preparation:—
1. Study of coal mine, iron mine, blast furnace.
2. Relation of iron mines to coal mines.
3. Location of Pittsburg—
(_a_) in coal region.
(_b_) at junction of rivers which form the Ohio River.
Presentation:—
(Following closely McMurry’s _Special Method in Geography_.)
1. Advantages of Pittsburg for iron and steel manufacturing.
Illustrate with sand map.
(_a_) Coal region—rivers bring coal to Pittsburg.
(_b_) Iron region near.
Much iron ore brought from Lake Superior region via Great Lakes,
by railroad from Lake Erie.
In manufacture of steel more coal is used than iron ore; it pays
to bring iron ore to coal.
(_c_) Manufactured products—steel rails, armor plate, pig iron.
(_d_) Rank of Pittsburg in regard to manufacture of iron and
steel. Pittsburg makes 10 per cent of all iron and steel goods
made in the United States.
2. Neighboring manufacturing towns.
(_a_) Names—Allegheny, Carnegie, Homestead, Braddock, etc.
(_b_) How do their manufactures compare with those of Pittsburg
in kind? in quantity? in value?
3. Coke ovens.
Uses of coke.
Kind of coal used; where obtained.
Amount of it put into each oven.
Length of burning.
By-products.
Drawing out and cooling.
Extent of ovens.
Effect on landscape.
4. Blast furnaces.
5. Other manufactures.
(_a_) Oil refining.
Where oil comes from.
How it is pumped, carried, stored.
Value of pipe lines.
How is oil brought to Baltimore?
Effect of oil tanks on landscape.
Processes of refining.
Dangers.
Uses.
By-products.
(_b_) Glass making.
Kinds of glass made.
Materials used.
Where found.
6. Transportation by water. Illustrate with sand map.
(_a_) Need for means of transportation: of raw material to
Pittsburg; of manufactured products from Pittsburg.
(_b_) Rivers.
The Allegheny and Monongahela bring raw materials to Pittsburg.
The Ohio carries raw materials and manufactured products away
from Pittsburg.
No tracks or roadbed to be laid for river,—river always ready;
Ohio deep enough for large barges; swiftness of current due to
nature of slopes.
Coal and iron carried by river as far as New Orleans.
7. Railroad center.
(_a_) Sections of country not reached by waterways. How products
are transported to those parts?
(_b_) Need of railroads for people who travel to and from
Pittsburg.
(_c_) Chief directions in which railroads lead from Pittsburg.
What roads lead from Baltimore to Pittsburg? From New York to
Pittsburg?
(_d_) What supplies are brought by railroad besides those needed
in manufacturing?
8. Aspects of the city of Pittsburg:—
Wealth—opportunities for getting, for spending.
Education—what special class of schools likely to develop.
Smoke and dirt—due to nature of manufactures.
Seat Work:—
Illustrative drawings.
Maps showing coal and iron regions, course of rivers.
Related language work.
Reference reading.
CHAPTER XVII
THE TEACHER IN RELATION TO SUPERVISION
Teachers are generally responsible in some measure to one or more
supervisory officers. Those who control the schools believe that
better work will be done because of the supervision which is
provided. It may not be out of place, therefore, in a book devoted to
the problems of the teacher to consider the relation to supervision
and to those who supervise her work.
The fundamental purpose of supervision, whether of schools or of
other activities, is increased efficiency of all who participate
in the work. Supervisors are worthy of the name only when they
do their best to increase the efficiency of every teacher with
whom they come in contact. Happily, this attitude of helpfulness
characterizes most of those who are known as principals, primary
or grammar-grade supervisors, subject supervisors, assistant and
associate superintendents, and superintendents of schools. It may be
that because of the great number of teachers employed in a system of
schools some of these officers can have little direct relationship
with individual teachers; but in the organization of the schools,
by means of regulations, courses of study and the like, or through
those who come directly in contact with teachers, these men and women
seek to help each teacher to do better work. It is important that all
teachers realize clearly the significance of the supervisor’s work,
and that she avail herself of the help and coöperation which is thus
provided.
One of the functions of the supervisor is to criticize the work which
is being done by individual teachers. It is especially difficult
for some teachers to appreciate the purpose of such criticism, or
to avail themselves of the aid which is offered in this form. Let
us examine the different kinds of criticism which one may expect
to receive, and try to discover how to get the most out of this
instrument of supervision.
There are supervisors whose criticism is occasionally purely
negative. They come into the room, observe some of the work, and
remark, either at the time or later, that the work was good, or that
it was poor. It does not help one much, except in a feeling of good
will toward the supervisor, when told that work is well done; nor
is it very significant for future work that one’s efforts have been
condemned. When the supervisor indulges in this type of criticism,
the teacher has a right to ask him for the reasons which lead him to
praise or to condemn. If excellent work is to be repeated, then the
elements which have made for success should be pointed out. One may
try to repeat good work and fail miserably because the elements in
the excellent work which made for success have been overlooked in the
second effort. Likewise failure may occur, even though it has been
stamped as poor work, because the teacher fails to see the essential
weakness of her effort.
Most supervisors are able to find strength of some sort in the work
of every teacher. It may be worth while for the teacher at times
to ask for a discussion of the strong points in her work. This
constructive appreciative criticism may help her to receive with
open mind the destructive criticism which may be needed to bring
about the elimination of weakness. Any teacher should welcome the
criticism which frankly points out the deficiencies of her work and
suggests the remedies which should be applied. We all want to do our
best work. Unfortunately we cannot always see our teaching in true
perspective. The supervisor who comes in from the outside, as it
were, with a wide range of experience in teaching and in observing
teachers can often give the suggestion which will make work, not only
more efficient, but also more pleasant.
It is a good rule for both supervisor and teacher to wait until the
end of the day or even for two or three days after the visit before
the criticism is given. Snap judgments are apt to be wrong on both
sides. The supervisor needs time to analyze the situation carefully
in order to pick out the elements in the situation which are most
significant and to overlook that which is trivial. The teacher will
often be able to analyze her own work and to point out its defects,
if time is given her to think it over. If the teacher can discover
her own inefficiency, and if she is willing to talk frankly with
the supervisor concerning these difficulties, the work of criticism
will give satisfaction to both. A teacher has a right to ask for
an appointment with a supervisor for the discussion of her work.
Supervisors are, as a rule, only too willing to grant such a request.
Criticism has not fulfilled its mission, if it stops with discovering
to the teacher her strength and her weakness together with the
analysis of the situation which enables her to repeat successes and
avoid failures. A wide-awake teacher will be looking and asking for
suggestions concerning new kinds of work. Suggestive criticism opens
up the way for growth by giving the teacher the encouragement and
help which are needed to undertake the new or unusual type of work.
Many of the best teachers might have remained in the less efficient
group, had it not been for the help and inspiration which was
imparted by a wise supervisor.
School exhibits are another means sometimes employed by the
supervisory force to increase school efficiency. Here, again, the
teacher should realize that the purpose of the supervisor is not to
burden her with work, but rather to offer the help which may come
from an exchange of experiences. The school exhibit which is most
worth while does not require any special preparation of material
on the part of the teacher. The work regularly done by children
without corrections or refinement constitutes a true exhibit of the
results secured. Any other kind of an exhibit is merely a test of the
teacher’s ingenuity, her skill in masquerading under the names of her
children.
When a genuine exhibit of children’s work is brought together, it
affords to teachers and supervisors alike a wealth of suggestion
and help. The writer remembers visiting an exhibit of drawing and
constructive work in one of our large cities. The supervisors of
this work were in charge at regular hours each week. A very large
number of teachers came to see what was being done by other teachers
in their grade. A special feature of the exhibit was an abundance of
suggestions for the work of the next week provided by the supervisors
and taken from the work of previous years. The consultation between
supervisors and teachers concerning the work exhibited, and with
reference to the work both past and yet to be done, was free from
restraint and often lasted ten, fifteen, or even twenty minutes.
Needless to say, the results achieved in drawing and constructive
work in this city were far above the average. Similar exhibits of
work in English composition, arithmetic, some phases of the work in
literature, nature study, history, and geography are possible and
cannot fail to help the teacher who is anxious to improve her work.
Visiting the work of other teachers has one advantage not possessed
by the exhibit: it is possible to see not only the result but also
the methods which are employed in securing the product. A good
supervisor should be able to tell teachers where to go to see the
kind of work which is most helpful. Any teacher should welcome the
opportunity to see the work of a teacher who is strong where she is
weak. Random visiting is not worth much. What counts is a visit to a
teacher who has some help to offer, in order to satisfy a real need.
Often the most profitable visiting can be done within the system
in which the teacher works. Not infrequently the greatest help can
be secured from another teacher in the same building. Whenever or
wherever a teacher visits, the important thing is to look for the
strong points in the work. The teacher who goes for help will not be
disappointed; the one who looks for defects, who is hypercritical,
will not profit by the time used.
After a visit to a teacher whose work is known by the supervisor, a
conference may be held, or a report given by the visiting teacher. If
the visit is worth making, it is worth some further consideration.
It will help the teacher to talk over the visit with the supervisor
with particular reference to her own work. The elements of strength
in the work of the teacher visited can thus be determined, and the
modifications in the work of the visitor desired by the supervisor be
made definite.
Examinations have from time immemorial been used by supervisors to
determine the success of school work. Teachers not infrequently
seem to feel that they are an unnecessary hardship imposed without
sufficient justification, whether teacher or pupils are considered.
Let us inquire what examinations should mean to the teacher. First
of all, it may be worth while to remember that the command of some
knowledge, and the ability to use it when demanded, should form a
part of the equipment of children who are being educated. It is
well at times to stop and discover how much children know, and what
facility they show in using their knowledge. It is a shock sometimes
to discover that a room full of enthusiastic, well-behaved children
do not know their multiplication tables, cannot add, subtract, or
divide without making many mistakes, cannot write an acceptable
paragraph because of mistakes in form which they should have mastered
long ago, do not know on which side of the Ohio River to locate the
state of Ohio; but that is just what is apt to happen in a school
where examinations are never given.
Success or failure in an examination should not be all-important
to children, nor should it lead to undue praise or condemnation
of teachers. The wise teacher will try to find in the results of
the examination evidence of the deficiencies of her teaching. In
the light of the work done by the children she can tell where she
can depend upon their knowledge, what part of the work needs to be
reviewed, which children need special help. An examination should
be a taking of stock which will enable teacher and pupil to do more
and better work, because each is acquainted with the needs of the
situation better than before.
Teachers’ meetings are worth just about what each individual
teacher is willing to put into them. The teacher who comes to a
meeting with her problems, willing to acknowledge that she needs
help, and anxious to get it will not find these gatherings dull or
uninteresting. If the meeting is organized for study, as is done in
connection with reading circle work, the meeting can be transformed
from a perfunctory recitation of the ideas of the book into a live
professional discussion, by the activity of two or three earnest
teachers. If the meetings are not good, individuals are at fault; if
these teachers become active, if they try to make the most out of
these discussions, their attitude will change.
One of the best types of teachers’ meetings is centered round the
actual teaching of children by a member of the group, to be followed
by discussion of the work done. There is no more certain way to grow
professionally than to be willing to demonstrate your theory by
practice, or to discuss the work which is done by other members of
the group. In several of our cities these lessons, taught sometimes
by the supervisors and at other times by the teachers themselves,
have become a regular feature of the year’s work. The teacher who
is most anxious to grow will be the first to avail herself of the
opportunity to teach such a lesson. Supervisors sometimes hesitate
to suggest this kind of a program for teachers’ meetings, because
teachers are so unwilling to do their part in making the work a
success. It is a poor professional spirit which is not strong enough
to lead a teacher to accept the criticism of her fellow teachers,
when she knows that therein lies the possibility of growth. Any group
of teachers who will voluntarily participate in such work will find
that the teachers’ meeting, instead of being a bore, will come to be
looked upon as the brightest spot in the whole week, because of the
help and inspiration which is derived from the hour’s work.
Institutes were once looked upon as places where teachers came to
be entertained, or, possibly, to be inspired. There was a time when
the best institutes were conducted on the “pouring in” plan. A
lecturer, or several lecturers, dispensed the truth, and teachers
sat in their places, supposedly drinking deep draughts from these
fountains of wisdom. It is strange that all of the theory of teaching
which was dispensed did not suggest that the manner of conducting
the institute was wrong. In our best institutes to-day teachers
participate in discussion, study and recite from books, undertake
the revision or organization of courses of study in coöperation
with their supervisors; in short, the institute has become a school
for professional study. In such an institute, as in teachers’
meetings, those who come with real problems, anxious to get help,
find the week or two all too short. A group of teachers anxious to
grow professionally can, in most cases, secure the coöperation of
supervisors in transforming an institute which is organized on the
old basis.
If a teacher’s supervisors are not helping her, it may be well to
inquire whose fault it is. The teacher who meets the supervisor
halfway, the one who invites criticism, who avails herself of the
help and suggestion which may come from exhibits, visiting, teachers’
meetings, and institutes will, in all probability, grow strong enough
to help others. She may in her turn be called upon to accept the
responsibilities, the trials, and the joys of a supervisor.[29]
FOR COLLATERAL READING
The Seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific
Study of Education.
_Exercises._
1. What is the purpose of supervision?
2. Give illustrations of work done by the supervisors whom you have
found most helpful.
3. Name the types of criticism. Give illustrations of each type
from your own experience.
4. What is wrong with the teacher who resents adverse criticism?
5. Why wait a day or two after the supervisor has visited you
before asking for criticism on your work?
6. If the supervisor does not volunteer criticism, what would you
do?
7. Have you ever attended a school exhibit which has helped you in
your work? What kind of work should be sent to the exhibit? Why
insist upon a continuous exhibit rather than one that lasts only a
week?
8. How can you hope to get the most out of a day’s visiting? What
help would you expect from the supervisor?
9. Of what value are examinations to you?
10. When a teacher says that she can get nothing from the teachers’
meetings, what is wrong?
11. What help would you expect to get from the observation and
discussion of actual class teaching? Have you ever taught a class
for observers?
12. What suggestions would you make for the improvement of your
institute? Do you think changes could be made if teachers wanted
to gain the most possible during the week or more devoted to the
institute?
13. What is wrong in a situation where teachers complain that their
supervisors are hard taskmasters?
14. If supervision is to make for professional growth, what
contribution must the teacher make?
15. How do you explain the attitude of the teacher who says she
wants no supervision?
CHAPTER XVIII
THE TEACHER IN RELATION TO THE COURSE OF STUDY
Teachers sometimes look upon the course of study merely as a demand
made by those in control of the school system for a large amount
of work to be accomplished. The course of study indicates that
certain topics in English, arithmetic, nature study, geography,
history, industrial arts, and the other subjects of the curriculum
are assigned to the grade, and the teacher expects that her pupils
will be examined on this work at stated times during the year in
order to determine the efficiency of her work and the fitness of
the children for promotion. From this point of view, the course of
study is an ever present taskmaster, always urging that more work be
accomplished. Let us inquire whether this is in reality the meaning
of the course of study to the teacher.
In the first place, all will admit that in any system of schools
it is necessary to determine somewhat definitely the work to be
done by a given grade. If such provision were not made, it would be
impossible to transfer children from one school to another, and very
difficult for the supervisory force to render help to large numbers
of teachers. Then, too, there is an order in the development of
subjects, which is necessary both from the standpoint of the subject
and from the point of view of the child who is to gain the experience
which the subject offers.
It is true that a course of study which is made to fit all of the
children of a great city or state must be interpreted liberally, if
good teaching is to be done. To this end, our best courses of study
demand that a minimum amount of work be done by all teachers, and
suggest alternative and optional work to meet the needs of children
whose experiences are varied, and whose needs are correspondingly
different. In any progressive school system, the capable teacher
has opportunity to vary the material presented under the head of
the various subjects in such a manner as will satisfy the interests
and the problems of the group of children for whose growth she is
responsible.
A good course of study will save the teacher much time and energy by
the organization of material which it presents. In many of our larger
cities a volume of from fifty to two hundred pages has been prepared
for each subject. These manuals suggest the order in which it has
been found by experience that the topics can best be presented. In
many cases a helpful analysis of each large topic from the point
of view of presenting it to children is included. Besides this
organization of material, references which will prove helpful to the
teacher, both from the standpoint of subject matter and of method,
are included in our best courses of study. In many cases suggestions
for teaching, elaborated at times into complete lesson plans, are
given.
In the making of the course of study, the teacher should welcome any
opportunity to contribute her knowledge concerning the availability
of material or the methods to be used in her grade. Any good course
of study should be the joint product of at least three classes of
people: the expert in the subject, the expert in supervision and
administration of schools, and the expert teacher. The subject matter
expert is needed to pass upon the material from the standpoint of
fact and from the point of view of one who sees the beginnings of a
subject in relation to the whole field. The supervisor has to provide
for the proper relation of the different subjects, determines the
amount of time to be devoted to the subject, and the general method
of procedure in teaching the subject. The teacher needs to advise
as to the practicability of the whole scheme. She has in mind a
particular group of children with certain experiences, interests, and
abilities, and her judgment is probably safer than either of the
others as to the availability of any particular topic or phase of the
subject. In addition to this service, any group of teachers can give
most significant help with respect to the methods which have proved
most helpful. Indeed, our courses of study could be made much more
helpful if teachers were only asked to give suggestions concerning
the organization of material and methods of teaching, which they are
so well equipped to offer by reason of their experience in teaching
the subject to children. Happily, the practice of inviting the
coöperation of teachers in making the course of study is becoming
more common in our cities. Any capable teacher who is anxious
to participate in the organization of the curriculum will find
opportunity to make her contribution.
Possibly there are teachers who, because of the very excellence
of the courses of study provided, feel that all that is required
for them is to follow blindly the directions given. Instead of
considering the course of study as a hard taskmaster, they look upon
it as a crutch upon which they lean heavily. For these teachers there
is little need for preparation. The course of study and the textbooks
have solved the problems of teaching. Let us inquire just what the
curriculum of our schools stands for before attempting to decide just
what relation the teacher bears to it.
A course of study is not so much knowledge to be poured in. Rather
it represents possible experiences for which children may have need,
experiences which will aid them in the solution of their problems and
make possible for them the realization of their purposes. How did all
of this knowledge come to be preserved, and how did it happen to be
arranged in groups labeled by certain names? Men have preserved from
time to time, by handing down by word of mouth or by records made on
stone, wood, skin, paper, or other surfaces, knowledge which they
have found useful in meeting the problems which confront them. For
convenience of reference this knowledge has come to be grouped, and
to each group a name has been applied. If we could only remember how
we came to have this body of knowledge, how it happened to be thought
worth while to preserve the experiences which when grouped together
we know as subjects, it might make us a little more judicious in our
attempt to acquaint children with their inheritance.
Our schools have all too frequently acted upon the principle that
children could assimilate the school subjects without reference to
their past experience or their present needs. It has been common to
say, teach so much of this or that subject, just as if the child mind
was a receptacle to be filled. The difficulty of this attitude toward
school subjects is twofold: first, the children fail to gain any
appreciation of the experiences involved; and, second, they fail to
gain from the process the power of independent thought, or the spirit
of investigation which it is the purpose of education to impart.
The doctrine of formal discipline, as commonly interpreted, has been
largely responsible for our wrong idea of the meaning of subjects of
study. The idea that any study, especially if it proved disagreeable
to the pupil, and had no definite relationship either to his past
experiences or present needs, would mean most for his education, has
not yet entirely disappeared. Aside from the psychological fallacy
involved, that ability to do one kind of work would spread or be
available for all other kinds of mental activity which we call by the
same general name, the devotees of the doctrine ignored the fact that
the maximum of activity or hard mental work could be secured only
under the stimulus of genuine interest.[30]
Possibly the introduction of the industrial arts[31] and the more
rational approach which they demand, may serve to illustrate the
method to be used in teaching other subjects. In cooking, for
example, we would hardly expect to have a child begin by engaging
in an exercise in beating eggs without reference to any problem
which required this activity. If children are to learn something
of wood and its use in our industries, we commonly expect them to
gain some knowledge of the processes involved in the course of the
construction of furniture for the playhouse, a flower box for the
window, a sled, a checkerboard, or some other interesting project. It
is true that the industrial arts lend themselves more readily to the
dominant interests of children to do and to make than do most school
subjects. If these activities, which are essentially the activities
characteristic of our modern civilization, be used to best advantage,
they will offer many opportunities for making significant the other
subjects.
Any considerable participation in the processes which are fundamental
to the great industries cannot fail to arouse an interest in the
source of materials, the development of the industry, and a desire to
express one’s self with reference to the work which is being done.
From the interest in the source of materials grows naturally the
work in nature study and geography. The development of the industry
takes us back even to the time of primitive man, and history becomes
significant. The handling of materials in construction suggests the
need of measurement, and arithmetic is provided for. In all of this
work there will be a demand for communication, the necessity to learn
what others have recorded in books, and the wish to express one’s
own experience in oral and written speech. The experiences of people
like ourselves, as idealized in literature, will make its appeal in
spite of the worst our teaching can do. It is not maintained that all
subject matter groups itself naturally around industrial activities,
and that these activities should, therefore, form the center of the
curriculum; rather, it is sought to emphasize the relationships to
the real needs of children and the possibility of utilizing these
genuine motives in the teaching of school subjects.
We teach the subjects of the curriculum in order that children may
understand their environment, be adjusted to it, and, as President
Butler puts it, come into possession of their spiritual inheritance.
Out of the work which is done, these same children should gain
power to adapt themselves to new conditions and should be equipped
to render service in the progress which is yet to be made in our
society. Now one’s adjustment to the present environment must be
an adjustment to _his_ environment, a solution of his problems as
they at present exist. Future adaptability is conditioned by the
experience which one has had in making such adjustments. The ability
to contribute to the progress in which each should participate is
dependent, not so much upon the number of facts one possesses, as
upon the attitude of investigation which characterizes him, the
respect for truth, and ability to think straight which have been
developed by his education. From whatever point of view we approach
the problem of teaching our subjects, the answer is the same: meet
present situations, solve present real, vital problems, make subject
matter meet the needs of the children you are teaching. This analysis
of the curriculum makes apparent the important part to be played by
the teacher in making available the experiences which the school
subjects are organized to present.
The courses of study may present much that is helpful in the
organization of material, the suggestions for teaching may be
gathered from the experience of many teachers, and still the great
problem of making these subjects vital to children remains as the
work of every teacher. Motives which grow out of the experience
which children have already had must be sought. The material to be
presented will be significant in the experience of these children
only when they approach it in order to satisfy their real needs.
Aside from the possibility of finding in one of the subjects, as, for
example, the industrial arts, a motive for other work, the school
situation itself presents many opportunities for discovering real
needs to children.
The school festival, school parties for parents, fairs and sales, the
general assembly, excursions, gardening or other industrial activity,
plays and games, have in the hands of skillful teachers provided a
compelling motive for a great variety of school work. The author
would not deny the power of intellectual interest, but he knows,
as does every other teacher, that with children in the elementary
school this motive is only gradually developed. The teacher who is
alert to find some real need for the computations of arithmetic;
who gives a genuine opportunity for oral or written expression;
who appeals to the desire to use the knowledge gained in history
and geography by means of the historical festival, the article in
the school paper, and the like, as well as to the curiosity of the
child; who allows children to make real things which satisfy their
individual or collective needs in the industrial arts,—is the teacher
who is teaching school subjects in the way that will mean most in the
education of her pupils.
The demand that the teacher vitalize the curriculum does not lose
sight of the necessity for drill, or of the demand that children
_know_, as a result of their education. As a matter of fact, the more
vital the experiences, the more apparent it becomes to both teacher
and pupil that the fixing of knowledge or the acquiring of skill is
a necessary condition of present efficiency and of future progress.
The children who have the most genuine need for the multiplication
table will be the first to learn it. If you are to read to a whole
school and want to have them enjoy with you the selection which you
are to interpret, you will have the best possible reason for good
expression. History means something, if you really need to know the
history of a period in order to reproduce accurately its language,
manners, dress, and the like in your festival. The mistake which
at times has been made by enthusiastic teachers of neglecting the
drill side of the work, has not been due to any difficulty which
the situation presented from the standpoint of the children who are
engaged in meaningful activities.
The teacher may not expect all children to gain equally in command
of the experiences represented by the course of study. For her there
must literally be courses of study for each subject, in that she
must adapt her work in so far as is possible to individual needs.
The office of teacher may well be exalted, for it is the teacher who
must, because of her insight, provide for the needs of each child
committed to her care, and in rendering this service provide society
with its greatest asset, a truly educated human being.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
S. T. Dutton and D. Snedden, _Administration of Public Education in
the United States_, Chapter XVIII.
_Exercises._
The selections from courses of study are quoted by Dr. C. W.
Stone in his monograph on _Arithmetic Abilities and Some Factors
Determining them_. In Dr. Stone’s study the pupils in twenty-six
schools or school systems were tested. One of the problems raised
had reference to the excellence of the course of study. The
selections quoted represent a variety in excellence such as one
will find in the courses of study prepared in any subject.
Study these selections from the following points of view:—
1. Do any of them give too little information to the teacher
concerning the work required in the grade?
2. Do any of them restrict the work of the teacher unduly?
3. Which do you consider the best course of study?
4. Are any of these statements so complete as to relieve the
teacher of the necessity of reorganizing the work for her own class?
5. How would you modify any of these courses of study in order to
make it more valuable to teachers?
6. Indicate possible maximum, minimum, and optional work in the
third-grade work in arithmetic.
SELECTIONS ILLUSTRATING GENERAL EXCELLENCE
From each of two systems ranking among the lowest five in course of
study.
3 B. Speer work. Simple work in addition and subtraction, following
the plan in the _Elementary Arithmetic_.
3 A. _Primary Book_. First half page 26, second half page 41.
GRADE III, NUMBER
Exercises, mental and written, in addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division of numbers.
The processes will be explained.
The multiplication table up to 12 will be made by the pupils and
thoroughly committed to memory.
Drill in rapid addition.
Notation and numeration to five periods.
Table of weights, United States and English money. Problems in all
tables learned.
Square and cubic measure. Troy and apothecaries’ weights. Principles
of multiplication.
From the system standing best in course of study.
GRADE III B
_Scope:_ Review the work taught in preceding grades. (This review may
require from four to six weeks.)
Addition and subtraction of numbers through twenty. Multiplication
and division tables through 4’s. Give much practice upon the addition
of single columns. Abstract addition, two columns; the result of each
column should not exceed twenty. The writing of numbers through one
thousand. Roman notation through one hundred. Fractions ½, ¼, and ⅓.
The object of the work of this grade is to make pupils ready in the
use of the simple fundamental processes.
_Book:_ Cook and Cropsey’s _New Elementary Arithmetic_ (for use of
teacher), pp. 1 to 46.
The chief difficulty in the work of this grade is in teaching the
arithmetical forms as applied to concrete processes. Pupils should
know very thoroughly the work given on pages 1 to 23, Cook and
Cropsey’s _Arithmetic_, before any new forms are taught. They have
up to this time used the arithmetical signs and the sentence, and
have stated results only. New forms for addition and subtraction are
first applied to concrete processes on page 24. No other forms should
be taught until pupils are very familiar with these. A drill should
be given showing that these two forms are identical and that we must
first know what we wish to use them for, if applied to problems. Write
9
2
--
upon the board and indicate your thought by the signs + and -.
9 9 9 apples 9 apples
+ 2 - 2 + 2 - 2
--- --- --- ---
11 7 11 7 apples
Pupils should be very familiar with these forms before any written
concrete work is given.
When the new form for multiplication is introduced, this drill should
be repeated:
9 9 9 apples
+ 2 - 2 × 2
--- --- ---
11 7 18
Nothing new should be added to this until pupils can use these forms
without confusion.
When presenting the new forms for division and partition the same
method may be used, but pupils should use the form for division some
weeks before using the same form for partition. It is not necessary
to use the division form for partition until the last four weeks
of the term, and not even then, if there seems to be any danger
of confusion in using the same form for both processes. The terms
_division_ and _partition_ should not be used. The terms _measure_
and _finding one of the equal parts_ can be easily understood. Pupils
should be able to read arithmetical forms well, before any use is
made of these forms in their application to written concrete work.
All concrete problems should be simple and within the child’s
experience.
GRADE III A
_Scope:_ 1. Review the work of Grade 3 B.
2. Abstract addition of three columns. Subtraction, using abstract
numbers through thousands. Addition and subtraction of United States
money. Multiplication and division tables through 6’s. Multiplication
and division of abstract numbers through thousands, using 2, 3, 4,
and 5 as divisors. Addition and subtraction by “endings” through 2 +
9, last month of term. Writing numbers through ten thousands. Roman
notation through one hundred. Fractions ½, ¼, and ⅓.
3. Application of fundamental processes to simple concrete problems,
of one step.
4. Measures used—inch, foot, yard, square inch; pint, quart, gallon;
peck, bushel; second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year. Use
actual measures.
Books: (In hands of pupils) Walsh’s _New Primary Arithmetic_, pp. 1
to 68.
(For teachers’ use) Cook and Cropsey’s _New Elementary Arithmetic_,
pp. 46 to 85, Article 105.
Even with only the work of a single grade to judge from, one has no
difficulty in recognizing the wide difference in the excellence of
these courses. As may be seen from Table XXVIII, page 73, in the
rating they stand about thirty steps apart, _i.e._ the one from which
the third illustration was taken has a score of 65, while the others
have scores of 32 and 39, respectively.
SELECTIONS ILLUSTRATING EXCELLENCE IN DRILL AND IN CONCRETENESS
From the system ranking next to the best in drill.
GRADE III B
I. _Objective._
1. Work.
_a._ Fractions. Review previous work. Teach new fractions;
7ths, 10ths, and 12ths.
_b._ Notation, numeration, addition and subtraction of numbers
to 1000.
_c._ Liquid and dry measures.
_d._ United States money.
_e._ Weights.
2. Objects and Devices.
_a._ Counting frame.
_b._ Splints, disks for fractions, etc.
_c._ Shelves.
_d._ Liquid and dry measure.
_e._ United States money.
_f._ Scales.
II. _Abstract._
1. Work.
_a._ Counting to 100 by 2’s, 10’s, 3’s, 4’s, 9’s, 11’s, 5’s,
beginning with any number under 10; counting backwards by same
numbers, beginning with any number under 100.
_b._ Multiplication tables. Review tables already studied.
Teach 7 and 9.
_c._ Drill in recognizing sum of three numbers at a glance;
review combinations already learned; 20 new ones.
2. Devices.
_a._ Combination cards, large and small.
_b._ Wheels.
_c._ Chart for addition and subtraction.
_d._ Fraction chart.
_e._ Miscellaneous drill cards.
_f._ Pack of “three” combination cards.
Prince’s _Arithmetic_, Book III, Sects. I and II.
Speer’s _Elementary Arithmetic_, pp. 1-55.
_Shelves:_ See II A.
Combination Cards: large and small. These cards should contain all
the facts of multiplication tables 3, 6, 8, 7, and 9. As:—
7 × 1 2 × 7 7 ÷ 1 21 ÷ 3
1 × 7 7 × 3 14 ÷ 2 21 ÷ 7, etc.
7 × 2 3 × 7 14 ÷ 7
For use of these cards, see directions in I B.
Wheels for Multiplication and Division:
See directions under II A.
Chart for Adding and Subtracting:
For directions, see II B and II A.
Add and subtract 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, 9’s, 10’s, 11’s, 12’s, 15’s,
and 20’s.
Fraction Chart shows, ½, ¼, ⅛, ⅓, 1/6, 1/9, 1/12.
Miscellaneous Drill Cards:
For directions, see I A.
“Three” Combination Cards:
For use, see I A.
GRADE III A
I. _Objective._
1. Work.
_a._ Fractions previously assigned.
_b._ Notation, numeration, addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division of numbers to 1000.
_c._ Long and square measures.
_d._ Weights.
2. Objects and Devices:
_a._ Counting frame.
_b._ Splints, disks for fractions, etc.
_c._ Shelves.
_d._ Scales.
II. _Abstract._
1. Work.
_a._ Counting to 100 by any number from 2 to 12, inclusive,
beginning with any number under 10; counting by same numbers
backward, beginning with any number under 100.
_b._ Multiplication tables—all tables.
_c._ Drill in recognizing sum of three numbers at a glance;
review combinations already learned; 20 new ones.
2. Devices.
_a._ Combination cards—large and small.
_b._ Wheels.
_c._ Chart for adding and subtracting.
_d._ Chart for fractions.
_e._ Miscellaneous drill cards.
_f._ Pack of “three” combination cards.
Prince’s _Arithmetic_, Book III, Sects. III to VI, inclusive.
Speer’s _Elementary Arithmetic_, pp. 56-104.
_Shelves_: See II _a_.
_Combination Cards_: large and small. The cards should contain all
the facts of the multiplication tables 11 and 12, also the most
difficult combinations from the other multiplication tables. As:—
12 × 1 12 ÷ 1 24 ÷ 2
1 × 12 12 ÷ 12 24 ÷ 12, etc.
12 × 2 12 ÷ 2
2 × 12 12 ÷ 3
For use of cards, see directions in I B.
Wheels for Multiplication and Division:
See directions under II A.
Chart for Adding and Subtracting:
For directions, see II B and II A.
Add and subtract 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, 13’s, 14’s, 16’s, 17’s, 18’s, and
19’s.
Review other numbers under 20.
Chart for Fractions shows all fractions already assigned.
Miscellaneous Drill Cards:
For directions, see I A.
From the system ranking best in concreteness.
_Mathematics_: If the children are actually doing work which has
social value, they must gain accurate knowledge of the activities
in which they are engaged. They will keep a record of all expenses
for materials used in the school, and will do simple bookkeeping
in connection with the store which has charge of this material.
In cooking, weights and measures will be learned. The children
will also keep accounts of the cost of ingredients. Proportions
will be worked out in the cooking recipes. When the children
dramatize the life of the trader, in connection with history, they
have opportunity to use all standards of measurements. Number is
demanded in almost all experimental science work; for instance, the
amount of water contained in the different kinds of fruit, or the
amount of water evaporated from fruits under different conditions
(in drying fruits). All plans for wood work will be worked to
a scale and demand use of fractions. When the children have
encountered many problems which they must solve in order to proceed
with their work, they are ready to be drilled on the processes
involved until they gain facility in the use of these. The children
should be able to think through the problems which arise in their
daily work, and have automatic use of easy numbers, addition,
subtraction, multiplication, short division, and easy fractions.
As one reads these two samples of excellence he must find that each
is so excellent in its one strong feature that it is not good;
that work according to either must suffer; that what each needs is
what the other has. Such a synthesis is represented in the next
illustration.
_A Combination of Excellences_
September. 1. Measure height, determine weight. From records
determine growth since September, 1905. 2. Learn to read
thermometer. Make accurately, scale one fourth inch representing
two degrees on paper one inch broad. Find average temperature of
different days of month. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for
the thermometer scale. Count 100 by 2’s. 3. Make temperature chart.
4. Measure and space calendar, making figures of size appropriate
to inch squares. Learn names of numbers to 30. 5. Make inch-wide
tape measure for use in nature study, number book and cubic-inch
seed boxes. 6. Review telling time. A. In addition to above;
analyze numbers from 11 to 40 into tens and ones. Walsh’s _Primary
Arithmetic_ to top of page 10.
October. Problems on calendar,—number of clear, of cloudy, and
of rainy days in September. Compare with September, 1905, 1904,
1903, 1902; temperature chart and thermometer; height and weight.
Lay off beds for tree seeds; plant the same. Make envelopes for
report cards. Drill on combinations in the above. Make rod strings
and hundred-foot strings for determining distance wing seeds are
carried from plants. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for
thermometer scale. Develop table of tens. A. In addition to the
above analyze numbers from 40 to 50 into tens and ones. _Primary
Arithmetic_, pp. 10-22. Teach pupils to _add at sight_.
November. From wall calendar count number of clear days, of cloudy
days, and rainy days in October. Compare with September; with
October of 1905, of 1906. Find average daily temperature; 8.30
A.M., 1 P.M. What kind of trees grow fastest? Measure growth of
twigs of different kinds of trees. Compare this year’s growth with
that of last year and of year before last. Compare rate of growth
of different kinds of trees, as oak, willow, Carolina poplar, and
elm. Develop table of 5’s from lesson with clock dial; review 2’s
and 10’s. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for the thermometer
scale. Learn words representing numbers as well as figures. Make
seed envelope. A. Analyze numbers from 60 to 65 into tens and ones.
_Primary Arithmetic._ B, pp. 17-26; A, pp. 39-49.
Last six weeks of first term.—Continue finding average daily
temperature. From wall calendar count number of clear, of cloudy,
and of rainy days in November. Compare with November, 1906,
1905. Continue measurements on growth of trees. Drill on telling
time from clock dial. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for
thermometer scale. Continue learning words representing numbers.
Review tables of 2’s, 5’s, 10’s; learn table of 3’s. _Primary
Arithmetic._ B, pp. 27-40. Analyze numbers from 11 to 30 into tens
and ones. _Primary Arithmetic._ A, pp. 49-61. Analyze numbers from
66 to 100 into tens and ones. In January review all facts in number
book. Drill on tables.
(Only the first one half of the third year’s course shown.)
The system from which this last selection is taken had the
following remarkable rankings: 3d best in general excellence, 2d
best in concreteness, and 5th best in drill. And as measured by
the tests of this study, this system stood 4th from the best in
abilities, and spent a little less than the medium amount of time.
CHAPTER XIX
MEASURING RESULTS IN EDUCATION
Efficiency in any line of human endeavor depends upon our ability to
evaluate the results which are secured. No one would question the
progress which has been made in education during the past hundred
years; but one may very justly inquire concerning the efficiency of
the work that has been done from the standpoint of the money which
has been spent, and the effort and devotion of those who have engaged
in teaching. In the mercantile pursuits it has been noted that seven
out of every ten failures can be charged directly to a lack of
knowledge of facts. Such investigations as we have had in education
tend to prove that a like situation is to be found in this field.
The failures in education, whether due to a lack of economical use
of the funds available, to an inefficient system of organization,
or to unintelligent practices in method, are, on the whole, not
to be charged to a lack of devotion on the part of those who have
given their lives to the schools. Until it is possible to measure
the results achieved, the facts of success or failure cannot be
established.
Of course, no one would deny that real progress is made by the
process of trial and success, both in the art of teaching and in
the practice of administration. It is true, too, that we shall have
to depend in considerable measure upon demonstration as a means of
bringing about improvement in current educational practice. It is
none the less true, however, that scientific work in education will
furnish the basis for the more rapid elimination of the mistakes in
current practice, as well as point the way for improved organization
of teaching. The science of education will, in its development,
occupy relatively the same position with reference to the art
of teaching that the science of medicine occupies with respect
to the art of healing. The progress which has been made during
the past twenty-five years in the art of farming would never have
been possible without the scientific work that has been done in
agriculture.
Aside from the fact that we are only beginning to have a profession
of education, many other factors have entered to delay the progress
in the direction of standardizing our work by means of accurate
measurement of the results achieved. One of the most comforting of
the fallacies which are at times urged against the attempt to measure
results is found in the popular statement that the only criterion
by which the success of school work can be measured is found in the
ultimate success of the individuals who are subjected to the process.
The most inefficient teacher in the most poorly equipped school, if
his period of service has been long enough, will point to the success
of a few of the boys who once attended that particular school, as
proof of the adequacy of the work which is now being done. The
failures are never brought to mind. The fallacious reasoning found
in such an appeal is all too common in our educational discussion.
To take a selected group of individuals, who have, because of native
ability, and possibly because of favorable environment, achieved
distinction; and to claim that this success is due to our system of
education, may be satisfying to our pride, but cannot appeal to our
good judgment. The only available measure of the success of the work
done in any particular school is to be found in the changes which are
brought about in boys and girls, young men and young women, during
the period of their school life.
It has been argued, too, that that which is most worth while in
education cannot be measured. Those who advance this argument speak
continually in terms of “atmosphere,” “spirit,” and the like. There
are two replies to be made to this contention. The one is that any
power which the teacher has, whether it is called influence, or
ability to teach arithmetic, must result in some change in the
children who are taught. Another equally valid answer is to be found
in the fact that the best teachers of arithmetic, of literature, of
geography, of history, and the other studies are, at the same time,
the teachers whose influence we value most in the school.
We have been hopeful that the sciences of biology, psychology,
sociology, and economics would, in their development, solve the
problems of education. No one would deny the significance of the
work done in these fields as fundamental to the development of
scientific work in education. No one is fully equipped to undertake
investigation in the field of education without preliminary training
in these fundamental sciences. Progress in the science of education
has come, however, through the efforts of those men of sound
fundamental training who have attacked the problems of education as
such, rather than through the work of the biologist, psychologist,
sociologist, or economist. If we should wait for the sciences
mentioned to solve our problems, progress would indeed be slow.
Those who are unacquainted with modern statistical methods as applied
in the social sciences have at times felt that it was impossible
to measure large groups of individuals who differ in ability, in
interest, and in environment. It is impossible within the limits
of a brief chapter to make clear the validity of such measurement.
It may be confidently asserted, however, that the measurement of a
large group of individuals is, on the whole, more satisfactory than
the attempt to measure a single individual. We can be more sure of
the accuracy of our results in comparing two groups of children of a
thousand each, than we could in the attempt to measure accurately a
single individual with regard to ability in school subjects.
A most persistent objection to the measuring of results comes from
those who feel that it is not fair to compare individuals or groups
who are not alike in all particulars. They would claim, for example,
that we cannot compare children in spelling ability when one group
comes from homes in which the English language is spoken, while the
other comes from the homes of those who speak a foreign language. It
is probable that this objection is due to a belief that measurement
will result in a comparison of the present situation without any
regard to the growth or development which has characterized the
group. If we derive units of measurement in spelling, manifestly
the attempt would be to measure the changes which have been brought
about in any group in terms of units which are comparable. If group
one shows ability ten, having advanced during the year from ability
seven, it will be considered just as satisfactory as the advance
which has been made in group two, which has moved from ability
eight to ability eleven. In other words, the purpose of measurement
is never to attempt to make all alike. It is rather to discover
differences and the reason for their existence; but most of all to
give us some adequate means of determining progress or change.
Let us suppose again, in a matter of business administration, that
one school shows a much higher per capita cost than another. This
does not prove that one school is more efficiently managed than
another. What it does do is to suggest that some adequate reason is
to be found for the difference which exists. In like manner, one city
may show a much higher cost for janitors’ salaries than does another.
This may suggest investigation, but it does not prove that the city
with the higher cost for janitors’ service is inefficiently managed
or extravagant in its expenditures. It may be that the city that
spends a relatively large amount for janitorial service actually gets
more per dollar for the money which it spends than does the city with
the smaller cost. It is always a purpose of measurement to discover
discrepancies and to raise problems.
It has been contended that it is not important to derive scales
or units of measurement on the ground that the scientific study
of education is significant only in so far as it has to do with a
careful investigation of the processes involved in growth. Those who
make this contention seem to feel that a careful study of the way in
which children come to form habits, to grow in power of reasoning, or
in ability to appreciate, will give us the final answer concerning
the methods to be employed in teaching. The difficulty with this
point of view is that human beings, even though they be trained in
investigation, are fallible. The only final test of the success of
any method, however carefully derived, and however much of it may
depend upon a knowledge of the processes involved in growth in the
particular aspect of mental life which is involved, is to be found in
the result achieved. Theoretically a method may seem to be perfect,
and yet in terms of the results which are secured it may prove to
be a failure. If the results are not accurately measured, if we do
not derive scales of measurement, we can never be certain of our
conclusions with regard to the method to be employed in bringing
about any particular type of mental growth or development.
Possibly the one element in the situation which has operated to
retard development in the direction of accurate measurement of
results, more than any other, is the tendency in education to
appeal to authority, and the corresponding lack of devotion to
scientific investigation. It is, of course, much easier to solve the
problems which one meets by taking the opinion of those who have
had experience in the field. No one would deny the value of the
judgment of our great educational leaders. The fact remains, however,
that these same leaders would be the last ones to place their
own opinion in opposition to the results obtained from a careful
scientific investigation. Indeed, it is in no small measure due to
the insistence of these leaders that we are coming to have adequate
investigations with regard to our educational practice.
It has seemed necessary to discuss at some length the objections
which have been made against the attempt to measure results in
education, rather than to devote more space to a discussion of
the work which has already been done. All students of education
are familiar with the early work of Rice, and with the later
contributions of Thorndike, Ayres, Cornman, and many others who have
contributed to the literature of educational investigation. Possibly
the most significant piece of work that has been done is Thorndike’s
scale for measuring handwriting.[32] We may reasonably hope to have
scales derived for the measurement of abilities in other subjects.
In administration, considerable work has already been done with
reference to the cost of education, both as regards the relationship
of expenditure for education to other expenditures, the question of
a proper distribution of money within the educational budget, and
of the proper distribution of state school funds.[33] We can, of
course, hope for much more significant work in this field as more
adequate systems of accounting are introduced and more satisfactory
reports are issued. It is noteworthy that in those school systems in
which an attempt has been made to check up expenditures carefully,
remarkable savings have been made. We have not yet reached the
limit of possible reduction of expenditure without the sacrifice
of our present efficiency. Much work has been done on problems of
school organization, yet the problems of retardation and elimination
will be satisfactorily treated only as we secure more accurate
records concerning attendance, scholarship, health, promotions,
and demotions, such as are provided for by the genetic records now
kept in some of our more progressive school systems. The problems
of departmental work and individual instruction can never be
satisfactorily solved until we measure accurately the results secured
under different systems of organization.
Implicit in all of the argument which has been advanced in favor of
measuring results is the contention that education means change. If
changes are brought about in the children who are being educated,
then there must be the possibility of measurement. These changes may
take place in habit, in knowledge, in methods of work, in interests
and ideals, and in power of appreciation. Probably no one would
question the possibility of measuring the change which takes place
in the formation of habits. We have quite commonly been willing to
measure growth in knowledge by tests which demand that students not
only remember facts, but that they show some ability to apply them.
Whether or not a student commands a particular method of work can
be determined by observation of his method of procedure as well as
by the results that he secures. If interests or ideals are changed,
there necessarily follows a change in activity. Any real power of
appreciation will be accompanied by some change in expression.
The fact that we do not yet have scales or units of measurement
which will enable us to evaluate accurately the results obtained in
all of the different forms of school activity is not an argument
against the possibility of measurement. In any field the development
of units of measurement is dependent upon careful investigation, and
upon a realization of the imperfection of the units already used. It
is only as we insist upon measurement that we can hope to have our
units refined. Take for example the problem of grades or marks which
are commonly assigned to students as a measure of their efficiency
in doing school work. Any investigation of these units will show
that there is very great variation in their application by different
members of the teaching corps.
The way to bring about a remedy is not to abolish all marks or
grades, but rather to study the problem of the proper distribution of
marks, and, if necessary, to weigh differently the marks of different
instructors. The more imperfect the unit of measure which we now
apply, the greater the need for insisting upon accurate measurement.
The first step in the development of scientific inquiry in any field
is found in accurate description of the phenomena involved. The
demand that we measure results in education is simply a demand that
the basis for scientific investigation be made available by means
of this accurate description of the situation as it exists. Some
investigators in education have already been able to take the further
steps in scientific inquiry which have enabled them to foretell
with considerable accuracy the results which might be expected in
education under given conditions. Further progress is, however,
dependent upon that sort of measurement which will discover problems
which are not now clearly defined or which have not yet been thought
of. Of course, as inferences are made in the light of the problems
suggested, there will be still further necessity for accurate
measurement. When those who are charged with the responsibility of
determining educational policy appeal to fact rather than to opinion,
when we are able to evaluate accurately that which we achieve,
educational progress will be assured and a profession of education
will have been established.
We shall always have most excellent work in teaching done by those
for whom scientific investigation, as such, means little. The
investigations made will, however, modify the practice of these same
teachers through changed demands and because of the demonstration of
the validity of the new method of work by those who can appreciate
the significance of results achieved by investigators. It is
certainly to be expected that open-minded teachers will experiment
for themselves and will aid in the work of the expert who must use
the schools as his laboratory. Much depends upon the coöperation and
good will of all who are engaged in teaching. It is not too much
to expect that the spirit of investigation will be found in large
measure to characterize those whose privilege it is to provide the
situation in which intellectual development is stimulated.
An example of a study involving the coöperation of the pupils,
teachers, and supervisory officers of twenty-six separate schools or
school systems is Dr. C. W. Stone’s study on _Arithmetical Abilities
and Some of the Factors Determining them_. The following quotations
from Dr. Stone’s study indicate the type of result which we may hope
to get from such investigations.
_In Reasoning_
The scores for the reasoning problems were determined from the
results of two preliminary tests—one, giving one hundred 6th grade
pupils all the time they needed to do the problems as well as
they could in the order as printed (see page 11); and another,
giving one hundred 6th grade pupils all the time they needed to
do the problems as well as they could in the _reverse_ order
from that as printed. The results as tabulated below in table II
show that scores for reasoning problems of Grade VI pupils can
be very definitely arranged in a scale on the basis of relative
difficulty. Just what the scale should be can only be determined
by determining the form of distribution and the location of the
zero point. From what is known of these the scale of weighting
shown in the last column of table II is believed to be the best,
and this is the one employed in the computations of this study.
However, in order to enable the reader to satisfy himself as to
which is the best method, the scores of the twenty-six systems were
calculated on each of three other bases—(1) counting each problem
reasoned correctly a score of 1; (2) counting each problem reasoned
correctly a score based on the ratio of its difficulty as shown
in the next to the last column of table II; and (3) counting the
scores made on only the first six problems for which presumably all
pupils of all systems had ample time. See Appendix, p. 98.
In both reasoning and fundamentals the scores used as a measure of
the achievement of a system were computed by combining the scores
of one hundred pupils. Where more than one hundred pupils were
tested, the papers used were drawn at random, the number drawn from
each class being determined by the ratio of its number to the total
number tested in the system. Where less than one hundred pupils
were tested, the combined scores made were raised to the basis of
one hundred pupils.
TABLE II
PRELIMINARY TESTS
REASONING—UNLIMITED TIME
100 Different Pupils Tested Each Time
+=========+==========+===========+=========+============+===========+
|NUMBER OF|% REASONED|% REASONED |AVERAGE %| WEIGHT |WEIGHT USED|
|PROBLEMS |CORRECTLY | CORRECTLY |REASONED |ACCORDING TO|AS PROBABLY|
| |AS PRINTED|AS REVERSED|CORRECTLY| AVERAGE % | THE BEST |
| | | | | CORRECT | |
+---------+----------+-----------+---------+------------+-----------+
| 1 | 95 | 92.6 | 93.8 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 86 | 82.2 | 84.1 | 1.1 | 1 |
| 3 | 94 | 89 | 91.5 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 80 | 83 | 81.5 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 5 | 88 | 86 | 87 | 1.1 | 1 |
| 6 | 69 | 57.4 | 63.2 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| 7 | 70 | 80 | 75 | 1.25 | 1.2 |
| 8 | 29 | 44 | 36.5 | 2.6 | 1.6 |
| 9 | 19 | 15.5 | 17.2 | 5.45 | 2 |
| 10 | 24 | 27.4 | 25.7 | 3.6 | 2 |
| 11 | 17 | 7.5 | 12.3 | 7.6 | 2 |
| 12 | 7 | 16.4 | 11.7 | 8 | 2 |
+=========+==========+===========+=========+============+===========+
_Precautions observed to make the Scoring Accurate_
The simplicity of the tests made the scoring comparatively easy;
and with the observance of the following precautions it is believed
that a high degree of accuracy was attained. (1) In so far as
practicable, all the papers were scored by a single judge—only two
persons being employed on any phase of the work for the entire
twenty-six systems; (2) each problem was scored through one hundred
or more papers, then the next followed through, etc.; (3) the score
for each part of each problem, the errors, etc., were entered on
a blank provided with a separate column for each item; (4) where
there was doubt as to how the score should be made, the scorer made
a written memorandum of how the case was finally decided and this
memorandum served as the guide for all future similar cases.
_What the Scores Measure_
As used in this study the words _achievements_, _products_,
_abilities_, except where otherwise qualified, must necessarily
refer to the results of the particular tests employed in this
investigation. That some systems may achieve other and possibly
quite as worth-while results from their arithmetic work is not
denied; but what is denied is that any system can safely fail to
attain good results in the work covered by these particular tests.
Whatever else the arithmetic work may produce, it seems safe to
say that by the end of the sixth school year, it should result in
at least good ability in the four fundamental operations and the
simple, everyday kind of reasoning called for in these problems.
It does not then seem unreasonable, in view of the precautions
previously enumerated, to claim that the scores made by the
respective systems afford a reliable measure of the products of
their respective procedures in arithmetic.
_The Data_
The source of the data used to help answer the above questions
is some six thousand test papers gathered from twenty-six
representative school systems. Copies of the tests may be found
in Part I, pages 10 and 11; as may also a statement of conditions
under which the tests were personally given by the author, page 13;
and the method of scoring, pages 15 to 18.
The achievements are considered from two standpoints—(1) the
scores and mistakes of the systems as systems, (2) the scores of
individual pupils as individuals.
Table III gives the scores made in reasoning by each of the
twenty-six systems, counting all the problems that were solved, and
weighting them according to the last column of table II. The Roman
numerals used in the left-hand column to designate the systems are
those that fell to each system by lot. As seen by the column headed
_scores made_, the systems are arranged according to number of
scores, _i.e._ system XXIII made three hundred fifty-six points,
the lowest score, and is placed first in the table; system XXIV
made four hundred twenty-nine points, and is placed second, etc.
System V, having made the highest score, is placed last in the
table.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SYSTEMS AS SYSTEMS
MEASURED BY SCORES MADE
TABLE III[34] TABLE IV
====================================+===================================
SCORES OF THE TWENTY-SIX SYSTEMS IN | SCORES OF THE TWENTY-SIX SYSTEMS
REASONING WITH DEVIATIONS FROM THE | IN FUNDAMENTALS WITH DEVIATIONS
MEDIAN. SCORES FROM ALL PROBLEMS | FROM THE MEDIAN. SCORES FROM
| ALL PROBLEMS
M[35] = 551 | M = 3111
--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
Systems | | | Devia- |Systems | | | Devia-
in | | Devia- |tions in| in | | Devia- |tions in
Order of| | tions |Per Cent|Order of| | tions |Per Cent
Achieve-| Scores |from the| of the |Achieve-| Scores |from the| of the
ment | Made[36]| Median | Median | ment | Made | Median | Median
--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
XXIII | 356 | -195 | -35 | XXIII | 1841 | -1270 | -41
XXIV | 429 | -122 | -22 | XXV | 2167 | -944 | -30
XVII | 444 | -107 | -19 | XX | 2168 | -943 | -30
IV | 464 | -87 | -16 | XXII | 2311 | -800 | -26
XXV | 464 | -87 | -16 | VIII | 2747 | -364 | -12
XXII | 468 | -83 | -15 | X | 2749 | -362 | -12
XVI | 469 | -82 | -15 | XV | 2779 | -332 | -11
XX | 491 | -60 | -11 | III | 2845 | -266 | -8
XVIII | 509 | -42 | -8 | I | 2935 | -176 | -6
XV | 532 | -19 | -3 | XXI | 2951 | -160 | -5
III | 533 | -18 | -3 | II | 2958 | -153 | -5
VIII | 538 | -13 | -2 | XVII | 3042 | -69 | -2
VI | 550 | -1 | -2 | XIII | 3049 | -62 | -2
I | 552 | 1 | 2 | VI | 3173 | 62 | 2
X | 601 | 50 | 9 | XI | 3261 | 150 | 5
II | 615 | 64 | 12 | IX | 3404 | 293 | 9
XXI | 627 | 76 | 14 | XII | 3410 | 299 | 10
XIII | 636 | 85 | 15 | XXIV | 3513 | 402 | 13
XIV | 661 | 110 | 19 | XIV | 3561 | 450 | 14
IX | 691 | 140 | 20 | IV | 3563 | 452 | 14
VII | 734 | 183 | 33 | V | 3569 | 458 | 15
XII | 736 | 185 | 34 | XXVI | 3682 | 571 | 18
XI | 759 | 208 | 38 | XVI | 3707 | 596 | 19
XXVI | 791 | 240 | 44 | XVIII | 3758 | 647 | 21
XIX | 848 | 297 | 54 | VII | 3782 | 671 | 22
V | 914 | 363 | 66 | XIX | 4099 | 988 | 31
========+=========+========+========+========+========+========+========
The middle column gives the deviations from the median, which is
that measure above and below which one half the cases lie. In
this table the median is five hundred fifty-one. These deviations
serve to show the differences in scores made; and they are also
employed in computing the measures of variability and relationship.
The third column is the deviations in per cent of the median. It
affords another expression of the difference in size of scores made
by the systems.
Table IV reads exactly as III, the scores[37] being those made on
all problems of the test in fundamentals. These two tables give
some general help on the nature of the product of the first six
years of arithmetic work. One very evident fact is the lack of
uniformity among systems; another is the lack of correspondence of
relative position among the systems in the two tables. With the
exception of systems XXIII and XIV, no system occupies the same
relative position in the two tables, _e.g._ system XXIV stands
second from the lowest in reasoning and eighteenth from the lowest
in fundamentals. This fact is more accurately summarized in the
coefficients of correlation, table XV, p. 37.
As seen from its heading, table XXII gives the systems in order of
achievements. These serial standings are derived from tables III
and IV. Reading from the top, system XXIII has an average serial
standing of _one_, being lowest in both reasoning and fundamentals;
system XXV ranks _three_ in average serial standing, being _fourth_
from lowest in reasoning and _second_ from lowest in fundamentals;
the readings for the other systems are similar.
Column Heading Keys:
SYS = SYSTEMS
A = Average serial standing
B = Serial standing in reasoning
C = Serial standing in fundamentals
D = Serial standing in time expenditure
E = Week minutes devoted to arithmetic
F = Week minutes devoted to all subjects
G = % of time to arithmetic
TABLE XXII TABLE XXIII TABLE XXIV
=============+=======================+==================================
COMPARATIVE | COMPARATIVE TIME | TIME DISTRIBUTION
ACHIEVEMENTS | EXPENDITURE | AMONG GRADES
+---+---+----+------+------+----+----------------------------------
| | | | | | | Lower numbers show week minutes
| | | | | | | devoted to arithmetic; upper show
| | | | | | | % of school time devoted to
SYS | | | | | | | arithmetic in each grade
| | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | I | II | III | IV | V | VI
-----+---+---+----+------+------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
XXIII| | | | | | | 7 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 15
1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 1150 | 9675 | 12 | 100 | 100 | 200 | 250 | 250 | 250
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XXV | | | | | | | | 7 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 13
3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 722 | 8700 | 8 | .. | 100 | 140 | 155 | 130 | 197
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XXII | | | | | | | | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 11
4½ | 5 | 4 | 1 | 507 | 7200 | 7 | .. | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 147
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XX | | | | | | | 7 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 15
5 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 1161 | 8200 | 14 | 80 | 113 | 210 | 240 | 265 | 253
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XVII | | | | | | | 2 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 23
7½ | 3 |12 | 21 | 1283 | 7500 | 17 | 27 | 158 | 250 | 258 | 300 | 290
| | | | | | | | | | | |
VIII | | | | | | | 2 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15
8 |11 | 5 | 18 | 1258 | 9600 | 13 | 25 | 233 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XV | | | | | | | | 11 | 15 | 20 | 17 | 18
8 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 1173 | 8025 | 15 | .. | 147 | 213 | 292 | 250 | 271
| | | | | | | | | | | |
III | | | | | | | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 16
9 |10 | 8 | 6 | 944 | 8025 | 12 | 125 | 125 | 150 | 150 | 165 | 229
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XXIV | | | | | | | | | 14 | 17 | 17 | 17
10 | 2 |18 | 7 | 950 | 8775 | 11 | .. | .. | 200 | 250 | 250 | 250
| | | | | | | | | | | |
X | | | | | | | | 7 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 18
10 |14 | 6 | 5 | 921 | 8550 | 11 | .. | 88 | 154 | 184 | 216 | 279
| | | | | | | | | | | |
I | | | | | | | | 9 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15
11 |13 | 9 | 9 | 1068 | 9375 | 11 | .. | 130 | 213 | 238 | 238 | 249
| | | | | | | | | | | |
IV | | | | | | | 28 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 20 | 23
12 | 4 |20 | 26 | 1854 | 8400 | 22 | 249 | 300 | 306 | 361 | 300 | 338
| | | | | | | | | | | |
II | | | | | | | 8 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16
13 |15 |11 | 17 | 1247 | 9900 | 13 | 121 | 192 | 217 | 225 | 233 | 259
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XXI | | | | | | | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 13
13 |16 |10 | 4 | 865 | 7650 | 11 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 180 | 210 | 195
| | | | | | | | | | |
VI | | | | | | | | 8 | 12 | 18 | 18 | 19
13 |12 |14 | 11 | 1126 | 9000 | 13 | .. | 127 | 177 | 266 | 266 | 290
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XVI | | | | | | | 5 | 8 | 13 | 18 | 17 | 16
14½| 6 |23 | 12 | 1127 | 9000 | 13 | 75 | 113 | 187 | 263 | 251 | 238
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XIII | | | | | | | | 26 | 23 | 18 | 19 | 19
15 |17 |13 | 25 | 1626 | 8475 | 19 | .. | 388 | 350 | 288 | 300 | 300
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XVIII| | | | | | | 6 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 19
16 | 8 |24 | 19 | 1265 | 8700 | 15 | 75 | 75 | 225 | 300 | 300 | 290
| | | | | | | | | | | |
IX | | | | | | | 13 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 21
17½ |19 |16 | 22 | 1559 | 9000 | 17 | 200 | 225 | 275 | 275 | 275 | 309
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XI | | | | | | | | 11 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 18
18½ |22 |15 | 10 | 1130 | 8575 | 13 | .. | 157 | 216 | 250 | 250 | 257
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XIV | | | | | | | 15 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 19
18½ |18 |10 | 23 | 1560 | 8850 | 18 | 225 | 245 | 270 | 280 | 270 | 270
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XII | | | | | | | | 6 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 19
19 |21 |17 | 13 | 1148 | 8400 | 14 | .. | 81 | 226 | 255 | 288 | 298
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XXVI | | | | | | | 7 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 17
22½ |23 |22 | 3 | 837 | 7200 | 12 | 80 | 125 | 125 | 150 | 150 | 207
| | | | | | | | | | | |
VII | | | | | | | 13 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 17
22½ |20 |25 | 24 | 1573 | 7800 | 20 | 175 | 262 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 236
| | | | | | | | | | | |
V | | | | | | | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13
23 |25 |21 | 8 | 971 | 8700 | 11 | 113 | 154 | 167 | 175 | 183 | 179
| | | | | | | | | | | |
XIX | | | | | | | 8 | 10 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 20
25 |24 |26 | 20 | 1276 | 9000 | 14 | 125 | 150 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 301
=====+===+===+====+======+======+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+====
.. = no time assigned.
Tables XXIII and XXIV keep the same order of systems and show the
time expenditure. The first line of table XXIII reads,—system XXIII
ranks fourteenth from the lowest in time expenditure, with 1150
week minutes devoted to arithmetic, 9675 week minutes devoted to
all subjects, the 1150 week minutes devoted to arithmetic being
12 per cent of the 9675 week minutes devoted to all subjects.
Similarly for the other systems, _e.g._ system XXV with a serial
standing in abilities of _three_, and a serial standing in time
expenditure of _two_, spends 722 week minutes on arithmetic, and
8700 week minutes on all subjects, arithmetic costing 8 per cent
of all the school time. The reader will recognize that the third
column, which gives the time devoted to all subjects for one week
of each of the first six years, gives the only new data of this
table, column two being the same as given in table XXI and the
first and fourth columns being derived from the others.
Probably the first essential shown by this table is the lack of
correspondence between the serial standing in time cost and the
serial standing in abilities; _e.g._ the system with the lowest
time cost is found by referring to table XIII to be system XXII,
which is seen in table XXII to rank _four and one-half_ in average
abilities. Similarly, the system that ranks _fifteenth_ in time
cost, ranks _fifth_ in abilities, etc. Another noticeable showing
is the wide variability in the _school time_ of the systems. It
will be seen to vary from 7200 to 9900 week minutes. This time
includes recesses, and it means that lengths of school days vary
from an average of four hours to five and one-half hours. And if
the names of the systems were given, it would be recognized that
almost invariably the longer school hours are accompanied by the
least amount of variation in program, such as physical education,
field trips, assemblies, etc. Perhaps the other most striking fact
of this table is the wide variation in the per cent of time devoted
to arithmetic. It varies from 22 per cent for system IV to 7 per
cent for system XXII, a difference of more than three to one.
As table XXIV is part of the discussion of factors in time
expenditure, its sample readings are given under that heading, page
62.
_The Relation of Time Expenditure to Abilities Produced_
The reader found one indication of the relation, or lack of
relation, between time cost and products in tables XXII and XXIII.
Each of the three following tables expresses these same facts.
TABLE XXV
COMPARISON OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SYSTEMS HAVING LESS THAN
MEDIAN TIME COST WITH THOSE HAVING MORE
--------------+----------------------------------------------------
| COMBINED SCORES OF THE THIRTEEN SYSTEMS
+-------------+------------+------------+------------
|With _less_ |With _more_ |With _less_ |With _more_
|than median |than median |than median |than median
| time cost | time cost | time cost | time cost
+-------------+------------+------------+------------
| Including home study | Without home study
--------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------
Reasoning | 7,519 | 7,893 | 7,277 | 8,135
| | | |
Fundamentals | 40,751 | 40,273 | 37,165 | 43,859
--------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------
TABLE XXVI
RATIO OF TIME EXPENDITURES TO ABILITIES[38]
==========+=====================+==================+===================
| AVERAGE RATIOS | REASONING RATIOS | FUNDAMENTAL
| | | RATIOS
+--------+------------+--------+---------+--------+----------
SYSTEMS | Serial | Time Cost | Serial | Time | Serial | Time Cost
|Standing|to Reasoning|Standing| Cost |Standing| to
| of | and to | of | to | of |Fundamen-
|Systems |Fundamentals|Systems |Reasoning|Systems | tals
----------+--------+------------+--------+---------+--------+----------
IV | 1 | 2.26 | 1 | 3.99 | 4 | .520
XXIII | 2 | 1.92 | 2 | 3.22 | 1 | .624
XVII | 3 | 1.65 | 3 | 2.88 | 7 | .421
XIII | 4 | 1.54 | 4 | 2.55 | 3 | .533
XX | 5 | 1.45 | 7 | 2.36 | 2 | .535
XVIII | 6 | 1.41 | 5 | 2.48 | 13 | .336
XIV | 7 | 1.40 | 7 | 2.36 | 6 | .438
VIII | 8 | 1.39 | 8 | 2.33 | 5 | .457
IX | 9 | 1.353 | 9 | 2.25 | 5 | .457
XVI | 10 | 1.352 | 6 | 2.40 | 18 | .304
XV | 11 | 1.31 | 11 | 2.20 | 8 | .422
VII | 12 | 1.28 | 12 | 2.14 | 9 | .415
XXIV | 13 | 1.24 | 10 | 2.21 | 21 | .270
II | 14 | 1.22 | 14 | 2.02 | 7 | .421
VI | 15 | 1.20 | 13 | 2.04 | 11 | .354
I | 16 | 1.15 | 15 | 1.93 | 10 | .363
III | 17 | 1.05 | 16 | 1.77 | 16 | .331
XII | 18 | 0.943 | 17 | 1.55 | 13 | .336
XXV | 19 | 0.941 | 17 | 1.55 | 15 | .333
X | 20 | 0.93 | 18 | 1.53 | 14 | .335
XI | 21 | 0.913 | 20 | 1.48 | 12 | .346
XIX | 22 | 0.91 | 19 | 1.50 | 17 | .311
XXI | 23 | 0.83 | 21 | 1.37 | 19 | .293
V | 24 | 0.67 | 23 | 1.06 | 20 | .272
XXII | 25 | 0.65 | 22 | 1.08 | 23 | .219
XXVI | 26 | 0.64 | 24 | 1.05 | 22 | .227
==========+========+============+========+=========+========+==========
The above details are compiled from the scores of individual
systems as given in tables III and IV, the median cost being that
given in table XXI. As measured by the time used in school, the
thirteen systems with less than the median cost stand slightly
the better; and as measured by the time including home study, the
thirteen systems with more than the median time cost stand somewhat
the better. The time used in school is doubtless the more exact
measure, but, as shown in table XXI, some systems depend on home
study to a considerable extent. Hence both measures are used.
The lack of relation indicated in this general way is shown more
accurately in the table, page 263, in terms of coefficients of
correlation.
The order of systems in this table is determined by the first
column, which gives the average serial standing as determined by
the ratios of time to products. The right-hand column under each
heading gives the ratio of time expenditure to abilities produced,
and the left-hand column gives the serial order of that system as
measured by the highness of the ratio, _i.e._ highness of cost per
unit of product; _e.g._ in system IV the ratio of time to reasoning
is 3.99 (see fourth column), the highest ratio in reasoning
(determined by dividing the time cost, 1854 week minutes, by 464,
the points made in reasoning). The ratio of time to fundamentals
in this system is .52; giving an average ratio of 2.26. That is to
say, the ratio of time to abilities in system IV is as 2.26 to 1,
the highest among the twenty-six systems.
That there is no direct ratio between time expenditure and
abilities is again shown by this table. For example, system XXII,
which spends the least amount of time (see table XXI), ranks fourth
from the lowest in abilities (see table XXII), ranks 25th, that is,
next to the highest, in ratio of time cost to abilities produced;
and, what is even more striking, system XXVI, which spends third
from the least amount of time, ranks third from the highest in
abilities and 26th or _highest_ in the ratio of time cost to
abilities produced.
That a large amount of time expended is no guarantee of a high
standard of abilities may again be convincingly seen by comparing
the ratios of the five systems spending the smallest amount of
time with the five spending the largest. Of the five spending the
least time, the average ratio is .80, which corresponds with the
23d or the 3d from the best in ratio; and of the five spending
the greatest amount of time, the average ratio is 1.57, which
corresponds with the 4th poorest in ratio.
The last three tables have each shown the decided lack of
relationship between time cost and abilities produced, and hence
for these systems it is evident that there is practically no
relation between time expenditure and arithmetical abilities; and,
in view of the representative nature of these twenty-six systems,
it is probable that this lack of relationship is the rule the
country over.
This is not to say that a certain amount of time is not essential
to the production of arithmetical abilities; nor that, given the
same other factors, operating equally well, the product will not
increase somewhat with an increased time expenditure. What is
claimed is that, as present practice goes, a large amount of time
spent on arithmetic is no guarantee of a high degree of efficiency.
If one were to choose at random among the schools with more
than the median time given to arithmetic, the chances are about
equal that he would get a school with an inferior product; and
conversely, if one were to choose among the schools with less than
the median time cost, the chances are about equal that he would get
a school with a superior product in arithmetic.[39]
So far, then, as ability in arithmetic means ability to handle such
foundation work as is measured by the tests in this study, this
“essential” has not _necessarily_ suffered by the introduction of
other subjects and the consequent reduction of its time allotment.
One would need to read the whole study to appreciate fully the
nature of the investigation. From the pages quoted, however, it
must be apparent that: (1) schools and school systems vary greatly
in the results which they secure in arithmetic; (2) the excellence
of the work done is not directly proportional to the time expended.
We will find it necessary to revise our opinions with regard to
the organization of school subjects, the allotment of time, the
methods of teaching, and the like, in proportion as we have careful
investigation in these several fields.
FOR COLLATERAL READING
E. L. Thorndike, _The Principles of Teaching_, Chapter XVI.
APPENDIX
I. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
BY FRANKLIN THOMAS BAKER, A.M.
I. Historical View of the Subject
=1.= THE CHOICE OF READING MATTER.
1. The school reader an expression of social ideals.
2. German primers and readers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
3. The “moral tales” of the eighteenth century.
4. The New England Primer.
5. The oratorical and patriotic selections of the early nineteenth
century.
6. The school readers of to-day; their general characteristics.
=2.= METHOD.
1. The alphabetic method in use until modern times.
2. New ideas in the sixteenth century and later. Work of
Ickelsamer, Basedow, Pestalozzi, Comenius, and Jacotot.
3. Gradual ascendency of the analytic over the alphabetic (or
synthetic) method.
4. Recognition of the importance of phonetics, of association of
ideas, etc.
REFERENCES: Kehr, _Geschichte des Lese-Unterrichts in
der Volksschule_, Gotha, 1889. Fechner, _Geschichte des
Volksschullesebuches_, Gotha, 1889. Ford, _The New England Primer_,
New York, 1897. Reeder, _Historical Development of the School
Reader_, New York, 1900. Hall, _How to Teach Reading_, New York,
1886. _American Journal of Education, Vol. V._, Hartford and London,
1858. Russell, _German Higher Schools_, New York, 1900. Carpenter,
Baker, and Scott, _The Teaching of English_, New York, 1903. Huey,
_Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading_, New York, 1908.
II. First Steps in Instruction
=1.= MATERIAL.
1. Material should be (1) interesting, (2) literary, so far as
possible, (3) adapted to the capacities and tastes of children,
(4) of enough difficulty and sufficiently above their own ordinary
thoughts to have value as instruction.
2. The best material (1) folk stuff, such as the classic fairy
tales, Mother Goose, etc., (2) tales of heroism and sacrifice, (3)
poetry of the simpler type, like that of Stevenson and Christina
Rossetti.
3. Much of the language work should be free conversation between
the teacher and the children about their ordinary experiences.
=2.= METHOD.
1. During the first years much of the literary material must be
given orally by the teacher. Oral work is to be held of great
importance.
2. Children to be encouraged to commit good things to memory.
3. All reading aloud by the pupils to be done as naturally as
possible. Importance of reading by phrases and sentences, rather
than word by word.
4. Value of the dramatic element in early work.
5. The conflict between the “word method” and the “sentence method”
over. Modern teaching eclectic in method. If any name can be given
to the best way, it might be, perhaps, “thought method.”
6. Use of script and print: advantages of each as a first form.
Value of printed cards and other devices for drill.
7. Form of type for beginners’ books: not too large; letters to
have all differentiating marks _distinct_. Importance of right kind
of paper, width of columns, etc. Kinds of pictures most serviceable.
8. When shall writing begin? In general not to be forced on
the child in the first year. Arguments for and against this
arrangement. Should there be any fixed standard of accomplishment
for the first year?
9. Phonetic drill. How many words must be known before it begins?
Various plans equally successful. The main thing, perhaps, is to
have drill enough to give the pupils _certainty_ in their work, but
to keep the drill subordinated to their interest in reading.
10. The order of such drill. “Normal words,” chosen for their
meaning, their frequency of occurrence, and their similarity in
form to other words either at their beginning or at their end. Many
words, however, must be learned without relation to such a scheme.
11. “Normal sentences” those that partially help the reader to the
recognition of words; as, “The sun rises in the east, and sets
in the west.” For young children, sentences involving the use of
repetitive phrases must also be regarded as normal, as in “The
House that Jack Built.”
12. In general, both analysis and synthesis to be used in word
drill.
13. Importance of securing good habits as to intelligent reading,
correct spelling, etc., in the early years. Children can usually do
better than they or their elders think they can.
14. Emphasis to be placed upon reading many of the good things over
and over, until they are known in whole and in part.
REFERENCES: Bryant, _How to tell Stories to Children_. Carpenter,
Baker, and Scott, _The Teaching of English_. Chubb, _The Teaching
of English_. Colby, _Literature in Life and in School_. Hall, _How
to teach Reading_. Hinsdale, _Teaching the Language Art_. Huey,
_Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading_. Arnold, _Reading, How to teach
it_. Laurie, _Language and Linguistic Method_. Dewey, “The Primary
Education Fetich,” in _The Forum_, May, 1898. Dewey, _The School and
Society_. Dye, _Story-Teller’s Art_.
III. The Teaching of Literature
=1.= GENERAL PROBLEMS.
1. Can literature be _taught_? Or can pupils “be taught through
literature”? Examples of such educational use of literature.
2. Present aims in teaching literature: entertainment, portrayal
of life, acquaintance with the world of thought and feeling as
presented in books, cultivation of imagination and sense of beauty.
3. True interpretation implies grasping the central purpose, idea,
or feeling of the piece.
4. Various types of literature demand various treatment. Necessity
of adapting the treatment to the class.
5. Taste (sense of beauty) developed mainly by contact with good
models. Instruction plays a minor part. The love of good reading
fostered by judicious selection of material, and by example and
influence.
6. How can the habit of good reading be cultivated?
=2.= MATERIAL.
1. The literature chosen must be suitable in its themes, its
action, its feeling, its simplicity.
2. Literary histories and biographies: their limited value in
elementary work.
3. Scientific and historical material in literature. Literary use
of such material not to be confounded with science and history.
4. Pictures and other illustrative material: Sometimes give
intuitive basis for desired concepts; sometimes interfere with the
imagination.
=3.= METHOD.
1. Reading aloud: its value. Means of securing good results;
interest, sense of reality, consciousness of an audience.
2. Analytic study, of content, form, and general literary effects.
_a._ Must be adapted to the pupil’s interest and his stage of
development.
_b._ Must yield results of value appreciable by the pupil.
_c._ Effects of too much or too little such study.
3. Correlation of literature with other work possible in limited
degree. A matter of class treatment rather than of the general
arrangement of the course of study. A problem for the teacher
rather than the principal.
4. Treatment of allusions, historical, literary, etc. The need of
judicious selection.
5. Treatment of figures of speech, verse forms, new words, etc.
6. Lesson plans: their function and value.
_a._ An outline should control and direct the work, yet be
flexible enough to allow freedom on the part of teacher and pupil.
_b._ Introductions: their nature and function. When necessary.
REFERENCES: Carpenter, Baker, and Scott, Laurie, Chubb, Hinsdale,
Arnold and Hall, as cited. Scudder, _Literature in Schools_. C. A.
McMurry, _Special Method in Reading_. Bates, _Talks on the Study of
Literature_. Colby, _Literature in Life and in School_. Adler, _Moral
Instruction of Children_.
IV. Study of Certain Typical Books
=1.= NURSERY RHYMES (as _Mother Goose_, Stevenson’s _Child’s Garden
of Verses_).
_a._ The nature of their appeal to children in sound, imagery, and
ideas.
_b._ Their value in training the ear, the powers of speech, etc.
=2.= GRIMM’ “FAIRY TALES.”
_a._ Their source and relation to other folklore.
_b._ The marvelous, and its effect on children.
_c._ Action, logical sequence, local color.
_d._ Various types of myth.
_e._ The ideal element, poetic justice, etc. Need the harsher
elements be omitted?
_f._ Typical lessons.
=3.= “ALICE IN WONDERLAND.”
_a._ Its origin and its place in literature.
_b._ The nature of its reality: based upon things in the child’s
world of imagination.
_c._ Its value as humor, as a means of quickening the power of
thought.
_d._ What preparation is needed for the appreciation of it?
_e._ Typical lessons.
=4.= “ROBINSON CRUSOE.”
_a._ Its origin and place in literature.
_b._ Fundamental characteristics as a piece of fiction.
_c._ Elements in it that appeal to children, or fail so to appeal.
_d._ Justification of the abridged editions.
_e._ Its relation (1) to the world of romance, (2) to real life.
_f._ How best presented. Typical lessons.
=5.= LONGFELLOW’S “HIAWATHA.”
_a._ Its origin, form, popularity.
_b._ Its qualities, epic and romantic.
_c._ Its treatment of the myth.
_d._ Its value as school reading; parts best suited for this.
_e._ General value of reading about primitive life.
_f._ Relation to handwork, etc.
=6.= HAWTHORNE’S “WONDER BOOK” AND “TANGLEWOOD TALES.”
_a._ Their origin and general literary qualities.
_b._ Romantic coloring given to classic stories; compare Kingsley’s
_The Heroes_, and Bulfinch’s _Age of Fable_, and other versions of
the myths.
_c._ Different types of myth and fairy story represented.
_d._ Artistic qualities of Hawthorne’s versions; how far can these
be shown in the school?
_e._ The ethical element: how treated?
_f._ Typical lessons.
=7.= WHITTIER’S “SNOW BOUND.”
_a._ Its historical value as a presentation of a type of
civilization: occupation, pleasures, interests, types of character.
_b._ Its literary value as an ideal treatment of its theme.
_c._ The point of view that of an old man’s retrospect. How far is
this appreciable by children?
_d._ The study of this poem involves also attention to structure,
diction, allusions, poetic descriptions, and metrical form.
_e._ Typical passages treated in lessons.
=8.= LONGFELLOW’S “EVANGELINE.”
_a._ The poet’s departure from historical fact; its justification.
_b._ The idyllic element; the descriptions.
_c._ The central theme, and its treatment in the first and second
parts of the poem.
_d._ The different quality of the two parts; predominance of
description and the meditative element in the second.
_e._ Metrical structure.
_f._ What things in the poem can be made especially interesting to
young people?
=9.= SCOTT’S “IVANHOE.”
_a._ Its free treatment of historical fact. The difference between
historic and poetic truth.
_b._ The historical novel: its general relations to history; to be
regarded primarily as literature, not as history.
_c._ The portrayal of ideals and customs of a past age: types of
characters; structure (plot) of the book built in accordance with
this purpose.
_d._ Difficulties of language, allusions, etc.
_e._ Means of arousing interest in romantic literature. Comparisons
with other books commonly read by children.
=10.= SHAKSPERE’S “JULIUS CÆSAR.”
_a._ Historical basis, anachronisms, etc.
_b._ The nature of its appeal to young readers.
_c._ Treatment of verbal difficulties and of the dramatic form.
_d._ The action, the characters, the dramatic motives and
situations.
V. Composition
=1.= OBJECT OF TEACHING COMPOSITION.
1. Shall it be “literary,” or aim merely at adequate expression?
=2.= ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN THE PROBLEM: FORM AND SUBJECT MATTER.
1. Importance of subject matter in giving motive and interest, and
in determining form.
2. Subjects for composition to include topics from school work and
from daily life: to be made _real_, as far as possible. Reality
dependent upon interest and the consciousness of an audience.
3. Preparation for the work. Importance of oral treatment, of the
gathering and ordering of facts and ideas. Originality not to be
expected.
4. Composition units: necessity of training in both sentence and
paragraph. Value of outlines, and of drill in sentences.
5. Criticism of written work.
_a._ General aims.
_b._ Means of making criticism effective.
_c._ The object to make pupils self-critical without checking
spontaneity.
REFERENCES: Laurie, Hinsdale, Chubb and Carpenter, Baker and Scott as
cited above.
VI. Grammar
=1.= HISTORICAL REVIEW.
1. Historical changes in the idea of English grammar.
2. Attempt, in the Renaissance period, to Latinize the grammar of
English. Persistence of this point of view.
3. Recent changes due to philological study.
4. What now constitutes English grammar?
5. What problems remain unsolved?
=2.= OBJECTS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR.
1. Various theories: for correctness of expression and for
discipline.
2. Modern notions of authority in usage, and of the province of
grammar.
=3.= AMOUNT OF GRAMMAR TO BE TAUGHT.
1. How much grammar shall be taught in the schools?
2. What things are of most value?
3. Importance of syntax; of study of forms.
=4.= THE ORDER OF TREATMENT.
1. Syntax or etymology first?
2. A study of the methods of development adopted by some of the
representative textbooks.
REFERENCES: Laurie, Hinsdale, Carpenter, Baker and Scott, and
Chubb. Liddell, “English Historical Grammar,” _Atlantic Monthly_,
Vol. LXXXII. Sweet, _New English Grammar_, Part II. Barbour, _The
Teaching of English Grammar_; Goold Brown, _Grammar of Grammars_
(Introduction). Krapp, _Syllabus of English Language and Grammar_
(Columbia University Extension Syllabi, Series A, No. 5).
II. THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
BY DAVID EUGENE SMITH, LL.D.
I. The History of the Subject
=1.= ADVANTAGES TO A TEACHER IN STUDYING THE HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT
TAUGHT.
=2.= THE EARLY HISTORY OF ARITHMETIC.
=3.= THE GROWTH OF NUMBER SYSTEMS.
=4.= THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARITHMETIC AS KNOWN AT PRESENT.
REFERENCES: Smith, _The Teaching of Arithmetic_, New York, 1909,
chap. i; and in general the sections in this syllabus correspond to
the chapters in this work. _The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_,
New York, 1900. Ball, _A Primer of the History of Mathematics_,
London, 1895, and _A Short Account of the History of Mathematics_,
London, 4th edition, 1908. Fink, _History of Mathematics_, translated
by Bennan and Smith, Chicago, 1900. Cajori, _History of Elementary
Mathematics_, New York, 1896, and _History of Mathematics_, New York,
1893. On Greek Arithmetic see Gow, _History of Greek Mathematics_,
Cambridge, 1884.
II. The Reasons for Teaching Arithmetic
=1.= THE ANCIENT POINT OF VIEW.
=2.= CONTENT OF THE PRIMITIVE LOGISTIC, OR ART OF CALCULATION.
_a._ Early counting.
_b._ Early writing of numbers. The development of notations.
_c._ The Influence of the Hindu-Arabic notation.
=3.= CONTENT OF THE EARLY ARITHMETIC, OR THEORY OF NUMBERS.
_a._ Connection with mysticism.
_b._ Contributions of Pythagoras and his school.
_c._ The effect upon modern arithmetic.
=4.= THE REASONS FOR TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
_a._ The Church schools.
_b._ The reckoning schools.
_c._ The effect upon modern arithmetic.
=5.= THE REASONS DEVELOPED BY THE RENAISSANCE.
_a._ Influence of commerce.
_b._ Influence of printing. The crystallization of arithmetic.
_c._ The effect upon the subject matter of modern arithmetic.
=6.= THE REASONS OF TO-DAY.
_a._ The practical value. Whatever pretends to be practical in
arithmetic should really be so.
_b._ The question of “mental discipline.” The rise of this
doctrine. The results of a psychological study of the question. The
tangible part of “mental discipline.”
_c._ The interest in the subject for its own sake. The game element
of mathematics. The historical development of the science of
arithmetic from the primitive game.
REFERENCES: Smith, _The Teaching of Arithmetic_, chap. ii, to the
chapters of which no further reference will be made, this syllabus
being merely a synopsis of that work. _Teaching of Elementary
Mathematics_, pp. 1-70. Young, _The Teaching of Mathematics_, New
York, 1907, pp. 41-52, 202-256. On the historical side, consult
Fink, _History of Mathematics_, Chicago, 1898. Ball, _Short History
of Mathematics_, New York, 1908. Cajori, _History of Elementary
Mathematics_, New York. Jackson, _The Educational Significance of
Sixteenth Century Arithmetic_, New York, 1906. Branford, _A Study of
Mathematical Education_, Oxford, 1908.
III. What Arithmetic should include
=1.= FROM THE PRACTICAL STANDPOINT.
_a._ The utilities of arithmetic overrated. A detailed
consideration of the various topics usually studied.
_b._ The effect of tradition upon the matter of arithmetic.
=2.= FROM THE STANDPOINT OF MENTAL DISCIPLINE. DISCIPLINE A MATTER OF
METHOD RATHER THAN ONE OF TOPICS.
=3.= FROM THE STANDPOINT OF INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT FOR ITS OWN SAKE.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, p. 19.
Young, pp. 23-242.
IV. The Nature of the Problem
=1.= THE GREAT CHANGE IN RECENT YEARS BROUGHT ABOUT BY TWO CAUSES.
_a._ The study of social needs.
_b._ The study of child psychology.
=2.= THE PECULIAR NEEDS OF AMERICA. THE BEARING OF THESE NEEDS UPON
THE TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC.
=3.= CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND THE PROBLEMS STILL AWAITING SOLUTION.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, p. 21.
Young, pp. 97-103, 210-218. Saxelby, _Practical Mathematics_, and
similar works.
V. The Arrangement of Material
=1.= RECENT CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT FROM A CONSIDERATION OF CHILD
PSYCHOLOGY.
=2.= THE GROWTH OF THE TEXTBOOK.
_a._ The Treviso arithmetic of 1478, and the early arithmetics of
Italy, Germany, France, England, and Holland.
_b._ The two-book series.
_c._ The three-book series.
_d._ The extreme spiral arrangement.
=3.= THE MODERN CURRICULUM IN ARITHMETIC.
_a._ Its origin.
_b._ Its present status.
_c._ Improvements to be considered.
REFERENCES: Young, pp. 178-188.
VI. Method
=1.= THE MEANING OF METHOD.
=2.= HOW THE ANCIENTS PROBABLY TAUGHT CALCULATION.
_a._ Various forms of the abacus.
_b._ The abacus at the time of the Renaissance.
_c._ The effect upon arithmetic of abandoning the abacus in western
Europe.
=3.= CAUSES OF THE RISE OF THE RULE.
=4.= REVIVAL OF OBJECTIVE TEACHING.
Trapp (1780), von Busse (1786), and Pestalozzi (about 1800).
=5.= THE EARLY FOLLOWERS OF PESTALOZZI.
Tillich (1806), Krancke (1819), Grube (1842).
=6.= TYPES OF LATER METHODS.
_a._ Counting.
_b._ Ratio.
_c._ Extreme spiral.
_d._ Pure concrete work as a basis.
_e._ Pure abstract work as a basis.
=7.= THE EASE AND FUTILITY OF CREATING NARROW METHODS.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, pp. 71-97.
Seeley, _Grube’s Method of Teaching Arithmetic_, New York, 1888.
Soldan, _Grube’s Method of Teaching Arithmetic_, Chicago, 1878. C. A.
McMurry, _Special Method in Arithmetic_, New York, 1905. McLellan and
Dewey, _The Psychology of Number_, New York, 1895. Young, pp. 53-150.
VII. Mental or Oral Arithmetic
=1.= HISTORICAL STATUS OF ORAL ARITHMETIC.
=2.= REVIVAL UNDER PESTALOZZI’S INFLUENCE. THE WORK OF WARREN COLBURN
IN THIS COUNTRY.
=3.= CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF THIS FORM OF WORK.
=4.= THE CLAIMS OF ORAL ARITHMETIC UPON THE SCHOOL TO-DAY. THE
PRACTICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS OF THE PROBLEM.
=5.= THE NATURE OF THE ORAL WORK,—ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE.
=6.= THE TIME TO BE ALLOWED TO THE SUBJECT.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, p. 117.
_Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 6. Young, p. 230.
VIII. Written Arithmetic
=1.= WHAT SHOULD BE THE NATURE OF THE WRITTEN ARITHMETIC?
=2.= OBJECT OF THE BUSINESS FORM OF SOLUTION.
=3.= OBJECT OF WRITTEN ANALYSIS.
=4.= NECESSITY OF RECOGNIZING TWO KINDS OF WRITTEN WORK.
=5.= HOW TO MARK PAPERS.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, pp. 121-129.
IX. Children’s Analyses
=1.= THE OBJECT IN REQUIRING ANALYSES.
=2.= WHAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED OF CHILDREN IN THIS RESPECT?
=3.= EXPLANATIONS OF FUNDAMENTAL OPERATIONS. RELATION TO THE FORMAL
RULE.
=4.= EXPLANATION OF APPLIED PROBLEMS.
=5.= RELATION TO THE WORK IN ENGLISH.
=6.= THE LIMIT OF PRIMARY WORK, “TWO-STEP REASONING.”
REFERENCES: Smith, _Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 9. Young, p. 205.
X. Interest and Effort
=1.= STATUS OF ARITHMETIC FROM THE STANDPOINT OF INTEREST.
=2.= DANGER OF OVEREMPHASIS UPON INTEREST.
=3.= LESSENING OF INTEREST WITH THE LESSENING OF EFFORT.
=4.= SAFE BASIS FOR INCREASE OF INTEREST.
=5.= EFFECT OF A GENUINE, SPONTANEOUS INTEREST UPON INCREASE OF
EFFORT AND OF POWER.
XI. Improvements in the Technique of Arithmetic
=1.= HISTORY OF THE IMPROVEMENT IN SYMBOLISM.
=2.= HOW THE PRESENT SEEKS TO CARRY ON THIS IMPROVEMENT.
_a._ The difficulties that are met.
_b._ Dangers of too much symbolism.
_c._ The proper criterion for selection.
=3.= THE EQUATION IN ARITHMETIC.
_a._ Object.
_b._ Dangers to be avoided.
=4.= THE PROCESS OF SUBTRACTION AS A TYPE.
_a._ The various historical methods considered.
_b._ The criterion for a selection.
_c._ The claims of the various processes to-day.
=5.= THE PROCESS OF DIVISION AS A TYPE.
_a._ The history of division.
_b._ Present points at issue.
_c._ The probable future.
=6.= PROPORTION AS A TYPE.
_a._ History of proportion and the “Rule of Three.”
_b._ Present symbolism and status.
_c._ Probable future of the subject.
=7.= FUTURE PROBLEMS RELATING TO TECHNIQUE.
XII. Certain Great Principles of Teaching Arithmetic
A summary of the larger principles for the guidance of teachers.
XIII. General Subjects for Experiment
=1.= THE USE OF GAMES.
=2.= CHIEF INTERESTS OF CHILDREN.
=3.= RESULTS OF EMPHASIZING:
_a._ The abstract problem.
_b._ The concrete problem.
=4.= AMOUNT OF TIME TO BE ASSIGNED TO ARITHMETIC.
=5.= RELATIVE AMOUNT OF TIME TO BE DEVOTED TO:
_a._ Oral arithmetic.
_b._ Written arithmetic.
=6.= THE BEST BASIS OF ARRANGEMENT OF AN ARITHMETIC.
XIV. Details for Experiment
Professor Suzzallo’s list of details as set forth in _The Teachers
College Record_, January, 1909, p. 43, and in Smith, _The Teaching of
Arithmetic_, chap. xiv.
XV. The Work of the First School Year
=1.= ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST NO FORMAL ARITHMETIC IN THIS YEAR.
=2.= THE LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES FOR THE YEAR.
=3.= THE NUMBER SPACE OF THE YEAR.
_a._ For counting.
_b._ For operations.
=4.= THE WORK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN ADDITION.
=5.= THE WORK IN THE OTHER OPERATIONS.
=6.= THE FRACTION CONCEPTS TO BE CONSIDERED.
_a._ Part of an object.
_b._ Part of a group.
_c._ The idea of “half as much.”
=7.= DENOMINATE NUMBERS.
=8.= THE QUESTION OF THE USE OF OBJECTS.
=9.= SYMBOLIC WORK AND TECHNICAL EXPRESSIONS.
=10.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS OF THIS YEAR.
=11.= THE TIME LIMIT UPON WORK.
REFERENCES: Smith, _The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics_, p. 99.
_Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 11. C. A. McMurry, _Special Method in
Arithmetic_.
XVI. The Work of the Second School Year
=1.= THE LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= NUMBER SPACE FOR THE YEAR.
=3.= COUNTING.
_a._ The origin of the “counting method.”
_b._ The extremes to which it may be carried.
_c._ The proper use of counting in teaching.
=4.= THE ADDITION TABLE. RELATION TO COUNTING.
=5.= THE METHOD OF TREATING SUBTRACTION REVIEWED.
=6.= THE MULTIPLICATION TABLE.
_a._ Arguments for and against learning tables.
_b._ Extent of the work for this year.
_c._ Relation to counting.
=7.= DIVISION.
_a._ Relation to multiplication.
_b._ Arrangement of work in short division.
=8.= FRACTIONS.
_a._ Extent of the work.
_b._ Nature of the objective work.
=9.= DENOMINATE NUMBERS.
_a._ Extent of the work.
_b._ Use of the measures. Visualizing the great basal units.
=10.= NATURE OF THE SYMBOLS TO BE CONSIDERED.
=11.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEM WORK.
_a._ Abstract.
_b._ Concrete.
XVII. The Work of the Third School Year
=1.= PECULIAR NECESSITY FOR PREPARATION FOR THIS YEAR’S WORK.
=2.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
_a._ Beginning of rapid written work.
_b._ Multiplication table completed.
_c._ Most important tables of denominate numbers.
_d._ Work extended to two-figure multipliers and the beginning of
long division.
=3.= NUMBER SPACE MAY EXTEND TO 100,000.
=4.= THE ROMAN NUMERALS.
_a._ Extent to which this work should be carried in various school
years.
_b._ Historical sketch of the system and of its uses.
=5.= THE COUNTING METHOD FURTHER CONSIDERED. ITS VALUES AND ITS
DANGERS.
=6.= THE WRITING OF UNITED STATES MONEY. OPERATIONS.
=7.= SQUARE AND CUBIC MEASURE.
_a._ Extent.
_b._ Nature of objective work.
=8.= SUGGESTIONS AS TO FOUR OPERATIONS.
_a._ Addition. Practical value of checks on all operations.
_b._ Subtraction, as discussed in section XI.
_c._ Multiplication. Should the tables extend to 12 × 12? Devices.
_d._ Division. Algorism considered historically and practically.
_e._ Historical note as to the number of operations.
=9.= EXTENT OF WORK WITH FRACTIONS.
=10.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Teaching of Arithmetic_, chap. xvii, p. 73.
_Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 29.
XVIII. The Work of the Fourth School Year
=1.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= NUMBER SPACE.
=3.= THE FOUR OPERATIONS.
_a._ Nature of the oral work.
_b._ Criteria for judging written work.
_c._ Speed versus accuracy.
=4.= NATURE OF THE WORK IN COMMON FRACTIONS.
_a._ Historical sketch of various fractions.
_b._ Change in the practical uses of common fractions.
=5.= DENOMINATE NUMBERS.
_a._ What tables are of value? Historical sketch of tables.
_b._ Visualizing the basal units.
_c._ Accuracy in reduction.
=6.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 43.
XIX. The Work of the Fifth School Year
=1.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= NECESSITY FOR AND NATURE OF PRELIMINARY REVIEW.
=3.= NUMBER SPACE. MODERN TENDENCIES IN USING LARGE NUMBERS.
=4.= NATURE OF THE REVIEW OF THE FOUR OPERATIONS.
_a._ Suggestions for rapid addition and subtraction.
_b._ Checks on multiplication and division.
_c._ Twofold nature of division.
=5.= COMMON FRACTIONS.
_a._ Nature of the theoretical explanations.
_b._ What should be expected of children in this regard.
=6.= DENOMINATE NUMBERS.
_a._ Extent of reductions.
_b._ Nature of the operations.
=7.= HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.
=8.= INTRODUCTION TO PERCENTAGE.
=9.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS.
REFERENCES: Smith, _Handbook to Arithmetics_, p. 53.
XX. The Work of the Sixth School Year
=1.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= THE GENERAL SOLUTION OF PROBLEMS.
_a._ How the world has solved problems.
_b._ Modern improvements.
=3.= PERCENTAGE.
_a._ Nature of the subject.
_b._ History of the subject.
_c._ Suggestions for treatment.
_d._ The most important applications.
=4.= RATIO AND PROPORTION.
_a._ History.
_b._ Present value, and probable future status.
=5.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS.
XXI. The Work of the Seventh School Year
=1.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= REVIEW OF OUR NUMBERS. HISTORICAL NOTES.
=3.= REVIEW OF THE FUNDAMENTAL OPERATIONS.
=4.= TYPES OF SUBJECTS TREATED.
_a._ Longitude and time. Origin, value, new features.
_b._ Percentage. What cases are the most important?
=5.= INTRODUCTION OF ALGEBRAIC WORK CONSIDERED. NATURE OF MENSURATION.
=6.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS.
XXII. The Work of the Eighth School Year
=1.= LEADING MATHEMATICAL FEATURES.
=2.= NATURE OF THE BUSINESS APPLICATIONS.
_a._ Banking. Extent to which the work should be carried.
_b._ Partial payments. Historical view of the value of the subject.
_c._ Partnership. Value of the historical view.
_d._ Simple accounts.
_e._ Exchange. Wherein its value lies.
_f._ Taxes. Insurance.
_g._ Corporations. Arguments for and against the study of
investments.
=3.= THE METRIC SYSTEM.
_a._ Why taught. Historical view.
_b._ Extent of the work.
_c._ Practical suggestions in teaching.
=4.= POWERS AND ROOTS.
_a._ Historical view.
_b._ Present values. Extent of the work.
=5.= MENSURATION.
_a._ Extent to which it should be carried.
_b._ Geometry in the eighth year.
_c._ The formula.
=6.= ALGEBRA IN THE EIGHTH YEAR.
_a._ Historical view. Present values.
_b._ Extent to which it should be carried.
=7.= NATURE OF THE PROBLEM.
=8.= A COMPARISON OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN SCHOOLS.
III. THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY.
BY RICHARD ELWOOD DODGE, A.M.
I. The Scope and Purpose of School Geography
=1.= SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY A PART OF SCIENCE OF GEOGRAPHY.
Relation of elementary school work to that in secondary school and
college.
=2.= DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHY.
Meaning of this and growth of idea.
_A._ “Study of earth in its relation to life.”
_B._ The emphasis of “causal notion” in school geography.
Rational geography.
=3.= SCOPE OF SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY.
_A._ Possible scope as wide as the subject.
Complexity of subject.
_B._ Practical scope determined by abilities and needs of children,
and by necessary sequence of steps in geography study.
_C._ Consequent difficulties for school teachers, even in earlier
years.
=4.= SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY MUST BE:
_A._ Unit in each part and as a whole.
Practical reasons for unity.
_B._ Usable at every step.
Importance of this in early grades.
_C._ Closely related to nature work on one hand, and secondary work
on the other.
_D._ Based on children’s experiences and earlier knowledge.
=5.= PURPOSE OF SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY TEACHING:
_A._ To teach children geography. Interpretation of this.
Relation of subject to children. Approach to adults’ point of view.
_a._ Knowledge of principles of geography.
_b._ Knowledge of facts that make principles clear.
_c._ Knowledge of facts necessary for daily life.
Other facts that must be included.
_B._ Power.
_a._ To use materials and results gained in classroom and
elsewhere.
_b._ To seek out, organize and use new materials.
This suggests method of conducting a portion of class work.
_c._ To think accurately and clearly.
Importance of geography as a means of training in scientific
thinking.
REFERENCES: Dodge, R. E., _The Teaching of Geography_, to which no
further references will be made, this syllabus being a synopsis of
that work. _Teachers College Record_, March, 1901, pp. 3-9. _Journal
of Geography_, November and December, 1904; April, 1905; September,
1906. McMurry, C. A., _Special Method in Geography_, chap. i. Geikie,
A., _The Teaching of Geography_, chap. i.
II. The Persons involved in School Geography Teaching
=1.= THE DUTIES OF THE SCIENTIFIC GEOGRAPHER.
_A._ Should help make content sound geographically.
He should be source of geography materials.
_B._ Should ascertain that work will insure good training in
elements of geography.
Adapted to pupils and valuable as foundation for good later work.
_C._ Should outline method in large so as to produce geographic
progress.
_D._ Should assist in substituting good for bad details and help
choose between essentials and non-essentials.
=2.= THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE SUPERVISOR OR SUPERINTENDENT.
_A._ Must recognize goal to be reached from standpoint of good
geography, and relations of school geography to other phases of
geographic education.
_B._ Should accept materials and larger plan of geographer.
Arrange time of schedule.
_C._ Should see that children’s general training is not sacrificed
and special training is secured.
_D._ Should insure that work is practical and usable.
_E._ Must see that relations to other subjects are emphasized.
Causal notion again.
=3.= THE OBLIGATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE TEACHER.
_A._ Must know more subject matter than he expects to give pupils.
_B._ Must know purposes and scope of course—his part in course as a
whole.
Also must know preparation furnished by earlier year’s work.
_C._ Must know relations to other work in the curriculum as a whole
and in geography particularly.
_D._ Must know ways subject must be organized and presented to his
grade so as best to gain aims desired.
General and special method.
=4.= THE POSITION OF CHILDREN IN REFERENCE TO WORK.
_A._ Meaning of “To teach children geography.”
_B._ The preparation that may be expected in different grades.
_C._ Children’s interest in work.
_D._ Pupils must be trained to work and think.
_E._ Goals are knowledge and power. Importance of rational
repetition, of reviews and map work.
REFERENCE: Dodge, _Journal of Geography_, v, p. 385. _The Opportunity
of the Geographer in Promoting School Geography._
III. The Organization of a Course of Study
=1.= COURSE AS A WHOLE.
_A._ Must be capable of being judged as good by geographers.
_B._ Must lead to knowledge and power.
_C._ Must be arranged so as to lead from known to unknown along
lines of least resistance but not least effort.
_D._ Method of approach of mature mind must not always be followed.
=2.= SOME FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS.
_A._ No one course available for all localities.
_B._ Course should start with home geography.
_C._ Should lead next to elementary knowledge of world whole.
_D._ The emphasis to be given to continental work.
Division of work by grades.
_E._ Disadvantages of teaching all continents twice.
The following compromise is suggested as in general workable:
_a._ Twice: North America, United States, Europe, and perhaps
portions of Asia.
_b._ Once: Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.
Present importance of South America.
_F._ Plan of intermediate work should differ from plan of upper
grades. “Concentric Circles.”
_G._ The place of physical geography in the course of study:
_a._ Home geography: observational side.
Danger of overemphasis, of giving wrong outlook.
_b._ Intermediate grades: give setting to life side.
Larger facts only.
_c._ Upper grade: basis of work.
Not to be taught as a topic by itself but as a means to an end.
_H._ Emphasis of industries and commercial side.
_I._ “Following interests of children,”—best meaning of phrase.
Value and dangers.
Recent interest in industrial education places a renewed obligation
on geography to be practical and to be free from fads.
Developing interest. Temporary and permanent interests.
REFERENCES: _Teachers College Record_, March, 1901, pp. 9-15.
McMurry, C. A., _Special Method in Geography_, chap. ii. Redway, J.
W., _New Basis of Geography_, chap. x. Bagley, W. C., _Function of
Geography in Elementary Schools_, _Journal of Geography_, Vol. III,
p. 222. Dodge, Richard E., “Some Suggestions Concerning a Course of
Study in Geography,” _Journal of Geography_, vii, pp. 7-14.
IV. Home Geography and World Whole
=1.= CERTAIN GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
_A._ Home geography not a subject or a division of geography, but
a method of approach to field as a whole,—cannot have a uniform
course for all places.
_B._ Method of procedure must be from known to unknown through
analysis of experiences of pupils.
_C._ Work should not call for knowledge of distant places.
_D._ Lessons should become more intensive and scope more extensive.
_E._ Topics should be taken up in definite sequence so far as
possible.
_F._ Definitions, if any, to be summaries at close of developed
points and not points of departure.
_G._ Units developed to be good geography units which may be used
as basis for comparison over world. Heat, storms, woods, for
instance, are not good units. Crossroads or city corners good units.
_H._ Local history to be brought in as much as possible.
Should be intimately related to geography and may often be point of
departure.
_I._ Importance of observation of local conditions.
Reasons for giving a certain place to processes of earth change.
=2.= TOPICS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY.
_A._ Social:
_a._ Simple life groups and relations.
(1) Home, village, city, etc. (2) Needs and means of
communication. (3) Need for government. Form not to be
included. (4) Reasons for trade. Simple illustrations. (5)
Industrial features. (6) Universality of similar features
over world.
_B._ Earth:
_a._ Forms of landscape as related to life.
_b._ Forms of drainage as related to life.
_c._ Soils and their use. Classification a minor matter.
_d._ Simpler atmospheric phenomena.
_e._ Direction and distance.
_f._ Maps.
_g._ Gravity.
=3.= TOPICS OFTEN INCLUDED.
_A._ Suitable to few localities: Volcanoes, mountains, ocean.
_B._ Not geographical:
_a._ Name and functions of officers of local government.
_b._ Building of a house or mechanical details of any trade.
_c._ Topics in geology such as formation of coal, marble, etc.
_C._ Beyond powers of pupils.
_a._ Form of earth, relation of bodies in solar system.
_b._ Rotation and revolution of earth.
_c._ Theory of storms.
=4.= SUMMARIES:
_A._ Must be simple and easily drawn from previous work.
_B._ Must be of such a nature that they can be expanded as years go
on without overturning base learned in earlier years.
_C._ Examples of good summaries:
_a._ Wind is air moving horizontally.
_b._ River is a stream of water and detritus flowing through the
land.
_D._ Examples of bad summaries:
_a._ A lake is a body of water surrounded by land.
_b._ Mountains are high elevations of land.
_c._ A divide is the high land which separates two rivers.
_d._ A river is a stream of water which flows into the sea.
_e._ Hollow places in the land filled with water are called lakes.
_f._ A swamp is a tract of land soaked with water.
=5.= SOME SIMPLE UNITS OF HOME GEOGRAPHY TO INDICATE BASIS OF CHOICE
OF TOPICS.
_A._ The home:
_a._ Simplest group of individuals which illustrates essentials
of larger groups.
_b._ A unit of government: need of government in home and in any
group.
_c._ Division of labor in home illustrates a world truth as to
relations of individuals and groups.
_B._ Groups of homes.
_a._ Country four corners.
_b._ Village.
_c._ City.
_d._ Location of such cities as Vienna, Constantinople, Chicago.
_C._ Simpler surface features.
_a._ Why important,—travel over, seen as landscape.
_b._ Why emphasize landscape and not forms first?
_c._ Plains,—why most important? Life relation to.
_d._ Rolling lands.—Relations to life.
_e._ Mountain regions.—Relations to life (should, in many
localities, be deferred to later work).
REFERENCES: _Teachers College Record_, March, 1901, pp. 15-17. Davis,
W. M., “Home Geography,” _Journal of Geography_, p. 1. Geikie, A.,
_The Teaching of Geography_, chap. ii. McMurry, C. A., _Excursions
and Lessons in Home Geography_.
=6.= FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF WORLD WHOLE.
_A._ Expansion of home geography outward to ocean.
_a._ How to present form of earth—relation to home, necessities
and luxuries.
_b._ Parts of earth that may be related to home in developing
knowledge of world whole, based on experience of pupils.
(1) Northern North America and Europe—furs. (2) Southern
North America—bananas, woods, cacao. (3) Northern South
America—India rubber, coffee, Brazil nuts. (4) Southern
South America—hides, and meat products. (5) West
Central Europe—embroideries, wine, cheese. (6) Southern
Europe—olives, cork. (7) Southeastern Asia—tea, silks,
spices, fire-crackers. (8) Central Africa—ivory, palm oil.
(9) Southern Africa—diamonds. (10) Southwestern Asia—rugs.
(11) Australia—wool.
=7.= HOW TO LEAD UP TO CLIMATE OF WORLD.
_A._ Points to be brought out:
_a._ Direction and distance in time.
_b._ Similarity of purpose of life. Food, clothing, shelter.
_c._ Different ways of doing things amid different conditions.
Homes, dress, travel, kinds of food, natural food, weather
conditions.
_d._ Interrelation of peoples.
_B._ Points which may be neglected:
_a._ Overmuch detail, _i.e._ Details of home life or occupations.
Scenery.
_b._ Curious and unimportant customs. Slanting eyes. Personal
customs.
REFERENCES: Farnham, A. W., “Oswego Geography Course,” _Journal of
Geography_, v, p. 109. _Teachers College Record_, March, 1901, pp.
17-20, 24-27.
V. The Point of View and Method of Approach in Intermediate Work
=1.= PURPOSES.
Knowledge of more important Continents and Countries, lives of
people and reasons therefor.
_A._ Knowledge of facts of everyday life. Consequences to
causes,—physical features in the large as points of departure for
giving setting. Follow political divisions because of practical
advantage.
_B._ Industrial interrelations of regions to be brought out.
_C._ Causal location and non-causal location. Picturesque side and
how secured. Permanent location in visual image. Temporary location
for clearness and practice. Memory work in location.
_D._ “Methods” of approach:
_a._ “Concentric”—disadvantages.
_b._ “Journey”—when valuable—disadvantages.
_c._ “Type” method. What this means in a large way.
_d._ “Map drawing” method.
_e._ Value of reversing method in upper grammar grades.
_E._ The place of method.
_a._ Advantages and disadvantages of following a “method,”
centered about a personal point of view.
_b._ Value of subordinating “methods” to method.
REFERENCES: Bagley, W. C., “Geography in Intermediate Grades,”
_Journal of Geography_, iv, p. 299. _Teachers College Record_, March,
1901, pp. 29-35.
=2.= THE SO-CALLED TYPE METHOD.
_A._ What is a type? “A type is that individual of a species or
genus which contains the largest number of features which are
characteristic of the species or genus as a whole.”
_B._ Types must be good geographic units, and not mere instances.
The essentials of a good geographic unit.
_C._ A typical instance is not:
_a._ The most involved or striking example.
_b._ The most interesting example.
_D._ Why types cannot easily be selected in geography. Advantages
and difficulties of using types.
_a._ Examples of good types.
_E._ Ways in which teaching by types is actually used in various
texts and courses of study.
_F._ Teaching by “types” does not readily lead to the bringing out
of political features; leads to overmuch detail and overemphasis of
non-essentials.
REFERENCE: McMurry, C. A., _Special Method in Geography_, chap. ix.
VI. Industrial and Commercial Geography
=1.= PRESENT EMPHASIS OF INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY.
_A._ Reasons for that emphasis: practical and educational.
_B._ Industrial geography deals with the geography underlying the
principal human occupations: that is, the reason for the occurrence
of industries in given localities.
_C._ Commercial geography deals with the elementary principles
of trade and commerce, and includes a study of geography of
great regions of production and demand, with causes. Emphasizes
interrelation of commercial areas and reasons for same.
_D._ Industrial geography should be emphasized in intermediate
years; commercial geography in the upper grades.
_E._ Industrial geography should include the study of groupings of
peoples according to occupations and lead up to a knowledge of the
simpler reasons therefor. These groups are agriculture, grazing,
lumbering, mining, manufacturing, commerce, and “scenic centers.”
_F._ Geography does not call for study of technique of industries,
and should not include special study of details of industries.
Futility of studying processes. Geographic side includes the
reasons for industry and not the manner of it. Technique is largely
result of human invention and is not geographic except possibly
where some invention has revolutionized an industry and greatly
changed relations of peoples to their geographic surroundings.
_G._ Geography underlying agriculture, grazing, and lumbering as
examples of geographic influences.
_H._ Commercial geography should be based on knowledge of
industrial and physical geography of earlier years, and should
be a part of regional geography—not a special topic. It should
include study of routes of trade, areas of supply and consumption
of _chief_ foods, textiles, manufactured products, raw materials,
etc., and relative status of chief commercial nations, and reasons.
_I._ Difficulties in teaching commercial geography are due
to modernness of subject, constant changes involved, lack of
illustrative materials and to difficulties of securing proper
materials for class study.
_J._ Some recent successes in teaching commercial and industrial
geography. The development and purposes of commercial museums for
schools.
REFERENCE: _Teachers College Record_, March, 1901, pp. 29-35.
VII. The Basis of Work in the Upper Grades
=1.= GEOGRAPHY IN UPPER GRADES SHOULD BE FOUNDED ON GOOD WORKING
KNOWLEDGE OF ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY.
_A._ These principles should be elaborated summaries or
generalizations of earlier work, and should be developed only so
fully as is necessary for clearness and for future good work.
_B._ Physical geography not as an end, but as a means to an end.
_C._ Life consequences to be made prominent as illustrations at
every step.
=2.= THIS WORK SHOULD INCLUDE:
_A._ Earth’s shape—simple proofs and effects.
_B._ Earth’s motions—results.
_C._ Elements of climate and weather as related to earth’s motions
with effects. Importance of climate.
_D._ Simpler land forms and influence on life. Drainage.
_E._ Simpler features of oceans and oceanic movements as related to
commerce and trade. Tides need not be elaborated.
_F._ Distribution of plants as related to causes, especially
climate.
_G._ Distribution of animals as related to causes. This topic
should be treated briefly.
_H._ Races of men and their distribution as related to climate and
food supply.
_I._ Elements of commerce causally developed.
_J._ Elements of political geography—including meaning of nation,
of boundary, origin of boundaries, exchange of consuls, ministers,
etc.
=3.= TOPICS WHICH MAY BE OMITTED:
_A._ Causes of tides.
_B._ Condition of interior of earth.
_C._ Causes of mountain growth.
_D._ Details of glaciation.
_E._ Geological development of continent.
=4.= METHOD IN LARGE.
_A._ Work should be developed, as far as possible, as result of map
work and personal observations.
_B._ Principles should be illustrated as widely as possible to show
general importance.
_C._ Some topics may readily be studied in association with study
of Africa or Australia, and thus training may be given in working
from causes to consequences, as preliminary to later use of
definite causal order.
REFERENCE: Redway, _New Basis of Geography_, chap. viii.
VIII. The Topical Method in Upper Grades
=1.= GENERAL AGREEMENT IN REFERENCE TO TEACHING CONTINENTS IN UPPER
GRADES FROM CAUSES TO CONSEQUENCES.
_A._ Principles should be used as basis of work.
_B._ Work should be largely based on map study, especially maps of
climate, physical features, distribution of trade routes, peoples,
industries, etc.
_C._ Work should not be too stereotyped,—that is, order of
procedure should not always be the same.
_D._ Training should be given in reasoning and in use of reference
books, texts, atlases, etc.
_E._ Topical method means to work from larger, simple, general
features, out to more detailed, special and complex conditions.
Possible modifications and advantages. Using an imaginary continent.
=2.= AN EXAMPLE OF TOPICAL ORDER: THE LARGER FEATURES OF NORTH
AMERICA.
_A._ Location:
_a._ By latitude and longitude.
_b._ In reference to ocean.
_c._ In reference to other continents.
_d._ In reference to wind systems.
_B._ Larger surface features:
_a._ Cordilleran Highland.
_b._ Appalachian Highland.
_c._ Atlantic Coastal Plain.
_d._ Great Central Plain.
_e._ Height of Land.
_f._ Influence and extent of glaciation.
_g._ Consequent lines of drainage:
(1) Arctic drainage. (2) Pacific drainage. (3) Atlantic
drainage.
(_i_) Direct. (_ii_) By St. Lawrence. (_iii_) By Gulf of
Mexico.
_C._ Coast line:
_a._ Compare east and west coast as to:
(1) General form. (2) Number of harbors. (3) Availability of
harbors. (4) Nearness to foreign ports.
_D._ Climate:
_a._ Position in reference to wind systems.
_b._ Summer and winter distribution and range of temperatures.
_c._ Relation to ocean and ocean currents.
_d._ Chief modifications due to surface.
_e._ Three climatic divisions: east coastal, west coastal, and
interior.
_f._ Rainfall in each as related to agriculture.
_g._ The growing season conditions in each.
_E._ Vegetation:
_a._ Chief vegetation regions as related to climate and surface.
_b._ Distribution and characteristic features of tundra, forests,
steppes, and deserts.
_c._ Significance of vegetation distribution.
_F._ Animals: Briefly as related to climate and vegetation.
_a._ Domestic.
_b._ Wild.
_G._ Mineral products: As related to surface.
_H._ People: Distribution of people as related to surface, climate,
drainage, coast line, and products. (Follow this by summary of
United States as related to North America, and then by New England,
following order given and extending to occupations and commerce.
Bring out location of leading cities causally.)
_I._ Summarize continents by comparative study of reasons for
commercial development of principal nations and of distribution of
great world products.
REFERENCES: Farnham, A. W., “Oswego Geography Course,” _Journal
of Geography_, v, p. 211. Hotchkiss, C. W., _Journal of School
Geography_, ii, p. 41. Reudiger, W. C., “Suggestions for Geography
Teaching in Upper Grades,” _Journal of Geography_, iv, p. 433.
IX. The Use of Maps and Textbooks
=1.= ADVANTAGES OF A TEXT:
_A._ Outlines a course of study when none better is available.
_B._ Gives clear definitions and summaries.
_C._ Gives second exposition of subject matter of value to pupils
who gain best impression through the eyes.
_D._ Shows relative values of different parts of subject.
_E._ Furnishes text, maps, and illustrations for study.
_F._ Gives chance for training in how to study.
_G._ Gives means of holding children responsible for certain work.
=2.= HOW TO USE TEXT:
_A._ Text should be servant of teacher, and not the teacher a slave
of text.
_B._ Text used _before_ recitation in association with outline
or series of map questions where nature of materials or other
conditions do not permit development. Advantages of assigning
lessons in certain grades.
_C._ Text used _in_ recitation to give training in how to study in
intermediate grades.
_D._ Text used _after_ recitation as means of summary and review
in much of home geography and in certain parts of upper grade
work. Teachers here use materials of book as “texts” or points of
departure.
=3.= THE USE OF MAPS.
_A._ Maps fundamental in geography.
_B._ Maps only clear and accurate means of representing certain
classes of facts. Examples of such facts.
_C._ Essential points to be kept in mind in map use.
_a._ Cardinal directions indicated by meridians and parallels.
_b._ Top of map is not necessarily north.
_c._ Scale is necessary for getting ideas of distance and area.
_d._ Each map has special symbols adapted to special purpose of
map.
_e._ First maps studied should be maps of local region shown in a
horizontal position and properly oriented.
_D._ Maps of most service in texts and classroom:
_a._ Political maps in all grades.
_b._ Physical maps of large areas only give relative conditions.
Cannot give exact representation of country. Dangers in physical
and relief maps.
_c._ Climatic maps: annual, seasonal, special. Winds and heat
belts.
_d._ Vegetation maps in upper grades.
_e._ Product and commercial maps as related to vegetation,
climate, and surface.
REFERENCES: Redway, J. W., _New Basis of Geography_, chap. ix.
Calkins, R. C., “The Text, the Course of Study and the Teacher,”
_Journal of Geography_, iv, p. 164. Brown, Robert M., “Map Reading,”
_Journal of Geography_, iv, pp. 273-288.
X. The Relation of Geography to Other Subjects in Curriculum
=1.= PLACE OF GEOGRAPHY.
_A._ Geography is considered by some as fundamental subject in
curriculum, as it gives basis for study of human activities.
_B._ Geography is rather an important subject to be studied in
connection with other subjects so as to produce best results from
curriculum as a whole.
_C._ Coöperation between subjects does not mean parallelism in
teaching or disorganization on one subject because of temporary
possible cross relations to other subjects.
_D._ Unity of course of study as whole in any subject of more value
than temporary mutual relations between subjects.
_E._ Geography closely related, in many ways, to nature study,
history, language, and arithmetic.
_F._ Geography may contribute to and receive help from industrial
subjects.
=2.= GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY.
_A._ Simpler elements of geography should be included sanely in
nature study of Grades I, II, and III.
_B._ Geography in Grade III and perhaps IV should be based on
nature study of earlier years. Simpler aspects of home geography
should be taught before Grade III.
_C._ Geography contributes to nature study knowledge of conditions
influencing distribution of plants and animals, elements of
weather, soils, slopes, drainage, simple land forms, distance, and
other conditions affecting problems of food, clothing, and shelter.
_D._ Geography gives application to nature study in upper grades,
summarizes distribution of animals and plants, and gives regional
basis to nature study.
_E._ Nature study contributes to geography knowledge of plants
and animals and their ecological relations, physics and chemistry
of soils, water, etc., as related to agriculture, grazing, and
lumbering.
_F._ Topics of doubtful value in nature study or elementary
geography.
_a._ Formation of coal, marble, and rocks, and similar topics.
_b._ Minerals, except in localities where minerals may be found.
_c._ Earth’s motions and similar large topics which cannot be
studied through observation.
=3.= GEOGRAPHY IN ITS RELATION TO HISTORY.
_A._ Geography finds its best applications in history.
_B._ Geographic influences _vs._ geographic controls in history.
_C._ Geography deals with the relation between physical environment
and life in all its phases. History deals with the interpretation
of human movements.
_D._ Hence history finds its basis largely in geography both in
reference to large facts and smaller details. Examples.
_E._ Suggested order of studying geography and history in the
different grades. History should aid in making political geography
understandable.
=4.= GEOGRAPHY IN ITS RELATION TO ARITHMETIC.
_A._ Problems in area, distance, time, averages, proportion, etc.,
may well be developed through use of facts of geography.
_B._ Graphic method of representing comparisons in geography should
be developed in arithmetic.
_C._ Latitude and longitude to be developed in geography and
applied in arithmetic.
=5.= GEOGRAPHY IN ITS RELATION TO LANGUAGE.
_A._ Geography finds much of its material in literature and its
largest means of expression in language.
_B._ Geography should give landscape setting to poetry and prose.
_C._ The study of literature should include material which is
geographically sound.
_D._ Much geography is not expressed in good literary form, and
much literature is geographically unsound.
REFERENCES: McMurry, C. A., _Special Method in Geography_, chap.
viii. Allen, L. R., “Correlation of Geography and History,” _Journal
of Geography_, ii, p. 404. Woodice, Florence A., and Brown, Robert
M., “An Experiment with Geography and History with a Sixth Grade,”
_Journal of Geography_, vii, pp. 1-7.
XI. Geography and Expression Work
=1.= EXPRESSION.
_A._ Chief and most important forms of expression are oral and
written expression.
_B._ Danger and unfairness of considering expression work to be
merely handwork.
=2.= CHIEF WAYS IN WHICH HAND WORK CAN BE USED IN GEOGRAPHY.
Through map drawing, map filling, sand or chalk modeling, and
freehand drawing.
_A._ Modeling:
_a._ A means to an end of value if done skillfully and easily.
_b._ Dangers in representing scale and slopes.
_c._ Should involve small area as to details or merely general
features of a large area. First work in modeling should be
devoted to features that children may observe as wholes.
_B._ Map Drawing:
_a._ Too time-consuming as a rule.
_b._ Difficulties of projection and scale.
_c._ Over-refined product should not be called for.
_d._ Children’s maps are a bad basis for visualization.
_C._ Map Filling:
_a._ Makes use of best base map available and same base map for
all.
_b._ Excellent means of review as test of knowledge gained.
_c._ Relative value of flat and relief outline maps.
_D._ Freehand Drawing:
_a._ An accessory to geography work, not a way of making confused
objects or relations clear.
_b._ Value of slope sketching, of simple landscape work, and of
map coloring.
_c._ Hand work may borrow ideas and details from geography but
adds little to value of geography as a subject.
XII. Equipment in Geography Teaching
=1.= NECESSITY OF EQUIPMENT.
Maps, globes, and illustrations. Costly single pieces of apparatus
to be avoided.
_A._ Maps:
_a._ Every schoolroom should contain the following wall maps:
(1) Mercator map of world. (2) Map of North America or United
States. (3) Map of continents to be studied.
_b._ Maps should be chosen for demonstration and recitation work
and not for study.
_c._ Hence should be clear, capable of being seen across the
room, not overcrowded with details: rivers and cities not
overemphasized.
_d._ Upper grades should have physical map of United States and
Europe for use in history and geography.
_e._ The use of United States Geological Survey Topographic Maps.
_f._ Use and means of securing weather maps.
_g._ Blackboard outline maps,—value and use.
_h._ Difficulties of securing certain much desired wall maps.
_B._ Globes:
_a._ One 10 or 12 inch political globe available in every room.
_b._ Globe to be of a size to be easily handled.
_c._ Political globe should be up-to-date; not overcrowded.
_d._ Blackboard globes,—how used.
_e._ Small physical or political globes for individual use.
_f._ The use of relief globes.
_C._ Apparatus:
_a._ Avoid large pieces and geographical diagrams.
_b._ Standard thermometer, barometer, compass, and wind vane to
be available.
_c._ Special pieces available for special purposes.
_D._ Illustrations:
_a._ Includes photographs, cuts from magazines, slides,
stereoscopic views.
_b._ Necessity of scheme for selection, classification, and
storage of materials.
_c._ Value of a few good illustrations as compared with a host of
poor illustrations.
_d._ Relative advantages of pictures, slides and stereoscope for
special purposes.
_e._ Mechanical difficulties incident to class use of
illustrations.
REFERENCES: Redway, J. W., _New Basis of Geography_, chap. xi.
“Equipment for Geography Teaching,” _Journal of Geography_, v, pp.
242-250. Whitbeck, R. H., “Practical Work in School Geography,”
_Journal of Geography_, iii, pp. 374-379. Emerson, P., “Field Work in
the Class-Room,” _Journal of Geography_, i, pp. 54-57, 81-98.
XIII. The Geographic Preparation of a Teacher of Geography
It is neither possible nor desirable to have every grade school
teacher a specialist in geography.
_A._ The scope of work analyzed.
_a._ Larger portion of work will be the geography of continents
in earlier or later grades.
_b._ Small portion of work will be development of principles of
physical and life geography.
_c._ The principles will be expected to be used in continental
work.
_B._ The requisite training of a teacher must then include:
_a._ Some study of larger principles so as to make these
principles usable in all grades.
_b._ Special study of one or more continents so as to give point
of view and method of studying a region causally.
_c._ Training in use of maps, especially atlas and text maps,
weather maps and United States Geological Survey Topographic Maps.
_d._ Knowledge of larger principles underlying geography teaching
in the grades and study of special difficulties in each phase
of elementary school work. Knowledge of subject matter is an
essential basis for study of methods of teaching.
_e._ These requisites suggest the necessary content and order of
procedure in geography courses in training classes.
_C._ Desirable training that teachers should be encouraged to
secure.
_a._ Knowledge of geography beyond the minimum outlined above
and sufficient to make them independent workers and possibly
investigators in some phase of geography.
_b._ Good knowledge of history of United States and Europe.
_c._ Knowledge of elements of anthropology, economics, and
biology, particularly along ecological lines.
_d._ Knowledge of modern industrial problems in the United
States, particularly along lines of agriculture, manufacturing,
commerce, and conservation of forests and water supply.
_D._ Opportunities for securing training in geography.
_a._ Larger and better normal schools and many colleges and
universities now include well planned courses in geography.
_b._ Teachers in service will find splendid opportunities for
geography work at the summer schools of colleges and normal
schools. Also in some cases in certain phases of the subject,
work may be secured in extension and correspondence courses.
_c._ Teachers seeking summer school opportunities should go to
institutions that have summer terms, and not, as a rule, merely
to summer institutions. Geography cannot be adequately taught
without equipment, and only those institutions which are in
operation the year round can have adequate equipment.
SELECTED REFERENCE LIST FOR TEACHERS
_General_:—
_Longman’s Gazetteer._ Longmans. The authoritative pronouncing
and spelling gazetteer of the world. Contains excellent brief
descriptions of all important places.
_Lippincott’s Gazetteer._ A recent authoritative volume containing
excellent brief descriptions of all places of any importance.
_Andree’s Hand Atlas._ Velhagen and Klasing, Leipsig. Recent
reference atlas containing excellent climatic maps and maps showing
distribution of peoples, religions, plants, animals, etc.
_Stieler’s Hand Atlas._ Perthes, Gotha. The leading reference atlas.
Mill, _International Geography_. Appleton. The best single volume
reference book on general and regional geography.
_Stanford’s Compendia_ (reissue). Stanford. The leading reference
books on the several continents. Two volumes each on Asia, Australia,
North America, Central and South America, Africa and Europe.
_Regional Geography._ Appleton. Accurate, readable, helpful volumes
of first importance. Includes volumes on Britain and the British
Seas, Central Europe, India, The Nearer East, and North America.
Herbertson, _Senior Geography_. A very useful volume summarizing
geography of several continents in a causal order. Especially helpful
for Europe.
Mill, _Hints to Teachers and Students on the Choice of Geographical
Books for Reference and Reading_. Longmans. A very helpful reference
list with brief comments on the individual references. Gives general
and special references. A new edition appeared early in 1909.
_The Teaching of Geography_:—
Geikie, _The Teaching of Geography_. Macmillan. A very suggestive
book on the essentials of good geography teaching.
McMurry, C. A., _Special Method in Geography_. Macmillan. Discusses
the scope of geography and outlines a course emphasizing the teaching
by types.
Redway, _New Basis of Geography_. Macmillan. Interesting and helpful
for teachers in upper grades who need to teach continents from the
practical standpoint.
_Physical Geography_:—
Mill, _Realm of Nature_. Scribners. A very valuable and simple book
on physical and mathematical geography and on biogeography.
Davis, _Physical Geography_. Ginn & Co. An authoritative secondary
school text, particularly helpful in reference to the land features.
Davis, _Elementary Meteorology_. Ginn & Co. The leading English book
on weather and climate.
Ward, _Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology_. Ginn & Co.
Very helpful to teachers who have to deal with weather phenomena.
Gilbert and Brigham, _Introduction to Physical Geography_. Appleton.
An interesting, authoritative, and well illustrated secondary text on
physical geography.
Tarr, _New Physical Geography_. The Macmillan Company. One of the
newest and best high school books.
Salisbury, _Physiography_. Henry Holt & Company. Most inclusive and
best illustrated volume available. An indispensable library reference
volume.
Harrington, Mark W., _About the Weather_. Appleton. Very helpful for
teachers in elementary grades.
Dodge, _Reader in Physical Geography for Beginners_. Longmans. Small
volume on physical geography, available as an introduction to the
subject.
_Biogeography_:—
Ratzel, _History of Mankind_ (3 vols.). Macmillan. A very
comprehensive book on the races of mankind, the first volume being
particularly valuable for its consideration of the problems of race
distribution.
Wallace, _Island Life_. Macmillan. Classic book on animal
distribution from geographic standpoint.
Guyot, _Earth and Man_. Scribners. One of the older books, and hence
not written from a modern standpoint: but still invaluable for
presenting the relation of earth features to life.
Herbertson, _Man and His Work_. A. and C. Black. A very usable and
interesting small volume, showing the manner of life of people living
in different vegetation regions and amid different surface conditions.
Lyddeker, Hutchinson and Gregory, _Living Races of Mankind_.
Hutchinson & Co. Two splendidly illustrated volumes on the races of
men, simple, and popularly written.
_Commercial Geography_:—
Adams, _Commercial Geography_. Appleton. An accurate, well ordered,
and almost indispensable book on commercial geography. Maps and
diagrams are very numerous and helpful for the teacher.
Chisholm, _Commercial Geography_. Longmans. The most inclusive volume
in the English language. Contains excellent abstracts of general
geography of each country in a good causal order.
_Periodicals_:—
_Journal of Geography._ Published by Teachers College, New York City.
Only journal in the country devoted to teaching of geography.
_Geographical Teacher._ Phillips, London. Similar in scope to above
journal and contains much of value to American teachers.
_National Geographic Magazine._ Washington, D. C. Leading popular
journal of geography in country.
_Geographical Journal._ London. Leading strictly geographical journal
in English-speaking world.
IV. THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
BY HENRY JOHNSON, A.M.
I. What History is
=1.= THE WORD “HISTORY” MAY DENOTE:
_a._ Past facts themselves.
_b._ Traces left by past facts.
_c._ The study which investigates such traces.
_d._ The knowledge thus obtained.
_e._ An account or narrative in which such knowledge is embodied.
=2.= THE SOURCES OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.
_a._ Primary sources.
1. Material remains—roads, buildings, tools, weapons, clothing,
any material object shaped by man or associated with his life on
the earth.
2. Reports of conditions and events made by actual observers.
Such reports may be oral, written or printed, pictorial.
_b._ Secondary sources—reports or accounts based upon primary
sources.
_c._ Accounts based upon other accounts in varying degrees of
removal even from secondary sources.
_d._ Existing sources relate to fragments only of man’s total
experience in the world.
=3.= HISTORICAL CRITICISM—THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DETERMINATION OF
PARTICULAR FACTS RELATING TO THE PAST.
_a._ External criticism—investigation of the origin and
transmission of sources; a study of form, language, writing. Is the
material remaining authentic? Who was the author of the document?
What did he say?
_b._ Internal criticism—investigation of the content of sources.
What did the author mean? Are his statements true?
_c._ The need of historical criticism finds daily illustration in
the schoolroom, in ordinary conversation, in the newspapers.
_d._ Historical criticism first formally applied by the Greeks. Not
fully developed until modern times.
=4.= HISTORICAL SYNTHESIS—PUTTING THE FACTS TOGETHER INTO A BODY OF
ORGANIZED KNOWLEDGE.
_a._ The chronological order—facts arranged according to time of
occurrence.
_b._ The geographical order—facts arranged according to place of
occurrence.
_c._ The logical order—facts arranged according to their intrinsic
nature.
_d._ One order used exclusively.
=5.= HISTORY AS AN ACCOUNT OR NARRATIVE.
_a._ The subject embraced.
1. A single person.
2. A single people—whole known period or a part of it.
3. The whole world—universal history.
_b._ General conceptions of history writing.
1. A narrative of memorable events. Aim, mainly to please.
Content determined by taste of authors and their public. Epic
poets and story-tellers early contributors. Classical type fixed
by Herodotus, the “father of history.”
2. A collection of precedents supposed to be useful to statesmen,
generals, and others. Aim, didactic. Content determined by the
kind of examples or lessons needed. But these, according to
early conceptions, to be valuable must be true to the facts.
Facts largely political and military. A conception introduced by
Thucydides and developed by Polybius.
3. Scientific history. Aim, to exhibit the past as it was and
to explain how it came to be what it was. Content determined
by what is regarded as significant in illustrating the idea of
development in human affairs.
_c._ These general conceptions correspond roughly to stages of
human culture.
_d._ History generally regarded merely as a branch of literature up
to 1850.
_e._ Side by side with scientific histories, works of the older
types are still being produced.
REFERENCES: Langlois and Seignobos, _Introduction to the Study of
History_, pp. 63-70, 211-231, 296-321. Bernheim, _Einleitung in die
Geschichtswissenschaft_, pp. 5-13, 33-43, 72-78. Fling, _Outline
of Historical Method_, pp. 5-124. Robinson, _History_, Columbia
University Press, 1908. Rhodes, in _Atlantic Monthly_, Vol. LXXXV,
pp. 158-169. Winsor, in _Atlantic Monthly_, Vol. LXVI, pp. 289-297.
II. The Problem of Adapting History to Children
=1.= SPECIAL GUIDANCE SOUGHT IN THE “NATURAL” TASTES AND INTERESTS OF
CHILDREN.
_a._ These determined by experiment.
_b._ Sometimes regarded as a final criterion.
_c._ Reinforced by the culture epoch theory.
_d._ Conclusion: “The childhood of history for the child, the
boyhood of history for the boy, the youthhood of history for the
youth, the manhood of history for the man.”
_e._ The conclusion interpreted.
1. Facts to be selected and arranged according to their cultural
stages and not according to time or place of occurrence.
2. Manner of treatment to accord in general with the conception
of history first developed by the race.
3. Scientific history thus excluded.
_f._ General comment: Important to distinguish between the natural
tastes and interests of children and the cultivated intelligence of
children.
=2.= APPROACH FROM THE SIDE OF HISTORY.
_a._ Kinds of historical facts.
1. Facts relating to physical appearance of men and their
material environment.
_a._ Possibility of direct appeal to the senses.
_b._ The simplest illustration of change in the world.
_c._ Material aspects of the past sufficiently unlike those
of the present to be interesting.
2. Facts relating to what men did.
_a._ Direct sense appeal not applicable.
_b._ Only actions now in progress can be observed.
_c._ With these as a basis actions in progress in the past
more or less readily imaged.
_d._ That action appeals to children an axiom of history
teaching.
3. Facts relating to thoughts and feelings of men, the motives
that moved them to do or to say.
_a._ Known only through deeds and words.
_b._ Real understanding of the past measured by pupil’s
ability to enter this inner life of history.
_c._ Important to recognize difficulties and limitations.
_d._ The mental states of a Clovis, a Charlemagne, a
Napoleon, or even of a cave-man, an Indian, a pioneer,
largely beyond the experience of children and of most adults.
4. In each of these groups the simplest facts relate to
particular objects, particular acts, thoughts, feelings.
5. Collective facts, facts relating to social groups, to
institutions, to general causes that act in history, much more
difficult.
_a._ How represent a wave of prosperity? a panic? a
revolution? society itself?
_b._ Such expressions made intelligible by resolving them, so
far as possible, into their concrete elements.
_b._ The kinds of facts enumerated common to literary, didactic,
and scientific history.
_c._ Degree of difficulty presented by a given type of facts not
essentially different for different kinds of history.
_d._ A principle of grading thus suggested as applicable to one
kind of history as to another.
1. Any facts readily visualized possible material for school
history.
2. Clear visualization a factor in stimulating interest.
3. Clear visualization of the man, the act, the situation, a
necessary key to his mental states.
4. Elementary history, therefore, to be largely descriptive
and narrative, to be made up of concrete examples rather than
generalized knowledge.
_e._ Time and place relations essential to the conception of any
fact as historical. As difficult for one kind of history as for
another.
_f._ Special conditions imposed by scientific history.
1. Facts in palpable conflict with present knowledge not to be
regarded as historical.
2. Facts to be characteristic of persons, peoples, places,
periods; not exceptional, abnormal, bizarre.
3. Facts to be so presented as to exhibit relations, cause and
effect, continuity.
4. Facts to be so presented as to arouse some consciousness of
how we know what we know about the past and why we do not know
more.
5. These conditions quite possible to meet within the limits
suggested by the principle of grading already set forth.
REFERENCES: _Teachers College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 1-25.
Bernheim, in _Neue Bahnen_, Vol. X, pp. 265-300, 337-357. Seignobos,
_L’Histoire dans l’Enseignement secondaire_, pp. 3-25. Muzzy, in
_Association of History Teachers of the Middle States and Maryland_,
1906, pp. 13-28, especially 17-19. Channing, in _North Central
History Teachers’ Association_, 1907, pp. 14-18. Laurie, in _School
Review_, Vol. IV, pp. 655-660. Salmon, in _Year Book Society for
Scientific Study of Education_, 1902, pp. 47-54; McMurry, in same,
1903, pp. 47-51. _American Historical Association_, 1905, pp.
135-145. Hinsdale, _How to Study and Teach History_, pp. 42-52,
67-74. Rice, in _Educational Review_, Vol. XII, pp. 169-179; Burnham,
in same, Vol. XXVII, pp. 521-528. Peabody, in _National Education
Association_, 1893, pp. 284-285. Barnes, _Studies in Historical
Method_, pp. 57-105. Mace, _Method in History_, pp. 255-308.
Suzzallo, in _Teachers College Record_, May, 1904, pp. 11-19; Marker,
in same, pp. 20-33.
III. The Question of Aims and Values
=1.= THE FAITH OF EDUCATORS IN THE UTILITY OF HISTORY ATTESTED BY
PROGRAMS IN THE SUBJECT FOR EVERY GRADE OF INSTRUCTION FROM THE
KINDERGARTEN TO THE UNIVERSITY.
=2.= CURRENT DISCUSSIONS CONFUSING.
_a._ Aims sometimes defined without reference to the nature of
history. History then repudiated wherever it happens to interfere
with “the uses of history.”
_b._ Aims sometimes inconsistent with each other.
_c._ Little to indicate that one of the aims of historical
instruction is to teach history.
=3.= AIMS COMMONLY PROPOSED.
_a._ Discipline—training of the memory, the imagination, the
judgment.
_b._ Culture—“enriching the humanity of the pupil.”
_c._ Inspiration—furnishing ideals of conduct, patriotism, social
service.
_d._ Practical knowledge—teaching pupils how to act in the present.
_e._ The illumination of other studies, especially literature and
geography.
_f._ The cultivation of a taste for historical reading.
_g._ The explanation of the present—nothing in the world to-day
really intelligible apart from its history.
=4.= SPECIAL MODERN EMPHASIS UPON THE SOCIAL VALUE OF HISTORY.
_a._ An application of a general point of view in education.
_b._ Special demands upon history.
1. Must show in the form of concrete examples what society is and
how it works.
2. Must “give a vivid and intense realization of social duties
and obligations.”
=5.= PERTINENT QUESTIONS.
_a._ Are the aims proposed in fact promoted by a given kind of
instruction?
_b._ Are they promoted as effectively as they might be by some
other kind of instruction?
_c._ Are they the most useful of the possible ends that history
might serve?
=6.= OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENT NEEDED TO FURNISH DATA FOR ANSWERS.
REFERENCES: McMurry, _Special Method in History_, pp. 1-17. Kemp,
_Outline of Method in History_, pp. 104-113. Barnes, _Studies in
Historical Method_, pp. 106-121. Lloyd, in Spencer, _Aims and
Practice of Teaching_, pp. 141-148. Rice, _History and Literature_,
pp. 3-26, 149-166. Woodward, in _Essays on Teaching of History_ by
Maitland and others, pp. 69-78. Hinsdale, _How to Study and Teach
History_, pp. 2-17. Bourne, _Teaching of History and Civics_, pp.
77-92. _Year Book, Herbart Society_, 1898, pp. 25-56. Snedden, in
_Journal of Pedagogy_, Vol. XIX, pp. 259-268. _Proceedings, National
Education Association_, 1892, pp. 348-352; 1894, pp. 397-412; 1895,
pp. 139-142, 306-308; 1896, pp. 410-413. Report, _Committee of
Seven_, pp. 158-162. Kirk, in _Education_, Vol. XVI, pp. 15-18;
Crawford, in same, Vol. XXII, pp. 281-286; McMahon; in same, Vol.
XXIII, pp. 109-114. Langlois and Seignobos, _Introduction to the
Study of History_, p. 331. Lea, in _American Historical Review_, Vol.
IX, pp. 233-246. Harrison, _Meaning of History_, pp. 1-23. _Teachers
College Record_, November, 1909, pp. 55-56.
IV. The History Program for the Elementary School
=1.= THE PREPARATORY PERIOD—THE FIRST THREE OR FOUR YEARS.
_a._ Myths, fairy tales, fables, Oriental, Greek, Roman, later
European. Some use of American folk lore.
_b._ Simple biographies from American or world history. May or may
not be arranged chronologically.
_c._ Stories connected with anniversaries, birthdays, Thanksgiving,
Christmas.
_d._ Stories from the Bible.
_e._ Stories of primitive life.
_f._ Stories of inventions.
_g._ Stories from local history.
_h._ Various studies of a geographical or sociological character.
_i._ Several or all of these types of material may be represented
in a single program.
_j._ Some schools carry this kind of work into higher grades.
=2.= THE INTERMEDIATE STAGE—FIFTH AND SIXTH YEARS.
_a._ Beginnings of textbook instruction.
_b._ More attention to chronological order and geological setting.
_c._ Subject: ancient history, the Middle Ages, English history,
American history. Chief emphasis on American history.
_d._ Material usually biographical.
_e._ Some schools begin this stage of work in the fourth year.
=3.= THE LAST TWO YEARS.
_a._ Subject usually the United States.
_b._ The subject often divided.
1. Colonial period for the seventh year.
2. Later period for the eighth year.
_c._ Some schools have English history in the seventh year.
_d._ Civics frequently combined with history, especially in the
eighth year.
_e._ Occasionally some Greek and Roman or general European history
in one or both of these years.
=4.= THE PROGRAM PROPOSED BY THE COMMITTEE OF EIGHT.
First grade: Indian life. Explanation of holidays.
Second grade: Indian life. Holidays. Local history.
Third grade: Heroes of other times. Holidays.
Fourth grade: Historical scenes and persons in American history,
colonial period.
Fifth grade: Historical scenes and persons in American history
continued. Great industries of the present.
Sixth grade: European background of American history.
Seventh grade: American history to the Revolution. European
background continued.
Eighth grade: The United States since the Revolution. Great events
in European history.
REFERENCES: Bourne, _Teaching of History and Civics_, pp. 72-74,
106-114, 353-365. Reports of Committees: _Committee of Ten_, pp. 163,
177-181; _of Fifteen_, pp. 62-67; _of Twelve_, pp. 171, 174-175; _of
Seven_, pp. 162-172; _of Eight_, pp. 1-91; Salmon, in _Year Book,
Society for Scientific Study of Education_, 1902, pp. 31-60. McMurry,
_Special Method in History_, pp. 18-33, 238-268. Kemp, _Outline of
Method in History_, pp. 133-263. _Elementary School Record_, Vol.
I, No. 8, pp. 199-216. Rice, _History and Literature_, pp. 27-74.
Magnusson, in _New York Teachers Monographs_, March, 1903, pp. 90-97.
Greene, _History in the Kindergarten. Warfield, in Education, Vol.
XIV, pp. 1-5. Gordy and Twitchell, Pathfinder in American History_,
Part I, pp. 43-50; Part II, pp. 5-20. _Proceedings, National
Education Association_, 1892, pp. 310-316; 1905, pp. 304-308,
360-370; 1897, pp. 58-67. Payne, _Elementary School Curricula_, pp.
22, 24-39, 50.
V. General Methods of Instruction
=1.= THE PREPARATORY PERIOD—THE FIRST THREE OR FOUR YEARS.
_a._ Presentation of material usually oral.
1. Reading the story.
2. Telling the story.
3. Developing the story by questions.
4. Pointing the moral.
_b._ The children’s part in the lesson.
1. Telling the story.
2. Writing the story.
3. Solving problems suggested by the story.
_c._ Stories of the preparatory period may be so managed as to form
a real basis for later history—training in putting things together,
in seeing simple relations, in developing a sense of continuity.
=2.= THE INTERMEDIATE STAGE—THE FIFTH AND SIXTH YEARS.
_a._ Some oral presentation along the lines indicated for the
preparatory period.
_b._ The general tendency toward textbook work.
1. Regular lessons assigned and recited.
2. The lesson read with the class during the history period.
_c._ Character of the textbooks.
1. Rarely the work of historical experts.
2. Aim to tell a story rather than history.
3. Accuracy a minor consideration.
4. Show little sense of historical proportion.
5. Their merit is that children can understand them.
6. Some recent books conceived in a more serious spirit and much
better as history.
_d._ The use of maps, pictures, and other special aids to
visualization increasing. Still much to be desired.
=3.= THE LAST TWO YEARS.
_a._ Textbook work becomes more formal.
_b._ Types of textbook recitations.
1. “Hearing” the lesson.
_a._ Teacher announces the heading of paragraph or opening
words of sentence.
_b._ Pupil carries the story forward until relieved by “next.”
_c._ A test of memory.
2. The question and answer method.
_a._ Teachers’ questions suggest analysis of text.
_b._ Short answers by pupil.
_c._ Memory test prominent.
3. A good general plan.
_a._ Teacher announces topic.
_b._ Pupil tells what he knows about it.
_c._ Corrections, additions, and questions by other members
of class.
_d._ Corrections and additions by teacher.
_e._ Questions by teacher designed to apply what has been
learned.
1. Comparison with other topics previously studied.
2. Comparison with conditions in the present.
_c._ The use of two or more textbooks.
1. The pupil prepares his lesson from two or more different books.
2. Different pupils have different books.
3. Aim to bring out difference in point of view or in statement
of facts with a view to making pupils think.
_d._ Outside reading.
1. Other textbooks.
2. Poems and novels.
3. Some references to standard histories and to simpler primary
sources.
_e._ Notebooks.
1. Making and keeping outlines.
2. Reports of outside reading.
3. Reports of class discussions.
_f._ The use of maps, pictures, and other special aids increasing.
_g._ Character of the textbooks.
1. A number of recent books written by competent students of
history.
2. Reasonably good as history.
3. Inferior to more elementary books as apparatus for teaching.
4. Responsibility for the “whole story” tends to reduce textbooks
to outlines and tempts to generalizations which are largely
meaningless to children.
5. The class recitation thus in danger of becoming an exercise in
mere words.
REFERENCES: Bryant, _How to Tell Stories to Children_, pp. 13-21,
83-109. McMurry, _Special Method in History_, pp. 50-85. Hinsdale,
_How to Study and Teach History_, pp. 53-66. Bourne, _Teaching of
History and Civics_, pp. 148-168. Gordy and Twitchell, _Pathfinder in
American History_. Foltz, _zur Methode des Geschichtsunterrichts_,
pp. 174-216. _Teachers College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 26-32.
VI. The Biographical Approach to History
=1.= WHAT THE BIOGRAPHICAL METHOD IS.
_a._ The study of individual men and women as individuals.
_b._ The study of individual men and women as representatives of
movements, periods, social groups.
_c._ The persons selected for study usually great or famous.
=2.= REASONS FOR PREVALENCE OF THE METHOD.
_a._ Offers units that are simple, concrete, interesting.
_b._ Satisfies ethical demands made upon historical instruction.
_c._ German experience a potent example.
_d._ Supported by “great man theory” of history.
1. “The history of what man has accomplished in this world
is at bottom the history of the great men who have worked
here.”—CARLYLE.
2. “Great men sum up and represent humanity.”—RENAN.
=3.= THE KINDS OF PERSONS THAT INTEREST CHILDREN.
_a._ Men of primitive instincts—cave-men, Indians.
_b._ Men who “did things”—especially brigands, pirates,
adventurers, generals, kings.
_c._ These types fully exploited in books for children. Possibly
cause as well as effect of children’s tastes.
_d._ Relatively few tests of children’s attitude toward scholars,
writers, artists.
=4.= GENERAL CRITICISM.
_a._ Personal element essential to school history.
_b._ Events can to some extent be grouped about individuals.
_c._ But “great man theory” not well applied.
1. Persons selected for study often not representative. May be
exceptional. Often at best merely picturesque.
2. Historical characters often distorted for moral ends.
3. Doubtful anecdotes used to excess.
_d._ The “great man theory” not generally accepted by historians.
_e._ Individuals often more easily grouped about events than events
about individuals.
_f._ The general tendency of the biographical method is to leave a
series of disconnected impressions.
REFERENCES: Kemp, _Outline of Method in History_, pp. 264-295.
Hinsdale, _How to Study and Teach History_, pp. 30-31, 44-45. Bourne,
_Teaching of History and Civics_, pp. 18-20, 86, 356. Mace, _Method
in History_, pp. 289-294. Lawless, in _Nineteenth Century_, Vol. L,
pp. 790-798. Bernheim, in _Neue Bahnen_, Vol. X, pp. 338-342.
VII. The Social and Economic Point of View
=1.= GREAT MEN NOT EXCLUDED, BUT THE “MASSES” INCLUDED.
=2.= EMPHASIS UPON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS,—
Occupations, industries, inventions, commerce, manners and customs,
education, amusements, food, dress, upon whatever serves to
illustrate the common life.
=3.= THE POINT OF DEPARTURE.
_a._ The daily life and material environment of the community in
which the school is situated.
_b._ The development of some special invention, trade, art,
industry, related to the immediate neighborhood.
_c._ The constructive activities of children—sewing, weaving,
cooking, making furniture.
_d._ Local history.
=4.= APPLICATION TO HISTORY IN GENERAL.
_a._ Limited by the nature of the material available.
_b._ Difficult to arrange a connected narrative.
_c._ German experience—Biedermann’s _Kulturbilder_. The conditions
of German life at selected stages described, compared, and
contrasted.
=5.= A GROWING RECOGNITION OF THE GENERAL POINT OF VIEW.
_a._ Influence of democratic ideals.
_b._ Industrial education an important factor in securing change of
emphasis.
_c._ An enlarged view of history.
1. Carlyle’s protest against the older historians.
2. Macaulay’s theory of history.
3. The work of John Richard Green.
4. McMaster’s _People of the United States_.
_d._ The economic interpretation of history.
_e._ Material supplied by _Documentary History of American
Industrial Society_, 10 volumes, to be published, 1909-1910.
REFERENCES: Dopp, _Place of Industries in Education_, pp. 97-260.
Rice, in _Year Book, Society for Scientific Study of Education_,
1903, pp. 9-14. Wood, _Report on Teaching History_, pp. 11-17.
Lamprecht, _What is History?_ pp. 3-35. Dodd, in _Popular Science
Monthly_, Vol. LXIII, pp. 418-424. Seligman, _Economic Interpretation
of History_. Biedermann, _Geschichtsunterricht ... nach
Kulturgeschichtlicher Methode_, pp. 5-45. Bernheim, in _Neue Bahnen_,
Vol. X, pp. 285-300.
VIII. Making the Past Real
=1.= WHERE THE TEXTBOOKS FAIL.
_a._ Reading matter usually insufficient for clear images of
material aspects of the past or for definite impressions of past
mental states.
_b._ Within certain limits definiteness and simplicity secured by
brevity of statement.
_c._ But the principle of making a thing elementary by not saying
much about it carried too far.
_d._ Stories inherently simple often expanded; those inherently
difficult often abridged. School history would be more intelligible
if the conditions were reversed.
=2.= SPECIAL AIDS TO VISUALIZATION.
_a._ Material remains in vicinity of school. Visits to historic
places.
_b._ Casts, models, pictures, visualization charts, maps.
_c._ The stereoscope, lantern, and other similar apparatus. Moving
pictures.
_d._ Illustrations in textbooks.
_e._ Historical albums.
=3.= “LIVING THE PAST.”
_a._ Exaggerated views illustrated by demand that pupil “identify
himself completely with the thought, passion and resolution of the
time” under consideration.
1. Such a demand scarcely met by the most expert historians.
2. Realism of this type not attainable by children and not even
desirable.
_b._ Some impression of how men thought and felt essential.
_c._ Special aids.
1. A man’s own words expressed in letters, diaries, personal
reminiscences, speeches, state papers.
_a._ Value varies with character of person and circumstances
of utterance.
_b._ Words often no clue to real sentiments of author.
2. Characteristic stories and anecdotes.
3. Dramatization of history.
_a._ Plays composed by children. May be based on good
historical material.
_b._ Ready-made plays less effective.
_c._ Historical pageants.
_d._ Historical drama of the professional stage.
4. Imaginary letters, diaries, speeches, prepared by pupils.
Answering the questions: “How should I have felt?” “What should I
have said or done?”
5. Historical poems and novels.
_a._ Value for history easily exaggerated.
_b._ A distinction to be made between those that ate
contemporary with scenes represented and those that are
merely later attempts at reconstruction.
_c._ General use in school due in part to tradition which so
long made history a mere branch of literature, in part to
more general acquaintance with this kind of material than
with material more distinctly historical.
6. Material supplied by detailed histories.
REFERENCES: _Teachers College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 12-25.
Wilson, _Mere Literature_, pp. 161-186. Crothers, _Gentle Reader_,
pp. 167-200. Stephens, in _California University Chronicle_, Vol.
VI, pp. 159-168; _French Revolution_, Vol. II, p. 361. Matthews, in
_Forum_, Vol. XXIV, pp. 79-91. Langlois and Seignobos, _Introduction
to the Study of History_, pp. 215-225, 301, 319, note. Seignobos,
_L’Histoire dans l’Enseignement secondaire_, pp. 15-19.
IX. Time and Place Relations
=1.= TIME SENSE IN CHILDREN.
_a._ Rudimentary at age of entering school. “Yesterday,” “last
week,” “last month,” have a meaning. “One hundred years ago” has
not.
_b._ The sense develops slowly. Even children of twelve or thirteen
often measure short periods of time vaguely.
_c._ From this an argument advanced against dating any events in
distant past for children. Can mean only “a long time ago.”
_d._ The difficulty in part removed by objective assistance—chart,
rolls, knotted cords, and other devices.
_e._ Dates properly introduced at least as early as the fifth year.
=2.= DATES TO BE REMEMBERED.
_a._ Famous events.
_b._ Important events.
_c._ A few in each year fixed as a permanent possession.
_d._ Evidence at present of recovery from extreme reaction against
learning dates.
=3.= THE PLACE RELATION.
_a._ The way prepared by geography.
_b._ Maps to be introduced as soon as children have learned to read
them.
_c._ Two kinds of historical geography.
1. Contemporary maps.
2. Modern maps.
_d._ School history should show how events were influenced by
geographic conditions. Natural features of the earth determine in
great part:
1. Climate, productions, physical development, employments,
habits.
2. Facilities for commerce.
3. Advantages for military and naval defense or aggression.
4. Intellectual tendencies, but to a less extent.
_e._ Place relation to be fixed under same conditions as time
relation.
REFERENCES: Hinsdale, _How to Study and Teach History_, pp.
75-100; 111-126. Vaughan, in _Contemporary Review_, Vol. V, pp.
29-49. Turner, in _Year Book, Herbart Society_, 1899, pp. 7-41.
Semple, _American History and its Geographic Conditions_. Brigham,
_Geographic Influence in American History Report, New England History
Teachers’ Association_, 1907.
X. School History and the Historical Method
=1.= HISTORY FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES USUALLY TREATED AS A BODY OF ASSURED
KNOWLEDGE.
_a._ The problem of elementary instruction held to be
interpretation and not criticism.
_b._ Controversial matters omitted so far as possible.
_c._ Little to indicate varying degrees of probability in
historical facts.
_d._ Uncertainties covered by dogmatism of textbooks.
=2.= RAISING THE QUESTION OF HOW WE KNOW.
_a._ Makes for more intelligent view of history.
_b._ Often adds to interest in the subject.
_c._ Affords material for exercise of reasoning power.
_d._ Directly related to everyday problems.
_e._ The question usually excluded from elementary history on
ground of the difficulties involved.
=3.= A SIMPLE APPROACH SUGGESTED.
_a._ When anything has happened we may know about it because:
1. We were present when it happened—direct observation.
2. Some one has told us—oral tradition.
3. We have read about it—written or printed tradition.
4. We have seen a picture of it—pictorial tradition.
_b._ In how many ways may we know
1. That John was absent from school yesterday?
2. That Lincoln delivered an address at Gettysburg in 1863?
3. That the “Mayflower” crossed the Atlantic in 1620?
_c._ Which is the best way to know about a thing that has happened?
Is that way always possible? Why? How do we get most of our
knowledge of things that have happened?
_d._ Application to material remains.
In how many ways may we know about
1. The spelling-books of our grandfathers?
2. The bows and arrows used by Indians?
3. The house that George Washington lived in at Mount Vernon?
=4.= SOME SIMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS OF PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH HISTORICAL
METHOD.
_a._ The story of how the Egyptians found out that they were not
the oldest people in the world. Herodotus, Book II, chapter 2.
1. How did Herodotus know?
2. Is the story true?
_b._ Petrarch’s troubles in getting books copied. Robinson and
Rolfe, _Petrarch_, p. 28.
_c._ The adventures of the manuscript of Bradford’s _History of
Plymouth Plantation_. Introduction to edition published by the
State of Massachusetts.
_d._ The boundary provisions of a colonial charter. _Teachers
College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 40-43.
=5.= SUCH EXERCISES NECESSARILY LIMITED IN NUMBER.
REFERENCES: _Teachers College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 33-44.
_Historical Sources in Schools, Report to New England History
Teachers’ Association_, pp. 1-17. Bourne, _Teaching of History and
Civics_, pp. 169-187.
XI. Historical Reading for Children
=1.= BOOKS DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN.
_a._ Principles of grading not well defined.
_b._ Many books needlessly inaccurate.
_c._ Literary style often bad.
_d._ Some unnecessary “writing down” to children.
=2.= THE USE OF STANDARD HISTORIES.
_a._ Availability of historical works for school purposes not in
inverse ratio to size and scientific value.
1. Treatment of special topics often simpler and more concrete
than treatment of same topics in textbooks.
2. Many passages in detailed histories and biographies of special
interest to children.
_a._ Some of these can be read by children.
_b._ Some can be read to children.
_c._ A factor in cultivating taste for history.
_d._ Talks about writers of important works stimulate
interest in the works.
3. Real obstacles to more general use.
_a._ Cost of standard histories.
_b._ Lack of acquaintance with such works on the part of
elementary teachers.
4. Much good material available in abridgments and volumes of
extracts.
=3.= TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO USE BOOKS.
_a._ Indexes and tables of contents.
_b._ Attention to marginal references and footnotes.
_c._ Special questions to give facility in finding and using books.
_d._ The number of books need not be large.
4. MANAGEMENT OF COLLATERAL READING.
_a._ Class divisions.
_b._ Special library periods.
_c._ Books used outside of library periods.
_d._ Books taken home.
_e._ References to be exact.
_f._ References to be posted in library.
_g._ Pupil’s record of readings.
1. Full name of author.
2. Full title of book.
3. Publishers, place, and date of publication.
4. Number of pages read.
5. Personal impression.
REFERENCES: Andrews, Gambrill and Tall, _Bibliography of History
for Schools and Libraries; Report of the Committee of Eight_;
_Teachers College Record_, November, 1908, pp. 45-50. Parsons in
_Educational Review_, Vol. XXIII, pp. 400-406. McMurry, _Special
Method in History_, pp. 271-291. Rice, _History and Literature_, pp.
167-187. Mace, _Method in History_, pp. 309-311. Gordy and Twitchell,
_Pathfinder in American History_, Part I, pp. 101-102; Part II, pp.
235-251. Sullivan, in _Metropolitan Teacher_, November, 1904, pp.
193-198.
INDEX
Accuracy in practice, 46, 98.
Adenoids, signs of, 141.
Adjustment, types of, 32, 33, 34.
Aim in inductive lesson, 55.
Aim of education, 1.
Allen, W. H., quoted, 141.
Application, 63.
Appreciation and emotion, 80.
In relation to study, 87, 88.
Lesson for, 78-84.
Other than that involving the æsthetic emotions, 82, 83, 84.
Power of, 79.
Assignments, 172.
Association, importance of in recall, 101.
Attention, types of, 35.
Means of holding, 45.
Bagley, W. C., referred to, 164.
Baldwin, W. A., referred to, 135.
Cautions concerning the inductive lesson, 63, 64, 65.
Class Management, 157.
As a means, 158.
As an end, 159.
Comparison and abstraction, 59.
Concrete work, 57.
Constructiveness, 17.
Contagious and infectious diseases, 140.
Contribution by children to discussion, 134.
Coöperation, illustrations of, 132, 133.
Of parents, 136, 142.
Course of Study, 232.
Making of, 233.
Creative work, 81.
Criticism of teachers’ work, 225.
Criticism, types of, 225, 226.
Cubberley, E. P., referred to, 252.
Curiosity, 20.
Daily program, 161.
Data, collection of by children, 88, 89, 90.
Deductive lesson, 70.
Demonstration, 229.
Dewey, John, quoted, 26.
Referred to, 65.
Direct instruction in morals, 150.
Discussion by pupils, 131.
Drill lesson, 41.
Earhart, Lida B., referred to, 87.
Eliot, Charles W., referred to, 64.
Elliott, E. C., referred to, 252.
Emulation, 19.
Examination lesson, 101.
Examinations, 228.
As measure of teachers’ work, 104.
Best type of, 103, 104.
Excursions, 58.
Experience of children, 14.
Reconstructed, 32.
Experimentation by teachers, 254.
Experts, children as, 64.
Expression slovenly, 111.
Formal discipline, 235.
Generalization, 62.
Group instruction, 162.
Habit formation, 43.
Habits, teaching children how to form, 97.
Heating and ventilating, 140.
Heck, W. H., referred to, 235.
Heredity, 27.
Hygiene and morality, 149.
Ideals, 9.
Illustrative material, 171.
Imitation, 18.
Independent work, 9, 13.
Indirect instruction in morals, 150.
Individual and society, 2.
Individual differences, 239.
Individual instruction, 163.
Individualistic attitude, 111.
Inductive lesson, the, 51.
Industrial arts, 236.
Opportunity in, for coöperation, 132.
Inference, 75.
Instincts, 15-24.
Institutes, 230.
Intellectual education, 5.
Interest, and effort, 24, 25, 26, 27.
As an end, 8.
Interpreter, teacher as, 81.
Jackman, W. S., referred to, 137.
James, William, quoted, 6.
Judgments, tentative, 67, 90.
Language, in relation to reasoning, 61-62.
Vague, 111.
Leisure, training for, 6.
Lesson Plans, 167.
Deductive lesson in arithmetic, 181.
Deductive lesson in geography, 197.
For a drill lesson, 180.
For appreciation, 202, 212.
In arithmetic, 177.
In history, 183.
In nature study, 195.
On irrigation, 175.
Reasons for, 167, 168.
Lighting schoolrooms, 139.
McMurry, C. A. and F. M., referred to, 54.
McMurry, F. M., quoted, 7.
Referred to, 87, 169.
And Smith, D. E., referred to, 103.
Measuring results in education, 247.
Memorization, 92, 93.
By wholes, 93, 94, 95.
Moral-social education, 5.
Moral training, 145.
Motives, 42, 130, 136, 236, 237, 238.
Notes and annotating, 89.
Objective work, 57.
Observations, 58.
Organization of material, 168, 169.
Outline prepared by pupils, 108.
Ownership, 21.
Physical condition and morality, 149.
Physical education, 5.
Physical welfare of children, 139.
Play, 16.
Preparatory step, 51-56.
Presentation, 56.
Principles in deductive lesson, 74.
Problems, 118.
Children’s, 53, 169.
In deductive lesson, 74.
In recitation lesson, 108.
Pugnacity, 20.
Punishments, 154.
Pupil participation in school government, 160.
Pyle, W. H., and Snyder, J. C., quoted, 94.
Questioning, 114.
Direct, 114.
Alternative, 114.
Suggestive, 115.
Large scope, 116.
Planning, 116.
Novelty of form, 117.
Technique of, 119, 120.
By children, 130, 131.
Questions, pivotal, 170.
Preparation of, 171.
Pupils, 120.
Recitation lesson, the, 107.
Reflection, 72, 91.
Repetition, 44.
Responsibility, increased, of school, 146.
Review for perspective, 102.
Review lesson, 101.
Review, purpose of, 101.
Rugh, C. E., quoted, 153.
Russell, Jas. E., referred to, 235.
Scales or units of measurement, 253.
School exhibits, 226.
School, the, its functions, 12.
Scientific work in education, 249.
Scott, C. A., referred to, 137.
Seat work, 164.
Smith, D. E., and McMurry, F. M., referred to, 103.
Snyder, J. C., and Pyle, W. H., quoted, 94.
Social instinct, 22.
Social phases of the recitation, 129.
Standards in education, 105.
Stevenson’s _Bed in Summer_, quoted, 94, 95.
Stone, C. W., quoted, 255.
Referred to, 105.
Study lesson, the, 86-99.
Study, methods of, in relation to methods of teaching, 86-91.
Summaries, in plans, 171.
Supervision, the teacher in relation to, 224.
Supplementing the textbook, 110.
Suzzallo, Henry, referred to, 61.
Teacher, influence of, 154.
Teachers’ meetings, 229.
Technique involved in creation related to appreciation, 79.
Textbooks, use of, 108-109.
Thinking in relation to memorization, 94.
Thorndike, E. L., referred to, 27, 28, 105, 235, 252.
Titchener, referred to, 35.
Topical outlines, 102.
Topical recitation, 107.
Types, teaching by, 66.
Verification, 75, 97.
The habit of, 92.
Visiting, school, 227.
Vocational education, 5.
Wonder, 23.
Printed in the United States of America.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] James, _Talks to Teachers_, p. 66.
[2] F. M. McMurry, “Advisable Omissions from the Elementary
Curriculum,” _Ed. Rev._, May, 1904.
[3] Dewey, _Interest in Relation to Will_, p. 12.
[4] Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_, Chapter V.
[5] For statistics and further argument concerning individual
difference, see Thorndike, _Educational Psychology_, Chapter VIII.
[6] For this classification of attention, see Titchener, _Primer of
Psychology_, Chapter V.
[7] McMurry, _Method of the Recitation_, Chapter VI.
[8] Suzzallo, in _California Education_, June, 1906.
[9] For a full discussion of this point, see Eliot, _Educational
Reform_, the essay on “The Function of Education in a Democratic
Society.”
[10] See Dewey, “The Relation of Theory to Practice in the Education
of Teachers,” _The Third Year Book of the National Society for the
Scientific Study of Education_.
[11] For a discussion of this and other aspects of the problem, see
Earhart, _Teaching Children to Study_; McMurry, _How to Study_, and
_Teaching How to Study_.
[12] W. H. Pyle and J. C. Snyder, “The Most Economical Unit for
Committing to Memory,” _Journal of Educational Psychology_, Vol. II,
pp. 133-142.
[13] D. E. Smith and F. M. McMurry, “Mathematics in the Elementary
School,” _Teachers College Record_, Vol. IV, No. 2; D. E. Smith, “The
Teaching of Arithmetic,” _Teachers College Record_, Vol. X, No. 1.
[14] E. L. Thorndike, “Handwriting,” _Teachers College Record_, Vol.
XI, No. 2; Stone, _Arithmetical Abilities and Some of the Factors
Determining them_.
[15] Quoted by Johnson in a monograph on “The Problem of Adapting
History to Children in the Elementary School,” _Teachers College
Record_, Vol. IX, p. 319.
[16] _Teachers College Record_, Vol. IX, pp. 319-320.
[17] “Stenographic Reports of High School Lessons,” _Teachers College
Record_, September, 1910, pp. 18-26.
[18] Baldwin, _Industrial School Education_. A most helpful
discussion of industrial work.
[19] W. S. Jackman, “The Relation of School Organization to
Instruction,” _The Social Education Quarterly_, Vol. I, pp. 55-69;
Scott, _Social Education_.
[20] Allen, _Civics and Health_, p. 53.
[21] Dewey, _Moral Principles in Education_.
[22] See chapter on Social Phases of the Recitation.
[23] _Moral Training in the Public Schools_, p. 41. The essay by
Charles Edward Rugh.
[24] Bagley, _Classroom Management_, Chapter XIV.
[25] See discussion of the study lesson, _ante_.
[26] McMurry, _How to Study_, Chapter III.
[27] See _ante_, Chapter XI.
[28] Adapted from a plan prepared by Lida B. Earhart, Ph.D., for the
author’s syllabus on _Theory and Practice of Teaching._
[29] Some discussion of the course of study as an instrument in
supervision is given in the chapter on “The Teacher in Relation to
the Course of Study.”
[30] For a discussion of the doctrine of formal discipline, and for
bibliography, see Thorndike, _Educational Psychology_, 1903 edition,
Chapter VIII; Heck, _Mental Discipline_.
[31] James E. Russell, “The School and Industrial Life,” _Educational
Review_, Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 433-450.
[32] E. L. Thorndike, “Handwriting,” _Teachers College Record_, Vol.
XI, No. 2.
[33] Cubberley, _School Funds and their Apportionment_; Elliott,
_Fiscal Aspects of Education_; Strayer, _City School Expenditures_.
[34] In proceeding to the part of the study that is necessarily
largely composed of tables, it may be well to state the position
of the author regarding the partial interpretations offered in
connection with the tables. It is that the _entire tables_ give by
far the best basis for conclusions; that for a thorough comprehension
of the study they should be read quite as fully as any other part;
and that they should be regarded as the most important source of
information rather than the brief suggestive readings which are
liable to give erroneous impressions, both because of the limitations
of a single interpretation and the lack of space for anything like
full exposition.
[35] _M_ = _Median_, which is the representation of central tendency
used throughout this study. It has the advantages over the average of
being more readily found, of being unambiguous, and of giving less
weight to extreme or erroneous cases.
[36] For reliability of measures of reasoning ability, see Appendix,
p. 100.
[37] As stated in Part I, p. 17, a _score_ is arbitrarily set at
_one_. The fact that the zero point is unknown in both reasoning and
fundamentals makes these scores less amenable to ordinary handling
than they might at first thought seem. Hence, entire distributions
are either printed or placed on file at Teachers College.
[38] For the data from which these calculations were made, see first
column of table XXI, p. 52, and the first columns of tables III and
IV, p. 21. The absence of known zero points makes such computations
inadvisable except in connection with the more reliable evidence of
the preceding table.
[39] And it is the opinion of the author that the chances are much
better that one would get a school with a superior product in
_education_.
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