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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
BOOKS ON EDUCATION
BY
SAMUEL CHESTER PARKER
Professor of Educational Methods in
The University of Chicago
The History of Modern Elementary
Education 8vo, 505 pages
Methods of Teaching in High Schools
(Revised Edition) 8vo, 529 pages
Exercises for " Methods of Teaching
in High Schools " (Revised Edition)
8vo, 261 pages
General Methods of Teaching in
Elementary Schools (Revised Edition)
8vo, 336 pages
Types of Elementary Teaching and
Learning (In press)
GENERAL METHODS OF TEACHING
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
INCLUDING THE KINDERGARTEN
BY
SAMUEL CHESTER PARKER
PROFESSOR OK EDUCATIONAL METHODS IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
REVISED EDITION
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1919, 1922, BY SAMUEL CHESTER PARKER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
gfre fltbenatnm ij»re«
GINN AND COMPANY- PRO-
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A,
Education
Library
L-o
D
1025
TO
THE TEACHERS OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
WHOSE EXCELLENT TEACHING HAS FURNISHED
MANY SUGGESTIONS TO THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
Readers. — This book has been prepared for use in
normal schools, kindergarten training schools, and teachers'
reading circles. Hence it has been made quite elementary
in content and adapted to the understanding of freshman
and sophomore students of approximately eighteen to twenty
years of age.
Origin. — The work is the outcome of some fifteen years'
experience by the author in teaching students of this type —
five years in the State Normal College at Oxford, Ohio,
and the rest in The University of Chicago. In the latter
institution many of the students have been preparing for
unified kindergarten-primary teaching.
Scope. — By limiting the illustrations in this volume to
teaching in elementary schools it has been possible to make
the discussion quite concrete. While the general principles
presented apply equally well to high schools, teachers in the
latter will find the author's " Methods of Teaching in High
Schools" (Ginn and Company, 1915) and his Exercises for
"Methods of Teaching in High Schools" (1918) more
suggestive than the present volume.
Continuation. — Further chapters, dealing with the train-
ing of pupils in writing, spelling, reading, arithmetic, under-
standing social life, problem solving, communicating ideas,
enjoyment, and moral behavior, are contained in the author's
"Types of Elementary Teaching and Learning" (Ginn and
Company).
fat
x TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Scientific basis. — The scientific basis for a part of the
discussion in the book is found in modern experimental
and statistical studies in education and psychology, such as
the investigations of relative values in arithmetic and spell-
ing, of drill processes in formal subjects, and of individual
differences in capacities for learning. In many cases, how-
ever, where precise, objective, scientific investigations are
lacking, I have relied on authoritative analytical discussions
such as the works of William James.
Influences. — The author's general point of view has been
determined by a number of influences, including a year of
training in experimental psychology and education under
Professor C. H. Judd at the University of Cincinnati (1901-
1902) and two years of graduate study under Professors
John Dewey and E. L. Thorndike of Columbia University.
The latter 's textbook entitled " Principles of Teaching "
(1905) has been especially influential, since I have used
it as a basis of discussion in my classes for many years.
Five years' experience in administrative work in The Uni-
versity of Chicago served to impress upon me the importance
of scientific business management in any social organization.
Point of view. — In general, the author takes the point
of view that efficiency and economy in instruction are facili-
tated by (i) radically adapting all instruction to contemporary
social needs ; (2) basing methods of instruction on sound
psychological principles which have been determined, as far
as possible, experimentally ; and (3) applying principles of
scientific business management to the conduct of all teach-
ing. The first of these standards eliminates processes that
have no direct social value ; the second eliminates waste of
effort resulting from the use of uneconomical and ineffective
methods of learning ; the third eliminates waste of time which
results from failure to standardize materials and processes.
PREFACE xi
Concrete material. — Much of the concrete material in
the book has been derived from the course of study and
teaching of the Elementary School of The University of
Chicago. This school of some three hundred and fifty chil-
dren is not a "freak" school. One of its purposes is to
aid the School of Education in preparing teachers and super-
visors for the regular work of public schools ; hence it aims
to carry on in the best possible manner the same lines of
work as are found in the best public schools. Like these
schools, it has a well-graded, systematic, detailed course of
study, regular printed daily programs which are carefully
followed, regular textbooks with an excellent supplementary
library of children's books, printed reading charts and cards
for primary work, ready-made drill materials for arithmetic,
standard scientific tests for measuring progress, a school
garden, and a school museum containing materials to be used
in history and the sciences. The children are usually organ-
ized into groups of sixteen to twenty, with half-year intervals
for classification. Careful supervision has enabled the school
to effect such economies that a very rich elementary course
of study is completed in seven years. In addition to exam-
ples from the University Elementary School, the book contains
illustrations of teaching taken from many other sources.
Kindergarten. — The kindergarten is treated in this book
as the first regular grade of the elementary school, as is now
the case in the better public schools. For much of the con-
crete material which is used to illustrate this type of kinder-
garten work I am especially indebted to Miss Alice Temple,
head of the department of Kindergarten-Primary Education in
The University of Chicago. Miss Patty Hill of the Department
of Lower-Primary Education of Teachers College, Columbia
University, kindly furnished a number of pictures illustrating
the progressive kindergarten teaching in that institution.
xii TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
OtJier assistance. — To others of my colleagues I am
indebted for many suggestions: to Professor J. F. Bobbitt
in matters concerning the curriculum ; to Professors C. H.
Judd and F. N. Freeman for their neiv educational psy-
chology, which has proved so fruitful in the study of how
children learn ; and especially to Professor W. S. Gray for
suggestions which have led to many rearrangements of
topics. Mr. H. O. Gillet, principal of The University of
Chicago Elementary School, kindly furnished many photo-
graphs of the school's activities for use as illustrations in
the text. Finally, from my students, especially the expert,
experienced teachers in elementary schools, I have received
many helpful illustrations and examples.
S. C. PARKER
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION
I have taken advantage of the opportunity offered by the
printing of a new impression of the "General Methods of
Teaching in Elementary Schools " to make certain improve-
ments in the text. Some of these are merely changes in the
headlines in order to clarify the organization at certain points.
The most important change, however, is the addition of
Chapter XII on Project Teaching. While the original edition,
through its numerous pictures, stories, and descriptions of
actual projects, provided abundant discussion of this general
phase of learning and teaching, it seemed desirable to am-
plify the treatment by a special chapter which would bring
out quite clearly the meaning, history, value, limitations, and
technique of project teaching. The addition of this chapter
necessitated a few changes in the definition and use of the
term " project " in Chapter V on Organizing Subject Matter,
particularly on pages 121 and 128.
S. C. PARKER
CONTENTS
PART I. FUNDAMENTAL POINTS OF VIEW
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING
PAGE
Purpose 3
Teachers may become growing, enthusiastic artists 4
Main topics to be discussed 7
Bibliographical Notes n
CHAPTER II
BROADENING PURPOSES OF ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL
TEACHING
Main points of the chapter 12
Necessary for teachers to understand purposes 13
Historical changes. From religion to complete living 19
Colonial purposes 20
Social changes since colonial period 21
Increasing happiness of multitudes becomes the aim of democratic
education 32
Broader social aims 35
Detailed psychological aims 45
Bibliographical Notes .' 51
CHAPTER III
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Main points of the chapter 53
Teacher should avoid misdirected time and energy 54
Routinize mechanical aspects ; use judgment in variable aspects ... 54
Reasoning and individuality may have the same place in a well-
routinized school as in social life 55
Examples of extreme spontaneity and extreme repression 56
Begin right the first day 62
xiii
xiv TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PAGE
Varied seating and grouping of pupils 64
Routinized passing and marching 67
Handling materials ; monitors 68
Physical conditions of the classroom 71
Maintaining good order 74
Bibliographical Notes 83
">
CHAPTER IV
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER
SOCIAL AND RELATIVE VALUES ; SCIENTIFIC BASIS
Main points of the chapter 84
I. ADAPTING SUBJECT MATTER TO VARYING SOCIAL NEEDS
Reading : social change from oral reading to rapid silent reading . . 86
Adapting arithmetic to social needs. Obsolete and new topics ... 95
From religious-moral to civic-moral instruction 96
Social changes influencing kindergarten 97
Social point of view emphasized by sociologists 99
II. DETERMINING THE RELATIVE VALUES OF TOPICS
Spencer's classic discussion of relative values 101
Relative values in arithmetic 102
Spelling lists determined by scientific investigations of relative values 104
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURE IN
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER
Scientific procedure contrasted with personal opinions 107
Illustrated by spelling investigations 107
Summary of characteristics of scientific investigations no
Bibliographical Notes 1 1 1
CHAPTER V
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER
INTENSIVE STUDY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Main points of the chapter 113
Often textbooks determine organization above first grade 114
CONTENTS xv
PAGE
I. INTENSIVE STUDY OF LARGE TOPICS VERSUS
ENCYCLOPEDIC TENDENCIES
In geography. Older geography like a " crazy quilt " 116
Contrast modern fourth-grade geography 117
Large significant topics in which this teaching centers 120
History illustrates change to vivid comprehension of large issues . . 122
Kindergarten projects replace encyclopedia of trades 125
Intensive method focalizes large significant issues to be remembered 128
II. ORGANIZATION IN TERMS OF THE LEARNER INSTEAD
OF IN TERMS OF THE SUBJECT
In history. Chronological organization 131
Children's ability to understand history 131
History course as adapted to children 135
From chronological to psychological organization in history .... 140
History of efforts to secure psychological organization 141
Rousseau said study childhood 141
Pestalozzi would psychologize teaching '..... 143
" From simple to complex " led Pestalozzi astray ; alphabet methods 144
Pestalozzi's alphabets based on subjects, not on childhood 148
James on how children learn 149
Subject matter, now psychologically organized, begins with wholes . 150
Transition to Part II ; summary of Part I 154
Bibliographical Notes 156
PART II. LEARNING PROCESSES; GENERAL
ASPECTS
CHAPTER VI
HOW CHILDREN LEARN; BY THEIR OWN RESPONSES
THE DOCTRINE OF SELF-ACTIVITY
Main points of the chapter 1 57
Relation to Part I 158
Term " learning " has broad meaning 158
Self-activity of pupil, not the teacher's activity, educates him . . . 161
xvi TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PAGE
Self -control, self-restraint, and inhibition are high forms of self-activity 163
Inner responses difficult to determine 165
Bibliographical Notes 166
CHAPTER VII
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES
THE DOCTRINE OF APPERCEPTION
Main points of the chapter 168
Kxamples of responses to "bay," " Belgium," "abolition" .... 169
Words used as meaningless jingle 170
History of recognition of apperception ; Rousseau 175
Well-intentioned Pestalozzians went astray 175
Kindergartens ascribed to children impossible abstract ideas .... 177
Home geography makes geographic ideas real 182
Bibliographical Notes 188
CHAPTER VIII
PUTTING PUPILS IN A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND
THE DOCTRINE OF PREPARATION
Main points of the chapter 190
Examples of the influence of mental backgrounds 191
Pupils' irrelevant answers illustrate influence of wrong line of thought 192
Teacher must prepare mental backgrounds 194
Bibliographical Notes 199
CHAPTER IX
INTERESTS; THE BASIS OF ECONOMY IN LEARNING
Main points of the chapter * 200
Interest is a helpful attitude in learning 201
Illustrated by use of interest in adventure in teaching reading ... 201
Utilizing children's interests is a business proposition 205
Children's interests call forth spontaneous attention 206
Sugar-coating justified if it secures properly directed attention . . . 207
Three questions in evaluating use of an instinctive interest .... 209
CONTENTS xvii
PAGE
Illustrated by emulation 209
Important instincts used as basis of attention and interest . . . . 214
Older instinctive appeals 215
Other instinctive interests utilized recently 216
Children learn to work effectively through interesting activities . . 242
Bibliographical Notes 245
CHAPTER X
DRILL AND PRACTICE
MAKING RESPONSES AUTOMATIC BY REPETITION
Main points of the chapter 247
Examples of greatly improved technique in drill lessons 248
Examples introduce to principles of drill 255
Only correct practice makes perfect 255
Do not waste time on nonessential processes 257
Arouse zeal, interest, and concentration of attention 258
Use ready-made scientifically organized drill systems 259
Continue drill until precise standard scores are maintained .... 261
Give practice in using abstract forms in concrete situation:; .... 262
Is incidental drill as good as specific drill ? 264
Specific drill especially needed with rich, enticing course cf study . 266
Bibliographical Notes 267
CHAPTER XI
Main points of the chapter 269
Example. Great differences in capacity for learning to sing .... 270
Weak or slow pupils. Monotones not denied promotion 273
Contrast with regard to skill in fundamentals . . ._ 273
Summary concerning individual teaching of weak pupils 277
Proficient pupils. Varied assignments 279
Administrative provisions for the fast and slow . 287
Scientific, objective, precise studies of individual differences.
Amounts of difference 289
Distribution of differences in ability 297
Causes of individual differences 302
xviii TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PAGE
Inborn, native capacity is an important factor 302
Idiots, imbeciles, and other feeble-minded 303
Genius and eminence • 305
Gallon's study of twins 307
Treat each pupil sympathetically 307
Improvability 308
Varied richness of human nature ; important capacities 310
Programs of National Education Association 318
From Rousseau to Gallon 319
Conclusion of discussion of individual differences 320
Bibliographical Notes 320
CHAPTER XII
PROJECT TEACHING: PUPILS PLANNING PRACTICAL
ACTIVITIES
Main points of the chapter 324
Definition 324
Examples 324
Values of practice in planning practical activities 326
Limitations of project teaching 327
Teacher's technique 328
Summary of Part II 329
Conclusion of Parts I and II 330
Enlist for artistic teaching 330
INDEX 331
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Upper-grade class presenting a morning exercise . . . Frontispiece
Medieval town and castle constructed by fifth grade 8
Second-grade class using textiles 14
Kindergarten group at lunch 16
Kindergarten band and bandstand 18
Diagram of broadening purposes 20
Page from " New England Primer " 21
Boy in cotton factory 26
Samuel Slater 28
Slater's mill 30
Girl with hookworm disease 36
Map of activities of Rockefeller Foundation . 37
Chart for combating tuberculosis 39
Tubercular child with open-air smile 41
Kindergarten table of large blocks 65
Title-page of Bingham's " Columbian Orator " 90
Sample page from Bingham's " Columbian Orator " 93
Screen playhouse for kindergarten 122
Inside of screen playhouse 1 23
Street scene constructed in kindergarten 124
Kindergarten grocery store 127
Kindergarten community buildings 129
First grade designing Indian costumes . . . 132
Indian play presented in first-grade room 134
Indian play presented to school assembly 136
Third grade constructing Viking project 138
Rousseau 143
" Simple-to-complex " kindergarten constructions 147
Second-grade drawing as story-telling 152
Washing the kindergarten dolls' clothes 1 54
Maze for experimenting with chicks 1 60
The kindergarten chickens 1 70
Lacing shoes in kindergarten 1 78
Toy cows in kindergarten 1 78
JOS.
xx TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PAGE
Kindergarten children gardening 180
Kindergarten children raking leaves 1 80
Seven hills of Rome in sand-pan . 184
Saxon settlement in sand-pan . . 185
Sixth-grade irrigation project in sand-pan 186
A blow for each mistake ., 217
Second-grade composition ; a riddle 224
Medieval tournament in fifth-grade sand-pan 230
Medieval town in sand-pan 232
Third grade dramatizing early Chicago 236
Roman history dramatized by fourth grade 238
Shepherd play produced by second grade 240
Arithmetic paper showing individual diagnosis 274
Children's library for supplementary reading 278
Arithmetic scores represented by piled blocks 299
Reading scores represented by piled blocks 300
Normal surfaces of frequency 301
Desert types being drawn by geography class 312
KEY TO BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
The books from which quotations are made in the text are
included in the bibliographies which are printed at the ends of the
chapters. The source of each quotation is indicated (usually at its
end) by two figures in parenthesis. The first figure refers to the
book by its number in the bibliography at the end of the chapter,
and the second figure refers to the page. Thus, (4 : 76) means
page 76 in the fourth book in the chapter bibliography. This
system has been adopted in order that the instructor or student
may verify or follow up any quotation, but at the same time the
ordinary reader will not be distracted by numerous footnote refer-
ences which are unimportant in his reading.
GENERAL METHODS OF TEACHING
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PART I. FUNDAMENTAL POINTS
OF VIEW
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING
Purpose. — The purpose of this book is to introduce pro-
spective elementary-school teachers to the principles which
underlie good teaching.
An elementary discussion of established ideas. — It is
assumed that the readers know little about teaching ; hence
the discussions are quite elementary in character. The author
is not presenting new educational ideas, but is endeavoring
to make established ideas clear to beginners. It is assumed,
however, that the readers are high-school graduates who are
probably pursuing courses in normal schools, hence it is ex-
pected that they will be able to understand discussions which
are no more difficult than the courses in history, civics, or
science offered in high schools.
Discussion relates to ordinary city-school teaching. — The
teaching situations which the author has in mind throughout
the discussions are ordinary, fairly well-graded rooms in city
or town schools with about forty children in a room. It is
assumed that there is fairly good equipment; for example,
sets of supplementary readers, cards for drill work, materials
for constructive activities and for games, wall maps, possibly
globes, etc. It is assumed that the prospective teachers are
aiming to become specialists in kindergarten or primary
teaching or in teaching in the middle or upper grades.
3
4 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Teachers may become growing, enthusiastic artists. — It
is assumed, further, that the readers are sincerely interested
in improving as teachers and becoming real artists in their
field, for teaching may be practiced as a fine art similar to
that of an actor, musician, painter, or writer. As the teacher
masters the principles, methods, tools, and devices of teach-
ing, she may strive for finer and finer effects in the same
way that an artist does. In her earlier teaching she may be
satisfied to gain practice and skill in some of the cruder
points of teaching, such as avoiding waste- of time, securing
good discipline, and having most of the children understand
what is studied. But after one or two years of experience
she may strive for finer effects and begin to differentiate
her pupils carefully, to understand the capacities, needs, and
progress of each individual, and to secure zest and inter-
est in all work. Some teachers are so much interested in
improvement of this type that they spend several years
developing their technique in one grade or series of grades,
— for example, in the kindergarten or the primary grades,
—and find a never-ending field of artistic improvement in
such specialized teaching, just as one painter might spend
his life studying and practicing the painting of landscapes,
while another paints only portraits. The artist-teacher, more-
over, has especially interesting material to work with, namely,
the plastic and varied personalities of her pupils.
City systems and normal schools provide for specialization
in grade teaching. — Educators, as a rule, realize the large
possibilities of such specialized technique and improved teach-
ing within a single grade. As a consequence, in city systems,
at the present time, expert primary teachers are paid as high
salaries as upper-grade teachers, and are not "promoted"
to the upper grades, as was formerly the practice. Similarly,
in the better normal schools the training courses are special-
ized so that students are trained for kindergarten-primary
teaching or for upper-grade teaching. (1)
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING 5
Don't be discouraged by the unusual pictures. — Scattered
through the text are about fifteen pictures illustrating certain
features of the work in a very well-equipped, well-staffed
private elementary school, particularly the use of sand-
table construction projects and dramatic projects to vitalize
the teaching of history and geography. Very commonly
such pictures call forth the comment, " Oh, you can't do
such work in the public schools." This is not always true,
since some of the most progressive public schools are now
so well equipped, staffed, and supervised that they are doing
some of the same type of work as that shown in the pic-
tures. For example, it is a comparatively simple matter for
a public-school fourth grade to represent the seven hills
of Rome in a sand-pan as shown on page 184 or for an
upper grade to present the morning exercise shown in the
frontispiece. The class depicted in the latter were study-
ing the westward movement in United States history, from
Daniel Boone to the settlement of the Pacific coast. During
their drawing periods each pupil drew a picture represent-
ing some phase of this pioneering movement. In their
regular history periods they told the class about their pic-
tures, and then repeated the performance for the benefit
of the school assembled for morning exercises. The value
of such training in vitalizing history and in developing skill
in graphic and oral expression is obvious. Naturally, such
teaching calls for more resourcefulness and skill on the part
of the teacher than does merely hearing recitations from
textbooks. This fact need not discourage the beginning
teacher, however, but rather encourage her to look forward
to the day when, having mastered the easier routine features
of teaching, she may undertake some of the more difficult
tasks suggested by the pictures. In order, at this point,
to get a concrete notion of some of the opportunities for
such teaching, the reader might find it interesting to look
at all the pictures.
6 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Teachers' training includes subject matter, general skills,
devices, principles. — The study of this book provides only
a small part of the training which a teacher needs. The
preparation of a teacher is a complex task and should include
thorough training in each of the following :
1 . The subject matter which she is to teach ; for exam-
ple, a teacher in the middle grades should have in her
normal-school course a thorough study of the geography of
North America and similar thorough courses dealing with
the other subjects of the intermediate grades.
2. Certain general habits and skills ; for example, a pri-
mary teacher needs to be skilled in handwriting, in black-
board drawing, in some forms of constructive work, such as
weaving or modeling, in adding and subtracting numbers,
and in using good English.
3. The use of hundreds of specific devices, such as games
for teaching phonics in the primary grades, methods of
teaching the use of decimal fractions in the intermediate
grades, etc.
4. Understanding and applying the general principles of
method, such as the principle that drills are made effective
by securing zest and concentration of attention or the prin-
ciple that new ideas must be related to a child's past experi-
ence in order that he may understand them.
This book explains principles illustrated by devices. —
This book is not concerned with numbers i and 2 above,
namely, a mastery of subject matter and general skills. It
is concerned primarily with number 4, namely, the general
principles of method. In order that the reader may secure
a working understanding of these principles, however, it
is necessary to indicate how they are actually carried out
in practice. Consequently, all principles are illustrated by
examples and devices, generally from real teaching situations.
Skill in teaching usually involves the use of such specific
devices as are noted in paragraph 3, above, but in order
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING 7
that a teacher may know which devices and practices are
correct and which ones are harmful it is necessary that she
understand the principles of method. These principles will
enable her to judge of the correctness or validity of devices
which are suggested to her and may also start her on the
right road to the invention of valuable original devices which
she may use in her particular work.
Main topics to be discussed. — The principal topics which
will be taken up are the following :
Part I. Fundamental Points of View
I. Artistic teaching.
II. The broadening purposes of elementary-school teaching, —
the change from religious salvation to complete living as
the aim of elementary education.
III. Economy in classroom management, — applying principles
of scientific business management.
IV. Selecting subject matter, — choosing the most valuable
material to meet the social needs of to-day.
V. Organizing subject matter, — avoiding meaningless encyclo-
pedic details and organizing subjects as children learn
them most readily.
Part IT. Learning Processes ; General Aspects
VI. How children learn — through their own responses and
efforts.
VII. Building on pupils' past experiences.
VIII. Putting pupils in a favorable frame of mind.
IX. Utilizing children's active interests in order to secure con-
centrated attention and economy in learning.
X. Drill, — the use of ready-made scientific drill systems to
secure interesting economical learning by repetition.
XL Individual differences, — adapting class instruction to differ-
ences in capacity so that the fast pupils will not loaf or
the slow ones be dragged so fast that they fail to learn.
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING 9
The above outline does not include all the principles of
method in teaching, but only some of the most important
general aspects of method. There remain, moreover, many
special methods, such as teaching children to write, to spell,
to solve problems, etc., which are discussed in the author's
" Types of Elementary Teaching and Learning."
Observations of teaching should supplement study of the
text. — The study of this text will prove much more profit-
able to the students if they can observe teaching which
illustrates the principles set forth and discuss the observed
teaching in class. Hence it is recommended that the in-
structor of the course in methods of teaching arrange for
the students to observe excellent lessons which illustrate the
specific phases of teaching under discussion at the time.
Story of the picture on opposite page. — The castle and fortified
town shown in the picture on the opposite page were constructed
out of cardboard by a fifth-grade class which was studying the
Feudal Age in European history. The children had read the
King Arthur and other stories, as well as descriptions of the life
in town and castle. On the basis of this reading, they planned
an imaginary medieval town and castle as shown in the drawings
on the blackboard. They then constructed the walls and buildings
from cardboard coated with a preparation of flour and salt to
resemble stone. Certain parts were colored with coffee, water
colors, etc.
The fortified town shown on the left contained one building for
each type of craftsman or merchant, — the tailor, the metal worker,
the importer of baled goods, etc. In the public square was shown
a medieval fair. The crowded condition of a medieval town was
brought out by the narrow streets and overhanging second stories
of the houses. On the right is the castle of the baron who was
lord of the region. Between the town and the castle are the feudal
lands, owned by the baron, and cultivated in strips according to
medieval practices.
Too small to be seen in the picture is a procession of knights
proceeding from the castle to the town to attend the fair. On the
10 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
blackboard in the left-center are sketches of historical costumes in
which the little dolls representing the characters were dressed.
The next fifth-grade class which worked on this project con-
structed a historical castle instead of an imaginary one. They
chose the castle of Kenilworth and from books of travel, encyclo-
pedias, etc. obtained the details for its construction. Later they
wrote a play centering in a visit of Queen Elizabeth to Kenil-
worth and the return of Drake from one of his voyages. As a
piece of cooperative work in English the class wrote the following
poem concerning their work :
OUR CASTLE IN THE SAND-PAN
Within our sand-pan straight and long,
We 've built an ancient castle strong ;
It has some battlemented towers
That guard the lovely ladies' bowers ;
A moat that 's deep and wide around,
And green grass growing on the ground.
We now have built a mighty keep,
Also a hall where knights do sleep.
We 've built a wall around the grotto
Which we have carved with Leicester's motto.
Our Kenilworth is fair and gay
With banners floating all the day,
For good Queen Bess in royal array
Is coming in her barge this day.
All loyal hearts these means employ,
To show how full they are of joy.
See reference 2 on page 1 1 for a description of the course of
study in which these projects appeared.
The picture illustrates vitalizing and clarifying historical ideas in
teaching, as well as the utilization of children's interests in romance
and adventure and in manipulation. It is introduced at this point
as an example of the fine art of teaching as practiced by a teacher of
thorough training, wide experience, and energetic interest in her art.
Incidentally, notice the compact map equipment above the black-
boards. About ten maps can be seen hung on rollers like those of
window shades.
INTRODUCTION TO ARTISTIC TEACHING n
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1. JUDD, C. H., and PARKER, S. C. Standardizing State Normal
Schools. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1916, No. 12. Chapter IX
contains a description of the policy of progressive state normal schools
of organizing differentiated training courses for the teachers of primary
grades, intermediate grades, and upper grades.
2. Course of Study in Community Life, History, and Civics in
the Elementary School of The University of Chicago. Prepared by the
grade teachers of the University Elementary School and printed in the
Elementary School Journal, 1917, Vol. XVII, pp. 397-431, 485-520,
550-575, 627-649. This detailed course of study explains the subject
matter and activities illustrated by a number of pictures in this text.
Similar courses of study are available in geography and science.
3. Courses of Study of the Speyer School and of the Horace Mann
Elementary School. (Teachers College, Columbia University, prices 60
and 80 cents respectively.) These detailed courses of study describe the
work in two elementary schools that have had the benefit of excellent
professional advice in organizing their teaching. An earlier edition of
the Horace Mann course is printed in the Teachers College Record,
1913, Vol. XIV.
CHAPTER II
BROADENING PURPOSES OF ELEMENTARY-
SCHOOL TEACHING
Main points to open each chapter. — At the beginning of
each chapter will be found a brief statement of its main
points. This should be read rapidly in order to get a general
notion of what is to come. After the chapter is finished, it
may be studied as a summary of the chapter.
Main points of the chapter. — i . Turmoil and confusion often
result in school systems because the teachers fail to understand
the purposes of the classroom activities.
2. Hence a clear understanding of the aims and purposes of the
elementary schools of to-day is the starting point for a discussion
of methods of teaching.
3. The elementary schools of to-day train for complete living ;
their purposes are as broad as life itself.
4. This broad program contrasts strongly with the narrow
colonial Puritan elementary schools, which trained children to avoid
sin and Satan.
5. The expansion of the elementary school is due largely to
three social influences : (a) democratic government, (/£) practical
humanitarianism, (e) the industrial revolution growing out of the
factory system.
6. The combination of these factors is resulting in happiness of
the multitudes being made the end of democratic government and
of democratic education.
7. Training for happiness emphasizes health, enjoyment of lei-
sure, good will, and social service as the social aims of the school.
8. In training each boy and each girl to attain these broader
social aims, the teacher develops in them valuable information,
habits, ideals, and many-sided abiding interests.
BROADENING PURPOSES 13
Necessary for teachers to understand purposes of school
activities. — It is highly important that teachers understand
the aims, purposes, and values of the activities which they
supervise in school. Unless they do understand the purposes
of all parts of their teaching, time and energy and public
funds will often be wasted on activities that have little value.
The possibilities of such waste are illustrated by the following
observations.
Turmoil over purposes of handwork. — About 1900 an
observer visited a very backward school system in which a
new superintendent was trying to introduce many innova-
tions. These innovations had been described to the teachers
in their institute week at the opening of the school year, but
the teachers had secured little comprehension of their pur-
poses. One of the innovations was handwork. Two fourth-
grade rooms were visited in which this new activity was
being taught.
Basket factory versus "busy" work. — In one of these
rooms the teacher was having the children weave wicker
baskets. She was very enthusiastic about their work. She
said they made baskets at recess and after school, and even
worked on them at home. Finished baskets were hanging
all around the room, and she proudly showed the observer a
closet full of them. The room was a veritable basket fac-
tory. The observer asked her if the basket-making had any
connection with the other subjects, but she said it did not ;
basket-making, she considered, thoroughly justified itself.
In the other fourth-grade room just the opposite situation
prevailed. The class was divided into two sections. The
study section was quietly weaving flexible splints into little
mats. At the end of the period they took the mats to
pieces and replaced the splints where they belonged. This
teacher was also enthusiastic about the new activity ; it was
so useful as "busy work," she said, to keep the children
out of mischief.
BROADENING PURPOSES 15
Frills versus fundamentals, — Many of the parents, how-
ever, did not view the handwork with favor. They complained
that the three R's were being sadly neglected in favor of the
new " fads and frills." The children, they said, now spent
their time at home cutting paper dolls and pasting paper
stars instead of studying "the fundamentals." Eventually
the turmoil of misunderstanding became so great that the
superintendent moved to other fields. Possibly he succeeded
there in getting his teachers to understand that the purpose
of the handwork was to aid in the study of community life
Story of the picture on opposite page Spinning and weaving
have always been among the most important of human industries.
To understand them is an important factor in understanding
human needs and corresponding industrial processes. They may
be made clear to children by beginning with the simpler mechani-
cal devices, some of which the children may use themselves. In
the picture on the opposite page are grouped illustrative mate-
rials and processes used in a second-grade class which was fol-
lowing the course of study in history described on page 135.
On the wall is hung a sheepskin, from which the children acquired
real ideas of wool in the natural state. At the left are two chil-
dren who are trying to comb, or card, some wool with a couple
of primitive carding-paddles containing pegs, or pins, or thorns.
To the right of the old woman is a child trying to twirl a simple
spinning device to twist cotton into threads. At the extreme right,
a child is weaving a little rug on a lap loom. All the materials,
devices, and processes described so far could be provided in a
well-equipped public school.
The central figure in the picture, however, — the old Italian
woman spinning flax on her own spinning wheel, — could seldom
be reproduced even under the most favorable circumstances. She
was " found " at Hull House, one of Chicago's great social settle-
ments, where many European immigrants congregate and bring
their primitive industrial and artistic processes. To see her at
work was a valuable educative experience for these children.
BROADENING PURPOSES 1 7
in connection with geography and history, and that it should
be taught in such a way as to serve this purpose.
Even purposes of three Ks need careful defining. — In
the above incident the complacency of the parents concern-
ing the values of the three R's suggests that there is more
common agreement about the purposes of teaching reading,
writing, and arithmetic than in the case of handwork. A care-
ful analysis, however, of the teaching of these well-estab-
lished and valuable subjects shows that teachers are often
wasting much time and energy in activities that have little
value in the world at large. This fact will be brought out
in detail later.
Kindergarten illustrates relating activities to larger pur-
poses. — The fact that fourth-grade handwork should be
related to the purposes in studying geography and history,
and the necessity of evaluating the three R's in relation to
the activities of the world at large, are examples of the
necessity of having teachers comprehend the larger aims
and purposes of teaching in order that they may determine
the values of each activity which they supervise. A good
example of this process of evaluating specific schoolroom
Story of the picture on opposite page The little kindergarten
group shown at lunch on the opposite page illustrates the use of
certain modern kindergarten materials and projects. In the back-
ground is the large five-part folding screen with a door and
curtained windows, used to construct a playhouse as described
on page 126. To the left of the door, but scarcely visible in the
picture, is a sideboard made by the children from large blocks.
These large blocks appear more clearly in the little chairs upon
which the children are seated. 'The planning, discussing, and
carrying out of the activities suggested in this picture give the
children training in problem solving, oral expression, cooperation,
and manual construction, as well as helping them to comprehend
better the activities of their homes.
18 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
activities in terms of the larger purposes of education is
found in the work of kindergarten teachers.
An ordinary observer in a modern kindergarten may see
the children engaged in such activities as are pictured on
pages 1 6 and 18. To such an observer the children seem
to be merely playing — playing house, playing store, play-
ing with dolls, running, skipping, dancing, singing, etc. The
KINDERGARTEN PLAY PROJECT — BAND AND BANDSTAND
From The University of Chicago Elementary School. Are these children
merely having a good time or are they attaining some of the educational
aims described below ?
kindergartner, however, will tell you that while it is merely
play for the children, they are being trained in "community
life, industrial and fine arts, language, music, physical edu-
cation, nature study, and number work." She may tell you
that the purposes of the play activities are represented in
the following impressive terms :
I . Social or moral purposes : for example, teaching non-
interference with other children ; self-control, as in keeping
quiet when someone else is speaking ; order, as in putting
the doll's clothes away ; working for some definite end, as
BROADENING PURPOSES 19
in procuring the seeds and preparing the soil for planting ;
obedience, as in following promptly the teacher's directions.
2. Training in reflective thinking, in problem solving: for
example, in devising by experimental folding a paper basket
that will hold the seeds that are to be planted ; in devising
a slanting roof to be built on a toy barn ; in devising a bridge
of blocks to cross an imaginary stream that has been marked
with chalk on the floor ; in choosing colors for various
decorative purposes, etc.
3. Training in expression : for example, in drawing and
coloring when the children use colored crayons to represent
a flowering plant ; in oral expression, when they tell about
their toys at home or their trip to the grocery store.
4. Training in (esthetic enjoyment : for example, in fun-
damental rhythms, as in clapping, skipping, and dancing ;
also in music, drawing, painting, designing, and story-telling.
5. Training in manual skill: for example, in piling
blocks, in cutting with scissors, in modeling with plasticine,
in throwing and catching a ball.
Historical changes in purposes. From religion to complete
living. — The examples given above are intended to illus-
trate what is meant by understanding the aims and purposes
of elementary teaching, and the practical bearing of this
understanding. We shall now secure further insight into
the matter by an examination of the aims and purposes of
elementary schools as these have changed in America since
the settlement by the Puritans in New England, about
1640. The diagram on page 20 summarizes the remarkable
changes which we shall describe.
This diagram suggests the enormous expansion which
has taken place in elementary-school purposes and gives
the title to this chapter. In the early colonial period, in
nearly all elementary schools, practically the sole purpose
of teaching was religious salvation. In contrast with this
narrow conception the purposes in American public schools
20
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
at the present time have become as broad as life itself,
excepting only religion.
Colonial purposes. Massachusetts law to circumvent
Satan, 1647. — The general statement about the dominant
religious purpose in colonial elementary schools may be illus-
trated by the following quotation from the Massachusetts law
of 1647. To appreciate this quotation try to imagine a
state legislature at the present time phrasing a law in the
same fashion. The preamble began as follows :
It being one chief point of that old deluder, Satan, to keep
men from a knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times, by
keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times, by
persuading from the use of tongues, that so at last the true sense
and meaning of the original might be clouded by false glosses of
saint-seeming deceivers, that learning might not be buried in the
grave of our fathers in church and commonwealth, the Lord assist-
ing our endeavors, It is therefore ordered that every township in
this jurisdiction, after the Lord has increased them to the number
of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their
town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and
read, etc. (7 : 60)
1640
Religious
salvation
1860
Spencer
Complete living
Happiness
Health
Harmless enjoyment
Goodwill
Social service
DIAGRAM OF BROADENING PURPOSES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Sin and Satan pondered by children in the "New England
Primer." — It is apparent from this law that the "old deluder,
Satan," was a very real personage to the New England Puri-
tans and that elementary schools were considered an important
weapon in beating him. The little children in school were
BROADENING PURPOSES
21
daily impressed with the dangers of hell and the devil in
their study of the "New England Primer." The sample page
from the Primer which is reproduced in the accompanying
picture shows the
children offering
their " Praise to
God for learning to
Read ... His holy
Word," because it
taught each that
he was a " slave to
sin "and made him
wonder whither
could
Praift 19 GOD for Itarnlag to Rtad.
Til E IVi'fe? of my Tongue
I offer to the LORD,
That I «m taught and Ic*iat fo yeung
To read his boly> Word.
2 Tha* I was brought to know
The Darge* I was in,
BJ- N ture and .by PraeVce loo
A wretched Have to Sin;
$ Thar I w?»< M to fee
•I can do ooth'ng well ;
And whether ihall a Sinne" flee
To favc hinfell froai Uell.
a sinner
flee to save himself
from Hell." The
" New England
Primer" was the
universal book for
beginners in read-
ing in the colonial
schools of New
England. Similar
primers were used
in other colonies.
After the primers
had been mastered,
pupils proceeded
to read in the
Bible. In the early colonial schools down to about 1750
practically all of the reading matter was of a religious nature.
Hardly anything else was taught in the elementary schools
except arithmetic, and that only in the larger towns.
Social changes since colonial period. — To comprehend
the change from this narrow conception of elementary
SAMPLE PAGE FROM THE NEW ENGLAND
PRIMER," ILLUSTRATING THE DOMINANT
OTHER-WORLDLY RELIGIOUS AIMS OF COLO-
NIAL PURITAN EDUCATION
22 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
education to the broad idea of training for "complete living,"
as emphasized by Spencer about 1 860, it is necessary to con-
sider the enormous social changes which had taken place in
the meantime. We shall discuss three of these social develop-
ments or changes under the following headings : democratic
government, practical humanitarianism, and industrial inter-
dependence growing out of the factory system.
Democratic government. Without education it becomes a
farce or a tragedy. — The organization of the American gov-
ernment as a republic following the Revolutionary War had
far-reaching influences upon elementary education. The fact
that governmental affairs were now in the hands of represent-
atives elected at short intervals by the people made it very
important that all citizens be trained to understand the duties
and problems of citizenship. This fact is well expressed by
James Madison, the fourth president, in the following words :
A popular government without popular information or the
means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy,
or perhaps both. . . . The best service that can be rendered to a
country next to giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improve-
ment equally essential to the preservation and enjoyment of that
blessing. (7: 133)
Training for political citizenship not an empty phrase.—
Too often the phrase " training for citizenship " is spoken
glibly without serious comprehension of its significance in
the actual life of our country. It is well to read the first
sentence in Madison's statement and then apply it to the
reign of the Bolsheviki in the Russian Revolution of 1917-
1918 to understand what a terrible "farce" or "tragedy"
a republic may become in the hands of mistaken or un-
scrupulous leaders of an uneducated and largely illiterate
people. Training in reading and in the independent study
and evaluation of printed discussions of social issues is one
of the fundamental bases of enlightened, democratic citizen-
ship. Just as soon as our republic was established, this fact
BROADENING PURPOSES 23
was appreciated. As a consequence political orations were
inserted in the school readers, and accounts of the history
and geography of the country began to be written and
gradually found their way into elementary schools.
Democratic government and education to benefit the peo-
ple. — Not only does democratic government necessitate an
education which trains for enlightened citizenship but it
demands also an education which will benefit the people,
the masses of citizens, in all possible ways. This becomes
clear when we think of a democracy in Lincoln's terms
as a " government of the people, by the people, for the
people." A government for the people is one that does all
it can for the people. Since the public schools of a democ-
racy are merely a part of the government, their purpose
also is to serve and benefit the people in all possible ways.
Practical humanitarians attack social evils including
educational neglect, slavery, juvenile criminality, and
poverty. — The problem of helping and benefiting people
was attacked during the nineteenth century not only by
democratic governments, however, but also by practical
humanitarians working as individuals or organizations, often
in cooperation with the government. To help the unfortu-
nate classes, humanitarians in England and America at-
tacked especially, during that century, the following evils :
slavery, juvenile criminality, poverty in the large cities,
child labor, and the lack of primary education. Slavery in
the English colonies was abolished by an act of Parlia-
ment of 1833. Lincoln's abhorrence of slavery and his
abolition of it in this country are familiar to all. Juvenile
criminality and poverty in the large cities was attacked in
America early in the century. In 1800 the population of
the five largest cities was as follows :
Philadelphia, 69,403 Boston, 24,937
New York, 60,489 Charleston, 20,473
Baltimore, 26,114
24 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
In these cities existed concentrated ignorance, vagrancy,
pauperism, vice, and crime. Public-spirited citizens who were
concerned about the degraded condition of the lower classes
in the cities organized societies to study and improve it.
Thus, in New York City there was organized in 1817 the
Society for the Prevention of Pauperism. This society
undertook the establishment of a savings bank, an appren-
tice's library, and other enterprises. Defects in the peniten-
tiary system were attacked, especially the confining of vagrant
children with hardened criminals. A private subscription of
$ 1 7,000 was raised for the founding of a House of Refuge
for Juvenile Delinquents, which was established in 1824,
the first of its kind in the United States.
Private philanthropy established free schools of New York
City. — The same peculiar problems of city life were upper-
most in the minds of citizens who established the first free
schools on a large scale in New York City. Owing to the
fact that no public schools existed in this city of 75,000
people in 1805, a private philanthropic society undertook ex-
tensive provisions for free education. Speaking of the social
needs of the city's poor at that time De Witt Clinton said :
A number of benevolent citizens had seen, with concern, the
increasing vices of the city, arising, in a great degree, from the
neglected education of the poor. Great cities are, at all times,
the nurseries and hotbeds of crime. Bad men from all quarters
repair to them, in order to obtain the benefit of concealment, and to
enjoy in a superior degree the advantages of rapine and fraud. . . .
The mendicant parent bequeaths his squalid poverty to his off-
spring, and the hardened thief transmits a legacy of infamy to his
unfortunate and depraved descendants. ... In this state of turpi-
tude and idleness, leading lives of roving mendicancy and petty
depredation [these children existed] a burden and disgrace to the
community. (7: 265)
Child labor attacked by English humanitarians,
The efforts of humanitarians to benefit the masses of people,
BROADENING PURPOSES 25
particularly children, is further illustrated by the restriction
of child labor in England. The following account of this
action is given by Hazen following his story of the English
abolition of slavery in 1833..
Conscience was aroused at the same time by a cruel evil right
at home, the employment, under barbarous conditions, of children
in factories. The employment of child labor in British industries
was one of the results of the rise of the modern factory system.
It 'was early seen that much of the work done by machinery could
be carried on by children, and as their labor was cheaper than that
of adults, they were swept into the factories in larger "and larger
numbers, and a monstrous evil grew up. They were, of course,
the children of the poorest people. Many began this life of misery
at the age of five or six, more at the age of eight or nine. Incredi-
ble as it may seem, they were often compelled to work twelve or
fourteen hours a day. Half-hour intervals were allowed for meals,
but by a refinement of cruelty they were expected to clean the
machinery at such times. Falling asleep at their work they were
beaten by overseers or injured by falling against the machinery.
In this inhuman regime there was no time or strength left for edu-
cation or recreation or healthy development of any kind. The moral
atmosphere in which the children worked was harmful in the ex-
treme. Physically, intellectually, morally, the result could only be
stunted human beings.
This monstrous system was defended by political economists,
manufacturers, and statesmen in the name of individual liberty,
in whose name, moreover, crimes have often been committed, the
liberty of the manufacturer to conduct his business without inter-
ference from outside, the liberty of the laborer to sell his labor
under whatever conditions he may be disposed or, as might more
properly be said, compelled to accept. A Parliament, however,
which had been so sensitive to the wrongs of negro slaves in
Jamaica, could not be indifferent to the fate of English children.
Thus the long efforts of many English humanitarians, Robert Owen,
Thomas Sadler, Fielden, Lord Ashley, resulted in a passage of the
Factory Act of 1833, which prohibited the employment in spinning
and weaving factories of children under nine, made a maximum
26
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
rr
eight-hour day for those nine to thirteen, and of twelve for those
from thirteen to eighteen. This was a very modest beginning, yet
it represented a very great
advance on the preceding
policy of England. It was
the first of a series of acts
regulating the conditions of
laborers in the interests of
society as a whole, acts
which have become more
numerous, more minute,
and more drastic from 1833
to the present day. The
idea that an employer may
conduct his business entirely
as he likes has no standing
in modern English law.
(6: 441-442)
Nine years later Par-
liament passed similar
legislation regulating the
employment of women
and children in mines.
Speaking of this action
Hazen says :
One of the most famous
parliamentary reports of the
nineteenth century was that
of a commission appointed
to investigate the conditions
in mines. Published in 1842,
its amazing revelations re-
volted public opinion and led
to quick action. It showed
that children of five, six, seven years of age were employed under-
ground in coal mines, girls as well as boys; that women as well
as men labored under conditions fatal to health and morals; that
BOY WORKING IN A COTTON FACTORY
Contrast (i) the mechanical perfection and
enormous economy of human energy repre-
sented by the machinery with (2) the waste of
human development represented by the un-
educated boy wearing his life away in the
" maddening racket of the machinery "
BROADENING PURPOSES 27
the hours were long, twelve or fourteen a day, and the dangers
great. They were veritable beasts of burden, dragging and pushing
carts on hands and knees along narrow and low passageways, in
which it was impossible to stand erect. Girls of eight or ten carried
heavy buckets of coal on their backs up steep ladders many times
a day. The revelations were so astounding and sickening that a
law was passed in 1842 which forbade the employment of women
and girls in mines, and which permitted the employment of boys
of ten for only three days a week. (6 : 449)
Broadening elementary education thus rests on broad
humanitarian social basis. — These quotations concerning
English child-labor legislation put us into the social atmos-
phere of humanitarian effort of the nineteenth century.
They help us to view the educational efforts of these same
humanitarians as merely one phase of a broad social move-
ment for improving the condition of the masses of the
people. They help us to realize the broad basis for social
improvement upon which the movement for a oroader ele-
mentary education rests. In contrast with the narrow other-
worldly aim of the Puritans, which resulted merely in training
children to read the Bible in order to avoid future damna-
tion, we see modern humanitarians concerning themselves
very vitally with the present happiness and development of
children for the benefit of society as a whole.
Humanitarianism cooperates with democracy to benefit
the masses through broader education. — Thus we find two
powerful lines of influence cooperating to broaden the scope
of elementary education ; namely, democratic government, by
the people and for the people, and practical humanitarian-
ism, which endeavors to improve the lot of the multitudes
in all possible ways.
Industrial revolution. Increases social interdependence
and gives power to organized labor. — The third influence
which we shall note in the broadening of the purposes of
elementary schools is the development of the factory system.
28
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The sum total of industrial changes resulting during the
nineteenth century from the factory system is known as the
Industrial Revolution. We shall emphasize here merely two
features of this revolution : first, the increasing interdepend-
ence of people and the consequent necessity of organizing
a broader elementary
education to prepare for
this interdependence,
and, second, the in-
creasing power of or-
ganized labor, which, in
its influence, cooperates
with democracy and hu-
manitarianism to make
elementary education
benefit people to the
fullest degree.
The history of the
factory system. — The
factory system and the
Industrial Revolution
grew out of the exten-
sive use of automatic
power machinery in
manufacturing. It be-
gan in England with
the invention of auto-
matic machinery for spinning and weaving (1770-1790). At
first this was driven by water power and tended to develop
manufacturing centers near waterfalls. Very soon the inven-
tion of the steam engine made it possible to locate factories
wherever coal could be transported conveniently. As a con-
sequence textile factories developed very rapidly (1792-1830)
and resulted in the growth of many large manufacturing
cities. The corresponding development of textile factories
SAMUEL SLATER
The cotton factory erected by him in Rhode Island
in 1790 marks the birth year of the factory system
in America. See page 29
BROADENING PURPOSES 29
in America and their effect on home industries is concretely
set forth by Tryon in the following paragraphs :
While spinning machinery was used in Philadelphia as early as
1775 and the common jenny and stock card were in operation in
various parts of the country before 1790, yet this latter date is
generally accepted as the birth year of the factory system in the
United States. It was in this year that Samuel Slater erected at
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a cotton factory, which was supplied with
spinning machinery on the English plan. Soon after the success
of this mill had been demonstrated, others were erected in New
England and throughout other sections of the country as well.
These mills spun yarn and thread for distribution to the families
of the neighborhood to be woven into the cloth they needed for
themselves or which they desired to sell. If there chanced to be
no mill in the neighborhood, a supply could be secured at the store
in exchange for cotton, wool, and other farm products. The yarn
was not expensive and it proved a great convenience to the house-
wives, since its use enormously diminished their labors. Spinning
mills became so common throughout the country that it is proper
to speak of a mill stage in connection with the rise of textile manu-
factures in any given section. The New England and middle states
passed through such a stage between 1790 and 1820, the Southern
states between 1812 and 1830, and the Ohio Valley states between
1830 and 1860.
The completion of the textile-manufacturing system came with
the introduction of the power loom. This important event hap-
pened in 1815, at Waltham, Massachusetts, thirty years after its
invention by Cartwright. While there had been factories run en-
tirely independently of the homes before this date, yet the intro-
duction of such a tremendous time- and labor-saver, in the matter
of cloth-weaving, ushered in a period of independence never before
known. The establishments could now individually employ all the
various processes in the manufacture of cloth, from the receipt of
the raw material to the production of the finished web. Thus the
factory system proper came into existence in this country. While
it had a hard time during the decade from 1815 to 1825 on ac-
count of foreign competition, lack of capital, inferior machinery,
30 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
lack of skilled labor, and a coarse quality of raw materials, yet at
the same time by 1830 the system was sufficiently established in
New England, the middle states, and certain centers in the West
to assure a future independence of foreign manufactures for the
various fabrics in domestic use, and to relieve the housewives of a
great deal of the strenuous labor which their foremothers had been
obliged to perform. For when the price of the ordinary brown
ENGLISH MACHINERY FOR CARDING, DRAWING, ROVING, AND .SPIN-
NING AS INTRODUCED IN AMERICA BY SAMUEL SLATER IN 1790
Contrast the mechanical economy of this factory with the slow hand processes
shown in the picture on page 14
shirting was reduced from 42 to 7^ cents a yard between 1815
and 1830, there was little inducement for one to labor all day at
the loom to weave four yards of such cloth. The housewives could
no longer compete against a system which made it possible for
one man tending three or four power looms to turn out from 90 to
1 60 yards a day. (8 : 274-276)
Contrast colonial home-industry situation and modern
industrial society. — The final sentences of the above quota-
tion illustrate two striking features of the factory system :
BROADENING PURPOSES 31
first, its economy, which has resulted in greatly reducing
the labor of human beings and in increasing their leisure ;
second, the dependence of people upon others for supply-
ing most of their needs. Consequently we find the strongest
contrast between life in the city homes of the present day
and life in the rural homes of colonial New England before
the Industrial Revolution. In these rural homes boys and
girls secured a many-sided industrial and social training for
meeting their own needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
They were busy most of the time. In the cities to-day the
children, particularly the boys, have little to do in the homes ;
they are dependent upon many agencies far and near for
their food, clothing, and shelter, and they have much leisure
time to employ in devious ways.
Education for industrial interdependence and for leisure.
— Consequently the task of the school in training children
for complete living is correspondingly increased. It includes
not only training for enlightened democratic political citizen-
ship but also training for a broad understanding of our
interdependent industrial life and for the harmless enjoy-
ment of the increased social leisure which the economies of
the factory system have created.
Interdependent industrial society gives power to organized
labor. — This interdependence and leisure is being empha-
sized by a by-product of the Industrial Revolution, namely,
organized labor, the power of which is constantly increasing.
The fundamental social cause of the increasing power of
organized labor is the intricate interdependence resulting
from the specialization of industry and the division of labor.
City dwellers are entirely dependent on the labor of distant
farmers for their food and of distant miners for the coal
which heats their homes and furnishes power for their indus-
tries. Hence, if the miners strike for a long time, millions
of persons must go heatless and workless. Perhaps the most
effective example of this interdependence of people at the
32 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
present time, and the resulting power of organized labor, is
found in the railroads. If the railroads stop running for a
long time people will not only go heatless and workless but
many will starve. The organized railway workers appreciate
their strategic social position and often make use of it to
improve their lot.
Organised labor aims to increase wages, leisure, and happi-
ness of workers. — Whatever may be the ultimate outcome
of the social power of organized labor, the historical fact is
that this power is continually being used to increase the
profits of labor from industry and to reduce the hours of
labor, thus resulting in increased leisure time for the work-
man. The ultimate social benefit for which the conscientious
unions seem to be striving is increased happiness for their
members. As organized labor secures political power, it tends
to use this for the same purpose as it does its union power
— namely, to increase the happiness of its members. These
efforts have often resembled in purpose the efforts of humani-
tarians as illustrated in the English legislation concerning
child labor described above, on page 25. In America ex-
amples of legislation influenced by labor interests are found
in the eight-hour law for national employees and the state
enactments for insurance against accidents in factories. In
all this legislation the increased happiness of the individuals
concerned stands out : the right of the worker to leisure and
means of enjoying it, the right of children to develop fully,
the right of the injured to maintenance. Thus " the pursuit
of happiness" appears not merely as one of the "inalienable
rights " of mankind but also as one of the most prominent
aims of positive governmental action.
Increasing happiness of multitudes becomes the aim of
democratic education. — We have now reached the final point
in our story of the social changes which have resulted from
the combination of democratic government, humanitarianism,
and the factory system. In this story we brought out the
BROADENING PURPOSES 33
prominent part played by each of these factors in the social
development since the American Revolution. Enlightened
democratic government for the people, humanitarian efforts
resulting in legislation for the benefit of the masses, and the
use of the power of organized labor to increase the benefits
from the State for the people, all tend to emphasize the im-
portance of the government as an agency for increasing the
happiness of the multitudes of peoples. It follows naturally
from this fact that public democratic education, which is but
one of the functions of democratic government, also tends
to emphasize as its aim increasing the sum total of happi-
ness of individuals. Increasing human happiness in this
ivorld thus becomes the broad, inclusive educational aim
under which we can group the greatly expanded purposes
of education which have replaced the narrow, other-worldly,
religious aims of the New England Puritans. The Puritans
said there are small chances for happiness even in the next
world : hell and the devil are waiting to receive untold mil-
lions ; only by denying yourself the pleasures of this life
can you have a chance for happiness in the next ; there-
fore there is no time to pursue happiness here. In con-
trast American democratic schools are prohibited from
teaching religion ; hence they cannot focus their attention
on the future world, but must prepare definitely for this
one. In this preparation their attention is focused upon the
training of all individuals so as to increase the sum total of
happiness of all individuals in this world.
Happiness aim for multitudes makes " training for the
State" concrete. — Thus far we have noticed two general
facts concerning the happiness aim : first, it contrasts
strongly with the "other-worldly." aim of the Puritans;
second, it unites the efforts of democracy, humanitarianism,
and organized labor. A third point to notice is that it is a
guide to deciding what we mean by " training for service
to the State/' "The State" is a very abstract term, and I
34 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
must confess I have often wondered just what it means.
During the period of despotism in France Louis XIV
(r. 1643-1715) is reported to have said, "The State? I
am the State." Very commonly the State has been thought
of as being the same as the government. Recently, how-
ever, an eminent sociologist l said :
A state is essentially like any other human group, a bridge
club, a philharmonic society, a merchandising firm, a banking
corporation, a charity organization, a religious community, a coun-
terfeiters' gang, an artists' guild — a state is a company of
persons behaving themselves in a certain way.
These uncertainties concerning the meaning of "the
State " make it undesirable to phrase our educational aims
in terms of such a vague abstraction. It is far better to think
of them in terms of the more concrete objects of educa-
tion, namely, the individuals whom we teach and their lives
in school and after graduation. We have noted that
democracy, humanitarians, and organized labor have focused
their attention on the happiness of these concrete individ-
uals. We have set up their happiness as the aim of educa-
tion. We shall now endeavor to find out what we mean by
their happiness.
Happiness, — the experience which we desire for those
dear to us. — Like the term "state," happiness is an
abstract idea that is difficult to define ; hence we shall not
try to define it. We shall content ourselves with suggesting
that happiness is that type of experience which most of us
desire for our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers,
our children — in general, for those who are dear to us.
With this idea as our starting point we can begin to work
back toward some of the more concrete ideas about teach-
ing with which the chapter opened. Our first step will be
1 Albion W. Small, " Americans and the World Crises," American
Journal of Sociology, September, 1917, Vol. XXIII, p. 171.
BROADENING PURPOSES 35
to determine ivhat arc the things that loom large in achiev-
ing the happiness of those that are dear to us and of indi-
viduals in general. The most prominent of these factors
are shown in the following paragraph.
Broad social aims of teaching. — The main factors in
happiness may be regarded as the broad social aims of
teaching and outlined as follows :
1. Good health
2. Harmless enjoyment of leisure time
3. Good will
4. Social service
a. Business service
b. Home service
c. Civic service
We shall now take up each of the above aims for
consideration.
Good health. Of universal interest irrespective of wealth
or position. — The importance attached to good health in
ordinary life is suggested by the common form of greeting,
" How do you do ? how are all the folks ? " Not only is
health the first topic of conversation with many persons
but often it is the only topic. Having ascertained from
one person the facts concerning health, you walk on until
you meet your next friend, and repeat the same ritual with
him. It would be hard to find any topic that receives so
much thought and consideration. It concerns both rich
and poor. In this respect it probably presents a more
prevailing problem than unemployment, for while three
fourths of the workers in America probably have rather
steady employment, the uncertainties of health are presented
to practically everybody.
Distress from sickness popularizes physicians, patent
medicines, and mental healing. — Regarded from the
happiness standpoint, it is obvious that ill health is the
cause of enormous distress and suffering. This distress
36 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
extends not only to the patient but also causes great mental
distress to parents and other relatives. Loss of position or
money often follows ill health, thus adding to its train
of distresses. As a consequence, there is enormous social
Courtesy of the Rockefeller Foundation
AN OBJECT LESSON IN HEALTH INSTRUCTION. A SIXTEEN-YEAR OLD
GIRL BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT FOR THE HOOKWORM DISEASE
See " The Rural School and the Hookworm Disease," by W. A. Ferrell. Bulletin
No. go of the United States Bureau of Education, 1914
striving for good health, and physicians, patent medicines,
and cults for mental healing secure a large following.
Scientific studies of health consume much thought and
energy. — As a subject for scientific study, health takes
high rank. There is enormous expenditure of human
thought and energy in scientific researches concerning it.
PUBLIC HEALTH
• Hookworm Work .
* Malaria Work
D Yellow Fever Work
•f Tuberculosis Work.
A Infantile Paralysis Care
O Public Health Education
8 Medical Research
MEDICAL EDUCATION
® Medical Schools Aided
WAR WORK
+ War Relief '
Aid to Red Cross and
Camp Community Agencies
is not Shown
Courtesy of the Rockefeller Foundation
INTERNATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, MISSIONARY HEALTH ACTIVITIES OF
THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
A corresponding map for Asia and Australia depicts similar activities of the " Inter-
national Health Board " of the Foundation in its efforts to " promote the well-being
of mankind throughout the world." (See page 38)
38 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The amount of health investigation that is carried on in the
laboratories of great universities is incomprehensible to
most persons ; for example, The University of Chicago,
already equipped with several large laboratory buildings in
which instruction and investigations are carried on in anat-
omy, physiology, bacteriology, and medicine, recently received
several million dollars for erecting further medical and hos-
pital buildings and for maintaining research studies in health.
Scientific-health missionaries improve national health. —
An impressive example of the enormous social importance
of health is found in the work of the Rockefeller Founda-
tion with its endowment of $100,000,000 to promote the
" well-being of mankind throughout the world." Improving
public health in many parts of the world has been the most
prominent feature of the work of the Foundation. The
attack on the hookworm disease is a striking example. In
1917 this attack was being carried on in twenty-five foreign
countries and twelve American states. The hookworm is
an intestinal parasite which saps enormously the energy of
the patient. See the picture on page 36. The enormous
loss of social energy from the hookworm disease is shown
by the fact that in one region in China where the Founda-
tion is at work, about eighty-five per cent of the mining and
agricultural coolies were infected. Yet with proper sanitary
devices and instruction the disease in any neighborhood can
be eradicated. Malaria is another socially wasteful disease
that the Foundation is seeking to eradicate in the South
through drainage and screening to avoid the malarial-
breeding mosquito and through curing the infected persons.
In an Arkansas town where the efforts centered in exter-
minating the mosquito by proper drainage, tlic number of
doctors calls for malaria fell from six hundred in October,
1915, to fourteen in the same month in 1917. Tuberculosis
in France has also been attacked by the Foundation, as
illustrated in the poster on page 39.
COMBATTEZ LAiUBEROlLOSE
COMMENT ELLE SE PROPAGE
LES ALLIES
DE LA TUBERCULOSE
LES ENNEMIS
DE LA TUBERCULOSE
LES RAVAGES DE LA TUBERCULOSE
COMPARES A CEUX DES AUTRES
MALADIES
PRECAUTIONS ou'unTUBERCULEUX DOIT PRENDRE
COHBATTEZ LAiUBERCULOSE
Courtesy of the Rockefeller Foundation
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION CONCERNING TUBERCULOSIS ILLUSTRATED BY
POSTER USED BY ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION IN FRANCE
Try your French on this poster. If you don't read French, notice how much you
can decipher through similarity of English words — combat, allies, enemies, ravages,
precautions, etc.
40 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Ignorance and superstition of laity contrast with scientific
studies of health. — Yet with all this scientific effort and
achievement many persons who merely go through the
elementary schools remain in a state of ignorance and super-
stition concerning health. For example, at one extreme we
find the lady whom I heard the other day complaining,
" I have just taken everything, and nothing does me any
good " ; while at the opposite extreme are those who deny
that there is any such thing as ill health and refuse to
"take" anything or do anything but think. Even such a
common object as the clinical thermometer, which phy-
sicians use to ascertain the temperature of patients, is a
weird and uncomprehended thing to most of the laity, yet
its use is simplicity personified compared to the intricacies
of an automobile or a typewriter.
Learn by reading some nontechnical discussions of health.
— Sufficient has been said to demonstrate the importance
of the health aim in human happiness. The reason for
saying so much was the necessity of making teachers realize
its importance as compared with other educational aims. In
order that you may start to replace common superstition and
ignorance with simple scientific facts about health, I suggest
that you read the book entitled " How to Live," written by
Fisher and Fiske and published by Funk and Wagnalls
under the auspices of the American Life Extension Insti-
tute. The latter is a national organization for improving
American health. Its head is ex-President Taft. If you
will write it for a catalogue of its publications you will be
placed in touch with much health literature and information
which will benefit you and your pupils. Address The Life
Extension Institute, New York City.
Health ivork in schools : inspection, relief, instruction. —
As a consequence of the increased appreciation by social
leaders of the importance of health as a factor in human
welfare and happiness, public provision for health work in
Courtesy of the Elizabeth McCo
THE OPEN-AIR SMILE
Illustrating care of tubercular children in open-air schools. Compare the autobiog-
raphy of another open-air pupil on page 42
42 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
schools has made enormous progress in recent years. Most
large school systems now provide for periodical inspection
of the pupils by school physicians, dentists, and nurses ;
for free treatment of special defects of poor children, such
as defective teeth or tonsils ; for improved training in health
knowledge and health behavior.
One of the most unique features of such health work in
public schools is the maintenance of open-air schools for
tubercular children. The following story was written by such
a child for the Opcn-Air Smile, a monthly periodical started
by the children of the Chicago open-air schools.
I was born in a little gray house in a little country town near
the -city of Kiev. When I was two years old my downfall began.
First 1 fell sick and had the scarlet fever, and as soon as I was
cured of that I caught diphtheria, and after I was cured of that
I caught pneumonia. I stayed in bed for a year and I never got
out of bed for that long time. When I was six years old I came
to America to the city of Chicago. Everybody had told us in
Russia that gold was lying everywhere in the streets. I started to
go to school at the Garfield School. Later we moved to a different
street, so I took a transfer to the Langland School, and later on
we moved again, and then I came to the Goodrich School, which
I attended a couple of years. When I was finally in the seventh
grade I was sent out to Winfield tuberculosis camp. I stayed
there six months because I was charged with having tuberculosis.
Those six months passed away so quickly that it seemed like six
weeks. I think it was the happiest time of my life staying out
there. When I went home hardly anybody recognized me, because
I was not the sick little fellow that I was when I went to Winfield,
but a big, strong, and healthy boy with cheeks like roses. Later
on I was put in the Foster open-air room, where I am now in the
eighth grade. (11)
Harmless enjoyment of leisure time. Easily explained by
increased leisure in modern industrial society. — Our second
purpose in an education which aims to increase human happi-
ness is training for harmless enjoyment. This would need
BROADENING PURPOSES 43
almost as elaborate a discussion as health, had we not already
presented on pages 27-32 the historical facts about modern
industrial society. There it was shown that the leisure of the
city youth presents a serious problem to the school and that
humanitarians and labor organizations have so reduced the
hours of labor that leisure is occupying an increasingly large
part of the time of ordinary adults. As a consequence enjoy-
ment of leisure becomes a large factor in life. While
Puritanical-minded persons might regard such an aim as
reprehensible, it is obvious that when we consider the hap-
piness of those dear to us we place a large value on their
enjoyment of leisure activities. For many persons, during
the winter months, reading, music, and the drama furnish
their leisure pursuits. As they become better educated,
thinking about and discussing problems of the day enter in.
During warm weather outdoor activities play a large part
with certain classes. As a rule these lines of enjoyment are
harmless. There are many persons, however, particularly
youths, who spend their leisure in activities that are
positively harmful to themselves and to others. The prob-
lems of training all persons for harmless enjoyment which
are suggested by these facts are being given serious con-
sideration by the greatest social workers of America. For
example, Jane Addams of the Hull House Social Settlement,
Chicago, is quoted as saying :
We have no [adequate] sense of responsibility in regard to the
pleasures of young people, and continually forget that amusement
is stronger than vice and it alone can stifle the lust for it. We see
all about us much vice which is merely a love for pleasure " gone
wrong " — the illicit expression of what might have been not only
normal and recreative pleasure but an instrument in the advance
of higher social morality.
In progressive elementary schools, beginning in the kin-
dergarten and continuing throughout the grades, training
for harmless recreation is being provided in many forms, —
44 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
in rhythmic activities, in plays and games, in unison singing
of lilting, haunting melodies, in dramatic activities, and in
wide reading " just for fun."
Good will. Long emphasized by churches and moral
leaders, — Our third broad social aim, namely, good will,
needs little discussion because most readers have heard it
emphasized frequently in church or in school. Selfishness,
which is the opposite of good will, is one of the chief
hindrances in increasing the happiness of the multitudes.
In order to increase happiness in general each individual
needs to be trained (i) not to interfere with the happiness
of other well-intentioned, well-behaved persons, (2) to wish
others well, and (3) positively to endeavor to increase the
happiness of others. This does not imply that his whole
life should be one of self-sacrifice, but it does mean that
consideration for the rights and welfare of others should be
an important factor in guiding his life, in determining his
decisions and behavior.
Social service. Efficiency in supplying the wants of inter-
dependent society. — The final broad social aim we have
called social service. By social service in America we mean
doing efficiently something that is valued in the inter-
dependent, democratic industrial society described earlier in
the chapter. To be of service or to succeed in such an
interdependent society one must be able to do efficiently
something which this society wants done. Some of the
wants or needs of society were suggested above, namely,
the need for food, the need for coal, the need for trans-
portation. The interdependence of people to-day in supplying
these needs gives meaning to the term "social" in this aim.
Meaning is given to the term "service" when we think of
it as it is used in modern business advertising. Whole pages
of current magazines are used in advertising "John Blank ville
Service." Automobile manufacturers feature not only their
BROADENING PURPOSES 45
cars but their "service." Service thus suggests doing for
people what they need done when they need it, giving them
efficiently what they want when they want it. It is obvious
that the effective satisfying of the needs and wants of people
contributes enormously to their happiness ; hence social
service is an important educational aim.
Business set vice, home service, and dine sendee are
easily understood. — In the outline on page 35 we divided
social service into three types, — business service, home
service, and civic service. Business service is the form
through which most persons make their living. Home
service is that important service which consumes the energy
of so many women. Civic service includes many forms of
governmental employment, such as. public-school teaching,
as well as the occasional but very important service which
citizens render in voting and in inspecting public works and
affairs. It is a simple matter to translate into terms of train-
ing for business service, home service, and civic service
many of the concrete activities of elementary schools.
Translate broader social aims into detailed psychological
aims. — Thus we have described the broader social purposes
of a democratic education which aims to increase human
happiness. We endeavored to prepare for an understanding
of these purposes by telling first the story of how they
grew out of the profound social changes paralleling the
development of modern democracy, humanitarianism, and
the factory system. As thus presented they stand in sharpest
contrast with the narrow other-worldly aims of the Puritan
colonists. We shall now proceed to consider certain more
detailed aims of teaching which we can use to bridge our
thinking from the broader social activities to the results
that we want to produce from day to day in each boy and
girl. Since we shall be focusing our attention now, not on
society at large, but on each individual pupil, we shall call
46 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
this set of aims the detailed psychological aims of teaching.
In order to make our whole scheme of aims and purposes
clear, both social and psychological aims are shown in the
following outline :
Broader social aims Detailed psychological aims
1. Good health i. Information
2. Harmless enjoyment 2. Habits
3. Good will 3. Ideals
4. Social service 4. Many-sided interests
a. Business
b. Home
c. Civic
As stated above, each of the psychological aims refers to
specific results that we want to produce from day to day in
each boy and girl. Naturally each one of these specific
results must be clearly useful in attaining the broader social
aims outlined in the other column. For example, the reader
might try to show to which of the broader social aims each
of the following items contributes :
1. The informational facts "three feet equal one yard"
and " Washington is the capital of the United States."
2. The habits of " keeping things in order," " keeping
the teeth clean," and " beginning each sentence with a
capital letter."
3. Many of the ideals expressed in Benjamin Franklin's
sayings, such as "Early to bed" etc., and all of those in
Lincoln's Gettysburg address.
4. Abiding interests in reading about current events, in
discussing civic problems, in learning about industrial con-
ditions, in following scientific progress, in keeping in touch
with literature, music, and the drama.
We are justified in feeling sure of the values of these
matters because it is easy to show that they do contribute
to health, harmless enjoyment, good will, or social service.
BROADENING PURPOSES 47
The usefulness of the detailed psychological aims in guid-
ing our thinking about teaching will become more apparent
as we read later chapters. At this point only a few com-
ments will be made on each.
Information important, but its exclusive emphasis is to
b3 avoided. — Information in arithmetic, geography, and his-
tory has commonly been emphasized in elementary schools,
often to the neglect of ideals and abiding interests. This is
partially due to the fact that it is easy to put children to work
acquiring information and easy to devise tests or examina-
tions to determine whether they have learned it. It is much
more difficult to develop abiding interests or ideals in each
child and to test him to see if he has them.
The overemphasis on information has often led to an
extreme reaction against requiring children to learn any
exact facts. This neglect is just as unreasonable as over-
emphasis. In all forms of social service, — business, home,
or civic, — reliable technical information is absolutely neces-
sary for efficiency. In matters of health, the appalling loss
of life from preventable diseases, such as tuberculosis, and
the widespread distress from poor feeding are striking ex-
amples of the supreme value and need of education which
emphasizes reliable scientific information. Special discus-
sions of the principles of teaching information will be given
in the chapters on subject matter and apperception.
Habits include skills and specific and general habits. -
The habits most commonly emphasized in elementary schools
have been the automatic skills, such as handwriting and
skill in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
As in the case of information, these skills are very tangible
and are easily tested ; hence the emphasis upon them.
Next in order come certain special habits, such as the
habit of checking one's problems to see if they are correct,
or the habit of running on tiptoe in the kindergarten, or the
habits of putting specific materials away in their proper places.
48 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Finally we have certain general habits of which perhaps
the most important and most tangible is the habit of ivide,
rapid reading. The habit basis for rapid reading is well
started in good elementary schools by the end of the fourth
or fifth grade, and later teaching tends to broaden it in the
direction of a permanent habit of wide reading. Somewhat
less tangible than the reading habit are such habits as those
listed under kindergarten purposes on page 18, above;
namely, noninterference with others, self-control, working
for a remote end, obedience. In many phases of teaching,
notably in drill, reading, writing, problem-solving, harmless
enjoyment, expression, and moral training, the formation of
habits is a prominent process.
Ideals ; for personal efficiency and good will. — Exam-
ples of ideals were suggested above in connection with
Benjamin Franklin's sayings ; for instance, one of my stu-
dents stated that she always troubled her mother by lying
late in bed until she read Poor Richard's " Early to bed
and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
Thereupon she began to make this a rule and had observed
it ever since. A kindergarten child may form the ideal, " It 's
nice to be able to put on your own coat and rubbers " ; a
first-grade child the ideal, " It 's nice to be a good helper —
I want to be a good helper " ; and a second-grade child the
ideal, " It isn't fair to keep the rest of the class waiting for
me." These simple examples suggest that the teaching of
ideals should be closely connected with the behavior and
habits of the pupils in school and should proceed step by
step from the more concrete matters such as " putting on
coat and rubbers " to the more abstract general ideals such
as " being on time " and " being fair." The development of
such ideals as contribute to personal efficiency, and the
formation of moral ideals as the basis of active good will,
are among the most important functions of elementary-
school teaching.
BROADENING PURPOSES 49
Many-sided abiding interests ; determining permanent lines
of desire. — Finally we may note what is meant by the
fourth psychological aim, namely, many-sided interests. By
interests here we mean the permanent lines of desire which
determine to a very large extent a person's choices in life.
An example of the building up of such a desire is found
in the contrast between my own experience with the Bible
and that of my little boy. Such Bible reading as I heard
as a child was mere Bible reading, nothing else, and its
meaningless abstractness made it repulsive to me. My son's
first experience with Biblical material happened to be through
reading, at seven years of age, James Baldwin's " Old
Stories of the East," in which the adventures of David,
Joseph, and Samson are fascinatingly told for second-grade
or third-grade children. A large book of illustrations of
"Travels in Bible Lands," with maps of Asia Minor, hap-
pened to be at hand for pleasant perusal about the same
time. Recently, seeing Griffith's moving picture " Intoler-
ance " gave a vivid notion of the life in Babylon, of Bel-
shazzar's feast, of the battles of the Persians and the
Babylonians. Meanwhile, studies in fourth-grade history had
included thrilling accounts of the struggles between the
Greeks and the Persians, of the heroic deeds at Thermopylae,
Marathon, and Salamis. In the newspapers and illustrated
magazines he has followed the triumphs of the British in
Mesopotamia and Palestine. For his tenth birthday, recently,
he received a copy of L. E. Cragin's " Old Testament Stories
for Little Children," in which the familiar stories first read
in the Baldwin, and many others, are reproduced in more
Biblical language, and the picture of Belshazzar's feast
appears in close resemblance to that seen in " Intolerance."
Having devoured the Cragin with interest, he is waiting
impatiently for an Old Testament which has been promised
to him. Thus as a result of a peculiar combination of adven-
ture reading, fourth-grade history, the movies, and current
50 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
events he has developed an active desire, an active "reach-
ing out," for more Biblical reading. Perhaps it may result
in a permanent abiding interest in Biblical matters.
Many-sidedness of interest to insure breadtJi of mind and
service. — Even casual consideration shows that such lines
of desire, such abiding interests, are factors of enormous
importance in determining one's behavior and happiness.
The qualification, " many-sidedness," suggests that the school
should endeavor to build up in each pupil worthy lines of
desire or interests corresponding to all types of human
experience, — interests in local community affairs, in larger
national affairs, in affairs of the whole world, in health, in
industry, in science, in music, in literature, in sports and
games, in all activities which will tend to make a broad-
minded, efficient, serviceable, happy individual. Through-
out all the chapters that are to follow, this training of the
many-sided serviceable individual for happiness and com-
plete living may be kept in mind as the ideal towards which
the broadening elementary schools are working.
Conclusion. — This will conclude our discussions of the
broadening purposes of elementary-school teaching which
have grown out of modern democracy, humanitarianism, and
the industrial revolution. In the next chapter we shall turn
to another characteristic feature of modern social life,
namely, scientific business management, and show its applica-
tion to classroom management. This discussion will seem
much more practical than the present chapter. However,
the broad ideas of aims and purposes which have been pre-
sented here will serve as guides in determining practices
throughout the chapters that are to follow. Hence, before
leaving this chapter the reader is advised to review the
main points on page 12, above, and to memorize the outline
of social and psychological aims on page 46.
BROADENING PURPOSES 51
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The beginner might read first, with greatest profit, the references
marked with an asterisk (*).
Broadly interpretative. — *i. BAGLEY, W. C, and JUDD, C. H.
Enlarging the Elementary School. School Review, May, 1918, Vol.
XXVI, pp. 313-323. Emphasizes enrichment of opportunity. By two
of America's most prominent professors of education.
2. BOBBITT, FRANKLIN. The Curriculum. (Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 1918.) The most progressive and concrete American discussion
of training for occupational efficiency, citizenship, physical efficiency,
leisure occupations, and social intercommunication.
*3. DEWEY, JOHN. The School and Society. (The University of
Chicago Press, 1899; enlarged 1915.) Chap, i contains a contrast of
colonial home life and home life in modern cities. By America's fore-
most exponent of the " social point of view " in education.
*4. SPENCER, HERBERT. Education (1860). The first essay, en-
titled " What Knowledge is most Worth," contains his analysis of " com-
plete living " as the aim of education. Spencer was a great sociologist.
Critical discussion of aims. — 4 a. BAGLEY, W. C. The Educative
Process. (The Macmillan Company, 1905.) Pp. 40-65. A notable
chapter ; simple, clear-cut, well organized.
Historical. — 5. CUBBERLEY, E. P. Changing Conception of Educa-
tion. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909.) Chaps, i and ii. A masterly
interpretation of American social and educational changes since the
colonial period.
6. HAZEN, C. D. Modern European History. (Henry Holt and
Company, 1917.) Pp. 428-506. Brilliant interpretation of democratic
developments in England from 1815 to the present. Vivid background
for similar democratic developments in education.
7. PARKER, S. C. History of Modern Elementary Education.
(Ginn and Company, 1912.) Pp. 66-77, on narrow religious character
of colonial schools of New England; pp. 227-237, 242-246, 264-267,
on philanthropic provision for elementary schools in England and
America.
8. TRYON, R. M. Household Manufactures in the United States.
(The University of Chicago Press, 1917.) Especially chap, vii, pp. 242-
302, on the transition to shop and factory manufacturing.
Child labor. — 8 a. ABBOTT, E., and BRECKENRIDGE, S. P. Tru-
ancy and Non-Attendance in the Chicago Schools, a Study of the
52 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Social Aspects of Compulsory Education and Child Labor Legisla-
tion in Illinois. (The University of Chicago Press, 1915.)
9. MclNTiRE, R. The Effect of Agricultural Employment upon
School Attendance. Elementary School Journal, March, 1918, Vol.
XVIII, pp. 533-542. Presents distressing picture of child labor in
American cotton, tobacco, and beet fields.
Kindergarten. — 10. RAPEER, L. W. Teaching Elementary School
Subjects, chapter entitled " The Kindergarten and the Elementary
School," by Patty Hill. (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.) Pp. 38-57.
Excellent statement of aims of progressive kindergartens.
Quoted Incidentally. — 1 1 . KINGSLEV, S. C, and DRESSLAR, F. B.
Open- Air Schools. Bulletin No. 23, United States Bureau of Educa-
tion, 1916. A very attractive publication.
CHAPTER III1
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Main points of the chapter 1 . The school is a complicated
institution with large opportunities for waste and for economy.
2. To avoid waste, principles of business management should
be applied in the classroom.
3. Routine is necessary for efficiency and economizes time and
energy.
4. Individuality, spontaneity, initiative, and reasoning may have
the same place in a well-routinized school as they have in
democratic social life.
5. The principal routine factors are (i) getting started right the
first day, (2) seating of pupils, (3) passing to and from recitations,
(4) handling materials, (5) attention to physical conditions,
(6) maintenance of good order.
Need to correlate progressive theory and efficient practice.
- In the preceding chapter we established a general point
of view concerning the purposes of elementary-school in-
struction which will assist us in judging the value of proc-
esses of instruction to be discussed in later portions of the
book. There is danger, however, that educational leaders
and students will overemphasize the somewhat idealistic
conceptions presented in the preceding chapter and will
neglect to keep in mind the practical school situation in
which such theories have to be carried out. This statement
does not imply that the more progressive policies cannot
be carried out in actual practice, but it does imply that the
success of these policies will depend upon the efficiency
1 About ten pages of this chapter are reprinted from the author's
"Methods of Teaching in High Schools." (Ginn and Company!
53
54 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
with which progressive teachers apply principles of business
management in organizing their instruction. Consequently,
in order to secure a proper balance in the mind of the
reader between an enthusiasm for broader modern ideals in
education, on the one hand, and principles of practical man-
agement, on the other, this chapter dealing with economy
in classroom management is introduced at this point.
Teacher should avoid misdirected time and energy. -
The school is a complicated institution, maintained by
society to achieve certain specific results. The classroom
activities should be planned carefully to make sure that
they are directed toward securing these results most eco-
nomically and effectively, and the possibilities of misdirected
time, effort, and energy should be reduced to a minimum.
Principles of business management should be applied. —
In any other institution or organization or plant that is
as complicated as the school, efficiency depends to a large
extent upon careful attention to the details of management.
In a manufacturing plant, for example, great care is taken
to provide for the most economic placing and handling of
material, so as to eliminate waste motion. A manufacturer
may enormously increase the efficiency of his plant by in-
venting a device that will require fewer operations to produce
an article, or will produce several articles by the same num-
ber of operations as formerly produced but one. If such
principles of economy are important in factories, where the
product that is wasted or economized is material, they are
much more important in the school, where the product to
be wasted or economized consists of human lives. No fac-
tory or production process deals with more precious raw
material than does the school ; hence in no other process is
it more important to give careful attention to the problems
of waste and economy than in education.
Routinize mechanical aspects ; use judgment in variable
aspects, — The source's of waste in classroom work have
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 55
been divided by Professor Bagley into two principal types :
The first type includes those where the waste is due to fail-
ure to organize properly certain mechanical aspects of the
classroom activity. To this type he applies the term routine
factors. The second type includes those sources of waste
which are due to failure to adjust the classroom activities
to the constantly varying capacities, interests, and responses
of the pupils. To these aspects of school work Bagley
applies the term judgment factors. The routine factors
include those matters that recur in approximately the same
form from day to day and which can be advantageously
systematized, organized, and reduced to mechanical habits.
The judgment factors, on the other hand, are constantly
varying, and require of the teacher constant alert exercise of
judgment in order to avoid misdirected time and energy.
List of principal routine and judgment factors. — The
principal matters to which attention should be given from
the standpoint of routine are the following :
1. Getting started right the first day.
2. Seating of pupils.
3. Passing and marching by pupils.
4. Handling materials.
5. Attention to physical conditions.
6. Maintenance of order.
The principal judgment factors are related to making
provisions for individual differences in capacities and secur-
ing concentrated attention in the right direction. This
chapter will discuss the elimination of waste through proper
organization of the routine factors. The judgment factors
will be considered in several later chapters.
Reasoning and individuality may have the same place in
a well-routinized school as in social life. — Before taking
up a detailed discussion of the routine factors, we shall
endeavor to justify the " business conception " of school-
keeping which has been outlined above, since, according to
$6 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
many idealistic educators, " factory standards " and " machine
processes" have no place in the school. They use these
words as terms of reproach, and always speak of the ' ' ideal
school " in terms of freedom, spontaneity, initiative, reason-
ing, etc. Their point of departure for emphasizing the latter
is a notion of democratic society in which these elements of
freedom etc. have unrestrained operation. We shall endeavor
to show here that freedom, spontaneity, individuality, initi-
ative, and reasoning may have the same place in a well-
rontinized school as they have in democratic social life.
Examples of extreme spontaneity and extreme repression.
Before doing this systematically, however, we shall make
the problem somewhat more concrete by describing actual
classes observed in two extreme types of schools. In the
first school, spontaneity, individuality, and initiative were
emphasized to the neglect of organization and self-control.
In the second school, restraint and routine were emphasized
to the neglect of reasoning and spontaneity.
first school ; spontaneity unrestrained. — There seemed to be
almost no discipline in the second-grade room which I visited
[writes an observer]. When the children took a notion they
shouted aloud, ran up to the teacher, ran around the room gener-
ally. Even the children in kindergartens which I have observed
are better disciplined and know that in group work they must
raise their hands. In the two periods in which I visited the
second-grade room, I did not see a child raise its hand. Oh, yes,
they were told that they must not talk while the class was busy,
but each child who talked was told individually in such a gentle
voice that the rest did not hear and nothing was done to the per-
sistent offenders. Life in the second grade seemed to be a grand
romp, where one did as one pleased generally.
Reasoning and irresponsibility. — In the sixth grade in the same
school, the teacher gave the children excellent training in expres-
sion. She was especially skilled in making the pupils think and
decide questions for themselves. Many of the children, however,
especially the boys, were irresponsible. Fully half of the latter
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 57
were unprepared on assigned work, with careless excuses for
having neglected the same. Although the teaching was intensely
interesting, several of the children lounged in their seats and
allowed their attention to wander at random.
Second school; disciplined to death. — Very different was the
discipline in the other school visited. The room contained a sixth
grade. Everything was orderly ; not a pupil out of place. They
found their exact places at the board very quietly. The pupils in
one section were not called upon for practically an hour, but they
sat and studied continuously. One could see that they were mem-
orizing. I had not been there fifteen minutes before I wanted to
flee — the repression was so pervasive — but I stuck it out to see
what it was really like. Not a child smiled while I was there.
Only one child (while the teacher was outside, speaking to a
visitor) was in any way " out of order." He punched another boy
passing, and it did my heart good to see it. It was the only bit of
life in the room.
On my entering the office of this school, a mother with her boy
was asking the principal if she could take him, for he was learning
nothing in the school which he was then attending except to throw
spitballs. I failed to learn the outcome of the consultation, but I
presume he was accepted as a pupil, in which case I am positive
he will not throw any more spitballs. But I wonder why ? I
wonder just what fear kept the room repressed as it certainly
was. One motto written on the board- was, " The great miracle
worker is work " ; yet I saw no miracle, although there was
plenty of work. A miracle was needed greatly, however, for the
room was dead.
How to balance reasonable freedom and orderly routine.
-The contrast between these two schools presents con-
cretely the problem which concerns us here ; namely, what
is the proper balance to secure in school between freedom,
spontaneity, individuality, initiative, and reasoning on the
one hand, and obedience, order, and routine on the other
hand. Since this chapter is primarily a plea for a type of
classroom management in which order and carefully organ-
ized routine prevail, we shall endeavor to show that this
5 8 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
type of procedure is not inconsistent with democratic
freedom and reasoned responsibility. We can do this to
advantage in connection with Bagley's answers to the argu-
ments that have been advanced against routine in school
work. (1 : 32)
Democratic social organization often disregards individu-
ality.— The first two objections that Bagley cites and refutes
are that "mechanical organization disregards the individuality
of the child" and that, since it is imposed from without, "it
is an expression of arbitrary and despotic rule." The answer
to this objection is that even in a democratic society social
organization does the same thing as far as the individual is
concerned. Society and its official representatives set definite
lines within which the individual must behave. To him these
lines may appear " arbitrary and despotic " and may seem to
" disregard his individuality " ; but he has to conform.
Traffic example. — Thus, a driver of a vehicle in the
crowded streets of Chicago cannot make a crossing without
the permission of the traffic policeman. Doubtless he would
often prefer to dash ahead, after the policeman has blown
his whistle to stop traffic in his direction. Doubtless it
appears "arbitrary and despotic" when the policeman makes
him take a long turn in going around a corner when his
inclination is to " short-cut " across. But the traffic regula-
tions, personified in the traffic policeman, are great social
time-savers. When, as an experiment, the policemen were
removed for a few minutes one day in the congested down-
town district, it required only a short time for all traffic to
come to a standstill, because the " individuality " of the
drivers, chauffeurs, and motormen was given full sway and
the "despotic rule" of the social guardians abolished.
Interdependence and obedience as important as independ-
ence in democratic America. — As shown in the preceding
chapter, modern social life is characterized by the most
elaborate and intricate interdependence for the necessities
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 59
of life — food, heat, transportation, etc. As a consequence
of this interdependence, each individual must be trained to
do his part in a dependable manner, obedient to the general
rules ; for example, the trainman must obey orders from the
train dispatcher, the stenographer must get the mail out on
time, the school teacher must follow the prescribed course
of study.
Furthermore, democratic independence does not mean that
each individual is free to do as he pleases. As a general
rule, democratic independence in the government is found
merely in the fact that all citizens are permitted to choose
at short intervals political representatives who will make and
execute laws which the citizens will have to obey. Their
freedom does not consist in the privilege of not obeying
authority, but in having a voice from time to time in choos-
ing the authorities whom they will obey. Obviously, a child
in school cannot be given the privilege of choosing the
authority (the teacher) whom he will obey, although it is
possible to make him acquainted with principles of com-
munity life that may guide him in his choice of representa-
tives when he becomes a voter. The point to notice in
connection with our present problem is that democratic
representative society requires citizens to obey laws ; there-
fore, the school is not being undemocratic merely because
it requires children to be strictly obedient.
Efficient spontaneity may be encouraged by routine re-
sponsibilities.— Another objection which is advanced against
providing for routine in school work is that it " discourages
spontaneous effort." If this be true, it is just as true of
democratic social life as it is of the school. In our own
modern democratic life all activities are organized and nearly
every person operates as part of some organization, whether
it be the government, or a business house, or simply a family.
As a rule, the individual who is working in an organization
has certain lines prescribed for him, within which he may
60 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
be as " intelligently spontaneous " as he is capable of being.
The buyer for a department in a large business concern or
the head of a government office has certain definite routine
responsibilities, but it is doubtful whether these interfere with
his efficient spontaneity in perfecting his own work. The
testimony of many persons would indicate just the opposite ;
namely, that they work harder for improvement when they
know that they are responsible for certain specific matters
than they do if their responsibilities are rather vague and
undefined.
Many original thinkers are strong in routine work. — It is
often falsely assumed that there is necessarily some antago-
nism between ability to do original independent thinking and
careful attention to routine. Thorndike shows the fallacy of
this idea in the following quotation :
It is my privilege to know a fair number of original thinkers
and workers in science, medicine, the ministry, law, and business.
Such men are extraordinarily competent in routine work - and
extraordinarily strong in mere knowledge. The most original chil-
dren of my acquaintance are" so not by any denial of the claims of
mere lesson-learning and skill-acquiring in traditional ways. On
the contrary, they could beat the pedants and hacks of equal age
at their own games. During the past month I have been studying
the ratings of sixty electrical engineers employed by the Westing-
house Company and rated by the company's officers for originality
and seventeen other qualities, such as thoroughness, knowledge,
industry at routine tasks and the like. Far from there being any
antagonism between originality and industry at routine tasks . . .
or between originality and system, there is a positive correlation.
(3 : 407)
Routine does not necessarily eliminate rational method's.
— Another objection that is sometimes urged against routin-
izing any school activities is that " mechanical organization
in matters properly routine tends to spread to matters of a
different nature." Unfortunately this is true in the case of
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 6 1
many teachers and administrators. It is to be regretted that
there are many educational extremists who tend to line up
in either one of the following columns :
Extreme formalists Extreme idealists
1. All routine, no freedom. i. All freedom, no routine.
2. Emphasize formal subjects, 2. Emphasize content subjects,
neglect content subjects. neglect formal subjects.
3. Emphasize memorizing, neg- 3. Emphasize reasoning, neg-
lect reasoning. lect memorizing.
But it is not necessary to be either an extreme formalist or
an extreme idealist. It is possible to provide for an adequate
study of the content subjects (geography, history, literature,
science, etc.) by methods that involve reasoning, and at the
same time to provide for routinizing those phases of class-
room management in which it will result in economy of
time and effort.
Do habits antagonise reasoning? — The point just men-
tioned is related to a final objection; namely, that "rou-
tine, or habit, antagonizes reason." By habit we mean the
tendency to behave in situations in approximately the same
ways as we have behaved in similar situations before. By
reasoning we mean the tendency to reflect concerning re-
adjusting or modifying our reactions to situations — to think
out new methods of dealing with problematic situations.
The tendency to focus attention on either one or the other
of these two phases of behavior, namely, either habit or reason-
ing, is brought out in an interesting way in comparing two
definitions of education, one by William James (1842-1910)
and the other by Professor John Dewey, two of the foremost
American writers on psychology. In his "Talks to Teachers
on Psychology" (page 29) James says, "Education is the or-
ganization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to be-
havior," and on page viii he says, " The aim of education is to
make useful habits automatic." Here we have the emphasis
62 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
placed on the habit element in education. On the other hand,
Dewey says, " Education is the reconstruction of experience."
Here the emphasis is placed, not on the fixing of former
methods of behavior, but on the breaking up of habits and
the readjustment of one's old methods of behavior to meet
new and changing situations.
Some habits free the mind for reasoning. — The apparent
contradiction involved in these two definitions of education
disappears, however, when we get a complete statement from
one of the authors, in which both factors, habit and reason,
are taken into consideration. Thus, James says :
We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as
many useful actions as we can. . . . The more of the details of our
daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism,
the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own
proper work. There is no more miserable human being than one
in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the
lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of
rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit
of work, are subjects of express volitional deliberation. Full half
the time of such a man goes to the deciding, or regretting, of
matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as practically not
to exist for his consciousness at all. If there be such daily duties
not yet ingrained in any one of my readers, let him begin this very
hour to set the matter right. (2 (ft) : 122)
This quotation gives the true relation to establish between
habit and reasoning, and may well furnish a motto for class-
room activity ; namely, " Make habitual, as early as possible,
as many useful acts as you can, in order that the minds of
teachers and children may be free to consider problems that
are worth reasoning about." We shall now proceed to apply
this motto to the six routine aspects of classroom manage-
ment which were outlined above on page 55.
i . Begin right the first day. — The first consideration in
classroom management from the standpoint of routine is
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 63
to get started right the first day. As James advises in the
last sentence in the quotation given above, "begin this very
hour to set the matter right." In classroom management,
the time to set matters right is at the beginning. Any
neglect of this advice results in lost ground which can only
be recovered later by sacrifice of time and energy. James
gives the following rule in this connection : "In the acquisi-
tion of a new habit ... we must take care to launch our-
selves with a decided initiative." Applied to the first day at
school, this rule means that work should start off with a
vigorous attack by pupils and teacher. It means that it is
important to have the impressions of the first day be those
that are to persist and give the keynote for the rest of
the term.
Become acquainted in advance with the local situation. —
In order to be able to do this, the beginning teacher, or a
teacher in a new situation, needs to get on the ground some
days before school opens and to familiarize herself thor-
oughly with the situation in general and in detail. This
should include a study of the community, of the recent his-
tory of the school, of the ideals and policy of the present
administration, of the building (with its classrooms, assembly
arrangements, lavatories, playground, heating and ventilating
systems), of the school library and other neighboring library
facilities. It should include also a careful examination of the
course of study and of the annual and daily programs. This
should lead to a definite planning of the work to be covered
for the whole term. If it is the teacher's first year in teach-
ing, she would do well to advise with several experienced
teachers concerning the best pace with which to advance.
Plan definite activities for the first day. — Having got
the general situation in mind, she should plan in detail the
work of the first week and be prepared to use the first day
for purposes of serious instruction. In order to do this she
will have to make sure that the necessary materials are on
64 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
hand, including possibly chalk, pencils, pens, ink, paper,
maps, specimens, materials for construction, toys, or whatever
may be required.
The work of the first day may include three elements :
( i ) steps to acquaint the teacher with the pupils, (2) steps to
make the pupils feel at home and interested in the school,
(3) some actual instruction. Such instruction may easily
include free play, games, construction or story-telling in the
kindergarten and primary grades, conversational introductions
to new topics in all grades, lessons from books above the first
grade where free textbooks are provided, or reviews of work
of the previous year and related experiences.
With the first day used effectively in some such manner,
the first step has been taken in the direction of economizing
time and energy.
2. Varied seating and grouping of pupils for various pur-
poses. — The second routine aspect of the classroom man-
agement concerns the seating or grouping of pupils for
various purposes. Some examples will be given to illustrate
the possibilities of improved instruction by attention to
this matter.
Kindergarten circle replaced by more informal groupings.
- The first examples are from the kindergarten where very
strong traditions have prevailed concerning the seating and
grouping of pupils. Often the traditional formal arrange-
ments are not so well suited to the kindergarten activities
as others would be. This fact is brought out in the following
comments made by Miss Alice Temple in a survey of a
conservative kindergarten system.
Tradition seems to have decreed that there are but two pos-
sible arrangements for the children in the kindergarten. . . . For
all work with materials they must be seated at tables ; for all
other exercises they must be seated or standing in a ring. The
position in the ring is a good one for the playing of games, but
for free conversation, or story-telling, . . . the gathering of the
From Butte, Montana, public kindergarten
MODERN TYPE OF KINDERGARTEN EQUIPMENT
Large blocks permitting of informal construction by the pupils
66 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
children into an informal group, near to and facing the teacher, is
a much more natural and satisfactory arrangement. (8 : 41)
[Similarly] during the singing period. In the schools observed,
the children, with the exception of those in one kindergarten, were
either seated or standing in a ring. Better results would be ob-
tained if the children were gathered into a group standing near
the piano where they could hear the teacher easily. They would
realize then that this was the time primarily for singing. When
standing close together and near the piano, they get the effect of
the blending of voices ; the teacher can easily place the mono-
tones near her or near a child whose voice is true ; a small choir
may be assembled quickly for small group singing, etc. (8 : 52)
Wide heavy kindergarten tables replaced by narrow fold-
ing ones. — The size and kind of table used in seating kin-
dergarten children is an important routine factor in saving
time and energy and improving instruction. This fact is
brought out in the following comments by Miss Temple on
the kindergarten equipment which she observed.
The tables now in use are of the older type, six feet long or
more and two and one-half or three feet wide. They are made to
accommodate children seated at all four sides. Narrow tables
eighteen inches wide lend themselves to a much more satisfactory
arrangement of the children with reference to the light and to the
teacher, but more of them are needed for the same number of
children. It is convenient to have some of these narrow tables of
the six-foot length and others of the three-foot length. They may
then be used singly by small groups of children or combined in
various ways, according to the number of children in the group or
the type of material with which they are working. When the
entire class is to do the same work, directed by the teacher, an
arrangement by which all face the teacher is usually best. When
the class is divided into groups of different sizes for different kinds
of work, other arrangements are more satisfactory. Furthermore,
in a room equipped with small tables as well as with larger ones,
the problem of seating the children at tables of the right height for
them is very much simplified. One or more of the small tables
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 67
may be made lower by cutting an inch or two off the legs to
accommodate the smaller children. Chair legs may be cut to
correspond.
The tables described are folding tables, which may be easily
disposed of when the entire floor space is needed for games or
other physical activities or when the room is needed for assembly
purposes. Three tables six feet by eighteen inches and six tables
three feet by eighteen inches would be adequate for a group of
thirty children. (8 : 8)
Class grouping for primary reading. — Another example
of the improvement of instruction by special seating or
grouping of children is found in the arrangement of a
group in primary reading. When the section that is read-
ing does not consist of more than twenty pupils, small
chairs are provided and the children grouped in semicircles
near the teacher. This arrangement enables the teacher and
pupils to speak in low voices and still be heard distinctly ;
it enables the teacher to observe carefully each child as he
responds ; and it provides a compact audience situation in
which interest and attention can often be better secured
than in the more spread-out arrangement that prevails when
the little chairs are not available.
3. Routinized passing and marching by pupils. — The
third phase of classroom routine is the organized orderly
passing of pupils. This is a feature that is often overempha-
sized in extremely formal schools and entirely neglected in
schools that overemphasize freedom and initiative. The de-
sirability of such routine in social life is clearly illustrated in
the traffic situation described above on page 58, and in the
saving of life through fire drills. It is obvious that quick,
quiet, and orderly passing by pupils to the board, or through
the cloakroom, or through the halls, saves social confusion
and energy in exactly the same manner as does traffic
regulation at a busy street corner. Consequently, a teacher
who drills her pupils carefully in these matters is not only
68 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
saving much time and energy for various school activities but
is also training in habits that are closely paralleled in social
life. A beginning teacher should observe carefully the
methods of organizing assembly and dismissal used by
various teachers and imitate the most successful. She should
observe also such matters as the children running on tiptoe
to and fro in the primary grades and pupils having regularly
assigned places at the blackboard in all the grades.
4. Handling materials. Monitors economise time for
teacher and class. — The fourth factor in routine manage-
ment is the handling of materials. The greatest economy of
time and energy can be effected here by enlisting the pupils
as monitors. Many children are perfectly competent to per-
form monitorial services. The selection of such competent
ones even in the first grade is amusingly described by
Myra Kelly in her entertaining book of school stories and
romance entitled " Little Citizens." The stories concern
the fictitious Miss Bailey's first experiences in a slum dis-
trict in New York. Miss Bailey's selection of monitors is
described in the following words :
An organized government requires a cabinet, and, during the
first weeks of her reign over Room 18, Miss Bailey set about pro-
viding herself with aides and advisers. She made, naturally, some
fatal and expensive mistakes, as when she intrusted the class
pencils to the care of one of the Yonowsky twins who, promptly
falling ill of scarlet fever and imparting it to his brother, reduced
the First-Reader class to writing with colored chalk.
But gradually from the rank and file of candidates, from the
well-meaning but clumsy ; from the competent but dishonest ; from
the lazy and from the rash, she selected three loyal and devoted
men to share her task of ruling. They were Morris Mogilewsky,
prime minister and monitor of the goldfish bowl; Nathan
Spiderwitz, councilor of the exchequer and monitor of window
boxes; and Patrick Brennan, commander in chief of the forces
and leader of the line.
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 69
The members of this cabinet, finding themselves raised to such
high places by the pleasure of their sovereign, kept watchful eyes
upon her. For full well they knew that crudest of all the laws of
the board of education, which decrees " that the marriage of a
female teacher shall constitute resignation." This ruling had
deprived them of a kindergarten teacher of transcendent charm
and had made them as watchful of Miss Bailey as a bevy of
maiden aunts could have been. Losing her, they would lose love
and power, and love and power are sweet. (6 : 89-91)
Monitorial system extensively used in Neiv York,
1805-1830. — In New York City the use of monitors had
an interesting history, for from 1805 to about 1830 even the
instruction in the schools was given by them in large rooms
containing only one teacher to over two hundred pupils.
When a child was admitted, a monitor assigned him his class ;
while he remained, a monitor taught him (with nine other pupils) ;
when he was absent, one monitor ascertained the fact and another
found out the reason ; a monitor examined him periodically, and
when he made progress a monitor promoted him ; a monitor ruled
the writing paper ; a monitor had charge of the slates or books ;
and a monitor-general looked after all the other monitors. Every
monitor wore a leather ticket, gilded and lettered " Monitor of
the First Class," " Reading Monitor of the Second Class,"
etc. (4: 103)
Monitors only for mechanical aspects ; middle-grade ex-
ample. — It goes without saying that the use of monitors
for instruction in a modern elementary school is not to be
advocated now. The above quotations, however, illustrate
the fact that some children are perfectly competent to assist
the teacher in many mechanical matters, and take great
delight in doing so. An example of the reasonable use of
monitors at the present time is found in the following
account presented in one of the author's classes by an
experienced teacher in the middle grades.
70 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Monitors are chosen for two weeks to pass paper daily for
arithmetic, language, penmanship, and drawing; others are ap-
pointed to collect and pass out pencils which are sharpened and
fumigated twice a week ; two children are given the duty of clean-
ing and replacing the erasers every noon, while two others wash
the board and water the plants ; a large boy is given the task of
caring for the ventilation and another the raising and lowering of
the window shades. After the first few days I am absolutely
relieved of all responsibility for this part of school management.
Time wasted by kindergartens in preparing materials. —
Another phase of economy of time with materials is
illustrated by the large amount of time which many primary
and kindergarten teachers spend in getting materials ready
for children. The waste which is thus entailed is described
by Miss Temple in the following observations :
There are unquestionably many kindergartners who spend
much more time in work of this kind than is necessary or desirable.
The work seen in the . . . kindergartens goes to show that the
teachers often prepare the [materials] for the children so completely
that there is little left for the children to do. For example, they
draw outlines of objects for the children to cut, instead of giving
the children the more valuable experience of trying to cut forms
without the help of an outline, or they cut out rather elaborate
paper forms, drawing lines where the children are to fold, leaving
for the children only the last step or two of the whole process of
construction. The results are likely to be excellent, but they do
not represent the children's work. If the teachers would plan
simpler forms of occupation and would be satisfied with cruder
products, they would be able to develop in the children a degree
of independence in handwork which does not now exist, according
to the reports of the first-grade teachers who receive the children
trom the kindergartens. (8 : 19)
This quotation illustrates clearly that careful study of the
best methods of providing and handling materials not only
saves time and energy but may also result in methods
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 71
which give the children valuable training. ' The same fact
was illustrated by the monitorial services of children which
give them excellent training in simple routine responsibilities.
5. Physical conditions. Proper ventilation and lighting
conserve energy. — The fifth routine factor to be considered
in economizing time and energy is attention to the physical
conditions of the classroom. This is important not only
from the standpoint of the temporary and permanent effects
upon health but also from the standpoint of waste of energy.
If a room is poorly ventilated or lighted, the energy of the
pupils which is available for concentrated study is diminished.
Teacher may supplement the ventilating system. — The
teacher should acquaint herself with the ventilating system
and try to cooperate effectively in its management. If it
does not work, she may be able to take steps to supplement
it. For example, in two recitation rooms which I have used
there was an ample supply of fresh air from the inlet in the
wall near the ceiling in one end of each room. But in each
case the outlet was placed in the wall near the floor directly
under the inlet. As a consequence the air circulated very
well in one end of the room, but three fourths of the room
received practically no benefit from the system. Upon the
suggestion of the teacher a metal deflector was made by
the engineer and fastened on the inlet in such a way as to
send the air diagonally across the room, thus providing a
supply of fresh air for nearly all parts. In case there is no
ventilating system, the teacher can at least provide for ven-
tilation boards on the window sills. These will make it
possible to keep the windows partly open during recitations
in cold weather. The teacher should not rely upon her own
impressions concerning the condition of the air in the room,
for her sense of smell soon becomes fatigued in such a way
that it does not inform her of the conditions.
Arrange so that pupils do not face the light. — In regard
to lighting, the teacher's first duty is to arrange so that
72 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
pupils do not sit facing the light. The frequent neglect of
this simple precaution is very striking. In kindergarten
rooms it is not uncommon to find many children placed so
that they face low windows and receive the full glare of the
light directly in their eyes. Such positions handicap them
seriously and waste much energy.
Avoid shadows on the page. — The second precaution is
to arrange so that there are no shadows on the page at
which the child is looking. In other words, there should
be the same degree of illumination all over the page. If
this is not the case, the pupil of the eye is constantly
readjusting itself to the different degrees of illumination.
This is not only a waste of energy, but it is often quite
distracting and annoying, although the reader may not be
clearly conscious of the cause of the annoyance. We have
extreme examples of this variation in illumination on a day
when shifting clouds cause a rapid alternation of sunshine
and shadow. The eyestrain under these extreme conditions
is quite noticeable. When one side or half of the page is
well illuminated and the other part in deep shadow, the
eyes may experience the same phenomenon on a smaller
scale some fifty to a hundred times as they follow the lines
of a single page.
Single source of illumination best. — The first step usually
taken to avoid such a situation is to provide that the light
shall come from a single source. The pupil can then easily
sit in such a position that there are no shadows on his page.
If there are two sources of light, the possibilities of sitting
so as not to have shadows and at the same time not to face
a light directly are greatly reduced. If there are a great
many near sources of illumination, as in a railroad coach at
night, the page may be streaked with light and shadow. In
constructing schoolrooms it is now quite common to pro-
vide that the light shall come only from one side (namely,
the left), in order to avoid shadows. Even when light comes
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 73
from more than one side in a room, the teacher, by proper
manipulation of the shades and by proper directions to the
pupils, can greatly reduce the loss of energy which would
result from reading under conditions that cause strain
or distraction.
Hygienic conditions improved in kindergartens recently. —
Many of the activities provided for children in the old-
fashioned kindergartens required such small movements
and such concentrated attention as to result in serious
nervous strain.
Great improvements have been made in kindergartens
recently by providing activities and conditions better adapted
to the health of little children. These improvements are
summarized by Miss Luella A. Palmer in the following
quotation.
Health is the first consideration in the education of little chil-
dren. Most of the kindergartners have discarded the occupations
which were found injurious to the children's eyesight, very few
overstimulate with nervous excitable play, and practically none
forget to pay attention to the demand of the little bodies for free
muscular movement. Yet the crying need of our kindergartens is
for still better hygienic conditions. This is seldom the fault of the
kindergartner ; she knows the value of fresh air and sunshine, of
space for free activity, of large blocks for building, of digging in
the ground, of opportunities for individual children to rest or exer-
cise as they desire, but many kindergartens are placed in such
conditions that these good things are denied to the children.
We have grown much since Dr. Stanley Hall in the Forum of
January, 1900, criticized the kindergarten, particularly with regard
to health conditions. Most kindergartners do the best they can in
this respect. Wherever possible they have work in the open air,
they ventilate the room, sometimes clean it themselves if janitors
are careless, they keep the light out of the children's eyes, they try
to have comfortable seats, to alternate periods of rest and activity,
to have the atmosphere of the room quieting to the nerves, and
they wash the children who come dirty, — often the first weeks of
74 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
kindergarten are devoted to different methods of impressing clean-
liness. At mothers' meetings the topics are care of the child, his
food, rest, and play. (7 : 1 06)
6. Maintaining good order. An important time saver. —
The sixth and final routine factor which we shall consider in
our discussion of economy of time and energy is good order.
By good order we mean noninterference of the pupils with
each other and proper attention by each child to the activi-
ties of the class as a group. It is obvious that the failure
of any child to attend to the business in which the teacher
and group are engaged is an important source of waste in
the classroom.
Troublesome children. Sometimes mentally and morally
defective. — As a rule the teacher may assume that if the
other conditions of instruction are properly provided for,
most of the pupils will behave themselves. There are nearly
always, however, a few pupils whose selfish instincts are so
strong, and whose social instincts and self-control are so
weak, that they will not cooperate readily. Just as criminals
in social life cause an enormous amount of social waste
entirely disproportionate to their numbers, so these instinc-
tively selfish and noncooperative children cause a dispropor-
tionately large waste of time in the work of social groups
in the school. Fortunately, the most extremely defective of
such children are now recognized by science as being per-
manently mental and moral defectives and are not permitted
in the regular public schools. Among such mental and moral
defectives are idiots and imbeciles. Readers of this book
probably realize that such defectives cannot be trained as
ordinary children are trained, and that even with the best
of training they will remain mentally and morally defective
all their lives. Children who are endowed with slightly
higher mental and moral powers, but who still are perma-
nently mental and moral defectives, are often encountered in
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 75
the elementary schools. In the juvenile courts and psycho-
logical clinics of cities, special studies are now being made
on a large scale to determine the best methods of diagnosing
and dealing with such boys and girls.
Example of troublesome defective child. — The point for
us to notice is that the presence of such a child in a class-
room may greatly increase the disciplinary difficulties. An
example of this fact is shown by the following observation
of the discipline in a fifth grade before and after such a
child was removed. The room contained fifty children, and
the observer writes as follows :
Upon my first visit four boys and one girl were inclined to be
troublesome, the girl especially. She was seated at a special table,
and during a music lesson repeatedly turned about and grinned at
the other pupils. She made no pretense at taking part in the work
of the room, either then or later during the arithmetic and geog-
raphy recitations. One could see she was a " terror." At recess
she passed out with the others in quite an orderly manner, but on
returning she kept the lad who was to close the dressing-room
doors waiting two or three minutes, standing exasperatingly in his
way. The teacher merely said, " Hurry up, Mary," and continued
her work.
Upon my second visit the troublesome girl was not at the table.
I ascertained that she had been expelled and that the mother was
at her wits' ends to know what to do with her, so unbecoming was
her conduct at home and on the street. Her teacher regretted that
she had been unable to help the girl and had recommended that she
be placed in an institution. Doubtless the city authorities would
determine the advisability of this procedure through tests and
investigation. Meanwhile, the boys in the room had settled down
and the whole class was interested and busy.
Noncooperative pupils even among ordinary children. — No
hard and fast line can be drawn to separate the abnormal,
nonsocial, difficult disciplinary cases from the more ordinary
children with somewhat normal social instincts. Even after
76 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
/Sthe definitely defective children have been removed from
public schools there will remain children whose selfish and
nonsocial instincts are so strong that they will constantly
present problems of discipline unless firm conditions of con-
trol are established by the teacher. With such firm condPv
tions of control, such children are kept in restraint and the I
time and energy of the group are not wasted. Without such [
control, the social waste of the time and nervous energy ofi.^
teachers and pupils is enormous. For this reason the methods (
of controlling nonsocial, difficult disciplinary cases deserve/
special study by teachers, /rne problem 15 56 complex, how-
ever, that we cannot treat it here. Instead, we recommend
that it be carefully studied in references 9 and 10 given on
page 83. With these more difficult disciplinary problems left
for intensive outside study, we shall turn to some of the more
general problems of maintaining good order.
Ordinary discipline. Through proper routine avoid oppor-
tunities for disorder. — One of the most effective practices
in securing good order is to avoid opportunities for disorder.
Some of the mngMrr|pf>rfani- gfppg fcp thisjend involve merely
carrying~ouTthedirections for routinizing classroom_actly*ties
described earlier in the chapter. If the first day is begun
with a businesslike spirit, if there are certain definite tasks
to be accomplished concerning which there is a clear mutual
understanding between teacher and pupils, if the latter are
seated to the best advantage, if materials are sojpjaced as
to obviate wastefulmovements, conflicts, and confusion, if
the ventilating and lighting are so arranged as to contribute
to vitality and comfort instead of fatigue, annoyance, and
irritability, — if all these matters are properly provided for,
then many opportunities for disorder are eliminated.
Teacher s attitude a determining factor ; authority, digni-
fied reserve, and friendliness. — One of the most obvious
facts in the maintenance of .good, ordexjsthe influence of
the teacher's attitude toward the class, particularly during
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 77
the first few weeks and months. One of the most impor-
tant questions in this connection concerns the proper bal-
ance to strike between friendliness and dignifiedreserve in
order to preserve thorough respect by the children for their
teacher's authority. Excellent suggestions along this line
'are contained in the following statement by a member of
the Jesuit order, which has spent centuries of study upon
problems of discipline :
The master in charge of the boys, especially in playtime, in his
first intercourse with them has po greater snare in his way than
taking_his power for granted and trusting to the strength of his
will and his knowledge of the world^ especially as he is at first
lulled into security by the deferential manner of his pupils.
That master who goes off with such ease from the very first, to
whom the carrying out of all the rules seems the simplest thing in
the world, who_m the very first hour he is with them has already
made himself liked, almost popular with his pupils, who shows no
more anxiety about his work than hf must show tr> keep his rhar^_
acter for good sense — that master is indeed to be pitied; he is most
likely a lost man. He will soon have to choose one of two things:
either to shut his eyes and put up with all the irregularities he
thought he had done away with or to break with a past that he
would wish forgotten and engage in open conflict with the boys
who are inclined to set him at defiance. These cases are, we trust,
rare. • But many believe with a kind of rash ignorance, and in spite
of the warnings of experience, that the good feelings of their pupils
will work together to maintain their authority. They have been
told that this authority should be mild and endeared by acts of
kindness. ScLthey set about crowning the edifice without making
sure of the foundations, and, taking the title of authority for its
possession, they spend all their efforts in lightening a yoke of which
fio one really bears the weight.
In point of fact the hrst steps often determine the whole course.
For this reason you will attach extreme importance to what I am
now going to advise :
The chief characteristic in your conduct toward the boys during
the first few weeks should be an extreme reservf. However far
j?8 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
you go in this, you can hardly overdo it. So your first attitude is
clearly defined.
You have everything to observe — the individual character of
each boy and the general tendencies and feelings of the whole body.
But be sure of one thing, viz. that you are observed also and a
careful study is made of both your strong points and your weak.
Your way of speaking and of giving orders, the tone of your voice,
your gestures, disclose your character, your tastes, your failings,
to a hundred boys on the alert to pounce upon them. One is
summed up long before one has the least notion of it. Tiy, then,
to remain impenetrable. YOJJ should never give up your reserve
till you are master of the situation.
.For the rest, let there be no affectation about you. Don't
attempt to put on a severe manner; answer politely and simply
your pupils' questions, but let it be in few words, and avoid con-
versation. All depends on that. Let there be no chatting with
them in these early days. You cannot be too cautious in this
respect. Boys have such a polite, such a taking way with them
in drawing out information about your impressions, your tastes,
your antecedents ; don't attempt the diplomat ; don't match your
skill against theirs. You cannot chat without coming out of your
shell, so to speak. Insteadof~this, yoTTlnust puzzle them by
your reserve and drive them to this admission: "We don't know
what to make of our newjnaster."
Do I advise you,, then, to be on the defensive throughout the
whole year and like a stranger among your pupils ? No ! a thou-
sand times, No I It is just to make their relations with you simple,
confiding, I might say cordial, without the least danger to your
authority, that I endeavor to raise this authority at first beyond
the reach of assault. (5 : 60-62)
Wholesome social atmosphere includes order and obedience
to authority. — I have had many classes of teachers discuss
the above quotation, and the conclusion of the majority has
always been that " dignified reserve " is one of the best
terms we can find to designate the appropriate attitude for
a teacher to take toward a class, especially when this is
coupled with a sincere and friendly interest in the progress
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 79
of each pupil. Certainly it is a desirable attitude in the
fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, where the children are espe-
cially quick to take advantage of a susceptible teacher.
Even in the kindergarten, authority and obedience may be
established by somewhat similar means, as shown in the fol-
lowing description by Miss Temple of certain kindergartens
which she observed :
The social atmosphere in [these] kindergartens is very whole-
some. The children are obedient, orderly, courteous, and very
considerate of one another for children so young. The teachers
have won the confidence and affection of the children through a
sympathetic and respectful attitude toward them and through their
own sincerity and earnestness. (8 : 5)
The coexistence of the several terms in this quotation is
worth noting, — obedient, orderly, courteous, considerate, con-
fidence, affection, sympathy, respect, sincerity, earnestness,
wholesome social atmosphere. They suggest an ideal picture
of a well-disciplined situation. While the terms " author-
ity" and "dignified reserve" sound somewhat harsher, they
are perfectly consistent with the other terms listed and
probably equally descriptive of the situation observed.
Disorderly primary grades make troublesome pupils for
later grades. — As a rule, poor order below the third grade
is not regarded as seriously as after that grade, although it
entails just as large waste and results in very troublesome
habits for later teachers to overcome. If a second-grade room
behaves like the one described on page 56 above, the harm
is not so apparent as it would be from similar behavior in the
middle grades, where it would interfere more obviously and
seriously with the studying and progress of pupils. The large
amount of activity which has been introduced into primary
grades recently in the form of plays and games, construction
and expression, has made it difficult for some teachers to
distinguish between mere activity and disorder on the part
80 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
of the children. Consequently, a disorderly room is often
mistaken for one in which children are being educated
through activity. As a matter of fact, the children are
really developing habits of lack of self-control which will
seriously hamper their later progress in school. This fact
appears very prominent in some of the so-called " model "
schools of the country, where the children in the middle
grades behave as little imps, utterly lacking in self-control.
That this is not a necessary condition is suggested by the
kindergarten situation described above, in which the children
were "obedient, orderly, courteous, and considerate." If
kindergarten children can acquire such habits, certainly first-
grade and second-grade children can also. With such habits,
the discipline in the middle grades where children tend to
" write notes," throw spitballs, and do sneaky things gen-
erally, ought to be made easier instead of being made more
difficult by the disregard for authority and group interests
which results from unrestrained freedom and spontaneity
in the primary grades.
Simple rules desirable ; abstract rules ineffective. — As
the children progress through the grades, they shculd
become habituated to certain standards or rules of behavior
which should determine their conduct. Even in the kinder-
garten, simple rules are effective, such as the following :
" Raise your hand when you want something or need help/'
" During the story hour, when seated on the floor, keep
your hands off other children." In some kindergartens
after such special rules have been learned and habituated,
even the more general rule " Do not bother your neighbors "
might be made effective. The difficulties involved in such
general rules, however, are suggested by Thorndike in the
following quotation :
Avoid making rules involving distinctions which the pupils can-
not make. " No communication between pupils without especial
permission except in the five-minute recesses between periods," a
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 81
ten-year-old can understand ; the distinction between a period and
the five-minute recess is easy. But " No communication between
pupils that disturbs the work of the class " will be beyond him.
Mr. A. C. Benson relates that a boy who was rebuked for putting
a dormouse down the neck of a very easy-going master asked, in
all good faith, " But how was I to know that he drew the line at a
dormouse ? " Rules which vary in complex ways with attendant
circumstances or with the motive for the act are unsuitable for
young children and for the duller older children. Moral as well
as intellectual progress should be made step by step along clear
pathways. (11 : 186)
Consistent, decisive enforcing of rules. — In securing
obedience to rules, two important factors are consistency
and decision on the part of the teacher. The influence of
lack of consistency is illustrated by teachers and parents
who are always threatening but never executing. They an-
nounce that certain consequences will follow upon certain
acts, but they are not consistent in carrying out their state-
ments. Pupils very soon learn that they are likely to escape
the consequences in many cases, and are willing to take the
chances or to gamble on the issue.
The influence of lack of decision is illustrated by the
remark often made by a distracted mother when she says to
her child, " I don't know what I will do to you if you don't
behave yourself." No doubt teachers often find themselves
in the same uncertain condition, but it does not improve
matters to let the pupils know it. If possible, take the time
which may be necessary to determine upon the best course
of action and then proceed to carry out your decision.
Regard all offenses as against the group, not the teacher.
-The final feature of maintaining good order which we
shall consider is that each offense should be regarded by
pupils and teacher as essentially an offense against the
class or group whose progress is interfered with. A simple
example is found in the case of the first-grade child who
82 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
is noisily playing with something while the teacher is telling
an interesting story. The teacher's remark, " We shall have
to wait until Mary is ready to listen," is a good opener to
put the situation in the right light. It avoids the notion
that the misbehavior is an offense againstTthe teacher or that
it centers in a personal conflict between the latter and the
offender. Regarding the offense as against the group
enables the teacher to deal with it in a purely objective
impersonal manner. This will save much emotional storm
and stress that entails an unfortunate waste of nervous
energy for both pupils and teacher and temporarily impairs
their efficiency. Furthermore, it stresses the attitude of
regard for community rights and welfare, which is one__of
the essential factors in moral training.
Conclusion. — This will conclude our discussion of econ-
omizing time and energy through effective routine in class-
room management. Our point of departure for the discussion
was a comparison of the classroom with democratic social
conditions. We found that in democratic America citizens
are required to be strictly obedient to the representative gov-
ernment, and that effective conduct of American business
depends upon the application of principles of scientific
business management. Paralleling this social situation in
the school involves cooperation, order and obedience on the
part of the pupils, and careful routine provision for the first
day, for the seating, assembling, and passing of pupils, for
monitorial assistance by pupils in handling materials, and for
proper lighting and ventilation. With desirable habits estab-
lished in all these matters, much of the time and energy of
teachers and pupils is conserved for attaining the broader
aims of teaching, — health, harmless enjoyment, good will,
and social service. In the next two chapters we shall study
the principles determining the selection and arrangement of
subject matter to attain these ends.
ECONOMY IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 83
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
General discussion. — * i . BAG LEY, W. C. Classroom Management,
its Principles and Technique. (The Macmillan Company, 1907.) Ex-
cellent and practical. Chaps, i-viii should be read by all beginning
teachers.
2. JAMES, WILLIAM. * (a) Talks to Teachers. (Henry Holt and
Company, 1899.) Chap, viii, on the Laws of Habit, (b) Principles
of Psychology, Vol. I, chap. iv. One of the most influential chapters
on behavior. By America's greatest psychologist.
3. THORNDIKE, E. L. Education for Initiative and Originality.
Teachers College Record, November, 1916, Vol. XVII, pp. 405-416.
A great psychologist discusses balance between routine and originality.
3 a. BENNETT, H. E. School Efficiency. (Ginn and Company, 1917.)
Discusses many phases of school management in a manner suited to
teachers' needs.
Historical. — 4. PARKER, S. C. History of Modern Elementary Edu-
cation. (Ginn and Company, 1912.) Chap, v, on improvements in
classroom management.
5. QUICK, R. H. Educational Reformers. (D. Appleton and
Company, 1 890.) Pp. 60-62, on Jesuit Discipline.
Kindergarten and primary grades. — * 6. KELLY, MYRA. Little
Citizens, the Humors of School Life. (Doubleday, Page & Co., 1904.)
Humorous stories of a beginning teacher in a first-grade on the East
Side in New York.
7. PALMER, LUELLA A. Some Reconstructive Movements within
the Kindergarten. The Psychological Clinic, June, 1913, Vol. VII,
PP. 97-107.
*8. TEMPLE, ALICE. Survey of the Kindergartens of Richmond,
Indiana. (The University of Chicago Press, 1917.) Describes a kin-
dergarten system as it is and as it should be. Practical discussions in
simple common-sense language, contrasting strongly with the philo-
sophical wordiness of so many kindergarten publications.
Discipline. — *9- BAGLEY,W. C. School Discipline. (The Macmillan
Company, 1914.) Excellent concrete treatment. Simple language.
10. MOREHOUSE, FRANCES M. The Discipline of the School.
(D. C. Heath & Co., 1914.) Scan the whole book rapidly and read the
later practical chapters carefully.
Quoted incidentally. — 1 1 . THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of
Teaching. (A. G. Seiler, 1905.)
CHAPTER IV
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER
SOCIAL AND RELATIVE VALUES ; SCIENTIFIC BASIS
Main points of the chapter. — i . The subject matter taught in
schools should change as social needs change.
2. The most striking examples of such changes historically are
the following :
a. Changes from oral to silent reading necessitated by increased
reading matter, speed of intercommunication, and almost universal
ability to read in America.
b. Changes in arithmetical content to parallel changes in busi-
ness procedure.
c. Development of civic-moral teaching to replace religious-
moral teaching eliminated from American elementary schools by
sectarians.
d. Use in kindergartens of modern city activities to replace the
activities of a German village of 1837.
3. Social needs vary not only historically but between different
communities to-day, and subject matter in different schools should
vary accordingly.
4. The adaptation of subject matter to meet varying social
needs is an example of the social point of view represented by
Spencer and Dewey.
5. Variations in the relative social values of topics should be
carefully determined by scientific investigations.
6. Such investigations of the writing vocabularies of children
and adults have reduced the number of spelling words taught from
10,000 to 4500.
7. To be scientific, such an investigation must be mathematically
precise, objective, completely described so it can be verified, made
by an expert, and impartial.
84
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 85
Relation to preceding chapters. — In the two preceding
chapters we developed two fundamental points of view which
should be coordinated and kept in mind as the bases of
progressive efficient teaching. The first emphasized the
broadening purposes of elementary-school teaching in train-
ing for health, harmless enjoyment, good will, and social
service. The second point of view emphasized the applica-
tion of principles of effective business management to
classroom activity in order to achieve progressive ideals
economically and effectively.
Having gained an idea of the purposes that elementary
teachers should strive to achieve, and of the fundamental
principles of administration that should prevail in the class-
room, we come to our third main topic ; namely, the selec-
tion of the subject matter that is to be used in achieving
the broad aims of education. We shall discuss this topic
under the following headings :
I. Adapting subject matter to varying social needs.
II. Determining the relative values of topics.
III. Characteristics of scientific procedure in selecting
subject matter.
I. ADAPTING SUBJECT MATTER TO VARYING SOCIAL NEEDS
Adapting subject matter to varying social needs continues
social point of view. — We reached many of our conclusions
in the preceding chapters by studying social life outside the
school in order to determine what the schools should do.
For example, we found American life characterized by
(i) democratic representative government, (2) intricate inter-
dependence resulting from the specialization of industry and
the subdivision of labor, (3) scientific business management.
For each of these we discussed corresponding features of
schooling. Similarly, we shall open the discussion of sub-
ject matter from the social standpoint and, for concreteness,
86 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
shall begin with the teaching of reading, which occupies such
an important place in elementary schools.
Reading : social change from oral reading to rapid silent
reading. — In considering the adaptation of our teaching of
reading to meet social needs, we shall consider first the rela-
tive social importance of oral reading and of rapid silent
reading. The facts to be emphasized are (i) that rapid silent
reading is very important now and " expressive " oral read-
ing relatively unimportant, (2) that skilled oral reading was
very important at an earlier period and as a consequence
has retained a place in the school which it no longer de-
serves. We shall begin our discussion with a picture of the
reading situation outside of schools about the time of our
Revolutionary War.
Oral reading important about 1776; scanty reading facili-
ties.— In getting a picture of the reading situation in Amer-
ica about 1776, we shall consider the small number of books
and periodicals available, the slowness of communication by
mail, the inability of many people to read, and the conse-
quent value of oratory and eloquence in politics. The small
number of books available has already been suggested by
the narrow curriculum of the elementary schools described
in Chapter II. There it was indicated that until 1750 all
the reading matter in most of the elementary schools con-
sisted of the " New England Primer," or some similar primer,
and the Bible. In many of the poorer homes in the early
colonial period the Bible was the only book for adult read-
ing, supplemented in some homes by a few other religious
books such as Wigglesworth's "The Day of Doom, or a
Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment with
a Short Discourse on Eternity." In a few favored homes
a small " chest " of books constituted a treasured library.
Franklin s improvements illustrate poor colonial facili-
ties. — A number of improvements had been made in the
reading situation in America by the time of the Revolution,
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 87
but even these may be used to show how scanty the reading
facilities were. Some of these improvements are associated
with the work of Benjamin Franklin, the leading publisher
of the period. Everyone is familiar with " Poor Richard's
Almanac " and its witty sayings. Franklin published the
first number of the Almanac when he was twenty-six
years old (1732) and continued to issue numbers annually
for twenty-five years. The library of many a farmer con-
sisted of the family Bible and one or more numbers of this
famous almanac.
In the publication of his almanac, Franklin was not pecu-
liar, however, since almanacs constituted the most popular
periodical literature of the day. Speaking of this fact,
McMaster says :
The almanac was the one piece of literature of which the sale
was sure. Not a household for a hundred miles around the printer
but, if there was sixpence to spare, would have a copy. In remote
towns, where money was not to be had, a dozen copies would be
bought with potatoes or wheat, and disposed of one by one, —
at the blacksmith's for a few nails ; at the tavern for rum ; at some
neighbor's in payment of a trifling debt. Chapmen carried them
in their packs to exchange with copper kettles and china bowls,
for worsted stockings and knit gloves. They were the diaries, the
journals, the account books of the poor. Strung upon a stick and
hung beside the chimneyplace, they formed an unbroken record of
domestic affairs, in many instances for thirty years. On the mar-
gins of one since picked up at a paper mill are recorded the inter-
esting cases of a physician's practice, and the names of those who
suffered with the smallpox and the flux. Another has become a
complete journal of farm life. A third is filled with verses written
in imitation of Pope and Young.
It is not by mere chance that the second piece of printing done
in the colonies, and the first piece done in the middle states, were
almanacs. Samuel Atkins told no more than plain truth when, in
the preface to " Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense," he declared that
88 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
wherever he went in his travels he found the people so clamorous
for an almanac that he was " really troubled," and did design
according to his knowledge to " pleasure his countrymen " with
what they wanted. (11 : 98)
Franklin's establishment of the first circulating library
in America, in 1732, in Philadelphia, also illustrates the
primitive reading facilities of the day.
The slowness of communication by mail is illustrated by
Franklin's work as postmaster-general, beginning in 1753.
In his hands the whole system of the post office underwent a
complete change. He straightened the routes; he cut down
the postage ; he forced the postriders to hasten their pace ; he
opened the mail bags to newspapers by whomsoever printed, and
made their carriage a source of revenue to the crown ; he estab-
lished the penny post in the large towns ; and for the first time
advertised unclaimed letters in the newspapers. Mails that used
to go out but once a week began under him to go out three times
as often. Riders who in the winter used to make the trip from
Philadelphia to New York but twice each month now, in the
coldest weather, went over the route once a week. (11: 158)
Neglect of primary education lessened number of readers.
- It is obvious that in such a situation, with few books and
periodicals and very slow intercommunication, there was not
much reading by the masses, apart from Bible reading.
Moreover, many persons could not read, the neglect of pri-
mary education being very startling in many places such as
Boston, New York City, rural Pennsylvania, and in many
places in the South.
Democratic interest in public questions placed premium on
oratory. — Yet there were many public questions in which
the common people of the colonies were vitally interested
and concerning which the leaders wanted decisive action.
These questions centered in the struggle with England be-
fore the Revolution and in the political struggles between the
various parties after the Revolution. Consequently oratory
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 89
was depended upon to arouse and influence the people to
an extent that it is difficult for us to appreciate to-day,
unless we live in a part of the United States where the
schools are very poor, newspapers and periodicals very
scarce, and oratory, as a consequence, still flourishing. An
exaggerated parallel to our colonial condition is found in
the Russian revolutionary situation of 1917. In Russia there
was the same intense interest in a democratic revolution as
there was in America. Reading matter was equally scarce
in the rural districts and the illiteracy probably more gen-
eral. In Russia, as a consequence of the illiteracy, the revo-
lutionary government became largely an orgy of oratory.
The illiterate soldiers being unable and unaccustomed to
read and to study out problems for themselves were easily
swayed by the glowing promises of persuasive orators.
Eloquence emphasised in early school readers owing to its
social value. — The social importance of oratory in America
about the time of the Revolution found its counterpart in the
emphasis on oratory, eloquence, and expressive reading in
the school readers. One of the first and most successful of
these bore evidence to this fact in its title, namely, Bingham's
" Columbian Orator," published in 1797.
The title-page of this reader, which rivaled Webster's in
popularity, is shown on page 90. Following this page were
about twenty-five pages discussing the art of eloquence.
Then came the selections for reading and declamation.
The first page of these selections and the introductory head-
ing are shown on page 93. The emphasis on the art of
eloquence as the supreme aim of reading is evident in all
these parts of the book. Among the selections are the fol-
lowing lines, which were almost universally recited, with
minor changes, in all the " little red schoolhouses " of
America down to 1850. In reading this early edition notice
the national pride in " Columbia's soil " and the state pride
represented by " Massachusetts boast."
THE
COLUMBIAN ORATOR.
CONTAINING
A VARIETY OF
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED PIECES
TOGETHER WITH
RULES;
CALCULATED
TO IMPROVE YOUTH AND OTHERS IN THE
ORNAMENTAL AND USEFUL
ART OF ELOQUENCE.
By CALEB BINGHAM, A. M.
Author of, the American Preceptor, Young Lady's Accidence, Ac.
CATO cultivated ELOQUENCE, as a necessary mean for defending THE
RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE, and for euforcing good Counsels."
KOLLIK.
Illustrated by title-page of a popular reader, originally published in 1797. Note the,
frequent reference to eloquence and its connection with political conditions
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 91
LINES SPOKEN AT A SCHOOL-EXHIBITION, BY A LITTLE
BOY SEVEN YEARS OLD
You 'd scarce expect one of my age,
To speak in public, on the stage ;
And if I chance to fall below
Demosthenes or Cicero,
Don't view me with a critic's eye,
But pass my imperfections by.
Large streams from little fountains flow ;
Tall oaks from little acorns grow :
And though I now am small and young,
Of judgment weak, and feeble tongue ;
Yet all great learned men, like me,
Once learn'd to read their A, B, C.
But why may not Columbia's soil
Rear men as great as Britain's isle ;
Exceed what Greece and Rome have done,
Or any land beneath the sun ?
May n't Massachusetts boast as great
As any other sister state ?
Or, where 's the town, go far and near,
That does not find a rival here ?
Or where 's the boy, but three feet high,
Who 's made improvements more than I ?
These thoughts inspire my youthful mind
To be the greatest of mankind ;
Great, not like Caesar, stain'd with blood ;
But only great, as I am good.
The prefaces of the readers during the first half of the
nineteenth century vie with each other in proving that
each offers superior training in enunciation, declamation,
and elocution. Even as late as 1854 we find the following
statement in a preface :
As an accurate and distinct articulation forms the basis of good
reading, it should receive our first attention in instruction, and be
constantly taught until words are habitually delivered out from the
92 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
lips as beautiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and
accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the
proper organs, distinct, in due succession, and of due weight.
Thus we see how expressive oral reading secured its
prominent place in the schools in response to the need for
oratory and eloquence in a relatively primitive democratic
community where books, newspapers, and periodicals were
scarce, intercommunication very slow, and many persons
unable to read silently effectively.
Silent reading now important ; oral infrequent. Books
and periodicals numerous ; intercommunication rapid ; read-
ing universal. — In contrast with the Revolutionary War situ-
ation, we may picture conditions at the present time in the
United States. Free city libraries contain hundreds of thou-
sands of books which are delivered conveniently through
branch libraries within easy walking distance of most homes.
Many small towns have their free Carnegie libraries. Con-
venient libraries abound where for two or three cents a day
the latest books of fiction may be rented and taken home.
Hundreds of periodicals appear weekly or monthly in the
news stands in the large cities, and a score appear even in
the small towns. News is transmitted so rapidly by wire
that President Wilson's famous statement of America's
war aims, issued in 1918, was received in all the larger
cities all over the world within a few hours after he read
it to Congress in Washington. As a result of the work
of the public schools, most adults in the United States
can read, the number of illiterate adults being only 8 per
cent in 1910. In the more favored states even a smaller
number is found ; for example, less than 2 per cent in
Iowa and Nebraska.
Yet many adults neglect wide effective silent reading. —
Yet, while nearly everybody can read and does read silently,
it remains to note whether they read enough or effectively
enough. The following example will probably serve to
PRACTICAL PIECES FOR SPEAKING;
CONSISTING OF
ORATIONS, ADDRESSES, EXHORTATIONS
FROM THE PULPIT, PLEADINGS AT THK
BAR, SUBLIME DESCRIPTIONS, DEBATES,
DECLAMATIONS, GRAVE AND HUMOR-
OUS DIALOGUES, POETRY, &c. VARIOUSLY
INTERSPERSED.
EXTRACT FROM AN ORATION ON ELOQUENCE,
PRONOUNCED AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ON COM
MENCEMENT DAY, 1784.
THE excellence, utility, and importance of ELO-
QUENCE ; its origin, progress, and present state ;
and its superior claim to the particular attention of
Columbia's free born sons, will exercise for a few mo-
ments the patience of this learned, polite, and respected
assembly.
Speech and reason are the characteristics, the glory,
and the happiness of man. These are the pillars which
support the fair fabric ofcloqucr.ee; the foundation,
upon which is erected the most magnificent edifice, that
genius could design, or art construct. To cultivate elo-
quence, then, is to improve the noblest faculties of our
nature, the richest talents with which we are entrusted.
A more convincing proof of the dignity and importance
of our subject need not, cannot be advanced.
The benevolent design and the beneficial effects ot
i O . i
eloquence, evince its great superiority over every other
art, which ever exercised the ingenuity of man. To
tract, to. persuade to please ; these are its objects.
TCI
HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF EMPHASIS ON ORAL READING
Illustrated by praise of eloquence for "Columbia's free-born sons," in the first
selection from Bingham's "Columbian Orator," originally published in 1797
94 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
illustrate that many persons need more effective training
in rapid silent reading.
Example. — In January, 1918, America had been in the war
about nine months. The efficiency of the War Department was
being seriously questioned by certain prominent persons and
newspapers, and the resulting controversy aroused great in-
terest on the part of the public. The reading habits of this
public are well illustrated by the following facts and incidents.
Social information. — The Secretary of War spent a whole
day addressing a gathering of members of Congress and
others, explaining the steps taken in preparation for the war,
in order, as he said, that all citizens might know the facts
and judge for themselves. In the newspapers, his address
filled almost three pages.
Slow oral reading. — A woman decided to read this im-
portant information to her family. She read aloud for forty-
five minutes, and then had to desist, as she was hoarse.
She had read about one fifth of the address.
Rapid silent reading. — Another member of the family
who does much rapid silent reading then decided to finish
reading the address for himself. Reading actively and
silently, in forty-five minutes he was able to glean all the
essential facts of the remaining four fifths.
Social neglect of silent reading. — The next day three
adults, with nothing to do except loaf at a winter resort, were
heard roundly condemning the Secretary for his address.
Upon being asked if they had read it, they said, " No, it is
too long." They were basing their condemnation on a
one-third column editorial in a newspaper politically opposed
to the administration. Yet the Secretary had said that the
facts were being presented fully so that citizens might know
them and judge for themselves.
Schools should subordinate oral and emphasize silent
reading. — This example is typical of the present social
need for training in habits of wide, effective, rapid silent
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 95
reading. On the other hand, the social need for training in
expressive oral reading which prevailed earlier in our history
has almost entirely disappeared. Yet many schools continue
to emphasize expressive oral reading and to neglect almost
entirely training in effective rapid silent reading.
Adapting arithmetic to social needs. Obsolete and new
topics. — The second subject which we shall use to illustrate
the adapting of subject matter to changing social needs is
arithmetic. Arithmetic is taught primarily for its utility in
business operations and in various kinds of measurement.
As the business processes change from generation to genera-
tion, the arithmetic taught in the schools should change
accordingly. For example, English money was at one time
the dominant currency in the colonies. Then the table of
English money was very important in American arithmetic.
Now it has little social value. Before the establishment of
a federal money in 1786 decimal fractions were little used
in America ; consequently elaborate operations with common
fractions had to be taught in the schools. Now decimals are
used in social life for nearly all complicated fractional
calculations. Hence the use of common fractions in such
calculations is socially wasteful and should be omitted from
arithmetic teaching.
Management of modern social activities is largely quan-
titative.— Similarly, many new forms of business activity
have developed in which arithmetic is used very extensively
and which are important in the lives of many persons ; for
example, life insurance, savings accounts, checking accounts,
etc. In the upper grades of the elementary schools the
study of these social activities is being introduced, and
training is given in the arithmetical processes involved.
Furthermore, arithmetic is acquiring an increasing im-
portance in school, owing to the tendency to use it more
and more in the scientific business management of all
affairs, — industrial, commercial, educational, philanthropic,
96 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
and so on. This fact is well expressed by Bobbitt in the
following quotation :
The probabilities are that the social and vocational conditions
of the coming generation will require that everybody be more
mathematical-minded than at present.
The content of mathematics courses is to be determined by
human needs. One of the fundamental needs of the age upon
which we are now entering is accurate quantitative thinking in the
fields of one's vocation, in the supervision of our many cooperative
governmental labors, in our economic thinking with reference to
taxation, expenditures, insurance, public utilities, civic improve-
ments, pensions, corporations, and the multitude of other civic
and vocational matters. (l(a) : 46)
From religious-moral instruction to civic-moral instruction.
Colonial morality based on Ten Commandments and fear
of Satan, — Our third example of adapting subject matter
to changing social needs is the organization of moral and
civic training to take the place of the training in religion
which has been eliminated from public schools. In the
chapter on broadening purposes of elementary teaching we
noted that the dominant purpose in early New England
elementary schools was to train children to avoid sin and
Satan. Throughout history similar religious teaching has
been depended upon to a large extent to train children to
behave themselves. Examples of this teaching are to be
found to-day in the fact that most persons derive their
notions against stealing, lying, swearing, etc. from the
Ten Commandments.
Religion eliminated from public schools by sectarians. —
During the nineteenth century, however, religious teaching
was gradually eliminated from American public schools.
This elimination was not brought about by persons opposed
to religion, but by intense sectarian religionists who were
afraid of the interpretations that teachers of a different sect
might place upon Biblical matters. One legal basis for the
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 97
elimination of religion was found in the American theory
of the separation of Church and State, the public schools
being state institutions.
Civic-moral teaching being developed. — The disappear-
ance of religious instruction from the public schools is one
of our most striking examples of the change in subject
matter paralleling a change in social life generally. The
elimination of religious teaching left moral training in the
schools without sanction or force in many instances. Yet
the congested city life and the intricate social interdepend-
ence resulting from the industrial revolution created a very
serious need for moral training. Efforts to meet this need
by organizing civic-moral teaching are being made at the
present time.
Social changes influencing kindergarten. From rural vil-
lage of 1837 to 'modern city of electricity and automobiles.
— Our fourth and final example of changing subject matter
to meet changing social needs is found in the kindergarten.
The first kindergarten was established in 1837, in a small
German village, by Friedrich Froebel (1782—1852). One
of Froebel's great ideas in establishing this school for little
children was to make it a miniature society in which the
processes of the home and community would be reproduced
in play, and the children thus introduced to a study of social
activities. It seems quite obvious that success in doing this
in any kindergarten would depend upon beginning with the
activities of the homes and the community in which that
kindergarten happens to be located. Strange to say, how-
ever, for decades kindergartens restricted themselves to using
the activities and situations which Froebel had found in his
little German village, regardless of the fact that many of
the situations of modern city life were not represented there.
Progressive modern kindergartens, however, are more con-
sistent in carrying out Froebel's fundamental idea, and they
begin with the activities which the little ones may have an
98 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
opportunity to actually witness. Since charcoal burners and
blacksmith shops are very scarce in many city neighborhoods,
these examples from Froebel's list are omitted. Since auto-
mobiles are frequent, they are likely to be added. In one
kindergarten in Chicago, the children spend considerable
time studying and constructing the station of an elevated
railway which passes near the school and which is one of
the most important factors in this community.
Adapting subject matter to different communities to-day.
Kindergarten changes illustrate both historical and local
adaptation. — The adaptation of kindergarten activities to
the local community illustrates another phase of the social
adaptation of subject matter which we have been discussing.
In the change from oral to silent reading, from colonial arith-
metic to twentieth-century arithmetic, from religious-moral
teaching to civic-moral teaching, and from Froebel's rural
village of 1837 to the modern city of steam, electricity, and
automobiles, we were emphasizing the historical variations
in social needs and parallel changes in subject matter. But
social needs vary also between different communities to-day.
Perhaps the most striking examples are found in the kinder-
gartens, as shown in the contrast between the attractive pic-
ture of immaculate kindergarten children on page 16 and
the statement by Miss Palmer that in many slum kinder-
gartens much of the work of the early weeks centers in
training the children to keep themselves clean. In kinder-
gartens for negro children special emphasis may be placed
on singing and dancing because of the large part which
rhythmic activities play in the social life of negroes. Another
striking example of community adaptation is found in the
first grades filled with children from homes where a foreign
language is spoken. The problem of teaching reading, spell-
ing, and language in such rooms is very different from that
in most first grades. Similarly, variations for rural and city
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 99
children could be described in several subjects, but sufficient
examples have been given to impress the idea that as social
needs change, subject matter should change. Often subject
matter is retained, however, which was adapted to a social
situation which no longer exists. Often a social need exists
for a long time before appropriate subject matter is intro-
duced into the schools. Teachers should be alert to com-
prehend the social needs of the community in which they
work and be actively progressive in adapting their teaching
to these needs.
General social point of view emphasized by great sociolo-
gist, Spencer. — As already suggested, the habit of thinking
of adapting teaching to present-day social needs is known
as the social point of view in education. We worked from
this point of view when we studied the broadening aims of
teaching in relation to our interdependent democratic society,
and when we paralleled modern scientific business manage-
ment with effective classroom management. Our discussion
of adapting subject matter has furnished further concrete
examples. One of the leading exponents of this general
social method of thinking was Herbert Spencer (1820-1903),
the great English writer on sociology. When Spencer died,
in 1903, the greatness of his influence was attested by arti-
cles concerning him which appeared in nearly all periodicals
and newspapers. The study of sociology, which was one
phase of Spencer's life work, concerns the life of social
groups, their institutions, their industries, government, reli-
gion, morals, superstitions, science, art, etc. Naturally in
his study of social activities, Spencer interested himself in
education and wrote a series of very influential essays con-
cerning it. The most notable of these, entitled " What
Knowledge is Most Worth," was published in 1859. In it
Spencer examined English social life from the standpoint
of the changes which the industrial revolution and applied
100 TEACHING IN' ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
science had brought about, and then criticized severely English
education for failing to keep pace with social progress. He said :
That which our school courses leave almost entirely out we
find to be that which most nearly concerns the business of life.
. . . Had there been no teaching but such as is given in our
public schools, England would now be what it was in feudal times.
Read Spencer. — Spencer's style is so concrete, vivid, and
convincing that all beginning teachers ought to read this
essay, which is published as the first chapter of his book
entitled " Education." The chapter contains, besides the
general social point of view, many valuable ideas, such as
the definition of education as " training for complete liv-
ing," which we used in Chapter II, and an "analysis of
life's activities," which parallels our statement of social aims
given on page 35.
Spencer's opinions important but not infallible. — In read-
ing Spencer, however, it is important to remember that much
of what he says is merely his own opinion, and there are
possibilities of his being mistaken. As in recent years, so
in Spencer's day, the exact scientific facts were lacking to
determine the real truth about many educational questions.
The characteristics of such scientific facts we shall discuss
later. In their absence, we often have to depend on the
opinions of men of genius who have devoted much time to the
study of educational questions. Spencer was one of these.
Dewey also emphasized social viewpoint ; opinions need
scientific testing. — Another great thinker and writer who
more recently has emphasized the social point of view in
education is Professor John Dewey of Columbia University.
Dewey 's "School of Society," published in 1899, took its
point of departure, as did Spencer, from the industrial
revolution, and proposed certain changes in elementary-
school work to correspond. The book is easily read. In
reading it, however, just as in reading Spencer, students
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 101
should remember that many of the suggestions made are
merely Dewey's opinions, and while they carry great weight
as the expressions of one of America's greatest thinkers,
some may not be found true when tested by scientific evi-
dence. The meaning of " scientific evidence " will become
clearer in the next section of this chapter on methods of
determining the relative values of topics.
II. DETERMINING THE RELATIVE VALUES OF TOPICS
Need to determine which valuable topics are most valu-
able. — When a teacher begins to study the social values
of subject matter, she may soon find that the social needs
are so numerous, or the material so plentiful, or the time
so limited, that she will have to select carefully from cur-
rent valuable subject matter that which is most valuable for
the children she is teaching.
Spencers classic discussion of relative values. — The ques-
tion of relative values which thus arises is another of the
issues which Spencer discussed most effectively. The title
of his essay " What Knowledge is Most Worth " is a strik-
ing phrasing of the question. His vigorous presentation of
the problem is contained in the following quotation :
The question which we contend is of such transcendent moment
is not whether such or such knowledge is of worth, but what is its
relative worth ? When they have named certain advantages which
a given course of study has secured them, persons are apt to assume
that they have justified themselves, quite forgetting that the ade-
quateness of the advantage is the point to be judged. There is,
perhaps, not a subject to which men devote attention that has not
some value. A year diligently spent in getting up heraldry would
very possibly give a little insight into ancient manners and morals
and into the origin of names. Anyone who should learn the dis-
tances between all the towns in England might, in the course of
his life, find one or two of the thousand facts he had acquired of
some slight service when arranging a journey. Gathering together
102 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
all the small gossip of a county, profitless occupation as it would
be, might yet occasionally help to establish some useful fact — say,
a good example of hereditary transmission. But in these cases
everyone would admit that there was no proportion between the
required labor and the probable benefit. No one would tolerate
the proposal to devote some years of a boy's time to getting such
information, at the cost of much more valuable information which
he might else have got. And if here the test of relative value is
appealed to and held conclusive, then should it be appealed to and
held conclusive throughout. Had we time to master all subjects,
we need not be particular. To quote the old song :
Could a man be secure
That his days would endure
As of old, for a thousand long years,
What things might he know !
What deeds might he do !
And all without hurry or care.
But we that have but span-long lives must ever bear in mind
our limited time for acquisition. And remembering how narrowly
this time is limited, not only by the shortness of life but also still
more by the business of life, we ought to be especially solicitous
to employ what time we have to the greatest advantage.
Relative values in arithmetic. Variations illustrated by
denominate numbers. — Very simple and obvious examples
of large differences in the social values of topics, all of which
have some definite social value, are furnished by the tables
of denominate numbers. For example, for city children the
following facts certainly have very large social value :
1 2 things = i dozen
1 2 inches = i foot
3 feet = i yard
Less valuable, however, is the following fact, which is used
not in daily measures but frequently by literary writers as a
rough statement of amount :
20 things = i score
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 103
Still less valuable for ordinary city children are the following
measures, which have large social value, however, in certain
social situations where they are actually used :
6 feet = i fathom
6086.7 feet = I knot
1 6 cubic feet = i cord foot
8 cord feet = i cord
Automatic skill with fundamental operations socially very
useful. — Similarly, in social life the ordinary operations in
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole
numbers and decimals have very much larger value than
many of the special measures that are used to furnish con-
crete problems in school. There are always educators,
however, who tend to decry the acquisition of skill in
" abstract " number manipulation ; skill in rapid, correct,
automatic adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
A study of social life quickly reveals the error of this point
of view, since such skill is a useful tool in many social
operations, industrial, commercial, scientific, etc. As a result
of the large and clearly recognized relative value of skill in
such automatic operations, schools in recent years have given
much attention to improved methods of drill in arithmetic.
Increased time is usually not necessary, however, as
improved methods of specific drill quickly achieve the auto-
matic skill in the fundamental operations which is desirable.
The most valuable topics determined by listing problems
of ordinary citizens. — In an effort to determine precisely
what phases of arithmetic have the largest value for ordinary
citizens, Professor G. M. Wilson secured reports of the
arithmetical problems which actually occurred in the lives of
such citizens in Iowa, including architects, auctioneers,
bankers, blacksmiths, bookkeepers, carpenters, contractors,
farmers, housekeepers, laboring men, mechanics, merchants,
printers, stock dealers, traveling men, etc. (7(6): 128-142.)
104 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
After analyzing and classifying the 5036 problems which
were reported, the following facts appeared :
3128 problems involved buying (in many cases by housekeepers)
644 problems involved selling by the person reporting the problem
251 problems involved keeping accounts
217 problems involved percentage
79 problems involved " practical measurement"
56 problems involved cubic measure
41 problems involved discount
27 problems involved square measure
26 problems involved cancellation
Other social processes which ordinarily appear in arith-
metic texts occur in smaller amount. It is obvious that
buying and selling furnish most of the problems of these
citizens and that keeping accounts and percentage furnish
many more problems than do certain other activities. Most
of the problems involved only one arithmetical process, and
most of the numbers, figures, or quantities used contained
less than four places. (7(6) : 137)
Spelling lists determined by scientific investigations of
relative values. — The above effort to determine the relative
values of arithmetic problems by a precise, quantitative
study of the number of times each type of problem occurs
in the lives of ordinary citizens approximates a scientific
method of determining relative values. Similar investiga-
tions which have been made concerning the relative needs
of teaching different words in spelling have been carried so
far that spelling books are now on the market which con-
tain only the 4000 words which most children are likely
to use in their writing in school or after graduation. They
omit the 6000 or more words which have appeared in the
ordinary spelling books for children, and which very seldom
occur in the ordinary writing of children or adults. Such
a practical application of the method of selecting subject
matter on the basis of carefully determined relative values
effects enormous social economy in schools by avoiding
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 105
the teaching of facts which are socially of relatively little
value. So important are such investigations that we shall
describe two of them, one a study of the theme-writing
vocabularies of children and the other a study of the
letter-writing vocabularies of adults.
Children's writing vocabularies ; about 4500 different
words. — In 1914 Professor W. F. Jones published the re-
sults of a " Concrete Investigation of the Material of English
Spelling," based on the writing vocabularies of 1050 elemen-
tary school pupils in Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, and South
Dakota. (10.) From 56 to 105 written themes were secured
from each of these pupils on such topics as the following :
in the second grade, "The Playhouse I should Like"; in
the fifth grade, "What I did Last Saturday"; in the seventh
and eighth grades, "The Study I Like Best" and "How
I came to Tell a Lie." The writing of the themes extended
over a long period, but in most cases by the time a child
had handed in his fourteenth theme " the flow of new words
had almost ceased." New words were then sought by vary-
ing the themes so as to reach into new and varied fields of
experience, until each pupil's "word-well" had been pumped
dry. In all the 75,000 themes, averaging 190 words per
theme, only 453 2 different words were used.
Discovered the spelling demons of the English language. —
When the misspelled words were counted, " one hundred
spelling demons of the English language " were discovered.
The four arch-demons are shown in the following table :
"which," misspelled 321 times
" there " 1
,t , . „ > misspelled 612 times when counted together
" separate," misspelled 238 times
From the complete list of spelling demons it appears that
the words which gave the greatest difficulty in spelling
throughout the grades are used by children in the second
and third grades.
106 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Relative values shown by relative frequencies and relative
difficulties. — Thus Professor Jones's study provides two
bases for determining relative values in teaching spelling :
first, the relative frequencies of the words in children's
writing vocabularies ; second, the relative difficulties of these
words as shown by the frequencies of misspellings through-
out the grades.
Writing vocabularies of adults ; IOOO most common
words. — The second type of precise investigation of spell-
ing vocabularies was an effort to determine relative values
in the teaching of spelling by tabulating the words used in
letters written by adults. Two important investigations of
this type were made independently about 1913. One was
made by Dr. Leonard Ayres of the Russell Sage Foundation,
and the other by Professors W. A. Cook and M. V. O'Shea.
Ayres tabulated words from 2000 short letters written
by 2000 different people, and found that 2OOI different
words were used. (8)
Cook and O'Shea tabulated words from the extensive
family correspondence of thirteen adults, and found that
52OO zvords were used. (9)
By combining the results of these two investigations with
results from other sources, Ayres selected a list of the 1000
most commonly used English words.
A series of spelling books base don above investigations. —
Finally, the results of all this scientific investigation of
everyday spelling vocabularies were incorporated by certain
authors in a series of spelling books which were published
in 1917. These books contain only 3448 different words to
be taught from the first through the eighth grade. Other
spelling books based on these scientific investigations have
since appeared. The existence of these books makes it
possible for every teacher to concentrate her emphasis in
teaching spelling upon words that are used frequently, and
to omit the useless wasteful teaching of words that are
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 107
seldom used in ordinary writing. Thus we have a very prac-
tical outcome from certain very simple but precise scientific
studies of relative values.
Relative values in other subjects. — If space permitted
we could extend the discussion of relative values (deter-
mined scientifically or by opinion from an examination of
social needs) to geography, history, kindergarten activities,
and other subjects. This task may be left to be under-
taken by students in class in connection with such questions
as the following :
If ioo minutes are devoted to the study of the Mississippi
River, how many should be devoted to the study of the Hudson ?
the Connecticut ? the Muskingum ?
If ioo minutes are devoted to the period between the Revolu-
tionary War and Washington's inauguration, how' much time
should be devoted to Monroe's administration ?
Valuable aid in answering such questions may be secured
from references 5 and 7 at the end of this chapter.
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURE IN
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER
Scientific procedure contrasted with personal opinions. —
The investigations of spelling vocabularies which we have
described may be used to show what we mean by scientific
procedure and scientific conclusions as distinguished from
mere opinions. This distinction was noted earlier in speaking
of the opinions of Spencer and Dewey on pages 100-101.
Illustrated by spelling investigations. Scientific investiga-
tions are mathematically precise. — To the ordinary reader,
one of the most striking facts about the spelling investiga-
tions is the use of exact mathematical statements ; thus
Jones had themes from 1050 pupils who used 4532 different
words, the arch-demon "which" being misspelled 321 times ;
while Ayres from 2000 letters tabulated 2001 different
108 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
words. This fact furnishes the first characteristic of scien-
tific method which we shall note ; namely, it is mathemati-
cally precise. Scientific progress in education requires the
use of precise mathematical statements just the same as
does similar progress in physics or chemistry. In contrast,
the opinions of Spencer and Dewey about education lack
this mathematical precision.
Science uses objective data that anyone can examine. —
A second feature of the spelling investigations is that they
used materials or data that anyone could examine ; Jones
had the children's themes in hand, Ayres, Cook, and O'Shea
had the adults' letters. From these sources, perfectly tan-
gible material was tabulated ; namely, the words used. Such
tangible material is described as objective in contrast with
mere impressions, feelings, ideas, or opinions which exist
only in the mind of some thinker and are not open to gen-
eral observation and manipulation. The purely mental mate-
rials are called subjective. A sunburnt person's statement
that he feels hot and feverish would be called subjective, in
contrast with the objective reading of the clinical thermom-
eter which might show that his temperature is normal.
Hence we have the subjective character of opinion contrasted
with the objective character of scientific evidence.
Thus two characteristics of scientific procedure have been
noted ; it is mathematically precise and it is objective.
Scientific investigations can be verified because completely
described. — The next feature disclosed by the scientific
spelling investigations is that they can be repeated exactly
by any competent person in order to determine if errors
were made. For example, themes could be secured exactly
as Jones secured his and his tabulations paralleled at every
stage ; letters could be secured as Ayres did his and similar
tabulations made. In order that such repetition may occur
it is necessary that each step taken in the investigation be
fully described. Persons who merely give opinions, seldom
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 109
take the trouble to give such thorough accounts of the
sources from which their opinions are derived. On the other
hand, scientific investigations can be verified at every stage
by any person competent to understand the description and
duplicate the work.
Science employs experts trained in special methods of
research. — The last sentence suggests a fourth characteristic
of scientific study ; namely, training in certain special methods
of investigation. Among the spelling investigators, Ayres
furnishes the best example. He has had years of training in
scientific study, is employed as a research expert by the
Russell Sage Foundation of New York City, and has made
a notable success in organizing scientific school surveys on
a large scale; for example, in Cleveland, in 1915, he had
under his direction a staff of some twenty-five investigators,
including some of the greatest experts in the country. His
work illustrates the fact that scientific studies must be made
by experts who are masters of the technique needed to deter-
mine the truth in the particular field under investigation.
Thus we have described four features of modern scien-
tific procedure: it is (i) mathematically precise, (2) objec-
tive, (3) subject to verification by any competent observer,
(4) used by experts.
Scientific investigators are impartial ; they are not biased
for or against. — The fifth and final feature of scientific pro-
cedure is its impartiality. In the spelling investigations,
neither Jones nor Ayres allowed himself to be biased by his
desire to prove that any particular word was more frequently
used or misspelled than some other particular word. The
desire of each investigator was to find out, to discover, what
were the facts ; they tried to be impartial in their work.
Neither man had any particular reason for being otherwise ;
for example, neither had previously published a spelling
book which contained many or few words and for which
he wanted to secure larger sales.
1 10 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Summary of characteristics of scientific investigations. —
From the preceding paragraphs we may conclude that scientific
investigations can be described as follows :
1 . Mathematically precise.
2. Objective.
3. Subject to verification by any competent observer.
4. Made by experts.
5. Impartial.
Contrast of science and opinion summarized by Thorndike.
-The contrast between the methods of science and the
methods of opinion may be summarized in the above terms
by quoting the following statements from Thorndike, from
which these terms were derived.
Mathematical precision. — Science seeks precise quantitative
measures of facts by which changes and correspondence may
be properly weighed ; opinion is content to guess at amounts of
difference and likeness, to talk in the vague terms of " more "
or " less," " much " and " little," to rate a method as better or
worse without taking the pains to find out just how much better
or worse it is.
Objectivity. — Science pays no heed to anything but the facts
which it has already made sure of; it puts nothing in the scales
but objective evidence. Opinion trusts its personal impressions.
Verifiability. — Science reveals the sources of its evidence and
the course of its arguments, so that any properly equipped thinker
can verify for himself the facts asserted to be true. Opinion offers
itself to be accepted or rejected, but not to be verified.
Expertness. — Science is the work of minds specialized to search
after truth. . . . Opinion is the occasional thought of those who,
though important and capable people, are yet only amateurs in the
work of getting truth [in the field in which their opinions may
be offered].
Impartiality. — Science knows or should know no favorites,
and cares for nothing in its conclusions but their truth. Opinion is
often misled by the " unconscious logic of its hopes and fears," by
prepossession for or against this or that book or method or
result. (6: 265)
SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER in
Utilize scientific conclusions in education when available.
— As indicated on page 100 in discussing Spencer and
Dewey, at the present time scientific facts are lacking to
decide many educational problems. Even such a simple
matter as the spelling vocabulary was not scientifically can-
vassed until about 1913. In the absence of scientific conclu-
sions it is necessary to rely on the opinions of such notable
students as Spencer, Dewey, and others. In the chapters
that follow, however, we shall utilize wherever possible the
results of mathematically precise, objective, impartial investi-
gations, meager as these results still are in the field of
methods of teaching.
Conclusion of discussion of social and relative values of
subject matter. — This will conclude our discussion of the
selection of subject matter. Working from the social point
of view, we described social changes in American life which
have necessitated radical changes in the teaching of oral
and silent reading, arithmetic, religious-moral and civic-moral
instruction and kindergarten activities. Following precise,
objective, scientific studies we described the enormous varia-
tion in the relative value of topics in arithmetic and different
words in spelling lists and then utilized the spelling investi-
gations to illustrate the general nature of scientific procedure
in selecting subject matter.
Having determined the principles which govern the selec-
tion of subject matter for schools, we shall turn in the next
chapter to a discussion of the organisation of the selected
subject matter.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
General. — i . BOBBITT, J. F. *(a) What the Schools Teach and Might
Teach. (Russell Sage Foundation, New York City, 1915.) Practical
application of the social point of view to a survey of the subject
matter of Cleveland schools. Simple, practical, illuminating. (£) The
112 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Curriculum. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918.) The most scientific
treatment of what to teach. Social point of view.
* 2. DEWEY, JOHN. The School and Society. (The University of
Chicago Press, 1899; enlarged, 1915.) Chap, i has been very influen-
tial. The title, even, has become a byword. Simple but rather theoretical
compared to the Bobbitt references listed above.
* 3. SPENCER, HERBERT. Education. (1860.) Chap, i, entitled What
Knowledge is Most Worth. A classic statement of the sociologist's
point of view.
Historical. — * 4. PARKER, S. C. History of Modern Elementary
Education. (Ginn and Company, 1912.) Chap, iv, on religious content
of colonial elementary schools ; chap, xviii, on the history of the
kindergarten.
Scientific. — 5. BOBBITT, J. F. Summary of the Literature in Scien-
tific Method in the Field of Curriculum-Making. Elementary School
Journal, November, 1917, Vol. XVIII, pp. 219-229.
6. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seiler, 1906.)
Pp. 265-268. Characterizes science versus opinion.
7. Minimum Essentials in Elementary-School Subjects, (a) Four-
teenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education,
Part I, and (b) Sixteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education, Part I. (c) Seventeenth Yearbook, Part I. (Public School
Publishing Co., Bloomington, Illinois, 1915, 1917, 1918.) Reports of
concrete efforts to determine relative values in all elementary-school
subjects. Very helpful.
Spelling vocabularies. — 8. AYRES, L. P. The Spelling Vocabularies
of Personal and Business Letters. (The Russell Sage Foundation,
New York City, 1913.) Tabulated 2001 different words from 2000
short letters.
9. COOK, W. A., and O'SHEA, M. V. The Child and his Spelling.
(The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1914.) Pp. 135-225. Describes tabulation of
words used in extensive family correspondence.
10. JONES, W. F. Concrete Investigation of the Material of Eng-
lish Spelling. (University of South Dakota, Vermilion, South Dakota,
1914, price ten cents.) Tabulated 4532 different words from 75,000
themes by elementary pupils.
Quoted incidentally. — 1 1. MCMASTER, J. B. Benjamin Franklin as
a Man of Letters. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1887.)
CHAPTER V
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER
INTENSIVE STUDY ; PSYCHOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Main points of the chapter. — i. Above the first grade, textbooks
determine the organization of subject matter for most teachers.
2. Hence textbooks (as well as other materials of teaching)
should be organized according to sound principles.
3. The yfo/ of these principles to be discussed is that subject
matter should be organized around certain large meaningful topics
instead of consisting of isolated encyclopedic details.
a. Hence, the old-fashioned crazy-quilt geography is being re-
placed by studies of important regions, industries, and geographical
influences.
b. In history teaching, emphasis is being transferred to the
vivid comprehension of large issues.
c. In the kindergarten, a superficial encyclopedia of trades is
being replaced by a few large projects, such as a playhouse, a
grocery store.
d. Such largo topics give generalized knowledge which is
widely useful.
e. Many related details are necessary to give vivid comprehen-
sion of large topics.
f. The details may be forgotten, but the general impressions,
ideas, and methods of work should be retained permanently.
4. The second principle is that subject matter should be organ-
ized as pupils learn it best, not merely as determined from the
subject itself.
a. Hence the chronological order in history is abandoned in
the primary and middle grades in favor of a psychological order
of topics beginning with familiar local events and vivid historical
situations.
"3
114 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
b. Such psychological organization of subject matter was pro-
posed by Rousseau, who advocated studying childhood to determine
the correct order of topics.
c. Instead of doing this, an alphabet of the elements of each
subject was organized by Pestalozzi, who established the common
ABC methods in reading, writing, drawing, and gymnastics.
d. Similarly, an ABC of geometrical forms was devised by
Froebel for kindergarten children.
e. These ABC methods were based on the idea that children
learn best by being fed the elements of subjects which have been
dug out by the teachers and arranged from the simple to complex.
f. Modern psychology, however, shows that children learn best
through their own efforts in analyzing complex meaningful objects
or situations.
g. Hence, reading and writing begin with words or phrases or
sentences, not letters and lines ; drawing begins with representing
ideas ; and the kindergarten begins with projects instead of geo-
metrical elements.
Relation to preceding discussion. — In the preceding chap-
ter we considered the selection of subject matter from the
social point of view and in the light of scientific methods
of determining relative values. We shall now consider cer-
tain fundamental facts and principles which govern the
organization of the selected material. The first point to
notice in this connection is the large influence exerted by
textbooks in determining both the selection and organization
of subject matter in the case of many teachers.
Often textbooks determine organization above first grade.
— In the course of our discussion of selecting subject matter
we described the efforts which had been made to determine
the content of arithmetic and spelling by precise, objective,
scientific studies of social needs and relative values. In
the case of spelling, we noted that this scientific effort
had culminated in the production of spelling books which
effected an enormous social economy by presenting only the
words which are in common use. This type of achievement
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 115
is desirable in all subjects, namely, scientific determination
of the subject matter which is socially most valuable and its
effective organization into textbooks. This last step is espe-
cially important because most of the elementary teaching in
America is textbook teaching. Such teaching varies from
mere memory recitations upon the textbook to the most
elaborate supplementing of the text. In the latter case the
textbook often serves merely as an outline or summary for
long discussions to which the teacher and pupils bring sup-
plementary material from many sources. Usually except in
kindergartens and first grades, young teachers are especially
dependent upon textbooks, and this fact determines very
largely their selection, organization, and use of subject matter.
Consequently textbooks should be carefully selected, — In
view of these facts, it is important that teachers be guided
in their choice of textbooks by sound principles of selecting
and organizing subject matter. This is especially important
in the middle grades, where textbooks and supplementary
books are used in larger and larger quantities as the im-
proved methods of teaching reading result in children being
able to do quite rapid silent reading by the end of the fourth
grade. In the kindergarten, since the children cannot read,
the teachers cannot rely on textbooks, nor can they in the
first and second grades for much of the work in community
life and nature study. In such cases, however, the same
principles apply in the organization of subject matter as in
the case of textbooks.
Two principles : intensive study ; psychological organi-
zation. — In this chapter we shall discuss two of the most
important principles of organizing subject matter; namely,
I. The intensive study of carefully selected large topics, instead
of the superficial encyclopedic study of many topics.
II. The organization of a subject psychologically, as children
learn it most effectively, instead of organizing it merely in terms
of the subject itself.
Ii6 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
I. INTENSIVE STUDY OF LARGE TOPICS VERSUS
ENCYCLOPEDIC TENDENCIES
In geography. Older geography teaching like a " crazy
quilt." — The contrast between the superficial encyclopedic
study of many topics and the organization of the study
around a few large central topics or projects is most strik-
ingly illustrated in the teaching of geography, in which the
encyclopedic tendency often prevails. If you have ever seen
an old-fashioned " crazy quilt," you have a good object in
mind with which to compare the older methods of teaching
geography and the mental impression of geographical facts
which remained from such teaching. These " crazy quilts "
were made by sewing together hundreds of little patches of
cloth, little odds and ends of all colors. The similarity be-
tween these strange arrays of patches and the ordinary
geographies was described by the great founder of modern
geography, Karl Ritter, about 1820, as follows:
[From the three traditional divisions, namely, mathematical,
physical, and political,] our ordinary textbooks compile their usual
aggregate of facts, and each becomes after its own pattern a
motley in miniature. ... A systematic exposition of geography
is seldom to be found in them. . . . They are at the foundation
only arbitrary and unmethodical collections of all facts which are
ascertained to exist throughout the earth. . . . The facts are
arranged as the pieces of a [crazy quilt], as if every one existed
in itself and for itself and had no connection with others. . . .
The beginning is usually made with boundaries, which are generally
most unstable and uncertain, instead of being made with some
rudimental fact around which all others arrange themselves as a
center. . . . These geographical treatises . . . form a mere aggre-
gation and index of rich materials, a lexicon rather than a true
textbook. And therefore ensues, despite the undenied interest of
the subject and its high claims, the mechanical and unfruitful
method only too common — the crowding of the memory without
judgment, without thought. (3 : 342)
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 117
Hodgepodge of detailed information from older geog-
raphy. — Doubtless the reader can easily call to mind
illustrations of such geography teaching from his own expe-
rience. For example, in studying North America the
.dominant practice was to locate the capes, bays, and rivers,
to bound all the states, to locate the capital and principal
city of each state, to name the products of each, etc. In
my own case I remember very vividly the awful confusion
in my mind between the products of neighboring states
when these were studied in the elementary school. For
each state there was a paragraph containing the list of
products. This had to be learned in each case and recited.
No effort was made to emphasize the general characteristics
of the region in which these states were located or the
fact that they were merely convenient political divisions
marked off in a region that was often largely uniform in
its fundamental characteristics and products.
The outcome of such teaching was a general hodgepodge
of more or less useful information with no comprehension
of general geographic principles or large fundamental facts
which would aid the pupil in further geographic study or
in comprehending the world at large.
Contrast modern fourth-grade teaching of North America.—
In contrast with the old-fashioned, crazy-quilt, hodgepodge
type of geographic teaching, we may notice how North America
is taught in a progressive fourth grade to-day, as set forth,
in the following quotation from the course of study of the
Elementary School of The University of Chicago.
Pictures of great regions. — The study of North America is
introduced by a succession of pictures of significant regions.
These pictures are grouped to show scenes typical of the various
parts of the country. The children see, for example, the rocky
New England coast and the fishing fleet, some typical parts of the
Appalachian Highland, the farms of the rolling prairie, cattle
grazing on the plains, the high peaks of the Rockies, something
118 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
of the life in the mining camps, the desert of the Great Basin, the
big trees of the Sierras, the orange groves of California and the
cotton fields of the South. The presentation of this material covers
several days. As the pictures are shown, the children locate the
regions upon the globe and upon the large relief model of
North America. Many of the pictures are projected upon the
screen. The children are encouraged to discuss them freely, to ask
questions, to tell " what that man is doing," to say " I have been
there," and so on. They are encouraged to tell what place they
would most like to visit and why, and to describe some of these
places in writing and in sketches. They discuss both orally and in
writing such points as " the differences the "pictures showed
between the eastern and the western mountains." In these
studies the children are led to notice especially the changes in
climate as evidenced by the vegetation.
Realize variety of places and industries. — At the close of this
period of work the question is asked informally, " What have all
of these pictures meant to you ? " Among the replies, these are
found : "I never knew the people were doing so many different
kinds of work in North America," " I never knew North America
was so big." In gathering up all the new ideas the children have
gained of North America one large question is formulated in which
the rest of the study centers, — " Why has North America so many
kinds of places and so many kinds of workers ? "
Causes. — The first answer is, "Because of its great size and
its different kinds of climate." From the globe the children discuss
the time consumed in journeys across the continent. They see that
the continent stretches almost from the north pole to the equator.
In the search for another reason the children gather about the
large relief map of North America which is placed upon the floor.
They notice the eastern and western highlands bounding the great
trough or central valley. The two highlands are compared as to
trend, length, width, height, and general character. The children
note the parallel ridges of the Appalachians. They see that the
Rocky Mountains are separated from the Sierras by the Great
Basin. They trace the Cascade and the Coast Ranges. In doing
this they are led to see that the topography is another force in
determining the variety of places and kinds of work.
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 119
Having found two reasons, the children search for another.
They recall regions of forests, of grassy plains, and of deserts, and
discover that there are variations in rainfall. They find out from
maps and pictures where there is little precipitation, where there
is a great deal, and where there is a moderate amount.
Study influence of regions on industries. — The question now
naturally arises, "What are all these places good for?" and the
children begin to locate the important industries upon the con-
tinent. Farming receives first attention. They know that some,
of the best farm lands are in river valleys. Several of the great
rivers of North America are studied to find which basins offer
the best opportunities for farming. The following questions are
considered :
1. What part is the main stream and what are its most
important tributaries ?
2. Where do these streams rise and into what does the main
stream empty ?
3. What is the climate of the region through which this
stream flows ?
4. Does the climate vary in the different parts of the basin, and
if so, how does this affect farming ?
Some of the rivers studied in this way are the Mississippi,
Missouri, St. Lawrence, Columbia, Sacramento and San Joaquin,
Colorado, Mackenzie, and Yukon. The pupils find what in a large
way are the most important crops of different parts of the conti-
nent. This establishes the idea of the wheat, corn, and cotton
lands. The other important industries are indicated on the large
relief map as their location is learned. The detailed study of these
industries is postponed until the second semester. (7 : 16)
Such improved teaching possible by young well-trained
teachers. — To one who knows only the old-fashioned ency-
clopedic geography teaching, the above account probably
sounds far-fetched and impossible of realization in an ordi-
nary fourth grade. Yet an examination of the most recent
geography textbooks reveals the same type of materials and
organization. Any intelligent normal-school graduate who
has been given two years of good specialized training for
120 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS .
teaching in the middle grades could carry out effectively in
a well-equipped school, using the best modern texts, such a
method of teaching North America as that described above.
Large significant topics in which this teaching centers.
— For our present purposes we are interested in the way
this teaching centers in certain large significant topics. In
reviewing the description we notice the following examples
of such large topics :
1 . Great natural regions, such as great mountain systems,
great plains, great river basins, tropical regions, temperate
regions, frigid regions, etc.
2. Great industries, such as fishing, farming, lumbering,
mining, or, in more detail, wheat raising, cotton growing,
coal mining.
3. Great geographical influences, such as the influence
of climate on agriculture, the influence of topography on
climate, the influence of river basins on agriculture.
Large topics give generalised knowledge, 'widely useful.
-The type of knowledge which the children acquire from
these great topics differs in two fundamental respects from
the hodgepodge of details acquired in the old-fashioned
geographies. (I) The large topics give first such an under-
standing of North America that the child would know the
opportunities, possibilities, and needs in living in each region
if he had occasion to travel there or read further about it.
(2) The large topics give in the second place such a general
understanding of industries and of geographical regions
and influences that he can comprehend easily these funda-
mental facts wherever he encounters them in school in the
study of any continent, or in after life in any part of the
world. For example, after a child has been through a
modern elementary course in geography he would be able to
understand readily the fundamental geographical influences
and social possibilities in some region of current interest,
such as Russia or Mesopotamia, or comprehend easily such
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 121
an important international fact as the value to Germany of
the Berlin-to-Bagdad railroad.
Varied activities in intensive study of a topic. — In
the study of each large topic it is approached from many
points of view. For example, in studying lumbering the
following activities are carried on : (I) discussions of values
of forests ; (2) maps of national forests examined ; (3) let-
ters written to National Bureau of Forestry for maps and
booklets, the best letters chosen to be sent by a committee ;
(4) enemies of the forests, such as forest fires, studied ;
(5) great forest regions colored with crayon on outline
maps ; (6) specimens of wood collected and characteristics
noted ; (7) magazine articles and pictures brought by chil-
dren ; (8) logging and lumber camps of the North contrasted
with those of the South through pictures ; (9) important ship-
ping centers for lumber indicated on wall map and marked
on individual outline maps; (10) "Lumber Books" made
with cover designs and illustrations drawn, such as A Log-
ging Camp in the North, A Flume; (n) compositions
written on " The National Forests " etc.
In project teaching pupils plan these activities. — When
the pupils are given considerable part in planning such
practical activities as are described above, we have what
may be called project teaching. Such planning frequently
involves considerable investigation and discussion by the
pupils and the devising of ways and means of solving
the practical problems which the various activities present.
Effective direction by the teacher of such problematic
activities by the pupils frequently calls for very wide knowl-
edge on her part and for great resourcefulness in meeting
various issues and needs as they arise. For this reason a
teacher who undertakes project teaching should have a very
thorough understanding of the possibilities and intricacies
of each project that she expects the pupils to undertake and
of the elements of skill in such teaching. (See Chapter XII.)
122 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
History illustrates change to vivid comprehension of large
issues. — The teaching of history illustrates the same change
from encyclopedic, unrelated detail to the thorough study of
a few large central issues. Thus Columbus and the Euro-
pean situation which sent him forth may be treated thor-
oughly, while many of the minor explorers are omitted ;
EQUIPMENT FOR KINDERGARTEN PROJECTS
From The University of Chicago Elementary School. Notice the large screen play-
house in the left background. It can be easily moved to any part of the room.
Compare the picture on the opposite page
certain important problems in American history, such as the
slavery problem, may be traced from beginning to end, but
separate study of many of the presidential administrations
omitted. The study of Roman history in the fourth grade
presents one of the most striking examples. If ever there
was an encyclopedic hodgepodge, it existed in much of
the teaching of Roman history in American high schools.
Obviously such a study could not be carried on with fourth-
grade children. Instead, a few typical scenes and events
are selected and made real to the children. For example,
many days may be spent on " Horatius at the Bridge,"
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 123
until the children live in imagination the Roman scenes
and perhaps dramatize them. Similarly, many days may
be spent on Caesar and his exploits, to get a vivid impres-
sion of another important period in Roman life. See the
frontispiece and the pictures on pages 8, 132, 134, 136,
138, 230, and 232, for illustrations of historical projects.
EQUIPMENT FOR KINDERGARTEN PROJECT
From the Bradwell Public School, Chicago. Screen playhouse set for Christinas Eve.
Notice the fireplace and stockings. This screen is of less expensive construction
than the one shown on the opposite page. See discussion on page 126
Supplementary books provide material for intensive study.
— It often happens that the fundamental texts in both geog-
raphy and history lack sufficient detail to give reality to the
large significant topics that the teacher desires to empha-
size. Fortunately a wealth of supplementary reading mate-
rial is now available in the form of geographical readers,
industrial geographies, stories of Ab and Jiji and other
pseudo-historical children, stories of the Greeks, Romans,
vikings, and other peoples, biographies of great men of all
nations, etc. In many school systems such supplementary
books are provided from the superintendent's office or public
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 125
libraries in large quantities. In all cases teachers should
secure from the large textbook companies catalogues of
their supplementary books and should examine their ex-
hibits at teachers' institutes or wherever they are found,
in order to become familiar with the most suitable books
for the intensive study of each large topic.
A few kindergarten projects replace encyclopedia of
trades. — As a final example of the change in organizing
subject matter from the encyclopedic tendency to the use
of large central topics or projects, we may note the change
which is taking place in the kindergarten subject matter.
In endeavoring to carry out Froebel's idea that the kinder-
garten should introduce children to community life, the old-
fashioned kindergarten included in its program a list of all
the trades practiced in the community, such as the wood-
chopper, the carpenter, the charcoal burner, the coal dealer,
the blacksmith, the baker, the shoemaker, the postman, the
fireman, etc. These were taken up in order, each for a few
days, and as a consequence children finished the year with
a confused jumble of ideas derived from a hurried Cook's
tour through human industries. After observing such a
Story of the picture on opposite page. — The construction of
a community project is represented in this kindergarten picture ;
namely, a street with its various dwellings and other features.
Notice the children working singly and in pairs. Into their co-
operative work has entered a variety of problems ; for example,
making the paper bases to support the street lamps and the trees,
the symmetrical arrangement of the street lamps, the locating of
the trees, etc. Incidentally, the picture shows an attractive kinder-
garten room, with lockers and a bench around the wall, the top of
the lockers forming a shelf for the plants, etc. On the wall are
large pictures especially suited to kindergarten children ; pictures
in bright colors, with prominent figures ; pictures that tell a story,
such as Little Red Riding Hood with her basket meeting the wolf
in the woods.
126 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
program in operation in a typical conservative kindergarten,
Miss Alice Temple wrote as follows :
[While] there is no criticism to be made of the selection of
some of these forms of industrial or civic occupation, [there] are
objections ... to using them in the manner described. There is
an attempt to cover too much ground. The children are intro-
duced in the course of a few weeks to too large a number of
objects, processes, and ideas. The treatment is, in consequence,
very superficial. . . . There is not time for the children to become
acquainted with the material. (5 : 28)
In place of such an encyclopedia of trades, modern pro-
gressive kindergartens organize their activitives around a few
large projects, such as a large playhouse, a grocery store, or
a dry-goods store. In speaking of these Miss Temple says :
The accompanying photographs illustrate the objective expres-
sion of group projects which have proved most valuable as a means
of holding interest and organizing activity for relatively long periods
of time ; say, five or six weeks.
Playhouse. — The playhouse (shown in the pictures on pages
1 6, 122, and 123)," as the center of housekeeping plays, supplies
motive for building necessary furniture, for making bedding, table
furnishings, kitchen utensils, and window curtains. The objects to
be made are so familiar that the children have definite ideas to start
with, and, given some suggestion and suitable material, they are
able to work with relative independence. The intense interest in
the project stimulates the children to put forth their best efforts
in planning and in making the necessary objects. The variety of
things needed calls for the use of a variety of materials, and the
objects made must stand the test of use in play. The children
are thus enabled to judge their own products.
The grocery store. — The building and equipping of a grocery
store like that shown on page 127 is a project still richer in pos-
sibilities. It necessitates excursions to the store to learn how and
with what it is stocked. It calls for a quantity and variety of pro-
visions. It suggests dramatic plays of buying and selling, and its
relation to the home (represented by the playhouse) is expressed
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 127
through these plays. Wagons and baskets need to be constructed
to deliver the groceries satisfactorily, and the buyers need pocket-
books and money to pay for them.
Community buildings. — The groups of community buildings
represented on pages 124 and 129 are the objective expression of
community needs and relationships. They show many houses, a
school, a church, some stores and shops, the street, street lights,
automobiles, etc. (5 : 36-37)
KINDERGARTEN PROJECT — GROCERY STORE
Constructed from light fruit boxes covered with paper. From the Myra Bradwell
School, Chicago. Similar stores are often constructed of large building blocks
Real relations of social activities appear in large kinder-
garten projects. — It is clear frpm these descriptions that
Froebel's fundamental idea of familiarizing children through
play with home and community activities is not neglected by
this project method of organizing kindergarten activities. On
the contrary, the descriptions show that these projects provide
the most vivid kind of active experiences with typical social
activities in very real and natural relations to each other.
Values of study of large topics summarized. — Thus
by examples from geography, history, and kindergarten
activities we have illustrated the tendency to discard the
128 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
encyclopedic organization of subject matter and to substitute
the organization around a few large topics, each of which
is a significant unit in which the pupils center a great
variety of activities for several days or weeks. In each case
the value of this type of organization was commented on.
These values may now be summarized as follows :
Such intensive study of large significant topics results in
1 . Vivid impressions by the pupils of important topics ;
for example, of old Roman life, of lumbering, of irrigation.
2 . Better understanding oi important relations ; for example,
between stores and homes, or natural resources and industries.
3. Training in gathering and organising material for
large enterprises ; for example, for a store or a play.
4. Training in using general ideas in interpreting new
situations ; for example, in studying a new country in geography.
5. A permanent memory of useful general impressions,
ideas, and methods of work which may be used by the
pupils in after life.
The memory element mentioned in paragraph number 5
was not discussed in connection with the examples. Hence
we shall consider it further at this point.
Intensive method focalizes large significant issues to
be remembered. — It is commonly said that nine tenths of
what we learn in school is forgotten. This is probably true.
Therefore it is especially important that some method be
adopted that will assure that the one tenth that is remem-
bered is worth remembering. As long as encyclopedic,
unrelated, unorganized details are taught, the part that will
be remembered depends largely on chance. On the other
hand, if large fundamental issues are emphasized, and the
details so selected as to bring these large issues to a clear
focus, we may feel reasonably sure that these will be the
parts that will be remembered.
Many details necessary to make general issue real. —
There may be as many details in the intensive method as
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 129
in the encyclopedic method, but their character and purpose
is different. For example, when fourth-grade children spend
their history periods for two or three weeks on " Horatius at
the Bridge," scores of details of Roman life are brought out.
But these details all fit into the general picture that is being
created in their minds of Rome in " the brave days of old,"
when " Romans were like brothers," when " none was for a
KINDERGARTEN PROJECT — COMMUNITY BUILDINGS
From the Kay Public School, Chicago. Compare the picture on page 124. See
discussion on page 127
party," but " all were for the state." Similarly, a few weeks
later, when many hours are spent in studying Caesar, the
details serve to give a vivid lasting impression of Roman
life in Caesar's day and of the personality and achievements
of one of the greatest figures in history.
Details used in intensive study to support the general
meaning, — Thus we see that the details used in the inten-
sive study of large topics are carefully selected and arranged
for the purpose of contributing to the better understanding
of these general topics. The details may be spoken of as
supporting the general principle, fact, or impression. Thus
130 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
they make the matter under consideration meaningful — they
fill it with meaning. In the encyclopedic treatment of many
topics, on the other hand, we find thousands of details that
are more or less isolated in character. They do not con-
tribute to form a general impression or general idea, but
often seem to be all on the same dead level of insignificance.
Details to be forgotten ; general meaning remembered. —
In the intensive study of large topics, while the details are
necessary to build up the general impression or meaning,
they do not constitute this meaning. For example, the de-
tails of dress, of action, of enunciation, etc. used in drama-
tizing the Horatius incident help at the time to give the
impressions of Roman plebeians and patricians united in the
defense of Rome. But this general idea does not consist of
these details. Long after these are forgotten the general
idea may persist and be used in thinking about other plebeian
and patrician situations, such as the Bolsheviki fighting
against the bourgeoisie of Russia in 1917 instead of uniting
with them against the common enemy. Once the details have
served their purpose of building up a vivid general impres-
sion or meaning they may be forgotten, and many probably
should be forgotten for purposes of mental economy. The
general meanings or ideas or impressions should remain per-
manently, however, for use in later experiences. They con-
stitute the important permanent products resulting from the
organization of subject matter in terms of large topics or proj-
ects, which is the first principle of organizing subject matter
to be discussed in this chapter.
Limitations of intensive method. — The intensive method
of organizing subject matter has been illustrated in the
above discussion with examples from geography, history, and
kindergarten activities. Examples could also be given from
the teaching of English, nature study, and manual training.
In these subjects much of the material (though not all) may
be easily arranged under large topic headings. In some
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 131
subjects, however, notably in spelling, handwriting, music,
formal drill in arithmetic, and in the reading of short stories,
the intensive type of organization has little place. In these
subjects, the second principle of organizing subject matter
which we shall consider plays a larger part in determining
the organization ; namely, the principle that subject matter
should be organized in terms of the pupils' interests and
capacities for learning.
II. ORGANIZATION IN TERMS OF THE LEARNER INSTEAD
OF IN TERMS OF THE SUBJECT
In history. — One of the simplest and clearest examples
of the organization of subject matter as children learn it best,
instead of organizing it in terms of the subject, is found in
the teaching of history.
Chronological organization. Subject seems to demand it.
— A historian almost always organizes his material in
chronological order. The relationships between historical
events, the ways in which certain events grow out of others,
seem to dictate the chronological procedure. For example,
the American Revolution grew out of the inheritance from
England of certain principles concerning liberty, and the
violation of these principles by the English home govern-
ment. Consequently, in order to present the Revolution
properly it would seem to be necessary to describe antecedent
English and colonial conditions. Thus, the order of history
teaching as determined by the subject itself is nearly always
chronological.
Little children have no understanding of long periods of
time: — When we come to teach history, however, to chil-
dren in the primary and middle grades, the question arises
whether the chronological connections over long periods of
time constitute the proper basis for organizing the subject
there. It soon becomes apparent that periods of years mean
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 133
little or nothing to children who have lived only eight or ten
years. Practically the only definite feelings of years that
such children have are associated with the idea that " last
year " they were in Miss Smith's room, and a more vague
notion that the "year before" they were in Miss Brown's
room in school. Evidently, with such an uncertain basis for
understanding periods of time the chronological order does
not seem necessary or desirable.
Social needs and activities also uncomprehcndcd. — More-
over, primary children lack not only an understanding of
periods of time, but they lack also the social experiences
necessary for an understanding of the lives of people remote
in space or time. Consequently, before beginning to teach
them about the lives of their European and American ances-
tors it is necessary to give them some understanding of the
fundamental social needs and activities of the people of
to-day. Hence a modern course in primary history begins in
the kindergarten and first grade with a study of the social
Story of the Indian pictures on pages 132, 134, and 136. —
These pictures illustrate the activities of the first-grade children
who are studying Indian life as described in the course of study
quoted on page 135. They have been reading stories of Ji-Shib
and Hiawatha in their reading periods. For their language work,
they constructed and presented a little play. In the picture on
page 132 they are shown designing the costumes for the play. A
child has written on the blackboard that they went to a neighboring
museum to examine the costumes. Other suggestions were secured
from pictures of Indians. The picture on page 134 shows the
children performing one scene of their play in their classroom,
while the picture on page 136 shows them presenting the play to
the school assembly during morning exercises. These pictures
illustrate not only the study of the social life of the Indians as a
part of the course of study, but also the utilization of the children's
interests in adventure, imitative play, manipulation, and communi-
cation as the basis of social studies and of training in expression.
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 135
situations with which the children are in direct contact in
order to prepare them to understand historical social situations.
History course as adapted to children. Activities of home,
community, and farm studied in kindergarten and first
grade. — The nature of the kindergarten study of social
activities was brought out in the description of the playhouse
and other projects given on page 126. For city children the
first step away from the immediate social environment is
taken in the first grade through a study of farm life. In
addition to many other devices, in The University of Chicago
Elementary School, the following methods are used :
A miniature farm is set up on the sand-table. The various
buildings are constructed from cardboard, fields of grain are sown,
fences and trees made, toy animals provided, and the pictures made
as complete as possible. The sand-table is a source of much im-
aginative play, and the children's initiative is encouraged in planning
and in acting out their various farm experiences with the material
available. Here they have an opportunity to retell the stories of
farm life which have been told them and to invent new ones.
Each child also plans and makes a Farm Book. The following
materials are used: (i) pictures which the children collect from
various magazines and farm journals ; (2) illustrations which they
have made ; (3) paper cuttings ; (4) explanatory sentences which
they add whenever necessary. All this material is arranged by
the children with the help of the teacher. The Farm Book is thus
a constant help in organizing and using their knowledge of the
subject. (8 : 406)
Indian life provides second step toward imagined, his-
torical, social situations — After completing the farm proj-
ect, the second step in the study of remote or imagined
social situations may be taken in the first grade by a study
of Indian life. (See the pictures on pages 132, 134, 136.)
The basis for the study of Indian life is found in Jenks's " The
Childhood of Ji-Shib, the Ojibwa." This story, in which the life of
an Indian is portrayed, gives most of the phases of Indian life
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 137
desirable for presentation to children. With this story as a basis
the teacher is able to present the subject in a concrete way, con-
tributing details wherever needed and rearranging parts to suit her
needs. On the sand-table or in the individual sand-pans the chil-
dren reproduce parts of the story of Ji-Shib and work out new
adventures suggested by it. They make an Indian Book, in which
are kept their drawings and paper cuttings.
In addition to its being a much-treasured record, this serves as
a means of organizing the work and giving motive to the repro-
duction of parts of the story. They carry out some of the activities
of Indian life, such as the threshing and grinding of grain and the
parching of corn. They dramatize many of the Indian activities :
hunting, fishing, moving, feasting, dancing. They play many of
the Indian games. (8 : 408)
Shepherd life and Viking tales further enrich social im-
agination. — In the second grade the study of shepherd life
introduces the children to activities and customs that will
aid them in understanding many peoples, such as the Arabs
and the dwellers in Palestine. In the third grade a strongly
contrasting type of civilization is introduced by a study of
Jennie Hall's "Viking Tales," supplemented by constructive
activities. The sea life, adventures, and travels of the hardy
Vikings are vividly presented. (See the picture on page 1 38.)
Local history introduces chronological development. — At
the end of the third grade or the beginning of the fourth,
local history is studied. The growth of the local settlements
gives the children concrete notions of actual chronological
changes in social conditions, thus introducing them to a
historical series of events in a concrete, close-to-home
manner. For example, the study of the local history of
Chicago traces the growth of the city from its settlement
as Fort Dearborn, a trading and military post, down to the
present time. The textbook is Jennie Hall's " Story of
Chicago." The activities of the class during the study are
suggested by the contents of the " Chicago Book " which
each child makes and which contains written descriptions,
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 139
original stories, bits of dramatization, sketches which are
made in the art period, and pictures which he has collected
as illustrations.
The following table of contents is copied from such a
book, together with explanatory notes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Lake Michigan (a picture).
2. Before White People Came (written description).
3. Early Chicago (a map which was first made on the
sand-table).
4. Making the Portage (a sketch).
5. Trading Posts (written composition).
6. The Indian Council (mimeographed record of dramatization).
7. Fort Dearborn (picture).
8. Building Fort Dearborn (written composition).
9. Why People Thought Chicago would be a Big City (written
composition).
10. Pack Horse (a sketch).
11. How Pioneers Travelled (written composition).
12. Prairie Schooner (a sketch).
. 13. How People Travel To-day (written composition).
14. Pictures of Street Cars, Trains, and Automobiles.
15. People whom Chicago Honors (mimeographed papers).
1 6. Chicago Harbor (map).
17. The Pioneer (verse).
Story of the picture on opposite page. — The ships, weapons,
homes, occupations, dress, and pastimes of the Vikings, as well as
their adventures and explorations, are being studied by the third-
grade children shown in this picture. In the large sand-pan the
children have constructed a Viking feast hall and other buildings
with thatched roofs. On the wall are hung drawings of Viking
boats made during the art periods. Models of the boats are made
and placed in the harbor in the sand-pan. The children at their
desks are modeling the rugged physical features of Norway with
the fiords and mountains.
140 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
1 8. Pioneer Times : the Country Store ; Lighting; Heating and
Cooking ; the Mail ; the Water Supply (compositions).
1 9. The Tunnel and Crib System (compositions and diagrams).
20. Purifying Water (written record of experiments).
21. Things which Helped to Make Chicago a Big City (written
composition).
22. Beautiful Chicago (pictures).
23. Plan of the City. (8 : 426)
The knowledge of the growth of their home city prepares
the children for an understanding of the growth of historical
cities such as Athens and Rome.
Greek and Roman adventures. — In the fourth and fifth
grades the lives of the Greeks and Romans furnish mate-
rials for further enrichment of the pupil's mental storehouse
of historical pictures and personages, — Homeric adventures,
thrilling battles at Thermopylae and Marathon, Greek fleets,
Greek buildings, Alexander's conquests, simple Roman
beginnings, Horatius at the bridge, Caesar, etc.
Chronological connections begin to receive emphasis. —
From this point the chronological connections may receive
more and more emphasis, but it should always be kept in
mind that appreciation of long periods of time is a difficult
achievement even for adults, to whom such expressions as
the fifteenth century and the Renaissance often carry little
meaning. Even to give a coherent, connected, lasting im-
pression of the succession and relation of events in a single
century requires special art on the part of the teacher.
From chronological to psychological organization in his-
tory. — The preceding paragraphs present a contrast of the
chronological order of topics and what we may call the psy-
chological order. Notice the word " logical " appears in
both these terms. " Chrono-logical " means time organization.
" Psycho-logical " means what ? It means organization accord-
ing to the mental progress of the learner. It means the
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 141
order that is determined by the way in which the pupil
learns most readily and effectively. It means omission of
materials and ideas that children cannot comprehend at any
given stage in their maturing or training, and careful choice
for each stage of activities that the children can understand
and master. It means adaptation of subject matter to the
capacities and interests of the pupils.
History of efforts at psychological organization explains
present practices. — The substitution of a psychological or-
ganization of elementary-school subject matter for forms of
organization determined merely by the subjects themselves
constitutes a continuous trend of improvement in elemen-
tary school teaching since 1800. Inasmuch as many persons
still adhere to the practice of organizing material regardless
of the order best adapted to pupils, and since many efforts
to determine the best psychological order have been mis-
taken, we shall review briefly the historical changes through
which the leaders in educational thinking have arrived at
the present point of view. We have found this historical
procedure helpful in earlier chapters, especially in presenting
the social point of view as represented by two great educa-
tional writers, Spencer and Dewey. The social point of view
and the psychological idea of organizing subject matter as
children learn it best constitute the two great features of
modern pedagogy. In presenting the history of the psycho-
logical effort we shall introduce three other great educational
thinkers. The first of these is Rousseau (Roo-so'), the fire-
brand of the French Revolution of 1789, one of the most
influential figures in modern history.
Rousseau said study childhood to determine organiza-
tion of teaching. — Among Rousseau's notable writings was
an epoch-making book on education, published in 1762, in
which he described the training of an imaginary boy,
"fimile" (A-meeT), after whom the book is named. In
142 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
the preface of it Rousseau formulated his purpose in the
following words, which summarize the psychological point
of view in teaching :
We do not know childhood. Acting on the false ideas we have
of it, the farther we go the farther we wander from the right path.
Those who are wisest are attached to what is important for men
to know, without considering what children are able to apprehend.
They are always looking for the man in the child, without thinking
of what he was before he became a man. This is the study upon
which I am most intent. . . . Begin, then, by studying your pupils
more thoroughly, for it is very certain that you do not know them.
Now, if you read this book of mine with this purpose in view, I
do not believe that it will be without profit to you. (3 : 187)
Rousseau set Pestalozzi on fire. — Hundreds of thousands
of persons did read Rousseau's " Emile," for he was a
wonderful writer, a great literary genius. Many of these
condemned the book, but many others were inspired to a
remarkable degree by its powerful message. Among those
who were set on fire was a humble Swiss university student
named Pestalozzi, who said :
The moment Rousseau's " £mile " appeared, my visionary and
highly speculative mind was enthusiastically seized by the visionary
and highly speculative book. I compared the education which I
enjoyed in the corner of my mother's parlor, and also in the school
which I frequented, with that which Rousseau demanded for the
education of his fimile. The home as well as the public education
of the whole world and of all ranks of society appeared to me
altogether as a crippled thing, which was to find a universal remedy
for its present pitiful condition in Rousseau's' lofty ideas. (3 : 274)
Pedagogical pilgrims flocked to Pestalozzi s schools,
1800-182$. — After many years of toil and hardship, this
humble Swiss student became the greatest and most influ-
ential practical educator of modern times, and to his
experimental schools, maintained in Switzerland from 1800
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER
to 1825, pedagogical pilgrims, statesmen, and tourists flocked
from all over the world. The serious-minded went there to
learn from Pestalozzi ;
the frivolous and cu-
rious went as they
would flock to see a
lake or a glacier.
Pestalozzi desired
to psychologize teach-
ing ; methods widely
used. — Pestalozzi's
influence in changing
methods of teaching
in elementary schools
was as great as his
fame. To him and
his followers we owe
some of our best
present-day practices
in teaching arithme-
tic, geography, and
nature study. An
equally profound in-
fluence was exerted
upon the methods
of teaching reading,
writing, drawing, and
gymnastics. In all
these reforms Pesta-
lozzi's slogan was, "I
desire to psychologize
teaching." As indicated above, his psychologizing was very
helpful in some subjects. Unfortunately, he was quite mis-
taken in his efforts to psychologize the teaching of reading,
writing, drawing, and gymnastics, and his false methods in
ROUSSEAU, REVOLUTIONARY LEADER OF
MOVEMENT TO ORGANIZE SUBJECT MAT-
TER ACCORDING TO PUPIL'S INTERESTS
AND CAPACITIES
144 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
these subjects, as well as some of those developed in the kin-
dergarten by his disciple Froebel, have persisted in common
use until recent years and are still followed in many places.
" From simple to complex " led Pestalozzi astray ;
alphabet methods. — The idea which led Pestalozzi astray
in his methods of teaching was the apparently harmless
statement that teaching should " proceed from the simple
to the complex." Pestalozzi interpreted this statement to
mean that in each subject an alphabet of the elements of it
should be organized, just as there is an alphabet of letters
used in reading. Pestalozzi called these alphabets his
"A B C's." In describing his earliest efforts to use them
with primary children in school, he said :
I once more began crying my A B C's from morning to
night. ... I was indefatigable in putting syllables together and
arranging them in a graduated series. I did the same for numbers ;
I filled whole notebooks with them ; I sought by every means to
simplify the elements of reading and arithmetic, and by grouping
them psychologically [to] enable the child to pass easily and surely
from the first step to the second, from the second to the third, and
so on. The pupils no longer drew letters on their slates, but lines,
curves, angles, and squares. (3 : 365)
It appears from this quotation that Pestalozzi 's notion of
psychologizing the teaching of a subject was to break it into
its elements and then to feed these elements in regular
order to the pupils. Hence, he said:
In every branch of popular knowledge or talent, I set to work
to organize a graduated series of exercises, the starting point of
which was within everybody's comprehension, and the unbroken
action of which, always exercising the child's powers without ex-
hausting them, resulted in a continuous, easy, and attractive
progress. (3 : 366)
Phonic alphabets use din beginning reading and spelling. —
In the teaching of reading and spelling he made his alphabet
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 145
from the elementary sounds of the language. Speaking of
this work, he said :
The spelling book must contain the entire range of sounds of
which the language consists, and portions of it should be repeated
daily in every family. . . . No one imagines to what a degree the
attention of infants is aroused by the repetition of such simple
sounds as ba, ba, ba, da, da, da, ma, ma, ma, la, la, la. (3 : 367)
-'Lines and angles constituted elements in ivriting and
drawing. — In teaching handwriting, he found the elements
in "lines, curves, angles," etc., and, as suggested in the
quotation above, "the children no longer drew letters on
their slates," but drew these elements instead. The same
elements served as the starting point for teaching drawing.
These methods still used in some places. — The
reader will recognize in these descriptions the methods of
teaching reading, writing, and drawing which are still in
vogue in some parts of the country, — beginning with
letters or elementary sounds in reading, and with practice
in drawing straight lines, curved lines, ovals, angles, squares,
etc. in handwriting and drawing. The predominance of
such methods during the nineteenth century was largely due
to the work of Pestalozzi and his followers.
ARC of gymnastics gave calisthenic systems still widely
used. — The systems of gymnastic exercises in which chil-
dren perform all kinds of elementary movements also
originated in the Pestalozzian theory of organizing an
alphabet for each subject. To exercise the arms properly,
according to this theory, they must be moved up and down,
backwards and forwards, in straight lines and in circles, in
all possible ways. Similarly, with the legs the same process
should be carried out. After all the "elementary" move-
ments have been mastered, then more complex combinations
are practiced, eventually resulting in complicated contortions
involving simultaneous use of all parts of the body. The
146 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
reader will recognize that such calisthenic systems are still
widely used in the gymnastic training of children.
The A B C of observation emphasized geometrical names.
— One of the most remarkable applications of the Pestalozzian
theory of proceeding from the simple to the complex was
in the teaching of geometrical figures and names. Rousseau
and Pestalozzi had created an enthusiasm for the observation
of things, and since squares, circles, angles, triangles, etc.
appear in doors, windows, street corners, etc., Pestalozzi
and his followers concluded that an alphabet of these had
to be taught, so they devised " A B C's of observation."
The Pestalozzian object-teaching books which had great
vogue in England and America about 1860 included in
their material for " infant and primary schools " not only
the simpler geometrical names such as the cylinder, cone,
sphere, hemisphere, etc., but even such appalling names as
tetrahedron, octahedron, and rhombic dodecahedron.
A B C of kindergarten exercises based by Froebel on
geometrical forms from simple to complex. — Pestalozzi 's
theory of proceeding from the simple to the complex was
applied by his disciple Froebel in organizing the activities
used in play and construction in the kindergarten. Froebel
spent .two years as a teacher or observer in Pestalozzi's
school and said, "It soon became evident to me that
' Pestalozzi ' was to be the watchword of my life." After
many years of vicissitudes, Froebel finally organized the
first kindergarten in 1837. At an earlier date he had
emphasized " proceeding from the simple to the complex "
in the organization of constructive activities, and later, in
speaking of the use of games in the kindergarten, he said,
" They should be organized in ' logical sequence.1 " These
ideas, combined with the general enthusiasm for geometrical
names described above and Froebel's experience with geo-
metrically formed crystals while working as a mineralogist,
resulted in a most peculiar series of play devices for educating
7
V ,
\
\
\
OLD-FASHIONED SIMPLE-TO-COMPLEX KINDERGARTEN
CONSTRUCTIONS
'' Forms of beauty " made with Froebelian blocks. Note the contrast between this
picture and the socially meaningful activities of progressive kindergartens pictured
on pages 123-129 and 154
148 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
children. Throughout these devices the geometrical idea
stands out. Instead of choosing dolls and doll clothes and
toy furniture and other socially meaningful objects found in
children's imitative play, he chose a ball because it was a
sphere, blocks because they were cylinders and cubes, little
sticks because they could be laid into geometrical forms
such as triangles, squares, rectangles, etc. The use of these
objects in constructing geometrical " forms of beauty " is
shown in the picture on page 147. It is evident that you
proceed from the simple to the complex as you glance from
the upper part of the picture to the lower part.
Teaching of formal subjects long dominated by Pestalozzts
nnpsychological alphabet methods. — The examples from
the teaching of reading, writing, drawing, gymnastics, and
the kindergarten show what an enormous influence has been
exerted in the teaching of these formal subjects by the
principle of proceeding from the simple to the complex.
In many places the methods described are still in vogue. It
remains to show that Pestalozzi was badly mistaken when
he decided that the way to psychologize teaching was to
break up each subject into its smallest elements and then
feed these elements to children in " logical sequence."
Pestalozzi's alphabets based on the subjects, not on child-
hood. — It will be remembered that we defined the psycho-
logical organization of subject matter as the order in which
pupils best learn a subject, and that Rousseau laid the
foundation for the psychological reforms by saying we must
study childhood to understand how children learn most readily
and effectively. Now it is quite obvious that while Pestalozzi
said he would "psychologize teaching," he frequently forgot
" childhood " in the practices described above and focused
his attention absolutely on each subject in itself. Disre-
garding children's experience and natural methods of learn-
ing, he devised the most unpsychological schemes for having
them learn. This may be explained by presenting a partial
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 149
description of the way a person learns according to William
James, the greatest of American psychologists.
Learning usually involves the learner's analyzing complex
wholes himself. — According to James, a person learns
ordinarily by meeting complex situations and analyzing these
situations himself, not by being fed the elements of these
situations by someone else who has dug them out. In
describing the frame of mind of a child in a very new situa-
tion, James characterized it as "a big, blooming, buzzing
confusion." Examples of such situations from adult life are
the following : coming out of a depot in a strange city ;
being plunged into the water for one's first swimming
lesson ; trying to draw an unfamiliar object if you have little
skill in drawing ; trying to solve a difficult original exercise
in geometry. The learner clears up such a buzzing confusion
by picking out now this phase and now that phase for
separate attention. For example, in coming out of the depot
you may look the people over and pick out a policeman to
question, or you may look for a street car, or you may
watch where the crowd goes and decide to follow it. As
you have more and more experiences with strange depots
the mental confusion disappears ; you have learned how to
behave in such situations ; you have them clearly analyzed
into checking rooms, ticket offices, train bulletin boards,
train announcers, cab drivers, policemen, street-car con-
ductors, street signs, etc., and have developed appropriate
methods of noticing these and behaving accordingly.
Unnecessary to dig out smallest elements in many situa-
tions. — We usually carry our analysis only as far as is
necessary for practical purposes. Hence we are quite familiar
with many complex situations or objects, and know just how
to behave toward them, although we have never analyzed
them into their smallest elements. For example, we learn
to recognize and to eat or avoid onions ; we are familiar
with their so-called " taste " and know how to behave toward
150 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
it. As a matter of fact, most of the so-called taste is a
complex mixture of taste and odor. It can be analyzed into
these two elements by having a person close his eyes, plug
his nostrils, stick out his tongue, and close his lips. Then
place a piece of onion or potato or apple or turnip on his
tongue and have him guess which it is. Obviously, how-
ever, this process is unnecessary in teaching a person to
recognize and discriminate onions from potatoes, apples, and
turnips in daily life.
Similarly, children learn to recognize, name, and use such
complex objects as doors, windows, chairs, wagons, auto-
mobiles, etc. without first being taught that these have acute
and obtuse angles or consist of circles, rectangles, squares,
cylinders, or what not. It is obvious that an ABC of
observation organized in geometrical terms is an unnecessary
and useless device in teaching observation in ordinary life,
since for most practical purposes the analysis of complex
objects and situations is not carried down to such geometrical
elements.
Subject matter, now psychologically organized, begins
with wholes. — Thus we see that great modern psychol-
ogists, such as William James, describe learning not in
terms of proceeding from the simple to the complex, but
in terms of the learner's meeting more or less complex
objects or situations and analyzing these as far as may be
necessary for practical behavior. This account of the learning
process is having large influence in changing the organiza-
tion of subject matter. For example, since children can
easily recognize as wholes such statements as " We have
two pets " or " They are white mice," such short sentences
may be used in beginning reading, instead of beginning
with letters or syllables.
This process is described in one of the current manuals
of a commercialized reading system in the following terms,
which clearly reflect James's influence :
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 151
Wholes to Parts, to Wholes. — The vague whole [namely, the
story of Little Bo Peep or of Jack Horner] is acquired by the chil-
dren through listening to the story told by the teacher, and through
the exercise of their own self-activity in dramatization. The story
is first analyzed into thought groups. The thought groups are then
built up synthetically by the teacher, sentence by sentence, at the
blackboard. Word groups and sight words are taken from the sen-
tences. Selected words are separated into phonograms. Phono-
grams are blended to form words. The final step is the reading of
the whole story from the book.
Similarly, in handwriting, the children write whole words or
phrases before they are drilled in making meaningless
straight lines and curved lines. Perhaps the most striking
change is in drawing, in which the child in the primary
grades may draw such pictures as those shown on page 152
and may never draw mere curved lines and straight lines as
such. Equally striking are the changes in gymnastics and
in kindergarten activities. In place of simple-to-complex
calisthenics, children play games, which, as large unanalyzed
wholes, give them excellent exercise and at the same time
give training in recreation and certain social virtues. As to the
kindergarten, the geometrical playthings and forms of beauty
are being forgotten, and such large projects used as were de-
scribed above, on page 1 26 ; namely, playhouses, grocery
stores, dry-goods stores, and other community buildings.
Courage to permit crudeness of childhood replaces perfect
models. — In all of the processes involving handwork by
little children, such as handwriting, drawing, and construc-
tion, progressive teachers are willing to accept rather crude
products. This contrasts strongly with the desire for per-
fectly clean, clear-cut, copper-plate, model products for
exhibition purposes which commonly prevails where alphabet
methods are followed. It is recognized that if the pupils
are to do their own analyzing, selecting, rejecting, and
expressing, their products at first will be quite rough and
DRAWINC; AS STORY-TELLING
I Ilustrations by second-grade children of an original Arab story composed by them.
Evidently something is happening in this picture. What do you suppose it is? See
page 151. From Sargent's "How Children Learn to Draw." (Ginn and Company)
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 153
incomplete as compared with the finished product of the
adult expert. But in their willingness to accept such crude
products of little children, teachers are carrying out Rous-
seau's program for psychologizing teaching by studying
childhood. Instead of merely "being attached to what is
important for men to know," teachers now " consider what
children are able to apprehend "; instead of " always looking
for the man in the child," teachers now are " thinking about
what he was before he became a man," and organizing
their subject matter in terms of his capacities and interests
as a child.
Summary concerning psychological organization. — Thus
we see that the psychological method of organizing subject
matter is a large factor in improving teaching to-day. In
introducing the discussion of the psychological organization
we used the subject of history in order to contrast the older
method of organizing subject matter merely in terms of the
subject, which in the case of history produces the chron-
ological order. We then presented Rousseau's epoch-making
appeal to organize subject matter in terms of childhood, and
told how far astray Pestalozzi and Froebel went in their
efforts to carry out Rousseau's ideas. We pointed out that
in organizing simple-to-complex alphabets in each subject
they were not basing their organization on the capacities,
interests, and learning processes of children but merely on
an analysis of each subject. The mistakes of these well-
intentioned educators were due to the fact that they were com-
paratively crude and amateur psychologists. When we turned
to the discussions of learning presented by William James,
the greatest American psychologist, we found him empha-
sizing the fact that analysis of complex wholes by the learner
is a large factor in learning by children and adults. This
fact parallels, in a way, the conclusion which we reached in
the first half of this chapter, where the emphasis in organ-
izing history, geography, and kindergarten activities was
154 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
placed on the organization around certain large topics or
projects. The combination of the intensive method and the
psychological methods of organization is resulting in the
centering of instruction in units of subject matter that
correspond to real situations in social life and at the same
time are full of meaning to children and adapted to their
capacities for learning and their interests at each age.
WASHING THE KINDERGARTEN DOLLS CLOTHES
A meaningful social activity substituted for the comparatively meaningless, simplex-
to-complex, geometrical constructions pictured on page 147. Notice the improvised
tubs, toy ironing-board, and toy iron. From a Chicago public-school kindergarten
Transition to Part II on learning processes ; summary of
Part I on fundamental points of view. — The statements
made above concerning analysis by pupils when they are
learning give only one inkling concerning the way children
learn. The complete story of their methods of learning was
roughly outlined in Rousseau's "fimile" in 1762, but has been
greatly elaborated by later writers. This story is so long that
we shall devote all of Part II of this book to relating it. Be-
fore doing this, it is desirable to get our bearings by review-
ing briefly Part I, which has presented certain fundamental
points of view that will guide us in our later thinking.
ORGANIZING SUBJECT MATTER 155
These fundamental points of view may be summarized
as follows :
1. In our interdependent democratic American society
the aim of public education is to increase the sum total of
happiness for the multitudes.
2. To this end, the schools train for health, enjoyment of
leisure, good will, and social service by developing in chil-
dren appropriate information, habits, ideals, and abiding,
many-sided interests.
3. The effective organization of such training involves
reproducing in schools a prominent feature of our complex
social life ; namely, effective business management for
economy in routine affairs.
4. The selection of the subject matter that is to be used
to attain the broad social aims of the school should be
made from the social viewpoint. The material should be
clearly adapted to real present-day needs and conditions,
and the relative values of the topics should be scientifically
determined.
5. Such scientific determination requires investigations
that are mathematically precise, objective, verifiable, expert,
and impartial.
6. Where such scientific investigations have not been
made we must rely on the opinions of great specialists,
thinkers and writers such as Spencer and Dewey, who have
devoted much thought to education. These opinions are
not always valid.
7. Progressive textbooks and teachers organize the selected
subject matter around large significant central topics, and
begin with units that are meaningful to pupils and adapted
to their capacities, interests, and processes of learning at
each age.
8. The study of these learning processes of pupils is such
a complex and important undertaking that Part II of the
text will be devoted to it.
I $6 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
General. — * i . McMuRRY, F. and C. The Method of the Recitation.
(The Macmillan Company, 1903.) Chaps, ii and xi. The organization
of large topics illustrated by sample lessons. Very practical.
An intensive unit. — *2. PARKER, EDITH P. A Sixth-Grade English
Unit. Elementary School Journal, October, 1914, Vol. XV, pp. 82-90.
Excellent practical example of intensive treatment of a large topic.
Complete description of pupils' work. Topic, " Ships and Shipbuilding."
Historical. — *3- PARKER, S. C. History of Modern Elementary
Education. (Ginn and Company, 1912.) Chap, ix, on Rousseau's epoch-
making appeal to psychologize teaching. Pp. 365-374, on Pestalozzi's
alphabet methods organized from simple to complex.
Psychological. — 4. JAMES, WILLIAM. Principles of Psychology.
(Henry Holt and Co., 1890.) Vol. I, chap, xiii and elsewhere. The
source of many of the recent ideas of beginning with large meaningful
topics instead of meaningless elements. Too technical for beginners.
Kindergarten. — * 5. TEMPLE, ALICE. Survey of the Kindergartens
of Richmond, Indiana. (The University of Chicago Press, 1917.)
Emphasizes large projects as centers of kindergarten activities.
6. HILL, PATTY S., and others. Experimental Studies in Kinder-
garten Education. Teachers College Record, January, 1914, Vol. XV,
pp. 1-70. A collection of papers revealing the transition from Froebel's
devices to the use of larger projects. See especially pp. 4, 62-64.
*6a. HILL, PATTY. The Kindergarten and the Elementary School.
In Rapeer, L. W., Teaching Elementary School Subjects (Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1917), pp. 38-57. Excellent statement of organization
of progressive kindergarten programs in terms of children's instincts.
Geography. — * 7. Course of Study in Geography in The University
of Chicago Elementary School. Elementary School Journal, 1917,
Vol. XVIII, pp. 11-30, 115-132, 186-205, 268-279.
7 a. ATWOOD, W. W., and THOMAS, H. G. Teaching the New
Geography. (Ginn and Company, 1921.) A helpful practical manual.
History. — * 8. Course in Community Life, History and Civics in The
University of Chicago Elementary School. Elementary School Journal,
1917, Vol. XVII, pp. 397-431, 485-520, 550-575, 627-649. This course
was prepared by the teachers in the University Elementary School and
is notable for its detailed descriptions of methods and devices.
9. TRYON, R. M. Teaching History in Junior and Senior High
Schools. (Ginn and Company, 1920.) Suggestions for upper grades.
PART II. LEARNING PROCESSES;
GENERAL ASPECTS
CHAPTER VI
HOW CHILDREN LEARN ; BY THEIR
OWN RESPONSES
THE DOCTRINE OF SELF-ACTIVITY
Main points of the chapter. — i. This chapter continues the
story of how children learn, which was begun at the end of the
preceding chapter.
2. The term " learning " is used here in the broadest sense,
to denote any change brought about in a pupil's methods of
thinking, feeling, and behaving.
3. This chapter emphasizes the fact that the child learns
through his own mental responses, reactions, or behavior. This
is the doctrine of self-activity.
4. The teacher serves merely to stimulate the pupil's activity;
hence we may distinguish teacher activity and pupil activity.
5. Pupil self-activity is often more influenced by other pupils
than by the teacher.
6. Slow, dull teachers and rapid-fire nervous teachers are
opposite extremes in the types of pupil self-activity which they
arouse.
7. In complicated kinds of learning, a pupil's self-activity de-
mands time and opportunity for mental experimentation and
self-correction.
8. In such cases the artistic teacher shows great skill in infer-
ring the internal mental responses of the pupil and giving the
proper cues to modify them.
158 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Relation to Part I. — In Part I of the book we developed
certain fundamental points of view concerning the aims,
management, and subject matter of elementary schools.
These were summarized on page 155 as a transition to
Part II. The last points in the summary emphasized the
fact that the organization of subject matter is now being
determined by the interests, capacities, and learning processes
of the pupils. This is known as the psychological method
of organization. Following the program proposed by Rous-
seau, it centers its attention upon the study of childhood ;
it studies the processes by which children learn most eco-
nomically and effectively in order to determine how they
should be taught. Since this psychological program is quite
long, we shall devote a number of chapters, constituting
Part II of this book, to a study of children's learning proc-
esses in general. This will leave for future discussion certain
special types of learning, such as those involved in training
children to read, to write, to spell, to solve problems, to
understand and use general ideas, to express themselves in
speaking, writing, and drawing, to enjoy music, games, and
reading, to be interested in helping others, etc.
Term " learning " has broad meaning ; learning to think,
to feel, to behave, etc. — These various types of learning
suggest that the term "learning" is being used here in a
very broad way. Very often it has been used in school in a
very narrow sense, suggesting merely memorizing of facts.
Even the everyday use of the term, however, contains much
broader suggestions than this, since we speak of children
learning to swim, to play the piano, to swear, to steal, to be
obedient, to be disrespectful, to dislike poetry, to enjoy
poetry, to exercise self-control, to use good judgment, etc.
Moreover, in recent years psychologists have centered their
attention and writing more and more upon many kinds of
learning processes, and we find them studying how a monkey
learns to open the door of a cage, whether he imitates other
HOW CHILDREN LEARN 159
monkeys or not, how white mice learn to run blindfolded
through complicated mazes, how human beings learn to open
puzzle boxes, to solve puzzle problems, to memorize poetry,
to draw simple figures, etc. Hence, the term " learning "
no longer suggests mere memorizing of facts, but suggests
any change that takes place in a pupil's methods of think-
ing or feeling or doing. For example, in thinking, he
learns to analyze carefully a problem in arithmetic before
beginning to "cipher" ; in feeling, he learns to enjoy com-
plicated harmonies or to dislike lying and swearing ; in
doing, he learns to pile blocks, to fold paper, to keep his
desk in order, to write legibly, to find books in a library, to
collect pictures and articles from magazines, etc.
Precise, objective investigations of learning. — In some
of the psychological investigations of learning, scientific
methods have been used which have the characteristics noted
above on page 1 10 ; that is, they are mathematically precise,
objective, etc. A simple example of experimentation which
shows clearly its objective and precise character is found in
the following description by Thorndike of the way little
chickens learn to find their way out of a lonesome maze
into the pleasant company of other chickens in the yard.
Let a number of chicks, say six to twelve days old, be kept in a
yard (YY of figure on page 1 60) adjoining which is a pen or maze
(ABCDE). A chick is taken from the group and put in alone at
A. It is confronted by a situation which is, in essence, confining
walls and the absence of other chicks, food, and familiar surroundings,
It reacts to the situation by running around, making loud sounds,
and jumping at the walls. When it jumps at the walls it has the
discomforts of thwarted effort, and when it runs to B or C or D, it
has a continuation of the situation just described ; [but] when it
runs to E, it gets out and has the satisfaction of being with the
other chicks, of eating, and of being in its usual habitat. If it is
repeatedly put in again at A, one finds that it jumps and runs to
B or C less and less often, until finally its only act is to run to
l6o TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
D, E, and out. It has formed an association, or connection, or
bond between the situation due to its removal to A and the
response of going to E. In common language, it has learned to go
to E when put at A, — has learned the way out. The decrease in
useless running and jumping and standing still finds a representa-
tive in the decreas-
ing amount of time
taken by the chick
to escape. The two
chicks that formed
this particular asso-
ciation, for example,
averaged three and
a half minutes (one
about three and the
other about four)
for their first five
trials, but came fi-
nally to escape inva-
riably within five or
six seconds. (3: 125)
In later chap-
ters on the learn-
ing processes of
pupils, we shall
refer occasionally
to such precise
objective investi-
gations. Unfortunately, in the facts about learning to be
discussed in this chapter, such precise experimental evi-
dence is lacking and we shall have to base our account
largely on opinion and common observation. The first fact
which we shall note is very simple, yet it is so commonly
disregarded, and is so important in determining the teacher's
attitude, that we shall devote to it all of this first brief
chapter oh how children learn.
MAZE USED IN STUDYING LEARNING PROCESSES
OF CHICKS
Each is put in alone at A and tries to find its way to Y,
the yard. (After Thorndike)
HOW CHILDREN LEARN 161
Pupil learns through his own responses, reactions, atti-
tudes, behavior. — The first fact referred to is that a pupil
learns through his own responses, reactions, or behavior.
Thus he learns to swim through trying to swim ; he learns
to like simple rhythmic poetry through the rhythmic feelings
which it sets up in him and the rhythmic enunciation it
induces in him ; he learns to exercise self-control through
" holding himself in," time and again ; he learns to exercise
careful judgment by time and again taking the attitude of
" Let me see." It is obvious in all these cases that he
could not learn through having somebody else do the thing
for him ; through having someone else swim, or get the
rhythmic feelings, or " hold himself in," or take the attitude
of " Let me see." Only by making these responses himself
can the pupil acquire skill in swimming, rhythmic enjoy-
ment of poetry, and habits of exercising self-control and
careful judgment.
Self-activity of the pupil, not the teacher's activity, edu-
cates him. — This general fact that the pupil is educated
through his own responses, or reactions, or behavior is some-
times called the doctrine of self-activity. The term " self "
suggests the contrast with the teacher 's activity, and brings
out the fact that it is what the pupil does that educates him,
not merely what the teacher does. The teacher's actions
are effective only to the extent that they get each pupil
to make the desired response. For example, the swim
ming teacher may go through the motions, but the pupil
makes no progress in learning unless he endeavors to imi-
tate the motions ; the literature teacher may emphasize the
rhythms while reading aloud, but if the pupil lacks a sense
of rhythm, as some pupils do, he may make no rhythmic
responses, get no rhythmic feelings or enjoyment, and, as
a consequence, he may be quite puzzled at the teacher's
enthusiastic liking for the poem and ecstatic remarks con-
cerning it.
162 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Pupil inattentive to teacher is often learning through
surreptitious self -activity. — Regarded from the standpoint of
the pupil's self-activity, the teacher is merely one part of the
situation which may influence the child and which includes
also furniture, books, and other pupils. Often a child learns
much more from other pupils than he does from the teacher,
because they call forth more responses from him. Thus a
pupil may devote a large part of his activity during the day
to learning from other pupils through writing notes, making
spitballs, making a pin hum or sing, drawing pictures of
the teacher, etc. while the latter is fruitlessly trying to secure
his attention. Often if he is very bright and the teacher is
quite slow, a pupil learns more through surreptitious reading
of books or through general mind-wandering than he does
through the responses which the teacher stimulates him to
make. Thus a bright child may be examining a map in his
geography and playing a game of locating places while the
slow teacher is pursuing a stupid child or correcting misbe-
havior. Hence, bright children may learn in school in spite
of a dull or slow teacher through their own devices in finding
things to play with, to think about, or to read.
Slow children may be merely passive or scared observers
of rapid-fire teacher. — At the opposite extreme from the
slow teacher who fails to influence the self-active responses
of the bright pupils we find the energetic, nervous, active,
scintillating teacher who may proceed at such a fast pace that
only the bright pupils can grasp what is going on. There is
abundant teacher activity and satisfactory pupil activity in a
few cases, but most of the pupils, while apparently attentive,
are either completely swamped or mere passive observers.
Their self-activity often consists merely in wondering what
it is all about, or in idly watching the teacher's gyrations, or
in thinking, " I hope she won't call on me."
Recitations judged by relative amount of teacher activity
and pupil activity. — The contrast between the teacher's
activity and the pupils' self-activity is often made the basis
HOW CHILDREN LEARN 163
of criticizing and evaluating recitations observed. Very
commonly a teacher may know all about a subject and give
much evidence of this fact by the large amount of talking
which she does in a recitation, but the teaching be ranked
as poor because the children are given so little opportunity
to respond. Hence, prolonged lecturing to pupils is con-
demned as well as the use of many long questions by the
teacher with brief or monosyllabic answers from pupils.
Another example of superfluous teacher activity which kills
pupil self-activity is found in the impatience of teachers
when children are trying to think out the ans^ver to a
problem. Self-activity in this case involves the children's
thinking over their related knowledge and trying to recall
ideas to be used in the solution. This process takes time. A
skilled teacher may stand quietly before the class for fifteen
seconds while the pupils think. This may occur many times
during a half-hour lesson in history or geography in the mid-
dle grades. The nervous, unskilled teacher, however, fails
to realize the mental activity that the pupils need to carry
on ; she is anxious to secure the objective results, to get the
answer. Hence, she is continually pushing, nagging, suggest-
ing, asking ten questions where one should suffice. Such a
teacher usually creates a similar situation with her discipli-
nary measures, by constantly reproving, scolding, threatening.
The discipline comes to depend upon her activity instead of
depending upon the pupils' holding themselves in restraint,
which is one of the highest forms of self-activity.
Self-control, self-restraint, and inhibition are high forms
of self-activity. — The fact that self-control, self-restraint,
or self-repression are important and valuable parts of a
pupil's self-activity is emphasized by Thorndike in the
following paragraph :
Finally, activity may as well result in the inhibition as in the
production of ideas and feelings and movements. A fifth-grade
schoolroom in which children sit quietly reading or move about in
a businesslike way may represent more real activity than a room
1 64 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
in which the children are waving their hands, incessantly making
comments and asking questions. The first room may, it is true,
represent mere repression and absence of interest and work ; but
it may represent interest, thought, and work plus the inhibition of
aimless expressions thereof. It must not be forgotten that not to
think the foolish irrelevant thought is [an] essential of reasoning ;
that not to follow the wrong impulse is the essential of char-
acter ; that not to make the aimless and crude movement is the
essential of skill. Success is in great measure not making failures.
What a man does depends upon what impulses are neglected or
overcome. We are what we are by reason of what we are not —
what we do not permit ourselves to become. Activity is inhibitory
as well as impulsive. (2 : 40)
Mental experimentation, often with crude results, accom-
panies self -correction. — It is important to notice that such
self-correction as Thorndike emphasizes is only possible,
however, if the children are given some opportunities for
mental experimentation, some chances to think the wrong
thoughts and to correct themselves, some opportunities to
make crude drawings and to improve them. We had in
earlier chapters two good illustrations of neglect of this
fact. The first occurred on page 70 in describing the work
of kindergarten teachers who prepare the materials for
pupils so completely that there is little left for the children
to do, and, as a consequence, the latter fail to develop
independent ability in handwork. The other example of
failure to give children opportunities for mental experimen-
tation was noted in the efforts of Pestalozzi to organize
simple-to-complex alphabets which were to be fed to chil-
dren in spoonfuls, as it were, so that they could progress,
step by step, without any chance of making a mistake. The
facts concerning self-activity, however, make it clear that
you can't feed a pupil ready-made education by carefully
graduated spoonfuls, but that his learning depends upon his
own efforts in thinking, feeling, talking, writing, drawing,
HOW CHILDREN LEARN 165
and making ; that these efforts may be quite crude at first ;
that they improve through his own efforts at self-control ; and
that mental experimentation by the pupil is often necessary
to eliminate crude and incorrect ideas or performances.
Self-correction relatively easy to suggest where product is
objective. — The doctrine of self-activity thus tends to focus
the attention of the teacher on the reactions and responses
of the pupils as individuals. Where the end to be attained
is represented by some objective product, such as a pile of
blocks or a doll's dress in the kindergarten, or a drawing
of a farmhouse in the first grade, or correct notes in
singing, or letters in handwriting in later grades, it is a
comparatively simple matter to decide whether each pupil
has made the desired response and to proceed accordingly.
For example, in handwriting, if the pupil grips his pen too
tightly, the teacher can observe this fact and have the pupil
correct it ; in singing, if the pupil tends to be a monotone,
he may be placed close to the piano or to the teacher. Even
in such cases, however, it is sometimes difficult to give the
right cue or suggestion which will enable the pupil to make
the correct response. For example, mispronunciations are
easily observed and commented upon, but a Western teacher
had great difficulty in getting a pupil from New York City
to cease saying " feller " and " idear." The pupil could not
see the difference between his pronunciation of " idea " and
the teacher's ; he insisted, " I don't say ' idear/ I say ' idear '
just like you do."
Inner responses, thoughts, and feelings of pupils difficult
to determine. — When we come to consider the inner
mental responses of pupils, it often requires great skill to
determine if each pupil has made the correct response.
Very often we have to depend on what the child says, but
his words may belie his thoughts. For example, a first-grade
class in a wealthy community read very glibly, " The three
little pigs went out to make their living," but not a child in
1 66 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
the class knew what it meant "to make a living," and the
teacher discovered the fact by an accidental question. In
the case of the response of enjoying a poem, we have even
greater difficulty in getting the " inside facts " of the pupil's
mental reactions ; he may be merely memorizing it, or think-
ing " I wonder when the bell will ring," or, worse, feeling
more or less disgusted with the whole matter. In the case of
effective problem solving, we are often at a loss to know
whether a pupil is really actively searching in his mind for
suggestions and carefully weighing each, or whether he is
merely voicing the first idea that pops into his head, or lazily
sitting back and thinking " I wonder who will answer
this one."
Artistic teacher understands pupiV s mental responses and
means of changing them. — A skilled teacher must, there-
fore, be an artist in understanding children's ways of think-
ing, feeling, and expressing. She must be able to infer
skillfully from a pupil's words and outer attitude what are
the inside facts. Having inferred his mental condition, she
must know just what cue to give, what question to ask, what
information to add, what praise or criticism to bestow, in
order to start the pupil's mental responses in the desired
direction. In order to do this, she must understand the con-
ditions which determine a pupil's response to any situation.
These conditions will be taken up in separate chapters.
The first condition, namely, the influence of the pupil's
previous experience, will be taken up in the next chapter.
For a summary of the present chapter, the first on children's
learning processes, the reader may return to page 157.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
* i . FREEMAN, F. N. How Children Learn. (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1917.) Read the entire volume for an excellent elementary
account of all topics in Part II of this text.
HOW CHILDREN LEARN 167
* 2. THORNDIKE, E. L. The Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seller,
1 906.) Pp. 39-41 . The discussion printed above is largely a paraphrase
of these excellent pages in Thorndike's text.
3. THORNDIKE, E. L. Educational Psychology, Briefer Course.
(Teachers College, Columbia University, 1915.) Part II, on the
psychology of learning. Technical discussions for advanced students.
CHAPTER VII
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES
THE DOCTRINE OF APPERCEPTION
Main points of the chapter. — i . Varied interpretations of
words illustrate the influence of past experiences in determining
pupils' responses.
2. Children's correct statements often disguise their real
ignorance.
3. Scientific investigations of the contents of children's minds
upon entering school reveal their vast ignorance of common objects.
4. Rousseau proposed to correct the parrotlike recitations of
meaningless words by introducing object teaching, nature study,
measuring, etc.
5. Efforts to carry out these reforms, however, soon degenerated
into memorizing books about objects.
6. Even the kindergarten ascribed to children ability to under-
stand abstract ideas that never entered the heads of most of them.
7. Properly taught home geography, which uses local situations,
illustrates giving children adequate real experiences. Modeling in
sand and clay is widely used to make surface features vivid.
8. Teachers need thorough specialized training to teach realities
instead of meaningless words.
To determine how past experiences influence present re-
sponses. — The preceding chapter described the way pupils
learn through their own mental responses and reactions. It
closed with the fact that artistic teachers must be quite
skilled in guessing just what are the inner mental responses
of each pupil, and in understanding the conditions which
determine and influence these responses. The first of these
determining conditions will be discussed in this chapter ;
namely, the influence of the pupil's past experience.
168
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 169
Examples of mental responses to "bay," "Belgium"
" abolition." - If we examine a simple illustration from
ordinary life we can easily see how a person's past experience
influences his response to some present situation. For
example, notice what idea or mental response is aroused in
your own mind when you now read the word " bay." Then
imagine the different mental interpretations that would prob-
ably be aroused by the same word in the minds of each of
the following persons : a horse dealer, a carpenter, a boy
studying geography, a domestic-science student. In your
own case and in each of the others it is easy to explain the
particular response made by referring to past experiences.
Differences in emotional responses to the same word or
situation are also partially explained by differences in past
experiences; for example, the word "Belgium" now arouses
in Americans an entirely different type of feeling from that
aroused before the experiences of the Great War. Similarly,
during our Civil War the emotional responses aroused in
Northerners were quite different from those aroused in
Southerners by the words "Lincoln," "Jefferson Davis,"
" abolition," " states' rights."
Teacher builds on pupils old experiences and provides
necessary iwv ones. — When we turn to the mental re-
sponses of children in school, we see the pedagogical sig-
nificance of such examples. Since the same words may
arouse different ideas and feelings in the minds of different
persons, depending upon their past experiences, it is very
important that a teacher make sure that each pupil does
interpret the words used in the ways that she desires. In
order to do this, she must understand clearly his past experi-
ences and build her instruction upon these. If he has had
the necessary experience she must connect the new teaching
with it ; if he lacks the necessary real experiences to arouse
the proper ideas or feelings, these real experiences must be
provided. This is known as the principle of apperception.
I ;o TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Words used as meaningless jingle. Counting. — One of
the most common violations of the principle of apperception
in teaching is found in the tendency to assume that children
can count because they can say "one, two, three, four," etc.
GIVING CITY KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN REAL EXPERIENCES
WITH CHICKENS
Story of the above picture. — The story of this picture is well
represented in the following sentences composed by the' kinder-
garten children of The University of Chicago Elementary School
and written down by their teacher.
OUR MOTHER HEN AND HER CHICKS
We went to the grocery store and bought a barrel and carried it
home. Then we made a nest of straw. The next day Miss Gordon
brought us a mother hen and thirteen eggs.
We named her " Brownie Red Head." She is a big hen with
feathers on her legs.
We put the eggs in the nest and put the hen on them. We set her
April 7, 1916. She sat three weeks. We fed her corn and gave her water.
Five chickens hatched on the 27th and the next day the rest hatched.
The little chickens were all yellow. Some had black spots on them.
We have to feed them every day.
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 171
A group of such children, five-year-olds, who had remarked
proudly that they could count, were asked to count an
adult's fingers as she held up one hand and pointed in
turn at the five fingers with the other. The children recited
their rigmarole of " one, two, three," etc. clear up through
twelve before the lady had finished pointing at the fourth
finger. Other trials made with these children showed they
had no number ideas at all connected with most of these
number names. The latter were for the children merely a
meaningless jingle like " eenie, meenie, minie, mo." They
had never had real experiences in counting objects, but had
merely learned the jingle of number names through hearing
other children or adults say them.
Lack of real experiences illustrated by slum children's
ideas. — The contrast between the real experiences of coun-
try children and city children furnishes many illustrations
of the dependence of a pupil's responses upon his previous
experiences and the necessity of the teacher's taking careful
account of the lack of adequate previous experience. This
lack of experience is often made the subject of humorous
incidents from school life. One of these from the experi-
ences of the fictitious Miss Bailey with a slum class of
Jewish children in New York is described by Myra Kelly
in her fascinating story of school life entitled " Little
Citizens." MissBailey^ the teacher, had tried unsuccessfully
to move her first-grade pupils with poems about nature, but
they merely jjstened "_in courteous but .puzzled silence."
Finally, after^reading a poem about a lark and making vain
efforts to get f rorr? thlTchildren some real ideas of this bird
the story proceeds as follows :
" Well," Morris began with renewed confidence, " I know what
is a bird. My auntie she had one from long. She says like that,
she should give it to me, but my mamma she says, ' No, birds
is foolishness.' But I know what is a bird. He scups on a stick
in a cage."
1/2 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
" So he does," agreed Miss Bailey, rightly inferring from
Morris's expressive pantomime that to " scup " was to swing.
" But sometimes he flies up into the sky in the country, as I was
reading to you. Were you ever in the country ? "
" What country ? " asked Morris. " Russia ? I comes out of
Russia."
" No, not Russia. Not any particular country. Just the open
country where the flowers grow."
" No ma'an, I ain't seen it," said the child gently. " But I was
once to Tompkins Square. On'y it was winter und snow lays on
it I ain't seen no flowers."
" And do none of you know anything about the country ? "
asked Teacher sadly.
" Oh, yiss ma'an, I know," said Eva Gonorowsky. " The
country is the Fresh Air Fund."
" Then you 've been there," cried Miss Bailey. " Tell us about
it, Eva."
" No ma'an, I ain't seen it," said Eva proudly. " I'm healthy.
But a girl on my block she had a sickness und so she goes. She
tells me all times how is the country. It 's got grass stickin' right
up out of it. Grass und flowers ! No ma'an, I ain't never seen it : I
don't know where is it even, but oh ! it could to be awful pretty ! "
" Yes, honey, it is," said Teacher. " Very, very pretty. When
I was a little girl I lived in the country."
" All day ? " asked Morris.
" Yes, all day."
" Und all night ? "
" Yes, dear."
" Oh, poor Miss Bailey," crooned Eva. " It could to be a awful
sickness what you had."
" No, I was very well. I lived in the country because my father
had a house there, and I played all day in the garden."
" Were n't you scared of the lions? " asked Patrick in incredulous
admiration.
" We had no lions," Miss Bailey explained apologetically. " But
we had rabbits and guinea pigs and a horse and a cow and
chickens and ducks and — and —
" Und eleflints," Morris suggested hopefully.
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 173
" No, we had no elephants," Teacher was forced to admit. " But
we had a turtle and a monkey."
" Did your papa have a organ ? " asked Sadie Gonorowsky.
" Organs mit monkeys is stylish for mans."
" Think shame how you says ! " cried her cousin Eva reproach-
fully. " Teacher ain't no Ginney. Organs ain't for Sheenies. They
ain't for Krishts even. They all, all for Ginneys."
" So 's monkeys," said Sadie, unabashed. " Und organs mit
monkeys is stylish."
The ^children's deep interest in the anirnaljdngdpm gave_Miss
_Bailgy the point ofl4epafture~?or which she had been seeking.
She abandoned Wordsworth and Shelley, and she bought a rabbit
andjj. pair of jwhite^ mice. The First-Reader class was enchanted.
A canary in a gilded cage soon hung before the window and
" scupped " most energetically while goldfish in their bowl swam
lazily back and forth. From these living texts Miss Bailey easily
preached care and kindness towards all creatures, and Room 18
came to be an energetic, though independent, branch of the
S. P. C. A. (9:324-331. Copyright by Doubleday, Page & Co.)
The content of primary children's minds ; ignorance of
common objects. — Such examples of pupils' lack of real
knowledge of common objects early led to careful investiga-
tions of the ignorance of primary children. One such study
is entitled " The Contents of Children's Minds on Entering
School," and was made by G. S. Hall, in Boston, in 1880.
He had a number of trained kindergarten teachers take
first-grade children individually and question them tactfully
and skillfully to find out what were their ideas of certain
common objects. One child, for example, said, "A cow is
as_bjg^s_yojLii^fin^erjTail.'' Other examples from the inves-
tigation which illustrate the percentage of ignorance found
in the children are presented in the table printed below. The
items in the table should be read as follows :
Of ordinary Boston children entering the first grade,
80 per cent do not know what a beehive is ;
77 per cent do not know what a crow is.
174 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
TABLE SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF BOSTON FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN
WHO ARE IGNORANT OF EACH ITEM AS NOTED
Beehive ....
. . 80
What sea
Location
Location
Spade
Blue . .
ison it is . .
of ribs .
of elbows .
• 75-5
. 90
• 25
62
Crow
77
Sparrow . . . .
Hen .'....
'. ' 57
IQ
Oak tree ....
Maple tree . . .
Growing dandelion .
Dew
. . 87
. . 83
. . 52
78
I A
Red . .
Triangle
Circle
Q2
\JA
TC
Teachers often ignorant of reality ; practice teacher and
pine trees. — The principle of apperception would require
a teacher to canvass carefully the stock of ideas possessed
by her pupils to determine such facts as were ascertained
by Miss Bailey and Mr. Hall. Very often, however, teachers
are^ not ^nly content to teach mere words but are ignorant
themselves of the real objects or ideas which the words
represent. A striking example of the complacent accept-
ance by an adult of words without adequate meanings is
found in the plans of a practice teacher who was preparing
to teach fourth-grade children about pine trees. She read
up on the subject, worked on her plans for several days, and
brought them to the supervisor for approval. The latter
asked her if she had ever seen a pine tree.' The practice
teacher replied, "Not to my knowledge," in .spite of the
fact that there were numerous pine trees in the vicinity.
The supervisor sent the practice teacher to find and examine
these, and directed her to include an excursion to the trees
by the children as one of the first parts of her plan.
Children also misunderstand words expressing abstrac-
tions. — If the ignorance of children and adults concerning
common objects is impressive, even more so is their igno-
rance of words which express abstract ideas and relations
between ideas. The failure to comprehend simple abstract
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 175
ideas was illustrated in the counting example given earlier in
the chapter, in which children used number names merely
as a jingle of sounds. The difficulties which children may
have with such abstract ideas when encountered in their
reading is illustrated in the following quotation :
The child who read that " the Pilgrims sought an asylum
in Holland " and recited, " The Pilgrims went to an asylum in
Holland," needed to have this idea investigated, and, as it turned
out, corrected as well. . . . The author who writes for fifth-grade
pupils that " the Norwegians are famous for their tenacity of will "
writes over the heads of his readers. Even so simple a statement
as the one that " the mountains of Japan are too near the coast
to admit of long rivers " causes misunderstandings, since with
school children admit means to allow to enter. (4: 102)
History of recognition of apperception. Rousseau 's objec-
tion to mirror-like , parrot recitations. — The most important
modern recognition of the futility of mere word teaching
without adequate basis in real experience is found in Rous-
seau's proposals (1762) for a more intimate study of child
experience. He used an interesting figure of speech in
comparing a mirror with a child's recitation of mere words.
He said the child reflects back the words which he learns
"and those who hear these words understand them, but the
child does not." In place of mirror-like, parrot recitations,
Rousseau proposed giving real ideas through object study,
nature study, home geography, excursions, manual training,
observation of industries, measurement, etc.
Well-intentioned Pestalozzians went astray ; memorizing
definitions ; Dickens'1 s satire. — As a result of Rousseau's
appeal in his " fimile," Pestalozzi and his followers organ-
ized schemes of object teaching for the purpose of giving
children real knowledge of the real things of nature and
industry, from the most common to the most remote. Even
this instruction, however, soon degenerated into learning
from books mere descriptions of objects. In England the
176 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
recitations based on these books were amusingly satirized
by Charles Dickens in the following contrast between the
recitations by Sissy Jupe, who knew horses from real ex-
perience, and Red-eyed Bitzer, who knew the prescribed
definition contained in the textbook of the Home and
Colonial Infant School Society.
Sissy Jupe, Girl No. 20, the daughter of a strolling circus actor,
whose life, no small share of it, has been passed under the canvas;
whose knowledge of horse . . . extends back as far as memory
reaches ; familiar with the form and food, the powers and habits and
everything relating to the horse ; . . . Sissy Jupe has been asked
to define horse. . . . Bewildered [however] by the striking want
of resemblance between the horse of her own conceptions and the
prescribed formula that represents the animal in the books of
the Home and Colonial Society, she dares not trust herself with
the confusing description, and shrinks from it in silence and
alarm.
" Girl No. 20 unable to define a horse," said Mr. Gradgrind.
Girl No. 20 is declared possessed of no facts in reference to
one of the commonest of animals, and appeal is made to one Red-
eyed Bitzer, who knows horse practically only as he has seen a
picture of a horse or as he has, perhaps, sometimes safely weathered
the perils of a crowded street-crossing.
" Bitzer," said Thomas Gradgrind, " your definition of a horse ! "
" Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely : twenty-
four grinders, four eye teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in
the Spring; in marshy countries sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard,
but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in
mouth." Thus [and much more] Bitzer.
"Now Girl No. 20," said Mr. Gradgrind, "you know what a
horse is." (8 : 363-364)
Present-day examples of memorizing geography " stories"
- That such instruction has not entirely disappeared from
our schools is easily ascertained by observing teachers who
are having children memorize and recite " stories " of coal,
iron, wheat, etc. found in their geographies. For example,
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 177
the following paragraph about "what the cow furnishes
us " parallels closely Red-eyed Bitzer's recitation. It is
quoted from a " home " geography.
Do you know how cheese is made ? The milk is first curdled
by putting into it some liquid rennet. Rennet is the name given
to a preparation made from the inner coating of the- calf's stomach.
The curd is separated from the watery part of the milk, which is
called whey, and then pressed into solid cakes. The curd is then
called cheese.
In commenting on this paragraph one writer says :
To the few children who have seen cheese made in this way,
or who have actually made it in this way, the foregoing paragraph
is concrete, but to those who have not had this experience and to
whom this experience is not supplied, this paragraph is about as
meaningful as the rule for extracting cube root found in our older
arithmetics. To take children under these conditions over page
after page of such material is a waste of good time. (3 : 534)
Kindergartens ascribed to cJiildren impossible abstract
ideas. — As we noted in an earlier chapter, another direct
outcome of Rousseau's demands to base teaching on a study
of childhood was the organization of the kindergarten. As
we have stated several times, the fundamental kindergarten
idea was to give children experiences with community ac-
tivities and natural objects through play. Even here, how-
ever, in the very center of the movement to base education
on children's instincts and capacities, we find the most
curious failure to appreciate the limitations of children's
understandings. Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten,
was a person of peculiarly mystical temperament. This tem-
perament, coupled with the extreme religious atmosphere of
his father's house, led him to write such foolish statements
as those printed below concerning children's mental re-
sponses in playing in the kindergarten with the cube and
ball and in such games as " Ring around a Rosy " and
Courtesy 01 TeaUicrs College, Columbia University
REALITIES REPLACE SYMBOLISM IN MODERN KINDERGARTEN
As early as 1781 Pestalozzi suggested teaching little children in school to lace
their shoes
Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia Univ
TOY COWS USED IN MODERN KINDERGARTEN
A rich topic for training in expression, construction, problem solving, and knowledge
of animal needs and uses
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 179
"The Farmer's in the Dell." In reading these statements
do not struggle to understand them, because they are incom-
prehensible to most persons.
The child . . . [says Froebel] perceives in the ball the general
expression of each object as well as of itself [the child] as a self-
dependent whole and unity ... so the child likes to employ him-
self with the ball, even early in life, in order to cultivate and
fashion himself, though unconsciously, through and by it, as that
which is his opposite and yet resembles him.
The cube is to the child the representative of each continually
developing manifold body. The child has an intimation in it of
the unity which lies at the foundation of all manifoldness and
from which the latter proceeds.
The pleasure with which the children play these games and
others of a similar kind may therefore have its ground in a presen-
timent of what is symbolic and significant in them. May not their
delight in these encircling movements, for example, spring from
the longing and the effort to get an all-round or all-sided grasp of
an object ? . . . I am convinced that the exalted and often ecstatic
delight of children in their simple movement plays is by no means
to be explained through the exertion of mere physical force — mere
bodily activity. The true source of their joy is the dim premonition
which stirs their sensitive hearts that in their play there is hidden
a deep significance; that it is, in fact, the husk within which is
concealed the kernel of a living spiritual truth. (8 : 440)
FroebcV s absurdities satirized by T/iorndikc. — The ab-
surdity of Froebel's misunderstanding of the responses of
ordinary children to common playthings led Thorndike
to write the following satire :
And what shall I say of those who by a most extraordinary in-
tellectual perversity attribute to children the habit of using common
things as symbols of abstractions which have never in any way
entered their heads; who tell us that the girl likes to play with
her doll because the play symbolizes to her motherhood ; that the
boy likes to be out of doors because the sunlight symbolizes to
him cheerfulness ? .
Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN GARDENING
This activity needs no symbolic justification as a kindergarten topic
Courtesy ot Teachers College, Columbia University
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN RAKING LEAVES
Do these children " like to be outdoors because the sunlight symbolizes to them
cheerfulness " ? See bottom of page 179
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 181
If we live in houses because they symbolize protection, if we
like to see Sherlock Holmes on the stage because he symbolizes
to us craft, or Uncle Tom because he symbolizes to us slavery, or
a clown from the circus because he symbolizes to us folly ; if we
eat apples because they symbolize to us the fall of man, or straw-
berries because they symbolize to us the scarlet woman, then per-
haps the children play with the ball because it symbolizes " infinite
development and absolute limitation."
No one has ever given a particle of valid evidence to show any
such preposterous associations in children's minds between plain
things and these far-away abstractions. (2: 77-80)
As a result of such criticisms, progressive kindergartners
tend to emphasize such activities with playhouses, grocery
stores, etc. as were described above on pages 126-127, ex~
pecting that children will acquire only the useful everyday
knowledge and habits connected with these.
Summary of apperception ; meaning, recognition, viola-
tion. — In our discussion of apperception up to this point,
we have noted (i) how adult responses are influenced by
their past experiences as illustrated by varied responses to
the word "bay," (2) how city children lack adequate real ex-
periences to understand statements about many common
objects, (3) how teachers tend to accept mere words from
a child as signs of ideas which he often lacks, (4) how
Rousseau proposed to give children real ideas through ade-
quate experiences with nature, industries, etc., (5) how these
proposals resulted in mere word knowledge of objects through
many Pestalozzian object-teaching books, and (6) how the
founder of the kindergarten, although inspired by the Rousseau
movement, attributed to children ability to understand abstract
ideas that never enter the heads of most of them.
Review of examples of proper provisions for apperception.
- Much of this discussion has necessitated descriptions of
mistaken practices. These have been presented, however,
in order to impress beginning teachers with the importance
1 82 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
of building their instruction upon children's real experiences
and providing adequate new real experiences where these
have been lacking. Incidentally in the chapter correct prac-
tices were suggested ; for example, Miss Bailey introduced
a canary, a rabbit, white mice, and goldfish into her first-
grade room for slum children ; the practice teacher was told
to arrange an excursion to neighboring pine trees. Other
examples of correct provision for real experiences and real
ideas were given in earlier chapters ; for example, in the de-
scription of the teaching of North America on pages 117-
121, and the description of the psychological organization
of history teaching on pages 135-140. In order to reen-
force these positive suggestions for observing the principle
of apperception, we shall describe one further example ;
namely, the teaching of home geography.
Home geography makes geographic ideas real ; from near
to remote. — The old-fashioned teaching of geography began
with books and required memorizing of encyclopedic unre-
lated facts which were commonly uncomprehended. Maps
were little used except for locations of boundaries, capes,
bays, cities, etc. Little training was given even in the
use of these maps, while surface maps, globes, and sand
reliefs were entirely absent. All these practices should be
corrected by beginning with real home geography and pro-
ceeding to more remote places and ideas, as described below.
Ideas of people. — In the modern teaching of geography the
studies of the local community begun in the kindergarten give
notions of people and their occupations. The history stories
and activities in the primary grades give the children ideas of
life in deserts, on the sea, in mountains, in Greece, Rome, etc.
Mapping neighborhood. — Systematic geography teaching
may begin about the third grade by having the children
make a map of the school yard and vicinity, locating on it
houses, sidewalks, trees, etc., and labeling each of these
appropriately. Gradually the map is extended to include
BUILDING ON PUPIL'S PAST EXPERIENCES 183
the neighborhood, and, if conditions permit, the children
may map roughly all of the region in sight from some
elevation, such as a neighboring hill. These elementary
facts about place and direction are reenforced by studies
in local history, commonly in the fourth grade. These
studies extend the child's idea of his neighborhood to
include the first place of settlement, the location of the
first trading posts or farms, the growth of the population,
the building of roads, canals, railroads, etc.
Globe as Jiome of historic peoples. — By the middle of the
fourth grade, children who have had the work described
above have sufficient notions of directions and locations, and
of different peoples, to begin the location of these upon
the earth. A globe some twenty inches in diameter is sus-
pended in the room and children are provided with six-inch
globes, which cost only twenty-five cents and are used at
their seats. Upon these they may locate their home and the
homes of the Vikings, Greeks, and Romans, whom they have
studied. Proceeding always in this concrete way, from the
lives and customs of peoples to a study of their location upon
the earth, the work in geography reaches the study of North
America, which was described in detail on page 117. In this
account the extensive use of pictures was noted, to give
reality to the pupils' ideas of remote industries, mountains,
canons, etc.
Modeling clarifies geograpJiic ideas ; Pestalozzian ex-
ample. — Finally, we may note one of the most striking
devices which is used to give reality to geographic ideas ;
namely, modeling in sand or clay. One of the first exam-
ples of the use of this device occurs in the work of Pestalozzi
about 1805 in Switzerland. Some of his lessons were
described by a pupil as follows :
The first elements of geography were taught us from the land
itself. We were first taken to a narrow valley not far from
Yverdon, where the river Buron runs. After taking a general
1 84 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
view of the valley, we were made to examine the details, until we
had obtained an exact and complete idea of it. We were then
told to take some of the clay which lay in beds on one side of
the valley and fill the baskets which we had brought for the
purpose. On our return to the [school], we took our places at
the long tables and reproduced in relief the valley we had just
studied, each one doing the part that had been allotted to him.
In the course of the next few days, [occurred] more walks and
more explorations, each day on higher ground, and each time
with a further extension of our work. Only when our relief was
finished were we shown the map, which by this means we did
not see until we were in a position to understand it. (8: 327)
SAND-PAN AS AN IMPORTANT AID IN CLARIFYING AND VITALIZING
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
The seven hills of Rome made by fourth-grade children in The University of Chicago
Elementary School. Note the two walls, the river Tiber, and Horatius at the bridge.
See explanation, below
Story of the above picture. — This picture represents an excel-
lent sand-table project worked out by fourth-grade pupils who
were studying Roman history. The details of the picture, show-
ing the seven hills of Rome, the two walls, the river Tiber, and
the incident of Horatius at the bridge are worthy of careful
study. For a complete description of the process by which the
class carried on the work, see the article by the teacher, Miss
Grace Storm, in the Elementary School Journal, November, 1915,
Vol. XVI, pp. 132-146. For a similar project in geography,
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 185
namely, a relief and products map of the United States, see
Miss Storm's article in the Elementary School Journal, September,
1914, Vol. XVI, pp. 29-40.
When engaged in the public schools of a small town in Illinois,
Miss Storm secured the pans for similar projects through children
who procured from home two shallow, galvanized-iron pans which
had been used under automobiles in garages. Two cheap low
tables were then procured, and the two pans, placed side by side,
gave ample room for a map of the United States.
The picture illustrates the matter of schoolroom equipment
and the use of constructive activities as well as the appercep-
tional teaching of geography as described on pages 183-187.
A SAXON SETTLEMENT AS A SAND-PAN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN
FIFTH-GRADE HISTORY
From The University of Chicago Elementary School. Compare the articles by
Miss Grace Storm referred to above
Inexpensive sand-pan makes surface features vivid. — In
well-equipped schools of the present day large galvanized-
iron sand-pans are extensively used for making relief models
of places studied. Pictures of such models made by the chil-
dren are shown above and on page 186. As a rule, children
work in committees on assigned units, such as the Appa-
lachian Mountains, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River.
The careful attention to the geographic realities which is
required of children in such an exercise will readily appear
to the reader if she will try to model the Great Lakes in
some sand. One fourth-grade child who was doing this said,
Jt H
W cj
! I
§ g
U
£ a! w
C os rt
J. i
S S5 -
OGRAPHY
ND-PANS ]
See story
H
4
C
to
h
X
O
**
O
g
H
§
£
u
w
H
SB
o
B
e.
u
H
PL,
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 187
" Gee, the Great Lakes are hard to put in ; they are so
z«-regular." After the relief of the United States is com-
pleted in the sand-table, it forms a vivid link in helping the
children to understand a surface map done in colors ; they
readily translate the dark browns of the map into the high
mountains of the sand-table, and translate the latter into the
pictures of mountains with which the study began. Such
symbols — pictures, sand-pan relief, and colored surface maps
— carry for them much more real ideas of surface forma-
tions than are conveyed by the mere words of the book con-
cerning elevations, depressions, mountain systems, and river
basins. A four-by-six-foot galvanized-iron pan and the sand
and clay which make possible such vivid geographic teaching
can easily be secured at small cost for any school. In one
school, in which reliefs like those shown on pages 184-186
were worked out by the pupils, the latter brought two pans from
private garages where they had been used under automobiles.
Story of the picture on opposite page. — This picture shows sixth-
grade children engaged in solving an irrigation problem in sand-pans
during the geography period. In the large pan you can see at the
left a ditch which represents the river. To the right of the river is
represented land which is considerably higher than the river. The
problem was to irrigate this land from the river without using any
mechanical device to pump or lift the water from the lower course
of the stream. The children tried building dams at places in the
upper course to back up and elevate the water. They then con-
structed across country, from above the dam, the main supply ditch,
keeping it on high ground so that the lateral ditches supplying the
farms descended toward the river. The picture illustrates the use
of sand-pan modeling to clarify geographical ideas as described on
page 185. It also illustrates training in problem solving and con-
struction as well as the utilization of children's instinctive interests
in manipulation, problem solving, and group emulation. The latter
appears in the contest to see which of the several teams at work
on the problem could first achieve a satisfactory solution.
1 88 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Specialized teacher-training makes possible skilled apper-
ceptional teaching. — The effective use of modeling as a
geographic aid requires more knowledge and training on the
part of the teacher than merely hearing recitations of memo-
rized words. This is true of all skilled teaching which prop-
erly recognizes the principle of apperception by providing
abundant real experiences for children and building instruc-
tion upon these. But, as indicated in the introductory chapter,
many normal schools now provide specialized training for
teaching in primary grades and middle grades, and such
training, if properly conducted, is devoted largely to giving
students a knowledge of the children, subject matter, and
methods of the grades in which they expect to teach. With
such full specialized training, teachers may be expected to
know enough themselves about realities to make ideas real
to children and to secure from the latter mental responses
of understanding and evaluation instead of mere words.
Conclusion. — This will conclude our second chapter on
the learning processes of pupils. In the first of these chap-
ters we noted that the children learn through their self-
activity, through their own mental responses. Hence it
becomes important for the teacher to be skilled in inferring
just what the inner responses of children are and in under-
standing the conditions which influence these responses. In
the present chapter we traced the influence of past experi-
ences on present responses. In the next chapter we shall
trace the influence of the pupil's present frame of mind.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
Child study. — i. HALL, G. S. Aspects of Child Life. (D. Apple-
ton and Company.) Chap, i, pp. 1-52. Printed also in Pedagogical
Seminary, Vol. I, pp. 139-173. Influential study of "the contents of
children's minds on entering school."
BUILDING ON PUPILS' PAST EXPERIENCES 189
2. THORNDIKE, E. L. Notes on Child Study. (The Macmillan
Company, 1903.) Pp. 57-62. Effective discussion of apperception;
reports Hall's study mentioned above.
Practical advice. — 3. BACHMAN. The Quality of Instruction versus
the Subject Matter. Elementary School Journal, May, 1915, Vol. XV,
pp. 491-497, 529-542. Describes prevalence of mechanical memorizing
in schools to-day.
4. EARHART, L. J. Types of Teaching. (Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 1915.) P. 102.
* 5. McMuRRY, F. and C. The Method of the Recitation. (The
Macmillan Company, 1903.) Pp. 74-93. The most simple, practical,
helpful, and influential discussion of apperception. Should be read by
all teachers.
6. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching, (A. G. Seiler, 1906.)
Pp. 42-50. Many excellent exercises for discussions in classes of
teachers.
7. TEMPLE, ALICE. Survey of the Kindergartens of Richmond,
Indiana. (The University of Chicago Press, 1917.) Pp. 29, 43.
Historical. — * 8. PARKER, S. C. History of Modern Elementary
Education. (Ginn and Company, 1912.) Pp. 188-207, on Rousseau's
program for real experiences for children; pp. 323-356, on Pestalozzi's
organization of improved methods in object teaching, home geography,
arithmetic, based on real experiences; pp. 359-364, on degenerated
Pestalozzian methods; pp. 439-441, 457-460, on Froebelian misunder-
standing of children's capacities and ideas.
Stories about children. — *g. KELLY, MYRA. Little Citizens, the
Humors of School Life. (Doubleday, Page & Co., 1904.) Fascinating
stories of New York slum children.
CHAPTER VIII
PUTTING PUPILS IN A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND
THE DOCTRINE OF PREPARATION
Main points of the chapter. — i . A pupil's response or reaction
in any situation is largely influenced by his general frame of mind.
2. Striking examples occur in the very irrelevant answers which
a pupil gives to questions even when he knows the correct answers.
3. Consequently the teacher should put the pupil in the proper
frame of mind
a. by arousing the general line of thought which she desires
him to pursue, and
b. by arousing favorable emotional attitudes, such as curiosity
and interest.
Three principles of teaching : self-activity, apperception,
preparation. — This chapter introduces the third general fact
concerning the learning processes of children. The first
fact, discussed in Chapter VI, is that children learn through
their own responses, reactions, or behavior ; hence teachers
must be skilled in determining whether the educative re-
sponses which they desire have actually been made by the
pupils. This we called the doctrine of self -activity. To secure
in pupils specific mental responses, the teacher must under-
stand the conditions which influence these responses. Our
second general fact about learning appeared in this connec-
tion in Chapter VII, namely, that a pupil's response is
influenced by his past experiences ; hence the teacher must
understand each pupil's past experiences and build upon
these. This we called the doctrine of apperception. The
third principle of learning will be discussed in this chapter,
190
A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND 191
namely, that a pupil's response is also influenced by his
present frame of mind ; hence the teacher should take steps
to put him in a frame of mind conducive to the responses
which she desires ; she should prepare his mind, set his
mental stage, as it were, for the mental action that is to
follow. This we call the doctrine of preparation.
Examples of influence of mental backgrounds ; the word
"bay" again. — As an example of the influence of a per-
son's general frame .of mind in determining his mental re-
sponse, we may use again the varied interpretations of the
word "bay." In reading the sentence "Pupils in geography
learn to define river, lake, gulf, bay, etc.," almost any per-
son would think of the geographic meaning of " bay" instead
of thinking of a bay horse or a bay window or the bay leaf
used in seasoning. This similarity of response or interpreta-
tion is due to the fact that the earlier suggestions in the
sentence have put the reader in the geographic frame of
mind. The similarity in the responses may thus be con-
trasted with the variety of responses noted on page 169,
where the same word " bay " was presented without pre-
liminary preparation of a mental background.
Mistake in reading caused by wrong background. — An-
other example of the influence of a person's frame of mind
in determining his response to a situation is found in the
following incident from my own experience :
I was riding in a train and happened to look over the shoulder
of the man in front of me at the newspaper he was reading. I
could just see the top of the paper and read there the following
large headline, extending clear across the page :
GOOD HATS A QUARTER
Inasmuch as I always take advantage of end-of-the-season reduc-
tion sales of men's furnishings, this statement interested me
(although good hats for a quarter seemed impossible) and I decided
to look into the matter further when I got a chance. Soon the
192 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
man left his seat to go into the smoking car. I picked up his paper
and, turning to the desired page, found that instead of reading
GOOD HATS A QUARTER
the headline read
GOD HATES A QUITTER
It was Monday morning and the paper in question contained re-
ports of Sunday sermons printed with large-type headlines running
clear across the page. If I had been in the religious frame of mind
at the time, instead of the bargain-hunting frame of mind, I might
have read the headline correctly at the first glance.
Colorless sentence given varied meanings by different
backgrounds. — Further examples of the great variety of
mental responses which may be aroused by the same words
being projected against different mental backgrounds are
given by Adams in the following quotation :
Take some such colorless sentence as " Think of him," and
note the difference effected by projecting it against the following
backgrounds :
A picture in Life of a low-class photographer trying to encourage
a pleasant expression on his female sitter's face. [Think of him.']
A widow laying flowers on a grave and addressing her little girl.
[Think of him.']
A religious revival meeting. [Think of HimJ]
A French schoolmaster during the Franco-Prussian War point-
ing to a picture of the first Napoleon. [Think of him.']
A conspirators' meeting where a traitor's name has been men-
tioned. [Oooo 1 think of him !] (1 : 93)
Pupils' irrelevant answers illustrate influence of wrong
line of thought. — In school we find many examples of
the influence of mental backgrounds in producing varied
responses by pupils. These examples often occur in the
unexpected answers in response to a question that was
intended to elicit an entirely different line of thought, as
illustrated by Adams in the following quotation :
A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND 193
A question is asked, for example, the answer to which is known
to be within the range of the pupil's knowledge. There is no doubt
about the matter. . . . The question is, however, so expressed that
the pupil, with the best intention in the world, cannot discover
against which background he is expected to project the ideas
concerned. Accordingly he projects them against the first available
background, in the hope that this may be the right one.
" Where was St. Paul converted ? " asks the teacher, speaking
from a geographical background. "In the ninth chapter of the
Acts," responds the pupil, from a background of textual reference.
In testing the intelligence of a class the inspector asks, " Where
do you find gates ? " The pupil, from a background made up of
puzzling experiences of the Socratic method, answers, " We don't
find gates, we make them." From a historico-geographical back-
ground the inspector desired to elicit the deleterious effect of a
large town on the purity of a river. He brought out the fact that
Robert the Bruce [1274-1329] spent his latter years at Roseneath
on the Clyde in Scotland, and that as a recreation he very
probably — according to the inspector — fished in the river. The
question that was to incriminate those who were responsible for the
pollution of the Clyde took the form " Why could n't the Bruce
fish there now ? " From a background of plain common sense
came the reply, " Because he's dead." (1: 96)
Absurd answers in written tests shcnv predominance of
wrong set of mind, — Perhaps the strangest examples of the
predominant influence of some special frame of mind or
mental background in determining the mental responses of
a pupil are found in the wrong answers in written exami-
nations. In such cases the teacher often marvels at the
absurdly irrelevant responses that the pupils make. Strik-
ing illustrations of such absurd answers were secured by
Thorndike (5 : 98) when he gave a reading test to chil-
dren in the upper grades. A portion of the test read
as follows :
Read this and then write the answers to i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Read it again as often as you need to.
ic>4 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Tom gave a gray cat to Mary. She gave him a black dog.
1 . What did Tom give the girl ?
2. What did the girl give Tom ?
3. What was the girl's name ?
(Five similar questions completed the eight.)
In writing his answers, one pupil was evidently strongly
itifluenced by a recent written lesson in substituting pro-
nouns for nouns. Hence, instead of answering the questions
he merely copied them, but substituted pronouns, thus :
1. What did he give the girl ?
2. What did the girl give ?
3. What was her name ?
The reader may be interested in guessing what mental
background was predominant in the case of the pupil who,
instead of answering the questions, merely copied them, but
followed each with certain phrases as indicated below :
1. " What did Tom give the girl ? " said Mary.
2. " What did the girl give Tom ? " asked her sister.
3. " What was the girl's name ? " said her mother.
Cross section of pupil 's mental responses would reveal
strange contrasts. — The strangely irrelevant responses
which appear in pupils' written papers are instructive in
suggesting that equally irrelevant and confused mental
responses must be taking place during oral recitations. If
a teacher could get a cross-section view of the mental re-
sponses being made by her pupils at any moment, it might
surprise her with its weird and strange contrasts.
Teacher must put pupils in favorable frame of mind ;
must prepare mental backgrounds. — The educational in-
ference which is drawn from the above facts is that a teacher
should take special care to put the pupils in the proper frame
of mind for the lines of thought which she desires them to
pursue ; she should set the mental stages for the mental
A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND 195
action that is to follow ; she should arrange the mental back-
grounds upon which her statements and questions will fall.
Steps to do this may vary from a few simple remarks at
the beginning of a lesson to very elaborate precautions con-
suming a whole lesson period in preparation for lessons
that are to follow.
Examples of step of preparation. — The following examples
are illustrations of such preparatory steps taken by teachers.
1. A second-grade class was reading "Cinderella." At
the beginning of the period the teacher reviewed the story
as far as they had read. She then said : " Let us each take
some character and read its part. Where no character is
required, I will read. Let 's see if we can finish the story
to-day." At the end of the period the children begged to
remain a few minutes after the recess bell rang, in order
to finish the story.
2. A third-grade class in Chicago was studying the water
supply of the city. They were ready to discuss the laying
of a pipe line out into Lake Michigan. At the beginning
of the period the teacher had the class recall the earlier
methods used to secure water ; namely, dipping water out of
the lake, digging wells, using water wagons, etc.
3. In a fourth-grade class the topic for the period was the
Roman soldiers. Before taking it up the children talked
about the American soldiers, their needs, the fact that they
were having measles, the Red Cross work which the children
were doing, the gathering of magazines for the soldiers, etc.
4. A fifth-grade class was studying "Robin Hood." They
were outlining the action of the story preparatory to drama-
tizing it. The teacher said : " To-day we want to continue
the story from where we left off, picking out the important
points to put in your notebooks. Let us first review the
points which you already have in your books."
5. An upper-grade class was beginning the study of the
surveying of the Northwest Territory. In this connection
196 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
they recalled their previous study of surveys in Kentucky,
the work of Daniel Boone, the tomahawking of trees for
landmarks with the resulting overlapping of claims which
led to feuds, the more accurate methods of surveying into
townships, sections, quarter-sections, etc. In spite of this
careful preparation, however, an observer noticed one girl
turn to a boy and ask in a whisper, " What is a survey ? "
The boy said he did n't know. The teacher, being una-
ware of their ignorance, did not ask for any explanation
of the word.
6. Very elaborate examples of the preparatory step are
found in certain primary reading lessons. For . instance, in
one system the first material read by the children in the first
grade is the rime
Seesaw ! Seesaw !
Here we go up and down.
Seesaw I Seesaw !
This is the way to town.
Before the actual reading is begun, two preparatory
lessons on the rime are given as follows : In the first
lesson the pupils are shown a picture of a little boy and girl
playing seesaw, or teeter-totter. The pupils talk about having
played the game and imitate it by swaying their arms up
and down. In the next lesson they memorize the rime
exactly and play a little kindergarten game with it. Finally,
in the third lesson, the teacher writes the rime on the
board. Before writing the first line she says, "What shall
I write first?" The children tell her to write "Seesaw!
Seesaw ! " Thus the pupils' first reading lesson is prepared
for in such a skillful way that they have the full meaning
in mind before the symbols are presented, and they are
intensely interested in telling the teacher what to write.
Thus they are prepared to read it as an interesting and
meaningful whole.
A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND 197
Recall related ideas ; state aim of lesson. — Most of the
above examples illustrate, as a part of the step of prepara-
tion, the practice of recalling the general field of ideas in
which the pupils are to do their thinking. This recalling
may be done by (i) a review of related matters previously
studied, and (2) a statement of the general topic or problem
or project or plan for the new period. Such a statement of
the general plan or aim of the lesson not only helps to
arouse in the pupil the appropriate lines of thought, but also
enables him to cooperate with the teacher in carrying out
the plan or attaining the aim of the lesson.
Make transitions clear ; reviews, relational phrases, out-
lines. — The above rules concerning reviews and statements
of plans apply not only at the beginning of the period but
also at the transitions from one phase of the lesson to
another. Unless the pupils are made aware of the transition
or change, their thoughts may continue to run along the
old line. In this textbook the author has endeavored to
help the reader over the transitions by means of reviews and
transitional sentences. Even single words or phrases such
as "however," "nevertheless," "on the other hand," are
important devices to use in writing or teaching in order to
put the pupils in the transitional frame of mind which is
desired. Building an outline on the blackboard as the lesson
progresses and referring frequently to it also serve to keep
pupils' minds directed along the right lines.
Creating favorable mental attitudes ; curiosity aroused by
problems. — The examples on pages 195-196 also illustrate
the creation of certain favorable attitudes of mind as well as
the recalling of a field of ideas or line of thought as dis-
cussed above. Among the mental attitudes of pupils which
are especially favorable in teaching are expectation and curi-
osity. The latter is particularly helpful when it includes a
puzzle or perplexity or problem which interests the pupils
and leads them to strive to find the solution,
198 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Interesting curious example often used to introduce larger
problems. — Very often the best preparation for the study
of large problems is through the discussion of some minor
problem of more immediate interest. Adams gives the
following example :
Instead of starting straightway with the subject of the difference
between the development of the feudal system in England and in
France, the problem might be suggested, Why are there hedgerows
in England and not in France ? In answering this interesting ques-
tion, all the essential points of difference emerge, and the incentive
of a well-defined purpose is maintained throughout the lesson.
(1: 181-182)
Playful attitudes and pleasant suggestions prepare for
enjoyment. — There are many kinds of teaching, however,
which do not involve problem solving. The most evident of
these occur in teaching the enjoyment of stories, poems,
pictures, songs, etc. The art of the preparatory steps here
consists in creating a certain general emotional background
which we may call " playful," and recalling certain trains of
thought which contain happy suggestions to be used in
enjoying the new story, or poem, or picture.
Attitude of interest of great importance ; next chapter. —
The arousing of such general mental attitudes as we have
been discussing, namely, expectancy, curiosity, playfulness,
etc., constitutes one of the largest problems in the practical
art of teaching. It may be called the general problem
of securing interest and concentrated attention on the part
of the pupils. Interest exerts such a large influence in
determining how effectively pupils learn, that we shall
devote all of the next chapter to a discussion of it as the
basis of economy in learning. Before turning to the next
chapter, however, the reader may review with profit the
summary of the present and preceding chapters as given
on page 190.
A FAVORABLE FRAME OF MIND 199
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references marked with an asterisk are especially recommended
to beginners.
* i. ADAMS, JOHN. Exposition and Illustration in Teaching.
(The Macmillan Company, 1910.) Pp. 91-144, 167-186. Excellent
reference. Many practical illustrations. Interesting style.
* 2. CHARTERS, VV. W. Methods of Teaching. (Row, Peterson &
Co., revised edition, 1912.) Critical discussion of step of preparation,
pp. 322-329. Use of reviews to put pupil in proper frame of mind,
PP- 355-364-
3. DEWEY, JOHN. How We Think. (D. C. Heath & Co., 1910.)
Important critical reference on statement of aim, pp. 201-208.
* 4. McMuRRY, F. and C. The Method of the Recitation. (The
Macmillan Company, 1903.) Pp. 83-117. Elaborate discussion of
preparation and of characteristics of a good aim. Easy and practical.
5. THORNDIKE, E. L. The Understanding of Sentences; a Study
of Errors in Reading. Elementary School Journal, October, 1917,
Vol. XVIII, pp. 98-1 14. Results of experimental tests which illustrate
" prepotency " of certain words or ideas or backgrounds in determining
responses of pupils.
CHAPTER IX
INTERESTS; THE BASIS OF ECONOMY IN LEARNING
Main points of the chapter i. An attitude of interest or
attention is favorable to learning.
2. The use of interesting adventure stories in teaching reading
and history illustrates utilizing children's active interests as an aid
in teaching.
3. Such utilization of children's interests is a cold-blooded
business proposition, not a matter of sentiment.
4. The spontaneous attention which is thus secured is more
favorable than forced attention.
5. Sugar-coating uninteresting material in order to secure spon-
taneous attention is often justified if the attention is not misdirected.
6. In utilizing any inborn interest of pupils, teachers must
consider not only its effectiveness in securing attention but also its
value in the lives of persons generally and in molding the character
of the pupil.
7. For a long time, fear of physical pain, fear of sarcasm and
ridicule, and rivalry for marks or prizes were the chief instinctive
interests appealed to by teachers.
8. Recent improved school practice tends to rely on the follow-
ing instinctive interests :
a. Interest in adventure and romance.
b. Interest in actions of people and animals.
c. Desire for social approval.
d. Interest in rhythm, rime, jingle, and song.
e. Curiosity, wonder, puzzle interest, problem interest, mental
activity.
f. Interest in expression and communication.
g. Manipulation and general physical activity.
h. Collecting instinct.
i. Imitative play.
j. Interest in games.
2OC
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 2OI
9. As a result of utilizing these interests of children, the latter
learn economically to work effectively and to enjoy even difficult
serious tasks.
Interest is a helpful mental attitude in learning. — In
our discussions of learning processes we have emphasized
the fact that a pupil learns through his own responses and
that the latter are influenced in any situation by the pupil's
past experience and present frame of mind. At the end of
the preceding chapter we showed that the present frame of
mind included not only certain fields of ideas or lines
of thought but also certain mental attitudes, such as
expectancy, curiosity, playfulness, etc. The words "interest"
and "attention" are used to designate certain of these mental
attitudes which are considered particularly helpful in getting
pupils to make certain specific responses ; that is, in directing
their self-activity along definite educative lines.
Illustrated by use of interest in adventure in teaching
reading. — To illustrate the importance of the attitude of
interest as an aid in educating pupils, consider which of the
following selections taken by Thorndike from actual school
readers you would prefer to use in teaching primary children
to read. The first selection, from a second reader published
in 1878, runs as follows:
FOODS
We must never forget that we do not live to eat, but that we
eat to live.
Our food is the flesh of beasts, birds, and fish, and the fruits of
the earth.
Beef is the flesh of the ox, pork is the flesh of the pig, and
mutton is the flesh of the sheep.
Apples grow on trees, and grapes grow on vines. Turnips and
beets grow in the ground. ... (6 : 67)
Can you imagine a second-grade pupil getting up much
enthusiasm about the above passage ? Can you imagine him
reading it voluntarily time and again and hungrily asking
202 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
the teacher for more stories about food ? The next selec-
tion, from a second reader published in 1897, accompanies
a picture of Longfellow, and runs as follows :
MR. LONGFELLOW
This is a picture of Mr. Longfellow.
He was the boy who lived near the sea.
He is an old gentleman in this picture. . . .
He was a poet.
A poet has beautiful thoughts.
He writes them for others to read. . . .
When he was a boy he went to school.
Then he went to Bowdoin College. . . .
He then went across the ocean. . . .
When he came back he was a teacher in Bowdoin College. (6 : 64)
You can easily see that this selection would .have more
attraction for seven-year-olds than the paragraph about foods.
The picture of Longfellow would excite some momentary
interest, but what of the sentences that follow ? Our study
of apperception revealed no more ill-adapted material than
discussions of Bowdoin College for seven-year-olds. Most
children would certainly not be attentive to such material
unless they were forced to be. Contrast now the following
" thriller " from a third reader published in the same year
as the story of Mr. Longfellow :
KING TAWNY MANE
There was once a lion whose name was Tawny Mane. He was
so strong that all the other animals were afraid of him, so he was
called the king of the forest. He liked to kill every animal that
came in his way, and there was no living thing in all the land that
was safe from him.
At last, one day, all the animals met to talk about their troubles,
and see if they could not find some plan to save themselves from
King Tawny Mane. They talked a long time, and then agreed
what to do.
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 203
In the evening they went together to the lion's de.n. King
Tawny Mane had just had a full meal, so he did not try to harm
any of them. " What do you want here ? " he roared.
This frightened them very much. Some of them ran back into
the thick woods. But the bravest stood still. " Speak and tell me
what you want," said the king.
Then Sharp Ears, the fox, stood up and spoke. (6 : 65)
Can you imagine an ordinary child who would not be
anxious to read on and find out what Sharp Ears said
about the plan to send one animal each day to appease the
king's hunger ? Perhaps even you would like to know the
adventure of little Cotton Tail which comes in the story
after the following paragraphs :
At last the lot fell upon a little rabbit named Cotton Tail, and
he was sent to make a call upon the king. He was in no hurry
to go. He played along the road until after dinner time. Then,
with big eyes and gentle steps, he went and stood at the lion's door.
King Tawny Mane was very hungry, and when he saw the
rabbit he roared, " Why are you so late ? Even the elephant
knows better than to keep me waiting."
The rabbit bowed low and said, " I know I am late. But if you
could only see what I have seen, you would not blame me."
" What have you seen ? " said the lion. (6 : 66)
Interest in adventure prominent in social life ; its use is
effective in teaching reading. — The interest which would
carry a child or an adult through the above story is the
same interest that made Homer's stories of the wanderings
of Ulysses so popular with the Greeks and that now gives
a popular journal a circulation of millions of copies each
week. It is one of the strongest interests born in human
beings ; namely, the interest in adventure, in excitement, in
romance. When coupled with the courageous and fighting
instincts it carries thousands of red-blooded persons to all
ends of the earth in search of new and thrilling experiences.
At the same time it impels many of the most timid and
204 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
peace-loving to sit in their comfortable homes or at the
movies, and thrill over the deeds of detectives and crooks,
cowboys and hunters, soldiers and sailors, knights and their
ladies. Obviously, we save much time and energy in teach-
ing children to read if we can use this interest to keep them
attentive during the reading period and to get them to
read voluntarily out of school hours. Consequently many
adventure stories are now read in the elementary school,
from " The Three Billy Goats Gruff " in the first grade
to "Treasure Island" in the upper grades.
Adventure interest also effectively tised in history teach-
ing. — The interest in adventure and romance may be used
with equal effectiveness in teaching history. This may be
illustrated by two examples. In a large city a young but
well-trained teacher was having difficulty with a fifth-grade
class, all of poor foreign parentage, in getting them inter-
ested in English history. She made a trip to the superin-
tendent's office and secured a set of supplementary historical
readers which contained tales of adventure. The children
immediately became interested ; the books were read in school
and out. The appeal made by the stories was well illustrated
by the remark of one child who called across the room to
a companion, "Say, Joe, wasn't Richard a peach of a guy?"
The second example of the utilization of the adventure
interest in teaching history is from the middle grades in The
University of Chicago Elementary School, which possesses
an excellent library of children's literature and supple-
mentary reading material, to which the children have free
access. In connection with the work in history, some of
the children read very widely ; for example, my own boy,
now in the fifth grade, reads about three hundred pages each
week-end. The books read, vary from the cheap but excel-
lent publications of the textbook companies to the beautiful
but more expensive books by the English writer H..E,
Marshall, entitled " Our Island Story," " Scotland's Story,"
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 205
'The History of France," and "This Country of Ours:
the Story of the United States." I have been interested
in noting what parts my son reads and what parts he omits.
He likes certain books, he says, because they are full of
battles, and fights with Indians, and travel and adventures
generally. Other books he will bring home from the library
and return without reading them, because they lack the
above elements. During my own boyhood, in the middle
grades, I read five-cent novels and such books as " Ragged
Dick " and " Frank on the Gunboat," to satisfy my craving
for adventure stories. Obviously, when the school can divert
some of the energy that ordinarily goes into such reading
into historical reading, it is achieving important educational
ends at small cost.
Utilizing children's interests is a business proposition, not
a matter of sentiment. — The use of the strong instinctive
interest in adventure as the basis for the effective teaching
of reading and history in the primary and middle grades
illustrates a number of general points concerning the utiliza-
tion of children's active interests by teachers. The first point
is that such utilization is a purely utilitarian, cold-blooded
business proposition. There is nothing sentimental about it,
any more than it would be considered a matter of sentiment
for a traveling salesman to try to sell an improved adding
machine to a business man by appealing to the man's interest
in securing speed, economy, and accuracy in his bookkeep-
ing. In the selling of most kinds of goods the salesman
can assume, on the part of the prospective buyer, the exist-
ence of certain active interests which are an essential part
of the latter's business activity. The salesman builds upon
these in the same way that the teacher ought to build upon
the active interests of pupils. The teacher does not have to
create the interest in adventure ; it already exists. It is an
active tendency of children which daily manifests itself in
their plays and games and stories and reading. The teacher
206 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
merely utilizes it and builds upon it to teach two of the most
important subjects in school ; namely, reading and history.
Children's interests call forth spontaneous attention in
contrast with old-fashioned forced attention. — The practice
of utilizing the existing interests of children as a means of
securing their attention to school work may be contrasted
with the older practice of merely demanding attention of
children to material in which they have no natural sponta-
neous interest. This contrast may be used to denote two
kinds of attention which teachers may secure ; namely,
forced attention and spontaneous attention. The devices used
by teachers in securing forced attention included threats,
demerits, rapping on the table, scolding, rewards, etc. Spon-
taneous attention, on the other hand, seems to come of
itself, as illustrated above by the spontaneous interest in
the story of King Tawny Mane and Little Cotton Tail.
Spontaneous attention more effective than forced divided
attention. — Spontaneous attention is usually more effective
in learning than forced attention because the latter is likely
to be so divided that only a small portion of it is given to
the lesson. This is illustrated by the pupil who is busily
engaged in shooting paper darts from a rubber band and at
the same time apparently listening to other pupils recite. This
pupil's attention is divided, part of it being given to the rubber
band, part to his targets, and just enough to the teacher and
recitation to avoid being caught. That such divided atten-
tion is not very effective in learning lessons can be easily
realized if the reader will call to mind his own efforts to
study for an examination when a conversation in which he
is interested is being carried on across the table from him
and he realizes that he has only twenty minutes left in which
to get ready for the examination. Or call to mind efforts to
study after returning from a dance, with the mind full of
alluring melodies and memories, or after laying down an un-
finished and exciting book. It takes no fine psychological
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 207
measurements to show that the progress made during an
hour of such divided and forced attention is often not as
great as that made during fifteen minutes of concentrated,
undivided, spontaneous attention to the lesson in question.
In school work it is obvious that the substitution of such
spontaneous, undivided attention for the forced and divided
attention which is often found there would mean much more
effective and economical learning.
Spontaneous attention, however, may be misdirected. —
Sometimes, however, the spontaneous attention which a
teacher secures is misdirected, and as a consequence the
instruction is largely wasted. This fact is illustrated by
the following amusing incident quoted by Thorndike, from
the methods of a certain Miss Bessie with a group of
primary children.
It had seemed to Miss Bessie advisable that the children should
know something of the world on which they live, and for purposes
of instruction she had selected a geyser and a volcano as impor-
tant— not to say interesting — features of land structure. By
means of a rubber ball with a hole in it, artfully concealed in a
pile of sand, she had created a geyser, and with a bit of cotton
soaked in alcohol and lighted, she had simulated a volcano.
We began our work with geography in ignorance of these facts.
After a few lessons on hills, mountains, islands, capes, and bays
the children informed us that they " did n't like those old things."
" Please won't you give us the fireworks," asked Freddie. " Or
the squirt ? " added Agnes, eagerly. (6 : 63)
Sugar-coating may be justified if it secures properly di-
rected attention. — Such examples have led some educators
to condemn all sugar-coating to secure interest, but it is
possible to justify some sugar-coating by distinguishing be-
tween harmful and useful forms of it. Miss Bessie's device
was harmful because it merely secured attention to the fire-
works and did not secure attention to the geographic facts
to be taught. Contrast with it the following method of
208 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
sugar-coating drill upon fractions. A fifth-grade teacher has
a pack of cards with a fraction such as | or | printed on
each. She stands before the class, writes a multiplier such
as ^ on the board, and then flashes the cards, one at a
time, the pupils giving the answers rapidly in turn. A record
is kept of the time consumed. It is written on the board
in a column containing the records of previous days with
the same cards, and paralleling the record made by another
class. The fraction drill thus becomes a competitive game.
It is just as much a sugar-coating device, however, for se-
curing interest and zest in drill on fractions as Miss Bessie's
fireworks were sugar-coating for geographic facts. The sugar-
coating character of the game is shown by the fact that
it has no essential connection with fractions, but could be
played with any kind of material on cards, such as sums in
addition, names of historical characters, dates of important
events, geographic facts. This sugar-coated drill, however,
is justified because it secures concentrated attention exactly
where it is desired; namely, upon each fractional operation
in multiplication as the card is flashed. Not only is the
child attentive who is called on, but all the class are on
their toes, helping him mentally, as it were, in the same
way that a coach on the sidelines takes part mentally in
each play made in baseball, football, or basketball. Scien-
tific measurements show that such a drill game does actually
bring great improvement in skill and speed in arithmetic ;
hence it is a sugar-coating device that is justified, not only
because it secures concentrated attention where desired
but also because objective, precise measurements of results
prove its effectiveness.
Ultimate consequences of using an interest must be harm-
less. — Another general question about interests which is
illustrated by our example of the use of adventure material
in teaching reading and history concerns the ultimate con-
sequences of the utilization of the interest concerned ; for
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 209
example, does more harm than good result from having
children read adventure stories like " King Tawny Mane "
or the adventures of Richard the Lion-H carted ? The answer
varies with the instinctive interest concerned and the way
it is used. In the present case we may infer the answer
from the fact that many great men, including President
Wilson, take much delight in reading detective stories such
as those of Sherlock Holmes, and many college professors,
and even college presidents that I have known, are regular
readers of the Saturday Evening Post. It could be easily
shown that such adventure reading by the general public is
usually a harmless form of enjoying leisure time. Hence
we could conclude that similar reading by children is not
reprehensible.
Three questions in evaluating use of an instinctive in-
terest. — On the other hand, we might conclude that the
ultimate results of utilizing a given instinctive interest in
school were unsatisfactory and decide against it. In thus
evaluating the use of any inborn or instinctive tendency
as the basis of securing interest in school work, we may
consider at least three questions ; namely :
1. What part does the instinct play in the lives of
people generally ?
2. Is it effective when used as the basis of attention and
interest in teaching ?
3. Are the present and ultimate educational results of
utilizing it satisfactory ?
Illustrated by application to instinct of emulation. — To
illustrate the application of these questions, let us consider
the use of the instinct of emulation in instruction from the
standpoint of each question.
i . Emulation an important cause of social striving. —
Emulation, or rivalry, is one of the most impelling motives in
social life. In fact, Veblen, in his " Theory of the Leisure
Class," maintains that "pecuniary emulation" (that is, the
210 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
desire to possess more wealth or position or power than some-
one else) is at the basis of most social striving and many
phases of social organization. He gives examples which vary
from the savage, who can show the obvious trophies of the
chase as evidence of his power and wealth, to the American
millionaire whose unused mansion on Fifth Avenue or River-
side Drive in New York, and whose jewel-bedecked wife in
the golden horseshoe at the opera, serve the same purpose by
being tangible evidence that he has so much money that he
can afford to spend it in perfectly useless or unnecessary ways.
Such persons, and in a small way many others, are not striv-
ing for necessities or even for luxuries ; they are simply
striving to get more. At first they strive to get more than
some persons and as much as certain others in order to be
considered in the class with the latter. Having attained this
point they are not satisfied, but continue to strive to secure
more than their present equals in wealth or power or posi-
tion, in order to have as much as some other individual or
group higher up in the scale of quantity. Thus the striving
is always going on, bringing with it many material improve-
ments in life and at the same time producing much unhappi-
ness, but leaving no doubt that emulation is one of the most
influential causes in social endeavor.
2. Emulation has been effectively tised in schools. —
When we regard emulation from the standpoint of our
second question, namely, its effectiveness when used in
instruction, it becomes evident that it can be made just as
influential in school as it is in social life at large. If prizes,
rewards, honors, and position are held up for competition,
the striving of students to attain them commonly becomes
intense and vigorous. If the conditions of the competition
are so arranged as to give a chance to pupils of all degrees
of ability, the stimulus affects large numbers. The large
possibilities of using emulation as a motive were most thor-
oughly worked out by the Lancasterian monitorial schools
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 21 1
whose monitorial system as used in New York City was
described on page 69. Children were given tickets each
day according to their success in various subjects. After a
sufficient number of tickets had been accumulated these
could be exchanged for badges of honor, or books, or even
pocket knives and toys. Similar devices were widely used in
certain Sunday schools. A description of this practice is
given by Mark Twain in " Tom Sawyer," in the chapter
entitled " Showing off in Sunday School."
The action is supposed to take place about 1840. The
description opens with a picture of Tom at the door of the
church on Sunday exchanging fish hooks, sticks of " lickrish,"
marbles, and other trifles for " yaller " tickets, blue tickets, and
red ones. During the period before Sunday school opened,
Tom carried on these high financial operations so success-
fully that he had accumulated a large supply of tickets by
the time the pupils took their seats to recite their lessons.
The children who were successful received one blue ticket
for every two verses which they recited. On the ticket was
printed a verse from the Bible. Ten blue tickets could be
exchanged for one red one, and ten of the latter for a yellow
ticket. Finally, after the pupil had earned ten yellow tickets
he received in exchange for them a Bible. According to the
story, Tom's conscientious sister, Mary, had, during two years,
earned two Bibles in this manner while the " teacher's pet "
had earned four or five. The ceremony of giving a child
the Bible which he had earned made him so conspicuous
that he was envied by all the other children who were spurred
on to greater efforts in emulation of him.
Doubtless the reader recalls the dire adventure which befell
Tom in his efforts to attain fame and prominence by the
method of high finance instead of the slow process of mem-
orizing verses. If you do not, you may spend a pleasant
quarter of an hour reading the incident in Mark Twain's
own inimitable account of it. For our present purposes, we
212 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
are merely concerned with it as an example of the practice
which prevailed so generally in Sunday schools, of appealing
to the instinct of emulation to spur pupils to greater efforts
in their studies.
In public schools to-day teachers often place the names
of children on the board with red stars and yellow stars
opposite them to indicate various degrees of success. The
general testimony concerning such appeals to emulation
indicates that they are quite effective in getting many pupils
to study attentively and diligently.
3. Are the total effects of using individual emulation
unsatisfactory f — However, when we come to consider the
total influence of appeals to emulation, we find ourselves in
a dilemma. Many idealistic educators disapprove entirely
of the use of emulation and rivalry in schools, because, they
say, this practice merely increases in each pupil the tendency
to scramble for more wealth or power, and that this selfish
tendency is the basis of many social evils. Not only in
social life but also in school, they say, it tends to develop
unhappiness, hard feeling, and deceit.
Children s flay is naturally strongly competitive. — On
the other hand, if we watch children at play, we find emula-
tion such a large feature that Kirkpatrick says, " Competition
is the most prominent element in the play of children from
seven to twelve." (4: 157.) Since much of the energy of
children during this age is spent in such competitive play,
it makes us wonder whether playful competition is, after all,
such a pernicious matter. Certainly in the play of children
it does n't develop an overwhelming amount of unhappiness
and hard feelings but, on the contrary, seems to be an essen-
tial feature of their happiest moments.
Rivalry in social life may be directed to worthy ends. —
Further light is thrown on our dilemma by examples from
social life where competition, or rivalry, is used in the pur-
suit of some worthy end, such as raising funds for the Red
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 213
Cross. In this case, cities or teams or individuals compete
vigorously with each other, but the harder they compete, the
harder they are working for a desirable social outcome.
Emulation being directed in schools to secure beneficial
results. — Possibly the answer to our dilemma would be that
emulation or rivalry is not in itself a pernicious tendency
but, instead, is one of the most useful of human instincts in
bringing about self-improvement and social improvement.
The problem of directing it in social life so that people will
compete in socially helpful ways is being solved by demo-
cratic governments which are restricting more and more
the opportunities for individuals to acquire enormous for-
tunes and power and are interesting the efficient, competi-
tive persons more and more in public enterprises. The
problem of utilizing rivalry in schools is being solved not by
eliminating it but, first, by setting up certain standard scores
in arithmetic, handwriting, spelling, etc., and certain model
achievements in other subjects which pupils become inter-
ested in equaling or beating, and, second, by having groups
and classes compete with each other as illustrated in the
fraction game on page 208. In these forms, the increasing
use of well-directed competition is one of the most striking
features of recent improvements in school-teaching.
Summary of discussion of general aspects of interest and
attention. — In our discussions of interests up to this point,
we have noted the following ideas : (i) that interest is a
helpful attitude in learning, as illustrated by the effective use
of the adventure interest in teaching reading and history;
(2) that utilizing children's interests thus becomes a good
business proposition ; (3) that the explanation of the value
of using children's interests is found in the fact that they
are the basis of spontaneous attention ; (4) that care must
be taken in using children's interests to see that their
attention is not misdirected ; (5) that if attention is properly
directed, devices for sugar-coating uninteresting material are
214 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
often justified ; and (6) in utilizing any inborn instinctive
interest we must consider not only its effectiveness in get-
ting certain present results but also its ultimate influence on
the character of the pupil and in social life after school.
Important instincts used as basis of attention and interest.
- In presenting these general facts about interests, we used
as examples two very prominent instinctive interests ; namely,
the interests in adventure and in competition. These are
called instinctive because they originate in certain human
characteristics which are inborn ; that is, are not the result
of experience. We shall continue our discussion of utilizing
children's interests as the basis of economy in learning by
discussing a number of these instinctive interests, as follows :
A. Those used before Rousseau's humanitarian appeal to bast
teaching upon the instincts and capacities of childhood.
1. Fear of physical pain.
2. Fear of sarcasm and ridicule.
3. Rivalry for rewards and position.
B. Interests used in accordance with Rousseau's humanitarian^
psychological method.
1. Interest in adventure and romance.
2. Interest in actions of people and animals.
3. Desire for social approval.
4. Interest in rhythm, rime, jingle, and song.
5. Curiosity, wonder, puzzle interest, problem interest, mental
activity.
6. Interest in expression and communication.
7. Manipulation and general physical activity.
8. Collecting instinct.
9. Imitative play.
10. Interest in games.1
1 Precise psycho logv of instincts. — Students of psychology who desire to
reduce this list' of instinctive interests to its simplest components should
read Thorndike's " Educational Psychology," Vol. I. The terms used above
are chosen because they are readily understood by eighteen-year-old students
who have had no psychology. The order of presentation of the interests is
also determined by the apperceptional needs of such students.
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 215
i. Fear of physical pain generally used until 1800. — It
is hard to realize that in western Europe for hundreds of
years the principal means of getting pupils to study their
lessons was fear of physical punishment ; but this was the
case. There is plenty of evidence in the pictures of old-time
schools, in the appeals to abolish the practice which were
made by such famous writers as Erasmus (1466-1536),
Comenius (i 592-1670), Ascham (151 5-1 568), and Mulcaster
(1530-161 1), and in the records of the number of whippings
given by schoolmasters. The picture on page 217, in which
a large bunch of switches is held ready in each master's hand,
is typical. The switches were held in such a convenient
position, not because the boys were likely to be unruly or
insubordinate but in order that the teacher might give a
blow for each mistake as soon as the pupil made it
while reciting.
Apart from the fact that for humanitarian reasons such
punishment would not be tolerated at the present time, it
would not be used because it is obviously ineffective. Instead
of securing spontaneous attention, at the best it secures
forced, divided attention under conditions that are very
unfavorable to mental progress. For these reasons the use
of the instinctive fear of physical pain as a stimulus to
attention was generally discarded after the beginning of
the nineteenth century.
2. Fear of sarcasm and ridicule. — Somewhat akin to the
appeal based on the fear of physical pain is that based on the
instinctive fear of sarcasm and ridicule. This form of stimu-
lus is still used by many teachers, who regard it as an effective
instrument. Such teachers practice the use of sarcasm and
ridicule as an art, and develop a vocabulary of stinging
terms and expressions calculated to make the laziest pupil
apply himself in order to avoid a repetition of the ridicule.
It is true that such methods are often effective in securing
attention and effort on the part of the pupil, but attention
2i6 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
secured in this way is likely to be forced and divided and,
hence, relatively ineffective as compared with spontaneous
attention. If some means of arousing the latter can be de-
vised, it would be better to omit sarcasm and ridicule. More-
over, the unhappiness which these cause most pupils to suffer
and the unfriendly relations which they tend to establish
between teacher and pupils furnish additional reasons for
avoiding their use under ordinary circumstances. Certain mild
forms of good-humored ridicule, in which the lazy or careless
pupil becomes the object, for the moment, of mild, friendly
bantering by the teacher, would be the exceptions to the gen-
eral rule of eliminating ridicule as a stimulus to attention.
3. Emulation. — The transition from the use of the fear
of physical pain to the use of emulation represents a definite
historical advance and was so regarded by the two large
systems that used emulation extensively; namely, that of the
Jesuits (1540), discussed above, and the Lancasterian moni-
torial system, which was adopted extensively in the large
cities in the United States from 1805 to 1830. In view
of the long evaluation of the use of emulation given above
(pp. 209-213) nothing more need be said concerning it.
Other instinctive interests of children utilized recently. —
As a general rule the fear of physical pain and of sarcasm
and ridicule, together with appeal to emulation, constituted
the instinctive bases for securing the attention of pupils
until the reforms proposed in Rousseau's " Emile " began to
affect school practice. As we have noted several times,
Rousseau said to study childhood, particularly the instincts
and capacities of children, in order to determine how they
learn most readily and effectively. In his program he em-
phasized especially the use of children's instinctive interests
as the most economical and effective method of securing
attention. While later educators have departed somewhat
from Rousseau's account of what children's interests are, his
general idea of basing teaching upon children's instincts is
ftber
A BLOW FOR EACH MISTAKE
A medieval Latin school. Notice the " I '11-get-you-yet " leer in the eyes of the prin-
cipal teacher, ready, with switches poised, to punish for each mistake in translation
or grammar. Notice the assistant teacher circulating with his switches to distribute
blows where needed. See discussion on page 215
218 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
being carried out more and more in teaching. The following
paragraphs will consider some of these interests of children
which have gradually replaced in schools reliance on fear
and on rivalry for prizes and material rewards.
1. Interest in adventure and romance. — We have already
shown on pages 201-205 now the common instinctive inter-
est in adventure and romance is used in securing an interest
in reading and history. All the examples given there con-
cerned boys who had shown a strong interest in adventure
stories. It is important to keep in mind that little girls are
often just as much interested in such stories as are boys.
This is charmingly pictured in the foreword of " Scotland's
Story," by H. E. Marshall, several of whose books are dedi-
cated to little girls. The foreword reads in part as follows :
WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN
" It is very nice," said Caledonia, as she closed her book with
a sigh ; " but why did you not tell us stories of Scotland ? "
" Because there was no need. That has been done already by
a great and clever man."
" Oh, but children sometimes like the stories which are written
by the not clever people best," said Caledonia, wisely. " Littler
children do, anyhow. They are more simpler, you know."
" Oh, indeed ! " said I.
" I wish you would write ' Scotland's Story ' for littler children like
me," went on Caledonia, " and please put more battles in it than
in ' Our Island Story.' But you must not say that the Scots were
defeated. I don't like it at all when you say ' The Scots and the
Picts were driven back.' "
2. Interest in the actions of people and animals. — Closely
related to the interest in romance and adventure is the
common interest in the actions of people and animals.
This interest persists throughout life. Infants will notice and
watch persons and dogs, cats, horses, and cows with the
greatest ardor, while, at the opposite extreme, most adults
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 219
get their chief leisure enjoyment in life from mingling with
crowds, watching people stroll or play or work, and in talk-
ing gossip about people and reading about people in fiction
and in accounts of daily events. Adults are also greatly
interested in animal pets. During the period when children
are in the primary and middle grades, the interest in the
actions of animals and people is especially strong. Their
fondness for pets is well known, while their interest in
the movies is sufficient in itself to prove their interest
in the actions of people. These interests, combined with
the interest in excitement and adventure, result in their
enthusiasm for such stories as " King Tawny Mane,"
" Little Red Riding Hood," fairy tales, etc. By using
thes<* interests as a point of departure, almost any phase
of social life which children can understand can be made
of interest to them. For example, Rousseau proposed to
use the story of Robinson Crusoe as an introduction to
the study of the wants and industries of people. This sug-
gestion was carried out in great detail in certain elementary
schools not long ago. One needs only to look through a
library, and to ascertain what manifold phases of human life
have been represented in story and romance, in order to
appreciate what wide use may be made of the instinctive
interest in the actions of animals and people to secure the
spontaneous attention of pupils to many important topics
and activities. In our earlier chapters we have given a
number of illustrations of useful learning which starts with
these interests; namely, (i) the child who became interested
in Bible reading through adventure stories, movies, and the
battles of the Greeks and Persians (see page 49), (2) basing
the study of history on the adventures of the Vikings, of
Greek heroes, of Horatius at the bridge, and on the lives
and customs of historic peoples (see pages 135-140); and
(3) keeping pets as the source for a number of lines of instruc-
tion in the kindergarten and first grade (see pages 170-173).
220 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
3. Instinctive desire for social approval; the basis of
fashions and forms of social control. — The third instinctive
interest which we shall consider is the desire for the approval
of persons, for social approval. The utilization of this in-
stinct in the negative 'form of fear of sarcasm and ridicule
and the unhumanitarian character of such use we discussed
on page 215. The opposite practice of positive personal
approbation by the teacher is not unhumanitarian, however,
and is being widely used in home and school. The effective-
ness of both of these phases of the instinct in stimulating
or depressing people is described by Thorndike in the
following statement :
Darwin long ago noted the extraordinarily ill-proportioned
misery that comes from committing some blunder in society
whereat people involuntarily " look down " on one for an instant.
Except for him little attention has been paid to the [inborn char-
acter] of the hunger of man for the externals of admiration and
the intolerability of objective scorn and derision. Yet these forces
of approval and disapproval . . . are and have been potent social
controls. For example, the " discipline " of a humane home or
school to-day relies almost entirely upon such approval from
above, and finds it even more effective than severe sensuous pains
and deprivations. The elaborate paraphernalia and rites of fashion
in clothes exist chiefly by virtue of their value as means of securing
diffuse notice and approval. . . . The institution of tipping, which
began perhaps in kindliness and was fostered by economic self-
interest, is now well-nigh impregnable because no man is brave
enough to withstand the scorn of a line of lackeys whom he
heartily despises, or of a few onlookers whom he will never see
again. (8(6): 31)
Teacher 's approval especially desired in primary grades. —
Speaking of the utilization in school of the desire for social
approval Kirkpatrick says :
At first [the child] cares most for approval of parents, later of
teachers, then of companions. ... In the early years parents and
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 221
primary teachers who have the love of their children may get them
to do almost anything by appealing to the desire for personal
approval ; but as children get older, they care more and more for
the public sentiment of their social group. The successful grade
teacher must therefore learn to understand, mold, and use public
sentiment in governing her school. (4 : 123)
Encouraging atmosplicre of a first-grade room. — The
general tone of a first-grade room in which the teacher
appealed strongly to the children's desire for social approval
is suggested by the following remarks which she made. The
children were getting ready for dismissal. The teacher said,
" I want to see if these nice ready boys can take their seats
quietly"; whereupon the boys strutted proudly to their seats.
Later she said, " Now show me the first people that are
ready." During a writing lesson she said, "I am coming
around to see which papers are the neatest. . . . Donald's
is very nice because he has good spacing. . . . Who are
the first ones ready with pencils and tablets put away ? There,
Richard is the first one ready again." When the other
section came walking in on tiptoe, the teacher said, " What
nice toes they have to-day ! " The children smiled and were
proud of the impression they had made. During a reading
lesson, when a child expressed an idea well, the teacher said,
"Yes, that's it," in an approving tone. It was interesting
to note that even such slight expressions of approval were
treasured by the children. Doubtless the reader can recall
from her own experiences as a pupil occasions when a few
words of approval from a teacher have sung in her memory
for hours or days afterward.
4. Interest in rhythm and rime, jingle and song. -
The interests in rhythm and rime, jingle and song are
such large factors in the lives of children and adults that
they offer important possibilities in school-teaching. Their
importance in adult social life is suggested by the fact that
they are basic factors in the enjoyment of dancing, music,
222 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
and poetry. If you will read the history of Greek art, early
features of which were festival dances at the time of har-
vesting the grapes, you will see how the simple fundamental
instinctive interests in rhythm and song may be developed
gradually into the highest forms of art. That children are
fascinated with rimes and jingles is shown in their enthu-
siasm for Mother Goose rimes, for skipping games, etc.
The possibilities of utilizing these instinctive interests were
early recognized in the kindergarten, where rhythmic activi-
ties, such as skipping, clapping, marching, dancing, and
singing are prominent features. In teaching beginning
reading, nursery rimes such as " Old Mother Hubbard " and
" Little Jack Horner " were introduced into the first grade only
a few years ago, but are now widely used. One of the most
recent innovations in the use of rhythms in school is the
carrying on of handwriting drills in rhythm, — in the primary
grades while reciting " Seesaw, Margery Daw, up and down
we go," and in the upper grades while a metronome is
ticking. The effectiveness of the use of such rhythms in
handwriting drills is not merely a matter of opinion, but
has been proved by precise objective measures.
5. Curiosity, wondei, puzzle interest, problem interest,
mental activity. — An important group of instinctive tend-
encies and interests is suggested by the words "curiosity,"
" wonder," " puzzle interest," " problem interest," " mental
activity." Of these, the term "curiosity" is perhaps most
suggestive of the mental tendency to which we refer. An
example of its occurrence was given on page 203 in quoting
merely certain portions of the story of King Tawny Mane.
The second portion ended thus :
" What have you seen ? " said the lion.
I imagine that many of the readers of this book by this
time would like to know what Little Cotton Tail had seen.
If so, you can satisfy your curiosity by reading pages 65-67
of Thorndike's " Principles of Teaching," where the whole
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 223
story appears and from which our portions were quoted.
In doing this you will be paralleling the mental action of
the reader of a story in a periodical who suddenly encounters
"continued next week," a mental action which includes not
only a vague feeling of wonder but also a definite craving
for further reading and an active tendency to procure the
next installment of the story. This type of mental unrest
and craving is a factor in the recent improvements in organ-
izing reading material for children. Such material, at its
best, must not only include actions and adventures of animals
and people, but must be so artfully written as to maintain
the element of suspense throughout.
Popular science illustrates wonder about nature, used in
geography. — Curiosity and wonder concerning facts of
nature and geography are illustrated by the common interest
in reading magazines of popular science and the strange
and weird happenings that are recounted in the " patent
insides" of rural and small-town newspapers. The legitimate
utilization of such curiosity and wonder in teaching geog-
raphy was illustrated in the use of pictures of remote regions
in beginning the study of North America as described on
page 117.
Mental striving involved in puzzle interest ; riddles tised
in composition. — When the curiosity which has been aroused
is to be satisfied not merely by further reading, looking, or
listening but by reflective study, we have involved the in-
stinctive///^^ interest or problem interest. This interest or
form of mental striving may be aroused in adults and chil-
dren by even the most foolish and useless issues. Mechani-
cal puzzles furnish excellent illustrations ; for example, on
a canoeing trip I watched an Indian guide, a very intelli-
gent white guide, and a very efficient business man spend
much time fascinated in the efforts to untangle a wire puzzle.
The popularity of riddles with adults and children are further
examples of the fact that perfectly foolish puzzles arouse the
224 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
problem interest. Some teachers use riddles as a means of
arousing the pupils' interest in the primary grades in writing
A SECOND-GRADE COMPOSITION WHICH UTILIZES THE PUPIL'S
INTEREST IN RIDDLES
sentences, the children becoming fascinated in composing,
writing, and solving such simple problems as the following :
What has a face and no mouth ?
What has teeth and cannot bite ?
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 225
Even first-grade children may cooperatively compose compara-
tively long riddles, as shown in the following example, which
provided an interesting basis for much training in expression.
A RIDDLK
We have two little pets in our room. We will give you a riddle
about them. Will you try to guess it ?
They live in a wire cage. They climb all over it. They are
white and small, and have pink eyes, noses, claws, ears, and tails.
Their tails are long, which helps them jn climbing.
Our pets eat wheat, bird-seed, crackers, toast, and cake. They
wink their noses when they eat, as a bunny does.
They make a nest of cotton. When they don't want us to
bother them they cover it all over with sawdust and make
a .new hole.
They sleep during the day and wake at night. They climb on
our arms and try to go up our sleeves.
Can you guess what they are ? Here they are spelled backwards,
etihw earn.
Popular composition books for the middle grades get
children interested in writing compositions descriptive of
different animals or different cities which, however, are not
named in the compositions, and then having members of
the class guess what animal or city is described in each
composition as it is read.
Puzzle or problem interest easily aroused regardless of
practical value. — A teacher can arouse the puzzle or prob-
lem interest of a class by almost any kind of problem
which they can understand, regardless of its practical value
to them. In my own classes, my favorite device when the
students begin to lose interest in the realities of practical
teaching is to raise some interesting theoretical problem to
revive their interest. For example, not one person out of
twenty-five members of my class may ever have occasion
to teach a foreign language to children under twelve years
226 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
of age, but it is perfectly easy to get the whole class inter-
ested in discussing whether children learn a foreign language
more readily than adults, particularly when I assert that it is
my opinion that college students learn a foreign pronunciation
and vocabulary much more quickly than little children do.
Many university investigators impelled merely by desire
to solve puzzling problems. — Further examples of the inter-
est of adults in solving problems regardless of their so-called
"practical" value is found in the work of university stu-
dents and professors. Readers of this book may not be
familiar with these facts, but it is true that many of the
investigations carried on in certain departments in universi-
ties have no other motive than the "ascertaining of truth";
and the investigators are impelled to carry on the investiga-
tions merely by the desire to determine what the answer to
some puzzling problem is.
The real bite of a puzzling problem arouses mental striv-
ing.— Thus we see that the puzzle or problem interest is
manifested in children and adults in various types of situa-
tions varying from the relatively foolish interest in puzzles
and riddles up to the advanced scientific interests in theo-
retical investigations. The existence of this general puzzle
interest gives the school one of its best opportunities to pro-
vide valuable training through merely utilizing the instinctive
interests of children. Such training not only develops skill
in problem solving, which is socially very valuable, but also
keeps the pupil actively at work in mastering subject matter
in history, geography, and other subjects. In order to arouse
in many pupils intense mental striving to solve the problem,
it is only necessary, first, to make sure that the problem is
adapted to their past experience and understanding, that is,
to provide for the principle of apperception, and, second, to
lead up to the question in such a manner that the pupils
are really puzzled about it. With many children additional
interest in a problem is aroused by appealing to competition
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 227
or rivalry in its solution. Some children who will strive to
solve a problem in a group where they have a chance to
show off or to compete with others would take little interest
in the same problem if required to work on it by themselves
with no competitive social element entering in.
Examples of problems which have appealed to pupils. —
Examples of problems which have actually been used suc-
cessfully in puzzling children and getting them to strive for
the solution are given below.
1 i ) Constructive problems are particularly prominent in the
kindergarten and primary grades ; for example, in the kinder-
garten : " How can blocks be piled so as to make a bridge
across this imaginary stream chalked on the floor? " or " How
can a slanting roof be made on this house so it will shed
the rain ? " or, given the paper pattern for a doll's dress,
"How shall it be placed on the cloth in order to work out
the dress ? " or, given certain pieces of paper, "How can
they be folded so as to make little baskets or boxes to hold
the seeds from the garden ? "
(2) Problems of social needs are also a prominent feature
of the work in the primary and middle grades ; for example,
in studying the Vikings in the third grade, the children were
asked, " How, probably, did the inhabitants of old Norway
get from one part of their country to another ? What kind
of boats do you think the people made at first ? " Later, in
the study of the water supply of Chicago, the children are
interested in such problems as, " Where in the lake do you
think the water is clearest ? Do you think pipes could be
laid out there ? How could the freezing of the pipes in
winter be prevented?"
(3) In the middle and upper grades more complicated prob-
lems of cause and effect interest the pupils ; for example, in
the sixth grade, in studying the period of exploration such
questions as the following appeal if properly approached :
" What did Vasco da Gama's voyage do for Portugal ? In
228 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
what way would this direct route benefit Portugal ? How would
it benefit western Europe? How would this affect the cities
of Genoa, Venice, and Florence ? " In geography, the chil-
dren themselves constantly ask, "Why is it so ? Why do one
half of Canton's people live in boats ? Why is China so
crowded when she has so much room ? Why does n't she
work her coal mines ? "
Mental activity is a pleasant pastime . — The terms " curi-
osity," "wonder," "puzzle interest," and "problem inter-
ests " may all be included in the broader instinctive interest
in mental activity. Concerning this, Thorndike says :
The instinct of general mental activity is the fountain head of
human intellectual development and has been in the past the chief
support of school education. Unlike almost all other animals, man
thinks not only under the stress of some immediate practical need,
but at all times and for the mere enjoyment of thinking, — thinks
not only about the few particular objects that feed, warm, protect,
or injure him, but about everything he experiences. . . . The child
watches and listens to all sorts of objects even when they have no
meaning for his bodily needs. For to the human being intellectual
life is as truly a need as food or safety.
Children do not have to be enticed or forced to think and learn.
They seek ideas as eagerly as food. Only when it involves restraint,
monotony, and futility is thinking objectionable. The teacher's
problem is to preserve the force of the original instinct of mental
activity by giving it exercise and by rewarding its exercise with
satisfaction, and to guide the aimless, random thinking of children
into useful and rational forms. (6 : 25)
6. Interest in expression and communication stimulates
conversation. — The tendency to talk is a very prominent
characteristic of children and adults. Generally it takes the
form of a desire to talk to someone, although when individ-
uals are deprived of company for a long time, they often
talk to themselves. Some persons are so extremely talkative
that they become irrepressible bores, while others are so
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 229
taciturn and reticent that their communication consists merely
of monosyllabic grunts. On the average, however, the desire
to share one's ideas and experiences with others leads most
persons to tell " the news " to their friends on all occasions
and to discuss their problems and worries whenever they
can find a sympathetic, friendly audience.
The new basis of recitations and training in expression.
— Until recently this interest in communicating one's ex-
periences, problems, and ideas was almost entirely unused
in school ; in fact, it was generally repressed, children merely
being allowed to recite stuff that most of the class already
knew. Recent improvements in teaching make the. in-
stinctive interest in communication the basis of two of the
most important features of school work ; namely, the conduct
of many recitations and the training in expression. In both
of these cases such situations are created that certain pupils
have experiences and ideas to relate that other pupils do
not have, and an interested and sympathetic audience con-
sisting of the teacher and pupils is thus provided. Not only
talking, but also communication through writing and drawing
are utilized and stimulated in this manner. For an example
of the use of drawing see the frontispiece.
7. Manipulation and physical activity ; basis of sports,
arts, and industries. — That most children like to handle
things and to run, jump, skip, hop, dance, etc. is a matter
of common observation. As in the case of the general in-
stinct of mental activity, so in this case, Thorndike's evalu-
ation of the instinct is particularly illuminating as expressed
in the following words :
The instinct of general physical activity with its special form,
the manipulation of objects, is the original source of sports, indus-
tries, and arts, and is in childhood the prime ally of intellectual
development. As children think for the sake of thinking, so also
they move about and handle objects just for the love of action and
of the new ideas which action brings. The dog does a few things
8 u
EC JJ
2 w tn
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 231
to a small variety of objects and can become a hunter, eater, and
carrier ; the child does all sorts of things to almost everything and
can become a talker, a writer, carpenter, violinist, and hundreds of
things besides.
One aim of the school is to direct the force that makes children
run, jump, tumble, dance, wriggle, poke each other, seize and throw,
into play and work that shall be healthy for mind and body, and
to direct the force that makes children play with utensils, toys, and
the like toward the arts and industries that have most educative
value. Even where the action and manipulation are of no value in
themselves, they may be desirable as means to intellectual or moral
ends. We work against nature when we try to keep young children
still. To learn by doing something is to learn with the full help of
instinct. And we all know that it is for idle hands that Satan finds
mischief. (6: 26)
Examples of use of physical activity in schools. — The
instinct of physical activity was first extensively used in the
kindergarten, where such activities as piling blocks, cutting
Story of the picture on opposite page. — The historical con-
struction project shown on page 230 was worked out by a fifth-
grade class in a manner similar to the description on page 9.
The children had read Howard Pyle's " King Arthur " and had
listened to Scott's description of the tournament scene in " Ivan-
hoe." After considerable discussion and planning, a committee of
three children constructed in plasticine the castle shown at the
left. For its plan they followed the large illustration shown hang-
ing in the picture on page 232. Other children constructed the
moat, the roadway, the inclosure for the tournament ; many
children were engaged in constructing the pavilions on the right
for the king and queen and the lords and ladies. The costumes
for the doll characters called for considerable knowledge and in-
genuity. The periods for manual training and for history for about
one week centered in this project.
The picture illustrates clarifying and vitalizing children's ideas
of history through the utilization of their interests in romance,
adventure, manipulation, artistic expression, and imitative play.
Courtesy ol The University of Chicago Elementary School
VARIED RESULTS OF WORK ON SAME TOPIC BY DIFFERENT CLASSES,
ILLUSTRATED BY COMPARING THIS PICTURE WITH THOSE ON
PAGES 8 AND 230
See story on opposite page
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 233
paper, weaving, modeling in clay, tossing, catching, running,
skipping, clapping, marching, etc. were used as the basis of
giving social training and training in expression. Gradually
kindergarten activities have found their way into the primary
grades, where they are used in the same manner ; that is, not
only to give training in manipulation, marching, etc., but to
provide interesting forms of self-activity for children in learn-
ing reading, arithmetic, nature study, history, and geography.
Even as high as the fourth grade, as described in the ex-
ample on pages 13-17, basket- weaving may be carried on
as a means of teaching certain facts about industry. Other
examples of the use of physical activity in teaching other
matters than bodily skill are the following :
1 i ) Making a miniature farm in the first grade as described
above on page 135.
(2) Making Indian dresses, weaving Indian rugs, making
bows and arrows, etc. as shown in the picture on page 132.
(3) Twirling wool in an effort to make thread, using vari-
ous simple mechanical devices in connection with a study of
shepherd life as shown on page 14.
(4) Making Viking and Saxon villages as shown on
pages 138 and 185.
(5) Cutting paper dolls and dressing them in tissue-paper
clothing to represent types of dress worn by different
persons studied in Greek history.
Story of the picture on opposite page — The poorly focused but
instructive picture on page 232, when considered in connection
with the pictures on pages 8 and 230, illustrates the varied out-
comes from the planning by different groups of children in the
same grade with the same topic. It is this planning, this histori-
cal and constructional thinking, that furnishes the most valuable
features of these projects. The actual construction is a compara-
tively simple matter for the subdivided labor of a group of
children who have had some little training in working with clay,
plasticine, cardboard, costumes, and colors.
234 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
(6) Modeling an irrigation system as shown on page 186,
and representations of scenes in Roman life as shown on
page 184.
(7) Constructing castles in studying medieval history as
shown in the pictures on pages 8, 230, and 232.
8. Collecting instinct. — The tendency to collect simply
for the fun of collecting is another instinct whose strength
is easily recognized from common observation. It appears
in the tendency of children to collect tags, coupons, stamps,
dolls, postcards, and objects of every description. Among
adults we find the tendency manifested in the collection of
curios, books, works of art, etc. The tendency varies enor-
mously between individuals, some making practically no
collections, while others devote years to collecting a single
type of object, such as books or jewels. The general social
interest in collections is shown in the popularity of museums
of art and natural history and in fairs and expositions.
In school the collecting tendency is first utilized in having
children bring single objects to illustrate or contribute to
some group activity ; for example, in the kindergarten each
child may be asked to bring an American flag on a holi-
day, or to bring some empty box, as a cocoa box, to use in
the play store.
Individual collections may early be started with the assist-
ance of the teacher, particularly in the form of pasted scrap-
books made of manila paper. Thus in the course of study
described on pages 135-139 the first-grade children made a
Farm Book, the third-grade children made a Chicago Book, etc.
A most elaborate and instructive example of such pasted
collections occurred in the work of a teacher during one
year in Grades 3 A and 4 B. During this year she assisted the
children each to make a Boat Book, a Greek History Book,
a Book of North American Pictures, a Book of Fur-Bearing
Animals, and a Poem Book. Each child's Boat Book con-
tained postcards and pictures cut by him from magazines and
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 235
steamship folders. The North American Book of Travel and
Industry was also an individual product of each child's labors
and illustrated imaginary trips to Florida, California, the
Canadian Rockies, etc., and the great industries of farming,
grazing, mining, and manufacturing. The Greek History
Book contained material developed in class or provided by
the teacher, and included pictures of Greek scenes, poems
about the Greeks, paper dolls dressed in Greek costume,
and compositions by the children.
The making of any one of these scrapbooks resembles
an important part of the activity in writing such a book as
this one. If the reader will run rapidly through it, he will
notice that it consists largely of collections of four kinds of
materials ; namely, examples of school-teaching, pictures,
quotations from other writers, and exact bibliographical ref-
erences. These are tied together by the general discussion.
The collection of these materials occupied more of my time
than the actual writing of the book.
Thus we see that the collecting instinct and activity which
is such a prominent feature of human nature may be utilized
as the basis of interest in many practical activities in or
out of school.
9. Imitative play reproduces social activities in kinder-
garten ; dramatization. — An important complex of instinc-
tive tendencies is suggested by the term " imitative play."
Playing house, playing store, playing with dolls, and play-
ing fireman and policeman are common and useful exam-
ples. The imitative feature in such cases is obvious ; the
children, in play, are carrying on activities which resemble
those of other persons whom they have observed. The
children's activities are called play because they are doing
them for the fun of the thing, for the pleasure which comes
from the activity itself.
The educational possibilities of these plays as used in the
kindergarten were suggested in the statement concerning
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 237
the aims of kindergarten activities on page 18, where it
was stated that they give training in social and moral
relations, in problem solving, in expression, in aesthetic en-
joyment, and in manual skill. The actual use of a play
house, a play grocery store, and other community buildings
in order to secure these forms of training was described on
pages 126-127. Under the name of dramatization, imita-
tive plays are extensively used in teaching primary reading
and history. Pictures of dramatic projects are shown on
pages 134, 136, 236, 238, and 240.
Story of the picture on opposite page The third-grade chil-
dren shown in this picture have been studying the early history
of Chicago as described on page 137. In this connection they
constructed a little play centering around some of the incidents
in the life of Chicago's pioneers. In making their play they
chose the situations which they desired to use from " The Story
of Chicago," devised the necessary action, dictated the dialogue,
elected the actors, secured some of the costumes from the school's
costume box and made others, practiced the play a few times,
and then presented it to the assembled grades at morning exer-
cises as shown in the picture. Such a project may consume the
time of the periods for history and language for two or three
weeks. Usually a class undertakes only one or two such projects
during the year. The picture illustrates vitalizing the study of
history and training in problem solving and in oral, written, and
dramatic expression. It also illustrates the utilization of children's
interests in adventure, communication, imitative or dramatic play,
and emulation. The last appears in " trying out " various children
for the several characters. It also illustrates provision for individ-
ual differences, since a variety of talents are called for, and children
who may not succeed well in certain abstract phases of school
work may " star " in such a project as that shown in the picture.
The picture illustrates also the matter of schoolrooms and equip-
ment. Notice the small stage with simple, solid-color flies overhead,
the screens for walls, the stock fireplace, the spinning wheel from
the school museum, and the costumes from the school costume box.
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 239
10. Interest in games. Illustrated by popularity of sport-
ing page. — The interest in games is another complex of
instinctive tendencies which is a striking feature of human
nature, not only of children but also of adults. To appreciate
this fact one has only to recall the intense interest in base-
ball, football, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, prize-fighting,
card-playing, and the sporting page of newspapers. Rich
and poor alike are enthusiastic. The interest of the well-to-
do and better-educated classes is illustrated by the fact that
many of the leading daily papers which cater especially to
these classes maintain as one of their principal features
especially strong sport departments, including some of the
highest-priced writers in the country.
Children's interests in games used to improve drill. — The
interest of children in games is proverbial. As in the case
of imitative play, kindergartens and primary grades now use
Story of the picture on opposite page. — The dramatic scene
shown in this picture was prepared in the same general manner
as described at the bottom of page 237. In this case, however,
the fourth-grade children were studying Roman history and
constructed their play around the struggles between the Horatii
and the Curiatii. The costumes in this case are easily made
from cheesecloth, crepe paper, or other simple materials. Some
of them are found in the school's costume box. Some of the
practical-minded, adventurous boys of the class, who show very
little interest in school, may become keenly interested in making
the weapons used in this scene and in taking part in the combats.
This interest may be extended to reading the history in order
that the weapons and action may be historically accurate. This
play was prepared for the spring festival held in the school
garden. No effort is made to secure a finished performance of
elaborate costuming. After the teachers and children have had
a little experience with such performances, they take only a few
hours (that is, the history and language periods for two> or three
weeks) to finish the task, from the study of the historical situation
to final presentation before the assembled school.
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 241
games to teach many useful facts and activities. Above the
primary grades, games are used chiefly for drill, which, as a
consequence, has become the phase of school work in which
we often find the most intense interest. If I were asked to
name the one feature of school work below the sixth grade
in which I have seen pupils most eager and attentive, I
should mention pure abstract drill games in arithmetic, abso-
lutely unmotived by any other interest than that of the game.
One example was described on page 208. Another example
is the following from a second grade. The teacher has written
on the board the following combinations to be added :
12 12 12 12 II 12 12 II II
_7_4_9j$_l_3^^5_9
A guessing game is played as follows : One child thinks
of one of the sums and says, " I am thinking of a number."
Another child runs to the board, takes a pointer, and choos-
ing any combination gives the sum by asking, in case he
points at the first one, "Is it 19?" and so on until he
picks out the one which the first child had in mind. A
skilled teacher with a pack of large printed cards contain-
ing numbers, or words, or phonic syllables can stand before
a class and conduct with children an educative drill game
Story of the picture on opposite page. — This picture illustrates
the same general points in teaching as do those on pages 236 and
238. In this picture second-grade children are shown presenting
a little play based on the Arabian story of Tellah in Jennie Hall's
" The Weavers and Other Workers." The latter book is read in con-
nection with the study of shepherd life as indicated in the course of
study described on page 137. Naturally the whole technique of
constructing and presenting the play in the second grade is. much
simpler than in the case of the third grade described on page 237
or the fourth grade described on page 239. These pictures illus-
trate the utilization of children's interests in adventure, communi-
cation, and imitative play as a means of vitalizing and clarifying
their ideas of social activities, and of interesting them in reading.
242 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
which equals in zest and interest any baseball game or
" Ring-around-a-Rosy " game that children ever enacted
themselves, and the drill games have no other practical
motive for the children than have these common games.
Summary of discussion of special instinctive interests. —
This will conclude our discussion of the special instinctive
interests of children which have been used or are being used
to keep pupils in a frame of mind favorable to learning.
We noticed that fear of physical pain and fear of sarcasm
and ridicule have been discarded not only for humanitarian
reasons but because they arouse an unfavorable condition of
forced divided attention. In place of these we find Rous-
seau's humanitarian psychological program of child study
resulting in the use of the common instinctive interests in
adventure, romance, actions of animals and people, social
approval, rhythm, rime, jingle and song, puzzles, prob-
lems, mental activity, communication, manipulation, physical
activity, collecting, imitative play, and games.
Children learn to work effectively through interesting
activities. — These active tendencies, strivings, and cravings
of children, which we call their interests, are utilized or
directed so as to get the worth-while tasks of the school ac-
complished energetically, effectively, and economically ; they
are not used merely to pamper the children or to amuse
them. Through carrying out the strivings which these
interests involve, the children learn to work for more and
more remote ends and purposes. For example, they begin
reading with stories of their own pets, or stories of other
animals. As their vocabulary grows, they attack more and
more difficult reading to get the stories contained. They
are assisted in mastering and remembering the vocabulary
through drill games. As they acquire skill in reading, near
the fourth grade, their interest in problems and in commu-
nication is utilized to get them to read widely in order to
bring pertinent evidence and information to be presented
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 243
to the class. In this wide reading, their collecting instinct
may be appealed to and result in training in gathering
pictures, quotations, and other useful information from many
sources. At the end of the training they have become
skilled silent readers and more or less expert workers with
books. They have been prepared to work effectively through
activities, which, in the beginning in the kindergarten and
first grade, are predominantly play, but which gradually take
on the character of working for more and more remote ends
as the pupils progress through the grades.
Pupils, cowboys, artists, executives, etc. may enjoy their
work as a game. — Such work, however, at all stages may
possess the playful characteristic of being fun in itself,
of being intensely interesting at each stage. This is true
also of much of the work of the world in which many
teachers, writers, artists, speakers, mechanics, cowboys,
professional soldiers and sailors, politicians, administrators,
managers, and other kinds of workers are carried along, not
by a sense of duty, but, to use a common expression, because
they "like the game" — they can't give it up. Unfortunately,
some workers do not take to their jobs in this spirit, but
they are generally recognized as the less fortunate class.
Certainly from the standpoint of creating favorable conditions
for learning in school, which is the topic of this part of the
text, it is much more economical and effective to create for
pupils situations in which they attack their work with the
same zest and interest as do the great workers of the world
who " enjoy the game."
Work of life which involves learning may be intensely
interesting. — Another important point to consider in com-
paring the work of the school with the work of the world
is that the latter may be divided into (i) activities in which
new situations and nezv problems are continually arising, and
(2) activities which are repeated with routine uniformity
from day to day. Many of the workers noted in the
244 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
preceding paragraph are engaged largely in the first type
of activities, in which the novelty and variety of experiences
help to make the work interesting. However, any kind of
job or activity may, in the different stages in learning
it, illustrate this same contrast between (i) novelty and
(2) routine sameness. Thus, cooking may be fascinating to
a young housewife when she is learning it, but after she has
mastered all the recipes which she can devise or afford, it may
become humdrum monotony. Similarly, a stenographer's job
may be quite interesting while she is learning the work in a
new office, but after she has written and filed the same type of
formal material day after day it may become dull and dead.
Now, to which of these working situations in life should we
compare the work of the school — to the interesting process
of learning a new job or to the humdrum routine of a job
that is so monotonously the same that it has lost all interest
and become drudgery ? Obviously, since the school's tasks
are predominantly those in which pupils are learning new
ideas, meeting new situations and problems, and making
new processes automatic, we are justified in comparing its
work with the interesting periods of learning in life's work
instead of comparing it with life's routine drudgery.
Interest in school work does not mean soft pedagogy ;
difficulties are interesting. — Finally, it is perfectly clear
from the above examples that utilizing pupils' interests in
order to direct their energies along educational lines does
not imply merely making studies easy for them. To be sure,
some of the learning will be easy and all of it will be
sufficiently easy so that pupils can understand and master
the material in hand. Otherwise the principle of appercep-
tion would be violated and their efforts be fruitless and
wasted. But much of their interested learning will present
difficulties which call forth their best efforts. This is
particularly true in the case of the interests in group emula-
tion, problem solving, communication, and collecting, which
INTERESTS AND ECONOMY IN LEARNING 245
are strongly appealed to above the primary grades. Stimu-
lated by these interests, a pupil may work long and hard in
solving problems, formulating a composition or collecting
specimens, pictures, folders, maps, etc.
Conclusion. — The purpose of this chapter has been
to show how the educative and serious tasks of the school
can be learned most economically and effectively by utilizing
children's active interests. From the illustration of using
their interests in adventure stories as a means of teaching
reading and history economically, we proceeded to the gen-
eral points to be considered in utilizing any specific interest.
These general aspects were summarized on page 213 and
were followed by the evaluation of thirteen instinctive tend-
encies which have been utilized in schools, from the fear
of physical pain to the interest in games. These were sum-
marized on page 242 and followed by an argument to show
that school activities based on these apparently playful in-
terests may be very much like those phases of the work of
the world which present new problems or situations from
day to day in which adaptation or learning is called for. In
the next chapter we shall consider types of learning which
do not involve new problems or situations so much as they
involve memorizing or practice or drill upon processes which
are already understood. Even in these cases, however, as
has been frequently suggested in the present chapter,
we shall see how the zeal and interest of pupils enables
teachers to secure, after short periods of drill, results that the
old-fashioned schools failed to secure with prolonged periods
of uninteresting grind.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
For beginners. — i. DEWEY, JOHN. The School and Society. (The
University of Chicago Press, 1899; enlarged, 1915.) Pp. 59~73, on
utilizing of children's instinctive interests in communication, construction,
investigation, and artistic expression.
246 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
2. FREEMAN, F. N. How Children Learn, (Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 1917.) Pp. 56-1 1 1, on instincts of play and imitation and social
attitudes in children.
3. JAMES, WILLIAM. Talks to Teachers. (Henry Holt and Com-
pany, 1899.) Chaps, vi and vii, on instincts ; chaps, x and xi, on interest
and attention. Simple, interesting, important chapters by America's
greatest psychologist.
4. KIRKPATRICK, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study \ (The Mac-
millan Company, 1903.) Many valuable chapters on instincts. See
especially chaps, iv, viii, ix, x, xii, xiii. Read rapidly to pick up
suggestions.
5. THORNDIKE, E. L. Notes on Child Study. (The Macmillan Com-
pany, 1903.) Pp. 40-45, on instincts; pp. 154-162, on instincts of
children of kindergarten age.
6. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seller, 1906.)
Pp. 21-29, 34-38> 51-67, 105-109. The most valuable and suggestive
chapters written on the utilization of children's instinctive interests.
Many useful exercises for class discussion. The source of many sugges-
tions found in the present chapter.
For advanced students. — 7. JAMES, WILLIAM. Principles of Psy-
chology. (Henry Holt and Company, 1890.) Vol. II, pp. 383-441. Most
influential chapter written on human instincts. Interesting examples and
attractive style.
8. THORNDIKE, E. L. (a) Educational Psychology. Vol. I, The
Original Nature of Man. (Teachers College, 1913.) The most thorough
and critical treatment of human instincts. See chap, xvii, entitled The
Values and Use of Original Tendencies, (b) See also Briefer Course
edition of the above work, pp. 27-68.
9. McDoUGALL, W. Social Psychology. (John W. Luce & Company,
Boston, 1918, thirteenth edition.) Influential discussion of instincts as
" drives " in individual life and social organization. Important bearing
on " motivation."
10. WOODWORTH, R. S. Dynamic Psychology. (Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1918.) Chap. Ill, especially pp. 66-76. Adds capacities
as " drives." Important evaluation of " motivation."
CHAPTER X
DRILL AND PRACTICE
MAKING RESPONSES AUTOMATIC BY REPETITION
Main points of the chapter. — i . Examples of drills with vocab-
ulary cards, fraction cards, and printed problem sheets illustrate
modern drill methods. With such examples the following rules
are developed :
2. Only correct practice makes perfect; therefore,
a. Delay drill until a correct start is assured.
b. Always subordinate speed to accuracy.
3. Avoid wasting time on nonessential and accessory processes.
4. Secure zeal, interest, and concentration of attention with
short snappy drills.
5. Use ready-made scientifically organized drill systems.
6. Continue drill until precise standard scores are maintained.
7. Give additional practice in using abstract forms and processes
in concrete situations.
Five aspects of learning : self-activity, apperception,
preparation, interest, drill. — Up to this point in our story
of how children learn most effectively and economically we
have noted the following points : A pupil learns through his
own response and activities ; consequently the teacher must
be skilled in inferring what the mental response of each
pupil is at any moment and in understanding the conditions
which determine his responses. Among these conditions we
noted the pupil's past experiences, upon which the teacher
must build, and his present frame of mind, which the teacher
must modify or prepare in order to secure favorable mental
backgrounds or attitudes in the pupils. As most important
247
24$ TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
among these attitudes we discussed interests, which we
described as strivings, cravings, or active mental tendencies
in the pupil which should be utilized by the teacher. These
discussions of learning thus gave us four principles of teach-
ing ; namely, those of self-activity, apperception, preparation,
interest. In this chapter we shall take up a fifth aspect of
learning ; namely, how to make permanent and automatic
such particular responses as are involved in correct spelling
of common words, legible and rapid handwriting, correct and
rapid adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, and rapid
recognition of words and meanings in reading.
Examples of greatly improved technique in drill lessons.
- In view of the many recent improvements in the conduct
of drill lessons in the above subjects and the definiteness of
the skilled teacher's technique, we shall describe sample drill
lessons in reading and arithmetic as an introduction to the
principles to be observed in lessons involving drill or prac-
tice. The first of these lessons illustrates the use of drill
cards in teaching reading.
Six tricks in first-grade drills with vocabulary cards. —
A first-grade teacher, in about the seventh week of school,
had taught the children to read a chart containing such
sentences as the following :
We have two pets.
They are white mice, etc.
These sentences had been used by the children in telling about
their two mice. At the present time we are interested in part
of the drill which followed the reading of the chart as a whole.
At the beginning of the reading lesson the next day the
teacher had arranged on the blackboard ledge eight stiff
cards, on each of which was printed one of the words learned
recently; namely, "mice," "white," "have," etc. The pupils
were seated in little chairs at the front of the room. The
lesson proceeded as follows :
DRILL AND PRACTICE 249
1. The teacher gathered the cards and, holding them so
that the class could see, said, " Here we have some of our
old words. Let's see if we can name them." She then
displayed one card after the other. The class, whispering,
named the words in concert.
2. The class then stood up. The teacher handed a child
a card. If he named the word successfully, he sat down,
keeping the card and holding it so that the word could be
seen from the front of the room.
3. After all the cards were given out, each of the chil-
dren that still remained standing was permitted to pick, from
those sitting, a card containing a word which he could name
correctly and then to be seated. Finally all were seated.
4. The teacher then said, " I want the card which says
' mice.' ' The child having it ran quickly and gave it to
the teacher. This was repeated until she had all the cards.
5. The cards were then redistributed among the children
by the teacher and called for again as in paragraph 4. As
attention was beginning to flag slightly, the teacher said, " I
think some of the children are sleepy"; whereupon these
children sat up and paid attention.
6. The teacher then placed the cards in a row on the
blackboard ledge, the children reading them quietly in
concert as each was placed.
7. The drill was then concluded with the following game :
A chosen child ran into the cloak room. Another child ran
quickly and pointed at a word, for example, "mice," then
returned to his seat. The child in the cloak room returned.
He pointed at a word, for example, " have," and said, " Is it
' have ' ? " The children replied in concert, " No." He con-
tinued to point at and name words until he said, "Is it
' mice ' ? " Whereupon all the children clapped their hands, and
he returned to his seat. The game was then repeated once.
Eight words, six tricks, six minutes, ten repetitions at
intervals and with attention, application. — After the class
250 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
was seated and ready for the above drill, the total amount
of time consumed by it was about six minutes. In this brief
time six different tricks, stunts, or devices were used. The
necessity for this variety is shown by the fact that the atten-
tion of the little six-year-olds began to flag after the fifth
step in the drill. The teacher, consequently, proceeded
quickly to the seventh step, which involved more physical
activity for some and more interesting activity for all ;
namely, watching to see if the child guessed the right word
and clapping their hands when he did. By these devices,
each word was attentively observed by most of the children
at least ten times. The observations of each word were not
consecutive however, the attention having been drawn to
other words in the intervals which elapsed between the
observations of any given word. After the drill had con-
cluded with the game which provided for physical activity,
the reading lesson was continued by reading on the chart
the story of their pets, in which the words of the drill
occurred in sentences.
Eleven points of technique in fifth-grade drill with frac-
tion cards. — Another example of modern drill methods
which illustrates the fine technique that a teacher has to
develop in using drill cards is found in the game with frac-
tion cards described on page 208. The fifth-grade teacher
referred to had a pack of cards containing fractions such as
In carrying on the drill game in multiplying
these, each of the following numbered points represents a
distinct item in her technique.
1. She stood before the class in such a position that the
light fell on the cards so all the pupils could see well and
none face a window.
2. She appointed one boy to time the game.
3. She wrote the multiplier, for example, \, on the black-
board behind her.
DRILL AND PRACTICE 251
4. She made sure that all children understood what they
were to do.
5. She then said, " Ready, go ! "
6. She flashed the first card, for example, f , by bringing
it from the back of the pack to the front. The first child
gave the answer as quickly as he could say it.
7. (a) If his answer was correct, she flashed the next card
to the front of the pack, (b] If his answer was incorrect,
the next child gave the answer, the card was dropped on
the desk for future use, and the next card flashed.
8. This process continued around the class until the whole
pack of cards was used.
9. She then picked up from the desk the cards to which
incorrect answers had been given, and flashed them again,
calling on the pupils who had missed them if she could
remember without hesitation who they were.
10. She then asked the timekeeper for the time con-
sumed and wrote it on the board, for example, " 3 min. 30 sec.,"
under the record of the previous day for the same pack of
cards, and opposite the record of " 3 min. 25 sec." made
by another group of children.
1 1 . She concluded with remarks intended to arouse inter-
est in improving the record until it equaled a standard score,
such as three minutes for this pack.
Six minutes, fifty problems, zeal and attention, applica-
tion. — The total amount of time consumed in this drill in
getting the class ready, flashing the cards, writing the record
on the board, and making remarks about it was about six
minutes. During this period nearly every child in the group
of twenty-two was called on three times, and the total number
of problems correctly worked was about fifty. Practically every
child was attentive to each of these because of the intense
interest in improving the score. After this drill, problems of
areas, requiring the use of fractions in square measure,
were assigned.
252 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
From group practice to individual practice. — Both of the
examples of drill method given above illustrate group recita-
tions in which the whole class gives attention to a common
center. We shall now give two examples in which the
children work as individuals.
Addition combinations to 9 + g to be said in thirty seconds.
— Our first example of individual drill occurs in the third
grade where children memorize for rapid oral reproduction
all the forty-five addition combinations up to 9 + 9. These
are all printed or mimeographed on a sheet of paper, in
mixed order, making five rows similar to the following :
573984672
246713913
A copy of the sheet is given to each child after the teacher
is sure that the combinations are generally understood. The
technique in this case is also somewhat complex. The ulti-
mate achievement expected of each child is ability to give
orally the answers to all the combinations in any order on
the chart, up or down, from left to right or right to left, in
thirty seconds. Every day some children are given trials and
their records kept ; for example, a child may in the beginning
require forty-five seconds, decrease rapidly in a few days to
thirty-seven seconds, but not reach the desired goal of thirty
seconds for many days. Practice is given by concert drills
and individual drills in school, and the children are urged to
repeat the answers to someone at home who will time them
and correct them.
Systematic and thorough ; saves time from useless re-
sponses ; analyses and corrects wrong inner responses. —
The outcome of the device is automatic skill in using
rapidly these combinations in problems involving addition.
The device is systematic and thorough in achieving this
end, since it gives drill on all these combinations. It saves
time in many ways. For example, it eliminates the time
consumed in the old-fashioned drills by the teacher's saying,
DRILL AND PRACTICE 253
"What is 9 and 6, Johnny?" and waiting for Johnny to
wake up and reply. It saves Johnny the time of saying
"9 and 6 are." He merely says "fifteen" as quickly as he
can when he sees ^ on the paper. Moreover, in Johnny's
after life it saves him from saying "9 and 6" thousands
of times ; instead, when he encounters 2 in an addition
problem he merely thinks "fifteen," just as he thinks "cat"
when he sees the word, instead of thinking "c-a-t." In order
to make sure that each child does read off each answer in
this automatic way, without going through some roundabout
process, the teacher has to make a careful study of the
children who are slow in learning to repeat the combinations
in the desired time. For example, one such child was found
who, when adding " , instead of merely recalling the answer,
16, thought of it as follows : 9 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 16. The
teacher had to break up this habit and get the child to
9
think automatically 7.
76
Printed sheets of problems for fundamental processes ;
timed tests, individual practice, self-correction, individual
advancement. — The second example of individual drills is
an elaborate extension of the above type of device to the
working of all kinds of problems in adding, subtracting,
multiplying, and dividing ; the problems being printed on
sheets or cards ready to be distributed to the pupils. For
example, each pupil may be given a sheet or card printed
full of such problems in addition as the following :
643
587
1 2 6
254 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
All he has to do is to write the answers as rapidly as he
can on transparent paper or through holes which are perfo-
rated in the problem card. He does not begin to write until
the teacher gives the signal for the whole class to begin. At
the end of seven minutes the signal may be given to stop.
All pupils then cease work. They may turn the problem
cards over to compare their answers with the correct ones,
which may be printed on the back of the cards, or they may
use some other device for self-correction. Each pupil makes
a record of the number of problems which he has right. If
he has completed all the problems correctly, in the allotted
time, he is given a different card of problems to work next
time. The children who do not have satisfactory scores on
the first card may practice on it during study periods until
the next timed test on it is given, when they are tested on
it again, at the same time that other pupils are tested on
the lessons to which they have progressed.
Elaborate systems organized by authors and publishers ;
elaborate routine instituted by teacher. — It is obvious that
this scheme which provides many sheets of printed prob-
lems and permits different pupils to progress at different
rates and work with different sheets is much more elaborate
than the other examples of drill devices which we described.
It involves, in the first place, elaborate printed materials, —
printed sheets or cards of problems which have been care-
fully devised so as to give drill on all combinations and
operations. This, however, is not a task that confronts the
teacher, as it has already been performed by the authors
and textbook companies. The teacher's task is to accustom
herself and the pupils to the routine which is completely
described in the teacher's manual that accompanies the
drill materials. As indicated in the chapter on economy in
classroom management, however, this need present no special
difficulties, since the most elaborate routine can easily be
taught to children if the teacher will take the trouble. This
DRILL AND PRACTICE 255
type of drill exercise calls, however, not only for elaborate
routine organization but also for careful attention to the
individual needs of pupils. Thus it saves much time in two
ways: first, by having printed problems at hand, so that
pupils spend most of their time in arithmetical thinking in-
stead of fooling it away in copying problems ; and, second,
by permitting pupils to cease drill on processes which they
have already made perfectly automatic and to spend their
time on other assignments.
Examples introduce to principles of drill. — The four ex-
amples of modern drill methods which we have described —
namely, first-grade drill with vocabulary cards in reading,
fifth-grade drill with fraction cards, third-grade oral drill with
a chart of addition combinations, and systematic written drill
in the middle grades with ready-made printed sheets of
problems — serve to familiarize us sufficiently with concrete
schoolroom drill situations to enable us to understand easily
the general principles of teaching to be followed in organ-
izing effective drill lessons. These principles we shall now
consider systematically.
i . Only correct practice makes perfect. — Our first prin-
ciple of drill is that " only correct practice makes perfect " ;
therefore " make haste slowly " and try to make sure that
children are making the correct inner responses in their
practice. This principle may be formulated in two rules :
namely,
a. Repetitions should be delayed until a correct start is
assured.
b. Always subordinate speed to accuracy.
These rules may be explained as follows :
a. Correct start should precede repetitions. — In our
chapter on apperception we gave examples of the observation
and violation of the rule concerning a correct start. One
example concerned the children who could recite a rigmarole
of number names but could not count objects. They had
256 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
memorized meaningless words but had not had the correct
initial experience of actually counting and of associating the
number names with real quantities. In our account of the
first-grade drill lesson in reading, in the present chapter,
we indicated that the teacher had made the correct start in
preceding lessons by having children read sentences which
expressed their ideas about their pets. Only after these
sentences were understood and the words in them identified
was the abstract drill given with the same words on cards.
Similarly, we could show how the fraction drill had been
preceded by many carefully conducted lessons, in which the
processes of multiplying fractions had been made clear to
the pupils. Finally, in the complicated written practice in
adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, described
above, the correct start is thorough knowledge of the funda-
mental combinations and operations, of addition combinations
and operations, etc. Unless a pupil understands these ele-
mentary combinations and operations he cannot make
effective progress with complex problems involving them.
b. Subordinate speed to accuracy. — The rule concerning
subordinating speed to accuracy is particularly important in
arithmetic and handwriting, where both factors are greatly
emphasized at the present time. Until recently speed was
often neglected in both arithmetic and handwriting, but
examination of the use of these subjects in life shows that
pupils need to be trained to cipher and write not only
correctly but also at fair speed. As a consequence, speed is
now an aim in all drills, as illustrated in the limit of thirty
seconds set for third-grade children with the addition com-
binations up to 9 + 9, and the careful timing in the fraction
drill described above. These speed goals or time goals assist
in teaching in two ways : first, they set certain definite,
precise standards for the teacher and pupils to strive for,
and, second, they interest and stimulate the pupils. But in
striving to attain speed without careful regard to accuracy,
DRILL AND PRACTICE 257
unfortunate consequences may follow. In the first place the
responses of the pupils may be incorrect — in arithmetic
the answers being wrong and in handwriting the letters
being illegible. In the second place very unfavorable
nervous mental conditions are brought about in many chil-
dren. Hence we find the author of one of the well-known
practice systems in arithmetic saying,
The surest sign of faulty use of the practice tests is the speed
that is due to excessive effort and nervous strain. The speed that
is desired is the perfection of execution produced by thoroughness
of preparation. The speed that is merely hurry makes for ex-
haustion. Do not force speed. Inspire conscientious practice and
the question of speed will take care of itself. (5 (<f) : 4)
2. Do not waste time on nonessential or accessory proc-
esses. — Perhaps the most striking feature of the improved
technique in modern drill lessons is the amount of time
saved by eliminating unnecessary movements and processes.
A simple illustration occurred in the first-grade reading drill
with cards, in which the seating of the children in little
chairs in two compact semicircles around the teacher, near
the blackboard ledge, enabled the teacher quickly to hand a
card to each child and enabled the children to exchange
cards and run up to the blackboard ledge with little waste
of time. Similarly, saving time was clearly illustrated in the
fraction-card drill, in the third-grade addition drill, and in
the drills with printed practice problems described above.
With the fraction-drill cards, fifty fraction problems could
be worked in a few minutes by all pupils, because the
teacher did not have to state the problem, or call a pupil by
name, and the pupil had nothing to do but (i) keep in mind
the multiplier written on the board, (2) take in at a glance
the fraction on the flashed card, (3) think the answer,
(4) speak the answer. The first three of these processes
of the pupil constitute the essential arithmetical thinking
258 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
processes in which we want to give him training. Everything
else, such as getting the problems ready, stating them to the
class, and calling on pupils, is accessory. The more we can
simplify these accessory processes, the greater the time
available for arithmetical thinking.
3. Arouse zeal, interest, and concentration of attention.
- The general importance of zeal and interest as the basis
of economy in learning was emphasized in the preceding
chapter. There the special value of the interest in com-
petitive games in drills was illustrated on page 208 as well
as in the examples at the beginning of the present chapter.
The use of several other instinctive interests, particularly
the interests in guessing games, in physical activity, and in
novelty or variety, was illustrated in the first-grade reading
lesson described at the beginning of the present chapter.
Variety particularly important for small children. — The
necessity of variety in the drills for little children is particu-
larly noteworthy. As indicated in the account of the read-
ing drill, the attention of the six-year-old children began to
flag after the drill had continued for a very few minutes
and the teacher had to conclude with the guessing game,
which provided more physical activity as well as a more in-
teresting common center of attention for all the group. As
the children grow older their attention may be sustained
for a longer period. For example, the actual game in the
fifth-grade drill with the fraction cards consumed 3^- min-
utes, while the whole process took about six minutes. Even
with children of this age, however, the teacher did not repeat
the game that day, but proceeded to assign area problems in
which the fractions would be used.
Snappy, interesting, ten-minute drills have proved ade-
quate. — These examples are fair illustrations of the current
practice of having snappy, interesting, abstract drills for a
fevr minutes at the beginning of the lesson, to be followed
by content work involving new ideas or application of the
DRILL AND PRACTICE 259
processes which had been drilled on. As Courtis says
concerning the fundamental operations in arithmetic,
Ten minutes a day, day after day, spent in intense, purposeful,
snappy practice has proved adequate to develop proper habits of
speed and accuracy. Why use more ? (5 (<f) : 3)
Proved by scientific, precise, objective measurements. —
When Courtis says "has proved adequate," he means
" proved " by means of precise, objective, scientific measure-
ments of the results of actually using carefully organized
drill systems in arithmetic. Those who are interested in
examining the accounts of such scientific investigations of
drill in arithmetic, spelling, and handwriting should read the
references given at the end of this chapter. Such scientific
investigations make it unnecessary to rely merely on some-
one's opinions concerning the value of snappy, interesting
drill as compared with the old-fashioned ineffective drills,
which were characterized often by dallying and disgust on
the part of most pupils.
Summary of principles of drill to this point. — The three
principles of drill which we have considered thus far include
some of the most fundamental practical rules that a begin-
ning teacher can easily keep in mind in organizing drill
activities. They may be summarized as follows :
1 . Only correct practice makes perfect ; therefore,
a. Delay drill until a correct start is assured.
b. Always subordinate speed to accuracy.
2. Avoid wasting time on nonessential and accessory
processes.
3. Secure zeal, interest, and concentration of attention
with short snappy drills.
To these fundamental elementary rules we may add the
following rules or principles for further guidance.
4. Use ready-made, scientifically organized systems. -
The content of the drills in spelling, arithmetic, handwriting,
260 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
and reading consists of thousands of words, number combina-
tions, and letter forms which are of practical value in every-
day life. It is a stupendous task to determine
1 i ) which of these forms are most valuable ;
(2) which can be learned readily by children of different ages;
(3) what special difficulties are encountered with various
forms and combinations ; and
(4) upon what days and for how many days each class
and each pupil needs to be drilled on each form
or combination.
Illustrated in scientific investigation and organization of
spelling vocabulary. — In our discussion of the relative values
of subject matter, we described (page 104) the scientific work
that had been done in determining the 4000 words which
are in most common use in everyday writing, the hundred
" spelling demons," or most difficult words, and the organi-
zation of spelling textbooks which distribute these words
systematically through the grades with proper reviews and
repetitions to secure permanent learning of them. This
accomplishment represented the cumulative results of thou-
sands of hours of scientific study and practical organization
of spelling material. It is obvious that any teacher profits
enormously from using in her spelling drill a ready-made
system which is the outcome of so many hours of reliable
work by others.
Thousands of hours tised to devise scientific drill systems
in arithmetic. — In arithmetic a similar situation prevails.
In our chapter on the selection of subject matter (page 104)
we showed that it had been determined that simple prob-
lems involving simple operations in adding, subtracting,
multiplying, and dividing constitute the chief arithmetical
activities of life. A systematic study of these processes en-
ables one to list all of the number combinations and opera-
tions which are used. A study of the ease and difficulty
with which children carry on these various operations reveals
DRILL AND PRACTICE 261
then the "arithmetical demons," or steps of special diffi-
cult}', as well as the minor difficulties which they encounter.
Upon this basis a thorough systematic drill system in arith-
metic may be worked out, printed upon sheets, and made
available for all teachers. Thousands of hours have been
spent by men of scientific ability, cooperating with teachers
all over the country, in devising and revising such arith-
metical drill systems. They are now for sale by publishers.
If a teacher is at work in a school which, unfortunately,
does not provide her with such ready-made drill systems for
use in her classes, it would pay her to secure sample copies
of them in order to derive many suggestions for improving
her drill lessons. For a list of some of these ready-made
systems see the bibliography at the end of this chapter.
5. Continue drill until precise standard scores are main-
tained. — The scientific drill systems described above enable
us to answer a very perplexing question ; namely, When has
sufficient drill been given on any combination or operation
in reading, handwriting, or arithmetic ? This question is
puzzling for two reasons. In the first place, a child may be
able to read or write or cipher satisfactorily at a slow
speed but make mistakes at a higher speed. We can in-
crease his speed by well-organized practice or drill, but we
need to know when it has reached a sufficient rate. The
question is answered by the scientific drill systems by giving
standard scores. For example, the class which was multi-
plying a certain pack of fraction cards described above
would not have sufficient skill until it could finish the pack
in three minutes ; or, in the case of the arithmetic practice
sheets described on page 253, a fifth-grade child who is
practicing with the lesson sheets is not permitted to leave
each until he can complete correctly all the problems on it
in a timed test of seven minutes. These standard scores
which the children are expected to attain in any grade have
been determined by careful investigations of the scores made
262 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
by thousands of children in each grade when they have been
given various kinds and amounts of training. The scores
which they are to attain upon graduation from the eighth
grade have been determined by reliable tests of adults who
use in daily life the operations or combinations which are
to be practiced.
Persistence of skill determined by standard tests. — The
second puzzling feature of the question of when has suffi-
cient drill been given is the fact that a child may reach a
satisfactory score in handwriting or arithmetic to-day, but
fall below it next week or next year. The standard drill
systems take care of this difficulty by testing the children
frequently, several times each year, and determining from
their scores just how much drill they need. It is usually
found that some children need practice regularly throughout
the grades in order to keep them up to standard scores in
handwriting and the fundamental operations in arithmetic, but
other children retain their skill so permanently, or regain it so
quickly, that they may be excused from much of the practice
that is necessary for many of the children. This fact will be
referred to again in a later chapter on individual differences.
6. Give practice in using abstract forms and processes in
concrete situations. — Finally, we may emphasize the impor-
tance of giving pupils practice in using in concrete, complex
situations the abstract forms and operations which they have
practiced in isolation in the abstract drills. This process was
illustrated in the examples with which this chapter opened,
where, in the reading lesson, after the card drill, the chil-
dren proceeded to read sentences containing the words of the
drill, and after the fraction drill the children used multipli-
cation of fractions in solving area problems. One of the
simplest examples of the need of such concrete practice
is found in the case of spelling, in which a child may spell
a new difficult word correctly when it occurs in a column
test but spell it incorrectly when writing it in a sentence.
DRILL AND PRACTICE 263
Such failures are illustrated in the following experiment by
Tidy man and Brown. (6)
A sixth-grade class containing 41 pupils was taught the
spelling of 37 new words, 20 of these being rated as easy
and 17 as difficult. " The method of teaching consisted of
the study of the individual words from the board, use in
oral sentences, oral spelling, and writing," but the words
were not written in sentences during the training.
After some weeks, tests were given which included all the
new words in column spelling as well as all of them in dic-
tated sentences. The amount of correct spelling of the new
words in the sentence test was only 89 per cent of the
amount of correct spelling in the column test with the same
words ; that is, there was a loss of 1 1 per cent when the
words were written in sentences.
Large amount of skill transferred, but must correct amount
lost. — We must not be confused, however, by the above
results and conclude that training in column spelling is
a waste of time. The fact that the correct spelling in the
sentences was 89 per cent as great as in the columns
is probably more impressive than the loss of 1 1 per cent.
It shows that spelling words may be learned in isolation and
then correctly used in sentence writing, with very small loss.
However, since our purpose is to secure absolute correctness
in sentence spelling, we should not overlook this small loss,
but take steps to correct it by giving practice in writirjg the
words in sentences in addition to the spelling of the words
in isolation.
Rules for conduct of drills briefly phrased. — The above
pages present the fundamental principles and rules to be
observed in conducting drill lessons. They may be phrased
briefly in the following words :
i. Only correct practice makes perfect.
a. Make a correct start.
b. Subordinate speed to accuracy.
264 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
2. Avoid unnecessary processes.
3. Arouse zeal and interest.
4. Use ready-made scientific drill systems.
5. Drill till standard scores are maintained.
6. Apply abstract forms in concrete situations.
Is incidental drill as good as socially valuable, interest-
ing, scientifically organized specific drill ? — It is generally
admitted at the present time that such specific and scientifi-
cally organized drill is desirable and necessary in schools.
There are a few educators, however, who think that the
necessary skill in reading, handwriting, spelling, and arith-
metic can be acquired incidentally during the study of history,
geography, literature, manual training, etc. They do not
believe in abstract drills upon forms, combinations, and
processes in isolation from concrete, complex situations. A
great deal of discussion has centered in this question of
specific drill versus incidental drill. Three aspects of the
question have been disposed of in our earlier discussions
and may be summarized as follows :
First. The social necessity and value of these forms of skill
have been shown by precise, objective studies of social activi-
ties in the world at large. These studies determine just
what spelling words and arithmetical processes and degrees
of speed and accuracy in handwriting are desirable. The
studies of spelling and arithmetic were summarized in our
chapter on the selection of subject matter (pages 103-106).
Second. Children manifest the most intense interest in
abstract drills which are so organized as to appeal to their
instinctive interests in games and emulation, without recourse
to any other motive. This was discussed in our chapter on
interests (pages 208 and 239-242).
Third. Ten minutes a day of such socially valuable,
interesting, well-organized drills have proved sufficient in
each subject to maintain high degrees of skill, most of
which transfers to concrete situations.
DRILL AND PRACTICE 265
Our discussions, therefore, have proved that the abstract
processes practiced in scientifically organized isolated drills
are socially valuable, that the children may take intense
interest in such drills, and that the latter are effective in
giving children a command of these abstract tools for use
in concrete, complex situations.
Inadequacy of incidental practice shown by measured
results. — It remains for us to determine whether incidental
drill, without the specific abstract isolated drill, is equally
effective. Scientific tests indicate that it is not, that where
children are not given specific drills, their skill in spelling,
handwriting, and arithmetic falls far below that which has
been shown to be socially desirable and which they can
easily attain through specific drill. The Elementary School
of The University of Chicago furnishes interesting evidence
of these facts, since, up to about 1909, it was conducted
largely on the basis of incidental drills, and after that date
specific drills were emphasized. The inadequacy of the
incidental drill came to light about 1908, when Stone
measured with carefully devised tests the efficiency in arith-
metic shown by sixth-grade children in twenty-six school
systems, including The University of Chicago Elementary
School. The latter took very low rank ; in fact so unsatis-
factory was its showing that its faculty became very much
concerned to improve its efficiency in arithmetic by instituting
specific drill in arithmetic. As a consequence specific standard-
ized drill in this subject is now emphasized in the school.
Similar results came to light in the handwriting. This
was tested by Professor Freeman in 1912 and found to rank
well below that of a good public-school system. Ten min-
utes a day of specific drill in handwriting was then intro-
duced and the amount of improvement measured after several
months with favorable results.
Such scientific measurements show the results of inci-
dental practice in arithmetic and handwriting in an unusually
266 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
well-equipped school, with high-salaried, experienced teachers.
Even with such favorable conditions, the children did not
learn to cipher or write with sufficient skill to meet
the standard requirements of daily life as determined by
precise investigations.
Deterioration in handwriting without drill illustrated by
an example. — The amount of deterioration in a formal skill,
such as handwriting, which may result when no specific
drill is given in it, especially when it is much used, is
illustrated by the following example.
My ten-year-old son attends The University of Chicago
Elementary School mentioned above, which still retains the
rich course of study in history, geography, nature study,
literature, etc. which it formerly maintained, plus specific
drill in the formal subjects. By the end of the third grade
he wrote a fair, legible hand. He was then out of
school for three winter months while we were in Florida.
We taught him at home, but neglected his handwriting.
After he reentered school in the spring, the handwriting
drills, for a certain reason, were omitted. Then followed the
long summer vacation, during which he did much fluent
writing ; for example, pretending he was writing a book, he
copied all of the marginal headings in Marshall's "History
of France." In the fall, upon returning to school, his hand-
writing was so poor that when asked to read one of his com-
positions to the class, he could not read his own writing. It
took several months of short drills in school, supplemented
by practice at home, to get his handwriting back to fairly
satisfactory form.
Specific drill especially needed with rich, enticing course
of study. — While a single example, like the above, does not
prove our point, it illustrates perhaps more vividly than do
the scientific measurements by Stone and Freeman the
necessity of careful attention to specific drills in fundamental
formal processes. This is especially true in a school that has
DRILL AND PRACTICE 267
a rich course of study in the content subjects, a course so
rich and enticing that the formal processes may suffer serious
neglect and the pupils be seriously handicapped through in-
ability to use the formal tools of arithmetic and handwriting.
This neglect results from the teacher's becoming absorbed
in large interesting projects with the pupils, so interesting
to her that she does not care to devote her time to organ-
izing routine drills. The teachers lack of interest in this
part of her work should not confuse us in thinking of the
pupils interest. The interest of the pupils, as we have
repeatedly stated, may be just as keen in well-organized
specific drills as in the richest, meaningful content work, on
the one hand, or in the meaningless playing with jacks, jump-
ing a rope, singing " Ring-around-a-Rosy," wrestling and
playing Black Tom or baseball, on the other hand. Naturally,
the adult teacher may not care to organize drills any more
than she cares for these childish games, but she should not
let her lack of interest in these matters blind her to the
needs and interests of the children.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
The references with an asterisk are recommended to beginners.
Easy practical chapters. — * i . BAGLEV, W. C. The Educative
Process. (The Macmillan Company, 1905.) Pp. 328-331.
* 2. EARHART, LIDA B. Types of Teaching. (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1915.) Chap, xii, pp. 150-176.
* 3. STRAYER, G. D. The Teaching Process. (The Macmillan
Company, 1911.) Pp. 41-50.
Drill in arithmetic. — *4- KLAPPER, P. The Teaching of Arith-
metic. (D. Appleton and Company, 1916.) Many excellent practical
pages listed under " drill " in the index.
Ready-made drill systems. — Several of the textbook publishers issue
ready-made drill systems in arithmetic and other subjects. Teachers should
write for information concerning these. Address Ginn and Company
concerning the Thompson Minimum Essentials ; Scott, Foresman, and
Company, Chicago and New York, concerning the Studebaker perforated
arithmetic cards ; and World Book Company, Yon kers-on-the- Hudson,
268 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
New York, concerning the Courtis Practice Materials in Arithmetic.
See also the following arithmetics for examples of well-organized drill
materials incorporated in the textbook : CHADSEY-SMITH. Efficiency
Arithmetics. (Atkinson, Mentzer, and Company, 1917.) WENTWORTH-
SMITH. Essentials of Arithmetic. (Ginn and Company, 1915.) Most
of the systems of teaching primary reading provide ready-made drill
materials.
Scientific construction of ready-made drill systems. — 5. COURTIS,
5. A. The extensive work of Courtis in scientifically devising and
revising drill systems presents one of the most instructive introductions
to the study of modern drill methods. The progress of his work may
be traced by reading the following publications :
a. Elementary School Teacher, 1910-1912. Vol. XI, pp. 171, 360,
528, and Vol. XII, p. 127. Early articles on arithmetic tests.
b. Standard Rates of Reading. Fourteenth Yearbook of the ATational
Society for the Study of Education, Part I. (School and Home Pub-
lishing Company, 1915.) Pp. 44-58.
c. Tests in Arithmetic. Fifteenth Yearbook of the National Society
for the Study of Education, Part I. (School and Home Publishing
Company, 1916.) Pp. 91-106.
d. Teacher's Manual for Courtis Standard Practice Exercises.
(World Book Company, Yonkers-on-the-Hudson, New York, 1916.)
Transfer of skill from abstract drills to concrete practice. —
6. TIDYMAN, W. F., and BROWN, HELEN A. The Extent and Meaning
of the Loss in " Transfer " in Spelling. Elementary School Journal,
November, 1917, Vol. XVIII, pp. 210-214. Described above, p. 263.
Tests of efficiency of drill. — 7. FREEMAN, F. N. The Handwriting
Movement. Supplementary Educational Monographs. (The University
of Chicago, 1918.) Pp. 126-158. Describes the results of eight months
of carefully organized drill in handwriting.
8. STONE, C. W. Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors De-
termining Them. (Columbia University, 1908.) Described on page 265.
9. WALLIN, J. E. W. Spelling Efficiency. (Warwick & York.)
Pp. 17-25, 41, 80. See these pages for rapid study. Scientific evalua-
tion of this material requires very careful study of it.
Summaries of experimental psychological studies of practice. —
10. FREEMAN, F. N. How Children Learn. (Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 1917.) Pp. 185-211. Easy reading for beginners.
ii. THORNDIKE, E. L. Educational Psychology, Briefer Course.
(Teachers College, 1914.) Pp. 186-282. Technical account for trained
readers.
CHAPTER XI
ADAPTING CLASS INSTRUCTION TO DIFFERENCES
IN CAPACITY
Main points of the chapter. — i. Monotones and sweet singers
in the same family illustrate differences in the ease or difficulty
with which different children learn.
2. Drill exercises in arithmetic which permit each pupil to
advance at his own rate illustrate adapting class teaching to the
needs and capacities of different children.
3. Carefully organized supplementary assignments for bright
pupils enable them to utilize their spare time profitably.
4. Individual promotions of pupils who have failed, but who
can progress with individual teaching through the grades, illustrate
administrative provisions for individual attention.
5. Statistical studies show that without differentiated teaching
the brightest pupils may have half their time to spare while the
slowest are dragged along so fast that they cannot learn.
6. Such studies show also that there are only a few such bright
and slow pupils in an ordinary class.
7. Precise objective studies of the mentally deficient, of
geniuses, and of twins show that inborn equipment is a very
large factor in determining an individual's rate of learning.
8. There is such a variety of human talents, however, varying
from the manual skill of the artisan to the scientific reasoning of
a Newton or the statesmanship of a Lincoln, that practically every
pupil has some talent that is worth developing to a high degree.
9. Certain capacities, such as arithmetical computation, should
be developed in all pupils to a certain minimum skill desirable for
social usefulness.
10. In all cases the inborn character of varied talents calls for
the most sympathetic, reasonable, differentiated treatment of
pupils by the teacher.
269
270 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The last of chapters on general aspects of learning. —
This will be our last chapter on the general aspects of learn-
ing processes. If we go back to the first of these chapters,
we shall find that it emphasized the fact that a pupil learns
through his own responses ; hence the response that a pupil
makes in any process of learning becomes the central fac-
tor for the teacher to consider. In the other chapters on
learning we noted how these responses were influenced by
the pupil's past experience and present frame, including, in
the latter, attitudes of attention and interest. Finally, we
described how certain responses in the formal subjects are
made automatic through correct, interesting practice. In this
connection we noted that certain standard scores in arith-
metic, handwriting, etc. had been established and that pupils
vary in the ease with which they reach and maintain these
scores. Some children reach and maintain them with little
practice, and in a well-organized drill scheme are then ex-
cused from further practice. Other children, however, have
great difficulty in reaching the standard scores ; they need
much more individual assistance from the teacher and many
more periods of practice. Such facts concerning the indi-
vidual differences in the ease with which pupils learn will
furnish the material for discussion in this chapter.
Example of individual differences. Great differences in
capacity for learning to sing. — One of the simplest exam-
ples of variations in the ease with which children learn is
found in learning to sing. Some children learn to sing cor-
rectly with practically no instruction, merely through imita-
tion, while others, even with the regular school instruction
in singing, remain monotones or near-monotones. Very often
when these differences in the capacity to learn to sing are
mentioned to singing teachers, however, they tend to belittle
the differences by affirming that " even the monotones can
be taught to sing if given sufficient individual teaching."
They will cite examples of certain extreme monotones who
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 271
have learned to sing a few songs through very skilled pro-
longed teaching. However, instead of minimizing the im-
portance of individual differences in the capacity for learning
to sing, such examples merely emphasize the great influence
and importance of such differences.
Illustrated by children from same family. — Another
objection that is often cited in an effort to refute the impor-
tance of such differences in capacity is the statement that
" the monotones had unfavorable home influences " and that
" the teaching did not begin at a sufficiently early age." In
order to secure evidence concerning these statements it is
merely necessary to make observations in families where both
monotones and singers exist among the children of the same
family. The following is a typical example from a family
which I have been observing for some years.
Monotones and sweet singers in the same family. — Two
of the children in this family, a girl of six and a girl of ten,
are radically opposite in singing ability. The six-year-old is
a sweet singer ; that is, without instruction she easily picks
up songs, and sings happily and correctly at her play much
of the time. The ten-year-old, on the other hand, is a near-
monotone ; that is, she learns songs with great difficulty even
under instruction and seldom sings one through correctly.
Same opportunities. — Both of the children have had the
same home and school influences as far as their ages per-
mit, the monotone, being the older, having had more musi-
cal opportunities. They have both heard piano and phono-
graph music in the home and, as they grew old enough,
had the common singing experiences of the Sunday school,
kindergarten, and primary grades. The monotone has been
taking piano lessons for two years.
Parental differences. — The same differences as are found
between these children appear between the parents.
Musical mother. — The mother has very fine musical per-
ception. She has always whistled and sung for fun, can easily
2/2 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
sing any part in chorus singing, remembers a song when
she has heard it only a few times, and can play it "by ear "
on the piano with proper improvising of accompaniment.
Father, grandmother, and great-grandmother were mono-
tones.— The father, on the other hand, is a monotone. Like
his monotone daughter, he has great difficulty in singing
songs correctly. His mother was a monotone, and his
mother's mother was a monotone.
Fathers stepmother a musician. — The father's mother,
however, died when he was a baby, and, at the age of two,
he acquired a stepmother who was a musician, — pianist and
singer. Unlike the stepmother of the storybooks, she was
very kind to the boy, who liked her very much. Moreover,
she brought much music into the home, but the little boy
failed to learn to sing more than a few airs. However, he
now remembers fairly well a few songs which he learned in
his teens, such as, " Hail, Hail, the Gang 's all here " and
"Two little Girls in Blue."
Father ranks high in most other capacities. — The father's
lack of capacity for singing is highly specialized. In almost
every other capacity he takes high rank, being an efficient
business man, executive and public speaker, and an expert
in bowling, tennis, golf, and rifle shooting.
General facts about individual differences suggested by the
example. — This little family story of individual differences in
the capacity for learning to sing suggests a number of general
facts about individual differences in capacities as follows :
1. The differences may be inborn or native, not merely
due to education. In this case the evidence indicates rather
conclusively that they are inherited.
2. With the same opportunities, children with different
native capacities may learn very differently, achieve very differ-
ent degrees of skill. The amount of teaching that is needed
to teach one child to sing only one song indifferently might
suffice to teach another child to sing ten songs well.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 273
3. However, a person who possesses only a very small
native capacity for a certain activity may still acquire some
skill in that line if given sufficient practice, as shown by
the father's learning a few songs.
4. The specific skill acquired from such teaching may
persist a long time, as shown by the father's ability to sing
a few songs which he learned in adolescence.
5. A lack of capacity may be specialized, so that a per-
son who cannot learn easily in some line may easily become
an expert in others.
Weak or slow pupils. Monotones not denied promotion. —
Let us now turn to the school and find what is done about
monotones in the singing classes. In the first place we find
that lack of ability to sing correctly is never made a basis
of promotion or nonpromotion in the ordinary school.
Probably the reason for this is recognition of the fact that
a person may be unable to sing and still be a very useful
and happy member of society ; for example, the father men-
tioned above, while he cannot sing, is a very efficient and
useful person and also has much fun through participation
in many sports and through wide reading.
Placed near piano or excused from singing. — In the
singing classes in school the monotones are often placed
near the piano or near the teacher in recognition of their
peculiar needs. It would probably be wise to excuse the
most extreme cases from the singing classes altogether, for
two reasons ; first, in order that they might spend their own
time in a more profitable manner, and, second, in order to
avoid handicapping the children of moderate musical capacity
who cannot sing correctly when seated near a monotone.
Contrast with required skill in fundamentals in reading,
writing, and arithmetic ; these socially necessary. — Let us
now compare the treatment of monotones in school with
the provisions for individual differences in drill lessons
in reading, handwriting, and arithmetic. A very strong
274 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
contrast appears, owing to the difference in the social utility
of the activities in question. As indicated above, a person
may be very useful, efficient, and happy and not be able to
7 // ? IZL / 9 /3 q 12^
JL 5JL-LJL.2__Z.JL3_JL
T(/m&.
TEST PAPER ILLUSTRATING DIAGNOSIS OF INDIVIDUAL
PUPIL'S DIFFICULTIES
From an investigation by J. H. Smith described on page 275
sing. But a person who cannot read, write, or cipher at fair
speed and with fair accuracy has his chances for usefulness
and efficiency very much curtailed in modern society.
Much individual attention given in these fundamentals. —
Consequently, as we indicated in the chapter on drill, we
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 275
find the most careful attention being given to individual
pupils who have difficulty in attaining the standard scores in
reading, writing, and arithmetic that are socially desirable.
With skilled diagnosis of each pupil's difficulties, skilled
analysis of his internal responses, and skilled suggestions
for improvement, many of the slow pupils can acquire the
desired skill.
Examples of individual diagnosis and assistance. — In
our chapter on drill (page 253) we gave one example of the
child who had difficulty in adding ^ because he had to stop
and work it out as 9 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 1 6. The teacher dis-
covered the child's difficulty with this particular combination
and practiced him until he thought 1 6 automatically when he
saw 9 to be added.
_7
Another example is described byj. H. Smith, who, in
teaching arithmetic in the upper grades of The University
of Chicago Elementary School, carried on tests of indi-
vidual pupils to determine their special difficulties, and then
remedied these by appropriate individual training.
The children were tested individually with printed sheets
of problems. Each pupil was asked to think "out loud"
while doing his written work on the test problems so that
the teacher could find the errors in his inner responses.
The teacher made note of these errors and later entered
memoranda of them on the pupil's test paper. A sample of
a pupil's paper with memoranda entered by the teacher is
shown on page 274. In commenting on the individual
needs of the pupil who wrote this sample paper, Smith says :
This individual test showed the pupil to be very weak in sub-
traction. Note that he missed 3 out of the 10 easy subtractions at
the beginning of the test. The example in long division showed
an incomplete understanding of that process, but even if he had
understood the division process, he would have been unable to
276 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
work the example correctly on account of making so many errors
in the subordinate processes of multiplication and subtraction.
(12: 196)
Similar diagnostic tests in the cases of pupils who were
having difficulty with reading are described in references (14)
and (15) in the bibliography at the end of this chapter.
Special difficulties due (i) to inborn incapacity or (2) to
absence, inattention, poor teaching. — A pupil's special diffi-
culties which appear in such diagnostic tests in arithmetic
and reading may be due (i) to an inborn lack of capacity for
arithmetical computation or reading, or (2) they may be due
to absence, or inattention, or poor teaching of the processes
with which the child has difficulty. In the second case skilled
individual assistance may enable the child to forge ahead
rapidly after the special difficulty has been cleared up. In
the first case, where the difficulty is due to inborn incapacity,
prolonged patient individual assistance by the teacher may
be necessary to make automatic each fundamental elementary
process. However, as indicated above, the social importance
of such special skills as arithmetical computation is so great
that the time spent in improving weak pupils in them is
not wasted.
Weak pupils may retain specific skills if thoroughly
automatized. — There is reason to believe that if the simpler
fundamental processes in reading, writing, arithmetic, and
spelling are made thoroughly automatic in the case even of
slow pupils, by years of short, interesting, effective periods
of drill in school, these special skills may persist after the
pupils leave school. This does not mean that these skills
will not deteriorate if unpracticed after the children leave
school, but it the skills have been thoroughly automatized in
school, they can be quickly relearned, polished up again,
with little practice in later life.
Few song's remembered by monotone is an example of
retained skill. — An ordinary example of such persistence of
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 277
a specific skill even when there is general native incapacity
is found in the case of the monotones described earlier in
the chapter, where the father, although he has not learned
any new songs, can still sing a few songs learned in ado-
lescence. The persistence of these, to be sure, is due not
only to the original automatizing of them but also to their
occasional. recall at later periods in life. The similar per-
sistence of skill in swimming, skating, and baseball through
years, often with prolonged lack of practice, furnishes further
examples.
Typewriting skill deteriorated during disuse, but quickly
relearned. — More scientific evidence of the persistence of
specific skills, although not coupled with original native
incapacity in this case, is found in elaborate experiments on
typewriting conducted by Swift, who found that although
his typewriting skill deteriorated greatly during two years of
disuse, in a very few hours of practice he was able to bring it
back to its original level. Students interested in examining
the scientific evidence on the persistence of special skills
should read pages 243-258 in Thorndike's " Educational
Psychology, Briefer Course."
Summary concerning individual teaching of weak pupils.
— Up to this point in our discussion, by means of simple
examples of monotones and of pupils who need individual drill
in the fundamental processes of arithmetic, we illustrated a
number of general points concerning individual differences
in capacity and individual instruction. These have all per-
tained to weak pupils or pupils who are having special diffi-
culties. These points may now be summarized as follows :
1 . A specialized inability shown by any pupil may be due
either (i) to inborn incapacity or (2) to misunderstanding
and lack of practice arising from absence, inattention, or
defective teaching.
2. Where the inability is due to inborn incapacity, treat-
ment of it will depend on its social importance.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 279
a. If very essential for social service or increased happi-
ness, great care will be taken to bring the weak pupil up to
satisfactory standards.
b. If the inability relates to a subordinate and relatively
nonessential feature of. the pupil's later life, he may not be
given much special attention.
3. Where the inability is not due to native incapacity,
careful diagnosis and a few minutes of skilled individual
teaching will often suffice to enable the pupil to overcome
his difficulties and forge ahead.
Proficient pupils. Varied assignments. Excused from
drill. — The discussion of the individual needs of pupils
who are having special difficulties presents, however, only
a part of the problem of adapting teaching to individual
differences in capacity. Equally important are the cases of
pupils who have mastered the processes with which most
of the class is concerned and can spend their time and
energy to better advantage on other assignments. Here,
again, we find a simple example of what can be done for
such pupils in the use of the standardized printed drill
materials in arithmetic. As described on page 254, with
such materials each pupil practices, during the ten-minute
drill periods, upon such problem sheets as the tests have
indicated for him. If the tests have shown that he is suffi-
ciently skilled for his grade in all the fundamental processes,
then he is excused from the drill and spends his time upon
Story of the picture on opposite page. — In the school library
stacks shown in this picture are hundreds of volumes of fascinating
literature for children of all ages. These volumes vary from " Tom
Sawyer " and " How to make Airplanes " to H. E. Marshall's
" Scotland's Story " and Stevenson's poems. The fast pupils who
have completed their required work are often excused to go to the
library for supplementary study or free reading. Thus the picture
illustrates provision for individual differences.
280 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
other assignments. The importance of excusing the profi-
cient pupils from further drill is emphasized in one of the
standard drill systems in the following words :
Children who complete all the tests successfully do not need the
slightest drill work in the four operations as they already have
more than average adult ability in these skills. The author and
the publishers hereby give emphatic warning that the drill lessons
are designed only for children who need them, and that they
should not be held responsible for the bad effects and loss of effi-
ciency sure to follow the use of the drills with children who have
already attained the desired goal. Failure to determine the needs
of children and to adjust individual work accordingly is one of the
greatest factors operating to decrease the effectiveness of almost
all the drill work found in common practice. (26 : 1 2)
Organisation of supplementary assignments. — After the
teacher decides to excuse capable pupils from drill activities
in which they are proficient, the problem arises of devising
supplementary assignments for them. The organization of
such supplementary assignments is desirable, moreover, not
only for pupils who are excused from drill activities but
also for the more proficient pupils in every subject. Such
pupils often accomplish in a short time the regular assign-
ment of work intended for most of the class, and, unless
additional opportunities are opened for them, they may
waste much of their time and possibly misuse some of it
in devising mischief. An illustration of what may be done
in the way of organizing varied assignments for the bright
and the mediocre and the slow pupils is contained in the
following quotations :
An experiment with minimum and maximum assignments. —
The grade teachers of the Elkhart public schools tried out an
experiment during the past year with what may be called a sys-
tem of minimum and maximum assignments of lessons. The pur-
pose of the system was to provide a course to meet the different
abilities of different children and thus to increase the promotion
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 281
rate among them ; also to test out the scheme as a forerunner to
the planning of a course of study along the same lines.
Varied in quantity of subject matter : examples. — The minimum
assignment was that expected of all pupils in a given class, while
the maximum was the assignment given to the more capable. . . .
The two were supposed to differ merely in the quantity of subject
matter. For example, in a geography lesson on [a foreign country],
the minimum assignment was a certain portion of the text, with
an addition, for the maximum, of reports on such information as
[its] government, its military system, the growth of certain cen-
ters of industry, effect of certain physical features, points of his-
torical and artistic interest, etc. A certain minimum arithmetic
assignment consisted of ten problems in local banking, while the
maximum provided several additional problems, one or two of
which were more difficult ; also an assignment of a future report
on a special study of banking. A seventh-grade history assignment
had as the minimum the causes of the Revolutionary War, while
the maximum provided for a more intensive study of certain causes,
for instance, the British idea of taxation and representation ; also
a search in reference books for causes not commonly stated.
Maximum assignments in the above or other subjects might pro-
vide merely more extensive subject matter in a lesson or more
intensive preparation of certain phases of it. The minimum as-
signment in every case was the quantity of work it was reasonable
to expect of the majority of the slower ones in the class. The sum
total of such assignments for the term had to be sufficient to give at
least the minimum preparation for the next term's work.
Increased promotion rate. — The results of the experiment were
tabulated at the close of the school year and show the following
outcome. In some few schools there was no noticeable difference
in the promotion rate, due in most instances to the fact that the
teacher was inexperienced or was new to the city. ... At least
nine tenths of the corps found that the scheme has greatly in-
creased the promotion rates. The average gain for the entire city
was 1 8 per cent. . . . The plan operated easily and brought best
results where the teacher had all pupils of one half-grade and in
grades organized on the departmental system where there were
several sections in each half -grade. (5: 219-220)
282 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Special technique needed with varied assignments. — The
effective carrying out of such a scheme of varied assign-
ments necessitates (i) careful, detailed formulation of the
course of study in each grade ; (2) printed or mimeographed
outlines of the minimum and supplementary assignments ;
and (3) facilities for supplementary study, including supple-
mentary books in the classrooms, school library, public
library, and in the homes. Moreover, a special technique
is needed to avoid overstimulating the ambitious, nervous
pupils, neglecting the poor pupils, and overworking the
teacher. In the article quoted above, E. H. Drake gives an
account of the experiences in the Elkhart schools in devising
such a technique.
Examples of equipment, assignments, and technique
for supplementary individual work. — The following para-
graphs describe practices actually followed by teachers in
organizing supplementary assignments. The statements were
written by experienced teachers in the author's summer classes.
The first one is by a teacher of eleven years' experience.
In the first grade. — This is actually what I have done with first-
graders [writes the teacher]. It is actual experience, not mere theory.
It does not take me long by grouping and regrouping a class
or three dozen or more first-graders to get into one group four or
five who can go faster than the rest of the class. These pupils do
the work of the regular division that they are in and then, since
they get through so much more quickly, blackboard work with
harder material is waiting for them " over in the corner." Or,
if they finish their occupation lesson, they get a supplementary
reader from the bookrack " in another corner," and read to them-
selves ; later they have a few minutes' opportunity to read orally
to me, to make sure they have mastered the mechanics of reading.
Later in the year, they tell what they read about. I encourage
bright children to take my supplementary readers home to read
to mamma, not mamma to child. I also encourage them in bring-
ing their own material. I can often get new books in that way
and we exchange, so each child reads the others' books.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY
283
In arithmetic I have sets of graded " number " cards, the sets
getting " harder " and " harder." These cards the bright ones use
at odd times to avoid wasting their time and to increase their skill
with numbers. I make the cards myself. The following are
samples of flash cards requiring only the answers and used by
the children in drilling themselves.
One set
Another set
Another set
Another set
1
1
\2
1
10
1
You see these become harder and harder. I keep these sets
and pass them to the three or four bright children, and as they
can do the easier ones, I give harder ones.
In the construction work, each pupil's handiwork is praised and
preserved and extra models requested and preserved.
As a special incentive to the bright pupils in reading to apply
themselves, I excuse a few from the room to go to read to the
principal (he is always delighted (?) when he is so busy). This is
worth all the praise of anybody. Again they " visit " the next
higher section. For instance, when the brighter ones have covered
all the required ground and are on " tiptoe " ready for more, they
are allowed to " visit " (it may be in the second grade) and try
their wits against the children there. Nearly always this is near
284 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
the end of the term. The first week the pupils visit an hour, the
next week they stay half a day, and if these quick, bright " shining
stars " are capable enough, they go on to the second grade and
cease to be a " visitor in their home " but become a real wide-
awake second-grader. I never hold the bright ones back. Group-
ing and regrouping sends them on to the next higher division
after they can read fluently and independently in any first-grade
reader. I keep always at least six different kinds of first readers
and turn from one to the other, so as to strengthen the first-
grader's vocabulary.
Every term a few, four or five pupils, go to the next higher
section and stay. I hardly ever have complaints that the bright
ones I send up are behind the class they enter. I keep inquiring
to see if I am sending on pupils too fast. If I am, I " slow up "
and don't push so fast the next group of " shining stars."
Further technique in first grade. — Another first-grade
teacher described the library table which was supplied in
the corner of the room for supplementary activities, includ-
ing cutting up old magazines to secure pictures for language
work and words for reading drill. Two special points of
technique she brought out in the following paragraphs :
Low cupboard. — All supplementary materials are kept in a low
cupboard which is easy for the children to reach and to keep in
order. Children cannot stand on tiptoe on a chair and reach as
far as they can for something without disarranging the other
materials and should not be expected to do so.
Children trained to use judgment. — I try as far as possible to
teach my pupils to judge for themselves when they have finished
their work and are ready for extra work. For example, the chil-
dren had been assigned a lesson in their regular textbooks for
study. They were given several different questions to find out the
answers and were told that when they had finished that work they
might go to the shelf and get a new book ; a set having been
received that morning.
The children hastily read the material given them, and one or
two immediately went for the new books before they could answer
the questions asked.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 285
At recitation time, these children were questioned about their
reading lesson and the rest of the children were asked to decide
whether it was fair for the children to go after the new books
before they had their lesson. Of course the class said no, and the
children were more or less in disgrace with their classmates for
some time.
If the privilege is too much abused, I take it away from the
entire class for one day, and public sentiment is strong enough to
force the unconscientious pupil to do what he should.
Similar technique in middle grades. — Obviously, if first-
grade children can be trained to use supplementary materials
for spare moments as has been described, it is a relatively
simple matter to organize a similar technique with older
children. Consequently, one further example will suffice to
illustrate the practice of a teacher in the middle grades as
she describes it in the following paragraphs :
I have, in one corner of the room, two kindergarten tables
placed together so as to form one fairly large table. On this table
I have placed several books of good short stories. There are also
short stories cut from newspapers or magazines and pasted on
cardboard. On another similar table I have railroad folders, books
of travel, and short stories of children of other countries. Where
a pupil has satisfactorily completed his study lesson in arithmetic
or geography or any subject, he goes to the table which we are
using for that week, gets a book, and takes his seat. (We alternate
the material, some weeks using stories for mere drill in rapid silent
reading and some weeks the travels for facts about the world.)
When the recitation' is called, if it is an oral recitation, I watch
closely those pupils who have done supplementary work, and if
their other work has suffered, they are deprived of the privilege
of going to the table until their own work improves. If the work
is written, each pupil who did supplementary work during the
study hour places " S " on the top of his paper, and grades which
are not satisfactory are dealt with in a like manner. I have
found by making clear these results early in the year that after
a few examples I seldom have to resort to the enforcement
of the rule.
286 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
When the pupils report on their supplementary reading is the
most interesting time of all. During the week, usually on Friday,
we will find a time for " discussions " or " Supplementary Table
Talks." Then, if it is story week, we hear reports of the stories
read ; not stories retold, as that would be a useless waste of time,
but each pupil is asked to tell some point in a story which appealed
to him. We discuss different stories together, which ones we like
best and why, certain characters we liked and why. I find it an
excellent help for silent reading. If it is a week for travels, we
do the same thing, except that we discuss various countries or parts
of our own, or take imaginary journeys.
The supplementary work is often varied at the children's own
suggestion. For example, we decide next week we will all bring
in all the stories we can find about a certain country, a certain
man, by a certain author, on a certain subject, etc. Then for the
week we will study them.
These discussions are excellent language drill. They give the
ideas to the slower pupils who have not had the chance to read,
and, as no one child likes to be left out of the discussion, they are
an excellent stimulus for good class work.
Among the stories we often find one which, at the pupil's own
suggestion, we can dramatize. Then comes interesting work.
Enriched education from tise of spare moments. — Finally,
we may notice the general educational results which follow
in rooms where the teachers have carefully organized sup-
plementary work for the spare moments of rapid learners.
Quite a liberal education may frequently be acquired by
such pupils just from the supplementary work which they
do. A principal of a building described such results in the
case of a sixth-grade teacher who arranged in her room a
supply of books on history, geography, and science selected
from the school library. The principal wrote as follows
concerning the teacher :
Her pupils have the most extensive reading habits of any room
in the building, and are the best-informed grade in school on the
outside world.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 287
Administrative provisions for the fast and slow. Indi-
vidual promotions. — Adequate practical provision for the
slow and the fast pupils calls not only for varied assign-
ments and teaching but also for the promotion of each pupil
according to his individual needs. The necessity and value
of special promotions for very bright pupils are suggested
by the following typical example :
Robert was twelve years old, beginning the second half of the
eighth grade. His teachers reported him indifferent, doing only
ordinary work and inclined to be the center of schoolroom disorder
and organized insurrection. Parents noted that, though previously
much interested in school, the boy now disliked to attend ; he dis-
liked the teachers and wanted to drop out. Robert insisted that
the studies were not interesting, that he knew all he wanted to
know about them already. Mental [tests showed that he had at-
tained] a mental age probably greater than that of some of his
teachers, who bored him to death by treating him as an ordinary
twelve-year-old. He was recommended to high school, entered
three weeks late, led his class at the end of six weeks and at every
subsequent interval when marks were given. More important, his
whole attitude toward school was changed, because the advanced
work was a real challenge to his mental ability. (29 : 29)
Even the failures may be helped by promotion. — The
careful organization and administration of such individual pro-
motions on a large scale in actual practice is well described by
Superintendent C. S. Meek in an article in the Elementary
School Journal for April, 1915, Vol. XV, pp. 421-431.
Principals and superintendents should read this article care-
fully. One of its most striking features is the description of
the individual promotions of dull pupils who have really
failed according to ordinary standards. Concerning these
cases, Meek says :
The standard for promoting the dull pupil is entirely individual.
He is not compelled to do all the work of his present grade before
he is permitted to pass to the next He is even allowed to pass
288 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
on without manifesting enough ability to justify the hope that he
may be able to do the work of the advanced grade. The question
is reduced to the one consideration, Would he do better if advanced
than he would as a repeater ?
In every grade of twenty which is promoted in Boise, there is
an average of two who have not satisfactorily completed the work
of the lower grade. These are accepted by the teacher as special
cases to which she is expected to give individual attention both in
and out of school hours. She is not held responsible for the work
of the special pupil, but is given credit for all progress that she
can stimulate. She gets the enthusiastic cooperation of the home,
for the parents know that their unfortunate offspring has been
treated generously and leniently. They thus aid in every possible
way to bring their child up to the standard. This policy of dealing
with laggards has the indorsement of the great majority of teachers.
The consensus of opinion is that those who are permitted thus to
advance more nearly approach the standard of the advanced grade
than they would of the lower grade had they been compelled to
repeat. This is not surprising when one considers how little there
is in the curriculum that is so connected and consecutive that one
year's work depends upon the completion of the subjects of the
previous year. (8 : 423)
Encouragement and confidence stimulate promoted lag-
gards to better efforts. — The success of the practice of pro-
moting retarded pupils finds further explanation in the
greater confidence and interest which it inspires in the pro-
moted laggards. In speaking of the stimulating effect of feel-
ings of confidence and success and the opposite depression
resulting from failure, Freeman says :
Confidence in one's ability results in the stimulation of one's
mental and physical power and in the release of energy for the
task. The consciousness of failure and the expectation of failure,
on the other hand, result in the drying up of the sources of one's
energy. . . . Confidence [is greatly affected by] previous success.
However one may endeavor to work up artificially a feeling of
confidence, one is always influenced to some degree by previous
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 289
failure or success in this particular sort of work, or in work in
general. As a consequence of this fact it is necessary that the
work of the child be so managed that he shall possess the required
degree of confidence in his ability. . . . This paralyzing effect of
failure is evident in the case of children who have to repeat a
grade. It is a matter of common observation that such children
never work so hard as those who are taking the grade for the first
time. Children who have failed in part of their work have been
found to do better work if they were promoted than if they were
made keenly conscious of their failure by being forced to repeat a
grade. (27: 305-306)
Supervised study periods for individual teaching. —
Another administrative provision which is necessary in order
to secure appropriate individual teaching and advancement
is to include in the daily program regular periods for teach-
ing individuals and supervising their study. There may be
a single period or several study periods a day during which
such teaching is carried on. The most successful example
of such organization on a large scale was instituted some
years ago in Batavia, New York, and is described at length
in W. C. Bagley's " Classroom Management," chap. xiv.
The results of fourteen years' experience with the plan are
described by Superintendent Kennedy of Batavia in the
Elementary School Teacher, June, 1912, Vol. XII, pp. 449-
459. Both of these references should be read by principals
and superintendents who are interested in meeting the needs
of individual pupils.
Scientific, objective, precise studies of individual differ-
ences. Amounts of difference. — Up to this point in our
discussion, by means of examples of monotones, varied drill
lessons on fundamentals, supplementary assignments for
bright pupils, etc., we have presented a general view of the
opinions and practices which prevail in varying class instruc-
tion and promotions to meet the needs of individual pupils.
We shall now take up a more scientific discussion of the
290 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
topic as the term scientific is used on page 1 10 above ; that
is, we shall present results of investigations that are mathe-
matically precise, objective, verifiable, expert, and impartial.
The first question which we shall consider with mathematical
precision is the amount of difference in ability between the
brightest and the slowest children in the same class.
Reading rates. — One of the most objective examples of
such differences is found in the rate of silent reading — words
per minute. How many words per minute would you expect
the slowest child and the fastest child in a third-grade class
to read if they were carefully tested while reading a simple
story according to the following directions ?
Courtis Silent Reading Test. — Directions to be read aloud by
teacher and pupils together.
This test is given to see how well you can read to yourself.
When the signal to start is given, open the cover and begin to
read the story. Read silently, and only as fast as you can get the
meaning ; for when you have finished, you will be asked to answer
questions about what you have read. You will be marked for both
how much you read and how well you understand it, but it is better
to get the meaning of the story than to read too fast.
When the examiner says " Mark," draw a line around the last
word read, and keep right on reading. If you should finish before
the examiner says " Stop," close your paper and wait quietly until
the others finish.
In a well-graded, small class, fastest pupil's rate equals
twice the slowest. — The following table shows the number
of words per minute actually read silently by the children of
a third-grade class (3 B) containing 19 children.
1 child read from 76 to 100 words per minute
8 children " " 101 to 125 "
4 " " ". 126 to 150 " "
3 " " " 151 to 175 " "
2 " " " 176 to 200 "
i child " " 201 to 225 " " «
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY
291
It will be noticed that the fastest child read more than
twice as fast as the slowest. Similar differences appear in
the other grades, as shown in the table below ; for example,
the slowest children in 6 A read from 151 to 175 words per
minute, while the fastest read from 376 to 400 words. A page
of this book contains about 400 words ; hence if it contained
easy story material the fastest reader in the sixth grade
would read a page in about one minute, while the slowest
would take more than two minutes.
COURTIS SILENT READING TEST
(The University of Chicago Elementary School)
NUMBER OF PUPILS
Words read per minute
Grade 3 B
Grade 4 A
Grade 6 A
76-100
I
8
4
3
2
I
I
o
o
2
5
7
4
i
i
2
I
4
10
3
2
I
I
1
101—125
126—150
»5»-i75
176-200
201-225
226—250
251—271; .
276-^00
1OI— 12Z
•326— T;O
•ICI— -I7C
376-400
19
21
26
In larger classes, fastest reading rate equals three or
four times the slowest. — The above differences were found
in the Elementary School of The University of Chicago,
where the children are very carefully graded into small
classes and individual promotions and demotions are care-
fully made. In public-school classes where larger groups
292 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
prevail, and individual adjustments are less frequent, slightly
greater differences often occur, as shown by the following
results from the same test:
COURTIS SILENT READING TEST
(Results from large classes, not closely graded l
Read each row horizontally)
NUMBER
OF PUPILS
GRADE
SLOWEST RATES
FASTEST RA-ES
SLOWEST DIVIDED
INTO FASTEST RATES
47
54
III
IV
40 to 59
60 to 79
220 to 239
260 to 279
about 4
about 3
Even greater differences in arithmetic scores. Fastest
equals eight times slozvest. —- When we turn from differ-
ences in reading rate to differences in speed in working
arithmetic problems an even greater contrast appears between
the slow and the fast pupils. For example, Courtis reports
from tests of a New York City eighth grade containing
48 children the following results in an arithmetic test.
(23: 333)
8 children made a score of 10
ii
12
i3
14
'5
16
'7
i child made a score of 2
o children
2
6 " " "
4
6
4
«« H H
4
3
4
4
3
5
3
6
i child
7
o children
8
i child
9
i "
Quality of arithmetical thinking less restricted by physio-
logical limits. — From this table it appears that the slow-
est child made a score of 2, while the brightest made a
score of 17, or eight times as large as the slowest. This
1 These results were kindly furnished by Mr. S. A. Courtis from his
private files.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 293
difference is greater than that found in the case of reading-
rates where the fastest child read only two to four times as
fast as the slowest in the same class. In the case of rapid
silent reading, without skipping, scarcely any adult reads at
a greater rate than 700 words per minute. There seems to
be a physiological limit which cannot be passed — a limit
which is probably set by the rapidity with which the eyes can
move across the page and see the print during the pauses
which they make. In the case of arithmetic problems, how-
ever, one's speed is much less restricted by such physio-
logical matters ; that is, one can work problems almost as
fast as one can think. This fact probably explains the greater
disparity between the slow and the fast in arithmetic, the
difference between the worst and the best being largely a
difference in the speed of thinking or the quality of the
thinking.
Objective, precise measures of differences in quality of
achievement are difficult to devise. — It is very much more
difficult to compare and measure differences in the quality
of mental products than differences in the quantity. For
this reason we began with rates of reading, — words per
minute, — where the measurements are in objective units
(number of words and minutes) which are tangible, reliable,
and easy to compare. In the case of arithmetic, the task of
measuring precisely differences in achievement is somewhat
more difficult than in rates of reading, owing to the necessity
of devising lists of problems in which the relative difficulty
of the problems is known. However, experts in educational
measurement have devised such lists, and the results from
the Courtis test described on page 292, above, furnish one
example of their use. When we try to measure differences
in certain other abilities, such as the ability to write compo-
sitions, the difficulties of precise measurement are greatly
increased. However, even here educational experts have
succeeded in arranging sample compositions according to
294 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
their quality so as to give us a scale for measuring differences
in abilities in composition. The first scale for this purpose
was made about 1912 by Professors Thorndike and Hillegas
after many months of study and experimentation. The
sample composition which they used in their scale to repre-
sent approximately zero ability began as follows :
Dear Sir : I write to say that it aint a square deal Schools is I
say they is I went to a school, red and gree green and brown aint.
Qualities of compositions compared precisely by composi-
tion scales. — In order to devise a measurement scale for
comparing the composition abilities of sixth-grade children,
Breed and Frostic (25) secured a large number of composi-
tions written by such children under exactly similar conditions
upon the same theme. The pupils were asked to finish in
writing a story which told about a picnic party of some chil-
dren and their teacher. The story described their starting in
a motor boat, the engine of which stopped after they had pro-
ceeded some distance. The pupils who wrote the composi-
tions were told to imagine what followed and to complete the
story. One of the poorest papers handed in read as follows :
.2
The hanjict shop for there
there was so many in it. After
a little they it going. And
they to pleace were the the picine
was. They all get out of the
hounce and but there thing
down
on the table and rain out to
play. After they were platy
the had there lunce. And
They had a very nice time.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY
A somewhat better paper read in part as follows
295
2.7
When the enginer stop, one
of the boy took his shoes and
off
stcocking v' and got out into the
river and bushe the bout a little
so as to stare the enginer
a going, when that had
stared the bowt went aright.
And they went rideing
around the river where
having a nice time went
one of the girl saw a water —
lillies and they try to pick when she
fell in the river but she got
aright, her cloth were wet
some but they soon try, and
she got her water lillies.
When they were throu-
ght rideing they got out and
A composition of average merit began thus :
4.7
Jack the one who was runing
the launch said, " lets take these pales
and push the launch to shore. Yes ! Yes !
let do said all ; we took the poles
and tu) pushed it to shore. Jack
got out and looked around. He saw
a house over yonder, he went over
to see if they had any gasoline,
when, he got there and ask they
had none. When he came back
296 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The best composition had the following beginning :
9.7
" What is the matter ''? asked Miss Green,
the teacher of the school, to the man who
was running the little launch. " I'm
sorry mam," he said, " But the gasoline
has given out." Some of the more timid
children began to cry. " Hush," said the
teacher a little sternly, " We cannot let
this accident spoil our picnic." " Why
can't we have our lunch right in the
boat ? " cried Mary, Brightly. " That is
a fine idea, Mary," the teacher said
gratefully. With the help of the pupils
Miss Green managed to set the lunch
on the floor of the boat. After lunch
their spirits began to rise, and they amused
themselves by telling stories.
All this while they were drifting
along quietly. " There is a launch
coming towards us ! " exclaimed a small
Enormous difference in quality between best and poorest
compositions from a class. — By careful scientific procedure
Breed arranged the compositions upon a scale of merit in
which the poorest one given above received a rank of .2,
the second one a rank of 2.7, and the best a rank of 9.7.
If these numerical values may be compared, we might say
that the excellent composition is 48 times as good as the
poorest and 3.6 times as good as the second one. However
uncertain such precise comparisons of quality may be, the
compositions illustrate the enormous disparity that exists
between the poorest and brightest sixth-grade pupils in com-
position. While the brightest might write attractive stories
with few suggestions from the teacher, the poorest would be
barely able to compose a simple letter with great help.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 297
In class teaching, adapted to the average, the brightest
pupil may mark time while the poorest drags or flunks. —
In our comparisons of rates and qualities of school work up
to this point we have compared merely the extremes — the
fast and the slow, or the excellent and the poor. More
useful comparisons for the teacher to make are found in
the answers to the following questions :
If the pace of the instruction is adapted to the middle
part of the class,
1. How much spare time will the brightest pupils have?
2. How much too fast will the pace be for the slowest
pupils ?
The general answers to these questions are as follows :
1. The brightest pupil may have from ^ to ^ of his time
free to do as he pleases.
2. The pace will be about twice as fast as the pace of
learning of the slowest pupils ; that is, the slowest pupils will
be dragged along at such a fast pace that they will fail in
much of the work. As a result they come to be regarded as
hopeless flunkers, whereas often they could make satisfactory
progress with a slower pace and more careful instruction.
Distribution of differences in ability. How many fast and
how many slow pupils in each class ? — The precise mathe-
matical demonstration of such differences in capacities for
learning has been the principal factor in bringing about the
practical provisions for individual instruction for the slow and
supplementary assignments for the fast which were described
above on pages 280-286. In planning special provisions for
these extremely fast and extemely slow pupils it is desirable
for the teacher to understand what proportion of the class
they are likely to comprise. This brings us to the question
of the distribution of differences in capacity. This distribu-
tion may be illustrated by using the data in the Courtis
arithmetic test given in the table on page 292 to make the
picture on page 299.
298 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Graphic representation of distribution of pupils by piles of
blocks ; arithmetic scores. — As a first step in our study
of Courtis's table let us arrange it horizontally (as shown
below), instead of vertically.
Number of pupils
|
0
2
<'.
4
6
4
4
8
4
3
3
i
o
i
i
Score based on number
of problems done
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1 1
12
»3
'4
'5
16
i?
The first numerical vertical column of this table reads,
" i pupil made a score of 2." The second column reads,
"o pupils made a score of 3." A column near the center
reads, " 8 pupils made a score of 10," and the extreme right-
hand column reads, " i pupil made a score of 17."
We may now represent these results in graphic or pictured
form by the following device : Imagine the lower horizontal
row to be written along the blackboard ledge, thus :
Number of
problems done
3
3
4
5
$
8
9
10
II
12
'3
14
15
16
i?
Then place on the ledge, above each vertical column, one
wooden block for each pupil who made the score indicated in
the column. Thus, above the extreme left-hand column we
would place I block ; above the extreme right-hand column
we would place i block ; above the column for a score of
10 we would pile 8 blocks, i for each pupil who made this
score. After we had completed all the columns of blocks,
the whole pile on the ledge would have the appearance
shown in the figure on page 299.
Rates of reading. — We get a somewhat similar form
of distribution if we pile blocks to represent the sixth-grade
reading rates shown in the table on page 291. To carry
out the process with these rates, first imagine the columns
written horizontally, as follows :
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY
299
Number of pupils
2
I
4
10
3
I
2
I
I
I
IS'
I76
201
226
251
276
301
326
351
376
Words per minute
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
175
2OO
22S
250
275
300
325
350
375
400
Then imagine the lower row written along the blackboard
ledge and above each vertical division on the ledge pile the
BLOCKS PILED ON BLACKBOARD LEDGE TO REPRESENT
DISTRIBUTION OF ARITHMETIC SCORES
The single block at the left indicates that i pupil made a score of 2. The block at
the extreme right indicates that i pupil made a score of 17. The tallest column
indicates that 8 pupils made a score of 10
number of blocks corresponding to the number of pupils that
have read the amount indicated. This procedure gives the
figure shown on page 300.
Normal frequency surface ; middle abilities frequent ;
extreme abilities infrequent. — It appears that the piles of
blocks (or distribution surfaces) for abilities in arithmetic and
reading are similar in general form ; that is, the middle abili-
ties are piled high with several pupils, while the extremes
are low — in other words, there are few bright pupils and few
dull ones. If a larger number of pupils were tested (there
300 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
were 48 in the arithmetic class and 26 in the reading class),
the piles, or surfaces, would tend to assume the general form
shown in the figure on page 301, which represents the
heights of 1000 ten-year-old boys, distributed by a somewhat
similar device, each boy being represented by a short hori-
zontal line instead of a block. In general, measurements of
BLOCKS PILED ON BLACKBOARD LEDGE TO INDICATE DISTRIBUTION
OF READING RATES OF PUPILS IN GRADE 6 A
The tall shaky column indicates that 10 pupils read from 226 to 250 words per
minute. What do the 2 blocks at the extreme left indicate ? The single block at the
extreme right indicates what ?
any human trait, physical or mental, in a group of person
of the same type and age tend to show this form of distribu
tion. It is known as the normal-frequency surface or, when
shown in outline as at the bottom of page 301, as the normal-
frequency curve or normal distribution curve.
Only a few pupils need special attention and assignments
in each subject. — With a knowledge of this form of dis-
tribution of abilities in spelling or arithmetic or reading or
handwork, the teacher should form the habit of thinking
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 301
of most of her pupils as clustered or compacted with slight
variation near the middle or average ability, but with a few
I - - I |=====i=====f=====|=====|=====|=====|=====|=====|— - |
t09cm na lit lit ins izd isa isr 141 u& us tsacm
APPROXIMATE NORMAL SURFACE OF FREQUENCY, REPRESENTING IN
CENTIMETERS STATURE OF 1000 TEN-YEAR-OLD AMERICAN BOYS
bright ones and a few slow ones far removed from the aver-
age. For most of the class, the same instruction and the
109 cm na 111 mi its na isa 137 iti us us isacm
APPROXIMATE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION CURVE. SAME DATA AS THAT
PRESENTED ABOVE, BUT REPRESENTED HERE IN OUTLINE
From Thorndike's " Individuality "
same pace in any subject will be suitable, but for the few
extreme pupils special provision must be made to avoid
302 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
having the bright, useful pupils wasting their time, and also
to avoid having the slow ones dragged along a_t such a rate
that they become " flunkers " and fail to progress through
the school and receive the training that each of the higher
grades has to offer.
Causes of individual differences. Why do some learn easily
and others with difficulty? — Up to this point in our
scientific study of individual differences in ability we have
treated the amount of difference and the form of dis-
tribution. We shall now consider briefly the causes of the
differences : that is, why one person can learn to spell easily
while another remains a poor speller in spite of prolonged
careful instruction ; why one pupil can master the most
difficult problems in arithmetic while another, who has had
the same instruction, fails in the subject. Incidentally we
referred to possible causes of such differences in the exam-
ples with which the chapter opened. We noted in the case
of monotones and sweet singers within the same family that
the difference might be explained by inheritance from the
father who is a monotone and from the mother who is
extremely musical. In the case of the varied amounts of
drill needed in arithmetic, we noted that the difficulties of
a retarded pupil might be due to (i) inborn incapacity or
(2) absence, inattention, or poor teaching. We asserted that if
the latter cause prevailed, the difficulty would often be over-
come by a little skilled individual teaching. On the other
hand, if the retardation was due to inborn incapacity, it could
not be overcome so easily, but called for prolonged patient
treatment by the teacher just to give the child a mastery
of the minimum essentials in the subject.
Inborn, native capacity is an important factor. — In
order to make clear the part played by inborn capacity or
incapacity for learning in determining a pupil's possibilities
and abilities, we shall refer briefly to the careful, objective,
scientific investigations that have been made in this field.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 303
Idiots, imbeciles, and other feeble-minded usually born
deficient. — In the case of idiots, imbeciles, and other feeble-
minded children, it is now established by objective, precise,
scientific studies that their inability to learn is not due to
lack of instruction or care, but (except in the case of
accidents or disease) is due to their characteristics at birth,
their inborn equipment. Students who are interested in delv-
ing into the scientific evidence on this topic should read
H. H. Goddard's " Feeble-mindedness, its Causes and its
Consequences." (22.) Goddard studied carefully the life his-
tories of some three hundred feeble-minded persons. He
concluded that the feeble-minded condition was clearly due to
heredity in 54 per cent of the cases, and probably due to
heredity in 11.3 per cent of the cases. His summary of
causes (22: 437) is as follows:
Clearly due to heredity 54 per cent
Probably due to heredity 11.3 per cent
Ancestry showing brain diseases ... 12 per cent
Due to accident 19 per cent
Unexplained 2.6 per cent
Feeble-minded extremely limited by lack of natural capac-
ities.— No matter what the original causes, however, the
very limited possibilities of learning possessed by the feeble-
minded appear in all investigations of them. Their possi-
bilities in industrial training are shown in the following table
by Goddard. The column headed " Mental Age " indicates
that the idiot, imbecile, or moron, even though he be actually
many years older, possesses the mental possibilities of a child
from one to twelve years of age, as indicated in the classifi-
cation. Thus a high-grade imbecile, even though he be
actually 16 years of age, would possess only the mental pos-
sibilities of a normal child of 6 or 7. He could learn to do
only tasks of short duration such as washing dishes, dusting,
or little errands in the house. (22 : 581)
304 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION
MENTAL
AGE
INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY
GRADE
Under
i year
(a) Helpless ; (l>) can walk ; (c) with volun-
tary regard
Low
Idiot
i year
Feeds self. Eats everything
Middle
2 years
Eats discriminatingly (food from non-food)
High
3 years
No work. Plays a little
Low
Imbecile
4 years
Tries to help
5 years
Only simplest tasks
Middle
6 years
Tasks of short duration. Washes dishes
High
7 years
Little errands in the house. Dusts
8 years
Errands. Light work. Makes beds
Low
Moron
9 years
Heavier work. Scrubs. Mends. Lays bricks.
Cares for bathroom
jo years
Good institution helpers. Routine work
Middle
ii years
Fairly complicated work with only occasional
oversight
High
12 years
Uses machinery. Can care for animals. No
supervision for routine work. Cannot plan
The great lack of natural capacity for ordinary public-
school work which exists in the case of feeble-minded chil-
dren who are found in public schools, and the small amount
of progress which they make, are suggested by the follow-
ing summary from Wallin's study of some 286 cases in the
St. Louis schools. He says :
We do not seem to have found any considerable number of
feeble-minded school children who are able to do third-grade work
successfully, except possibly in one or two branches. The possible
pedagogical attainments of the majority of them have varied from
decidedly less than kindergarten standard to second-grade standard.
(H: 597)
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 305
Genius and eminence largely due to inborn equipment.
Galtons precise, expert investigations. — In the case of the
very bright and capable learners, those who become eminent,
the geniuses in any line of human thought or endeavor, the
objective evidence is not so easy to secure and study as in
the case of the mentally deficient. Nevertheless, skilled scien-
tific investigators, themselves men of genius and expert
masters of the technique of studying human nature, have
spent years in studying the lives of eminent persons by pre-
cise objective methods. The greatest of these investigators
was Sir Francis Galton, himself a member of two eminent
English families — the Galtons and the Darwins. In 1869
he published a book called " Hereditary Genius," in which
he presented the results of his studies of about one thousand
eminent judges, statesmen, commanders, literary men, men
of science, poets, musicians, oarsmen, etc. The conclusions
which Galton reached include the following :
Men who are gifted with high abilities . . . easily rise through
all the obstacles caused by inferiority of social rank.
Men who are largely aided by social advantages are unable to
achieve eminence, unless they are endowed with high natural
gifts. (23: 361)
Only objective, precise, expert investigations should be con-
sidered. — Naturally, many persons will not believe Galton 's
conclusions, since they are not prepared to understand them
any more than they can understand the work of the most
advanced scientists in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy,
etc. However, just as the well-educated person accepts the
conclusions of eminent astronomers concerning the heavenly
bodies, so will he accept the conclusions of the expert
Galton in the studies of human careers. Moreover, he will
require that critics who endeavor to refute Galton 's results
do so by methods that are as scientific, as objective, as mathe-
matically precise, and as impartial as those which Galton used.
306 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
If we do accept the results of impartial, precise, objec-
tive, scientific studies concerning mental defectives and
men of genius, we shall believe that the differences in the
attainments of these two extreme classes are due to a very
large extent to the differences in their inborn equipment of
capacities and instincts.
Similarly, mediocre learners are strongly influenced by
inborn equipment; Galton s study of twins. — When we
turn from the attainments of the extreme types to the attain-
ments and progress of ordinary learners, we find that the
same general conclusion prevails ; namely, that their original
inborn capacities influence profoundly their possibilities of
learning and achieving. A most interesting study made by
Galton of twins give's us some of our best evidence in this
connection. Galton secured accounts of the lives, character-
istics, and attainments of some 80 pairs of twins in England.
Of these, about 20 pairs consisted of dissimilar twins ; that
is, the members of each pair were quite unlike in their char-
acteristics from birth. The evidence in these cases, while not
very precise, shows that similarity of experience and training
had little influence in overcoming the original differences.
The following statements by parents of twins give character-
istic examples of this fact.
One parent said :
They have had exactly the same nurture from their birth up to
the present time; they are both perfectly healthy and strong, yet
they are otherwise as dissimilar as two boys could be, physically,
mentally, and in their emotional nature.
Another parent said :
I can answer most decidedly that the twins have been perfectly
dissimilar in character, habits, and likeness from the moment of
their birth to the present time, though they were nursed by the
same woman, went to school together, and were never separated
till the age of fifteen.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 307
Another said :
They have never been separated, never the least differently
treated in food, clothing, or education ; both teethed at the same
time, both had measles, whooping-cough, and scarlatina at the same
time, and neither had any other serious illness. Both are and
have been exceedingly healthy and have good abilities, yet they
differ as much from each other in mental cast as any of my family
differ from another.
Another said :
They were never alike either in body or mind and their dis-
similarity increases daily. The external influences have been iden-
tical; they have never been separated.
Another said :
The home training and influences were precisely the same, and
therefore I consider the dissimilarity to be accounted for almost
entirely by innate disposition and by causes over which we have
no control. (23 : 383)
Further reading on inborn capacities. — Readers who
desire further scientific discussion of the inborn basis of
human talents and achievements, presented in simple form,
should read E. R. Downing's " The Third and Fourth Gen-
eration " and F. G. Jewett's " The Next Generation."
Treat each pupil sympathetically according to his talents
and deficiencies. — From the study of the above paragraphs
concerning the original nature of the mentally deficient, the
geniuses, and twins of ordinary ability, the teacher should
form the attitude of being interested in the inborn charac-
teristics of each of her pupils as furnishing the funda-
mental starting point for her treatment of him. If the
pupil is naturally very weak in arithmetic but very talented
in art, she will be satisfied when he has mastered the
fundamentals in the former, and will not deny him pro-
motion for his deficiency. On the other hand, in art she
308 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
will endeavor to stimulate him to the richest possible devel-
opment so that he may use his talent for the great benefit
of himself and others.
Improvability. Practically every capacity in a normal
child is improvable, — The fact that each child's ability to
learn depends upon his inborn capacities should not lead us
to be pessimistic concerning the possibilities of educating
normal children. For example, although a child with natural
musical talent may easily learn to sing ten songs sweetly and
accurately while a natural near-monotone succeeds in learn-
ing only one indifferently, it does not follow that the near-
monotone cannot be improved somewhat as a singer or that
he should be entirely neglected. With sufficient skilled
individual teaching the monotone might be taught to sing
with fair correctness "My Country, 'tis of Thee," "The Star-
Spangled Banner," and a few other songs of sufficient social
importance to justify the effort required. Similarly, although
a bright young man of my acquaintance continued to be a
relatively poor speller all his life in spite of careful individual
teaching at home (while he was in the grades and high
school) by his widowed mother, herself a skilled, experienced
teacher, it does not follow that the instruction was futile or
that his spelling was not greatly improved by it. Without
any instruction he would not have been able to spell at all ;
without the special instruction by his mother he would have
been an atrocious speller ; whereas, with the school instruc-
tion and the special teaching he became merely a relatively
puor speller, usually misspelling only two or three words in
each letter which he wrote his mother after he went away
to college.
Amount of improvements to be attempted determined by
inborn capacity of the pupil and happiness of the multitudes.
— In deciding how much improvement to undertake in
school with each child we must consider his own inborn
capacities and the cost to society of the teacher's time and
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 309
effort in improving him. Obviously, to try to make a grand-
opera singer out of a monotone is a waste of time for all
concerned. A striking example of the results of such unde-
sirable efforts is found in the case of a very successful movie
star and dramatic actress who for some years was on the
grand-opera stage. While everyone marveled at her wonder-
ful acting in the operas, the musical reviewers were unani-
mous in wishing that she would not sing, since her notes
were commonly misplaced, being flat and unmusical. On the
other hand, as a movie star she pleased all through her won-
derful dramatic ability and made no one uncomfortable by
her flat singing.
Almost every child is good for something. — Leaving out
the idiots, imbeciles, morons, and morally incompetent chil-
dren, we may say that practically every child is good for
something, meaning that he can be made a useful citizen in
general, and at least a fairly skilled worker in some speciat
line. It is each teacher's business in the elementary school
to help each child to keep moving toward general social use-
fulness as well as specialised social usefulness. In order to
do this it is important for the teacher to realize the great
variety of human capacities and the opportunities for each
to be of service in the world.
Teacher should not judge children merely in terms of her
own capacities. — In order to appreciate the great variety
of human capacities and corresponding social opportunities,
the teacher must avoid the danger of judging her pupils
entirely in terms of her own capacities and temperament.
As Thorndike says :
[An] . . . error from which all of us suffer is to credit our
scholars with natures like our own. We think of them as dupli-
cates more or less of ourselves. If we are quick learners, we ex-
pect too much of them ; if we have sensible, matter-of-fact minds,
we have no patience with their sentimentalities and sensitiveness ;
if we are precise and neat and systematic, we fail to understand
310 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
how intolerable it is for them to lead a regular, orderly exist-
ence. Teachers need to add to the maxim, " See ourselves as
others see us " the still more important one, " See others as
they are." (3: 84)
The teacher is usually one who has [herself been successful
with abstract thinking] and so is more in sympathy with it. [She]
may even thoughtlessly sneer at the mental ability of those who
lack it. " Your son will make a first-rate mechanic or grocer, but
he isn't fit for high school," said such a one. The proper retort
would have been, " Your school, then, is first-rate for one kind of
a boy, but it isn't fit for the majority." (3 : 31)
Varied richness of human nature ; important capacities.
— Many other examples similar to those given above could
be cited which would reveal to us the great variety of capaci-
ties, the varied richness of human nature and its possibili-
ties. A number of the most important of such capacities
are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Expression through language. — The capacity for expres-
sion in language is present in all normal persons but in quite
varying degrees. It should be developed in all persons to a
considerable extent for practical daily use, but only those
with special natural talent can become expert writers and
speakers. A specialized form of this talent which presents
interesting examples of its inborn character is the talent for
poetic expression. The common statement that " poets are
born not made," while it tends to overlook the influence of
training in improving poetic expression, suggests the funda-
mental importance of the inborn talent. A striking case of
such talent appeared in a third-grade child. At one time,
when the teacher called on the child to recite, the latter
said, " Excuse me a moment, Miss Troxell, I am writing
a poem." The little girl fairly breathed poetry; she couldn't
help it. Similarly, the sixth-grade child who wrote the fol-
lowing verses probably ranks well above the average in
inborn capacity for poetic and humorous expression.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 311
THE JOYS OF SKATING
When the days are still and" cold,
And I'm feeling kind o' bold,
Then I think it 's rather nice,
To go out and try the ice.
I go plowing through the snow,
But I know just where to go,
To the Midway where they skate,
There I '11 go and try my fate.
But when I have gotten there,
I can only stand and stare,
For the funniest thing of all
Is, I cannot skate at all.
Expression through plastic and graphic art. — The capac-
ity for drawing, painting, modeling, and designing should
probably be trained in all pupils to the extent of giving skill
in rough sketching and diagrammatic drawing. As developed
in those with special talent, it makes possible the beautiful
products which we enjoy in pictures, statuary, buildings,
dress, automobiles, landscape architecture, etc. Certainly the
trained artists contribute greatly to our enjoyment of life.
Opportunities for cultivating in school the capacities for
graphic and plastic expression are shown in the Frontispiece
and in the pictures on pages 152, 184, and 312.
Manual skill. — The social importance of manual skill is
clearly shown by the work of skilled artisans and mechanics
in the manufacturing of the necessities and luxuries of life.
Many of the instruments of civilization designed by great
inventors depend for their production upon the skill of thou-
sands of workers. The Great War has been very influential
in developing a broader appreciation of the importance of
skilled labor. The capacity for acquiring manual skill is one
of the most common of human capacities. Even some grades
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 313
of feeble-minded children who cannot learn reading or arith-
metic can be trained to do things with their hands. On the
other hand, when associated with good general intelligence,
manual skill may even be an important factor in the highest
grade of professional work, such as that of the surgeon or
scientific chemist. Formerly the schools tended to neglect
the development of this capacity. In a progressive school
at the present time it is cultivated not only in connection
with the constructive courses but is also utilized in geog-
raphy, history, and arithmetic to vitalize these subjects, espe-
cially for the pupils who are interested in working in the
sand pan, in making dwellings and garments of historical
peoples, in making scenery for dramatic activities, etc. On
the other hand, some very bright children are naturally very
clumsy in manual work, and for them the constructive activi-
ties are often a great bore. In spite of their natural defi-
ciency and dislike, however, they should probably be given
sufficient sympathetic training to enable them to do such
odd jobs of tinkering as occur in the ordinary home, and to
understand the part which skilled manual labor plays in
meeting social needs. For examples of school projects
Story of the picture on opposite page The sixth-grade children
shown in the picture on the opposite page are illustrating various
features of deserts, including canons, the cactus plants, etc. In
their geography periods they have been studying the characteristics
of regions of varied rainfall, from the very dry to the very wet.
In their drawing periods the same types of regions are represented,
the drawings being discussed in the geography class. The drawings
depicting desert scenes were later used in the morning exercises
of the assembled classes, when these children gave short talks on
deserts in a manner similar to that shown in the Frontispiece. The
picture illustrates the use of the instinctive interests in commu-
nication and artistic expression as well as provision for individual
differences, since children with artistic talent who may not succeed in
mathematics, for example, may shine in the work shown in the picture.
314 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
which utilize the capacity for manual skill, see the pictures
on pages 8, 14, 65, 129, 132, 134, 136, and 230.
Capacity for musical enjoyment and musical expression. —
Musical talent, when properly developed to the extent of
skilled performing, contributes to life's enjoyment as do the
other arts. Even persons of mediocre capacity acquire pos-
sibilities of frequent enjoyment of home and group singing
through a moderate amount of proper training. It is prob-
ably a waste of time to try to train extreme monotones to
sing many songs, but some of them may be taught by appro-
priate methods to play musical instruments and to enjoy
listening to music.
Arithmetical computation. — As indicated in the chapter
on the selection of subject matter, everyday life calls for ex-
tensive use of skill in simple calculations with small numbers.
Special efforts should be made to give this skill to all normal
pupils. The specialized character of the talent for numerical
computation is shown by some of the "lightning calculators"
who are often quite ordinary in other respects. Specialized
absence of the talent is shown strikingly in the case of
some of the great mathematical reasoners. For example,
Kepler (1571-1630), one of the greatest of modern astron-
omers, formulator of three mathematical laws of motion to
explain the movements of planets, was, according to Whewell,
" not even a good arithmetical calculator, often making mis-
takes, some of which he detected and laments, while others
escaped him to the last." (2: 182)
Mathematical reasoning. — The talent for mathematical
reasoning, illustrated by Kepler, is of enormous importance
in scientific thinking and investigating. Many persons,
however, possess it in very small degree. Nevertheless,
they may still be very useful citizens, owing to their abilities
in other lines. As children they should not be denied
promotion in the upper grades merely because they fail
with problems in percentage.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 315
Understanding people.. — The capacity for understanding
the thoughts, feelings, temperaments, and actions of other
persons is of great importance in getting along with people
and in devising and evaluating forms of social organization.
Certain eminent figures in history possess this talent to a
high degree. Jesus is one example, as shown by his clear-
cut characterizations of the different types of his day, par-
ticularly in his parables. ./Esop and his fables furnish
another example. Eminent democratic statesmen, such as
Lincoln, are also especially talented in their understanding
of people. They not only characterize individuals aptly, but
they also sense in a very keen way the thoughts and feel-
ings of great groups, the masses whom they represent and
interpret. On the other hand, some persons are so deficient
.in this capacity that they always think of others as like them-
selves, or never think at all of the thoughts and feelings
that others have. It is highly desirable that all pupils, even
the naturally deficient, have this capacity trained to its highest
possible efficiency in order to promote better mutual under-
standing between individuals and social groups. The studies
in history and community life, as well as the fables, fairy
stories, and other fiction read in the school help to develop
this capacity in pupils.
Capacity for managing people ; leadership. — Finally, we
may note the capacity possessed by great executives and
administrators in an eminent degree — the capacity for man-
aging people. The appearance of this capacity in different
children and its variations have been significantly discussed
by a great American sociologist, Professor Giddings. He de-
scribes an example of a little boy of five who had been given
two pieces of cake, one being for his three-year-old sister.
One piece of cake was slightly larger than the other. The boy
seemed to know that something or other in his antecedents or
his environment created an expectation that he would take the
smaller piece of cake, but he did n't. He looked at the two pieces,
316 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
went to the sideboard, obtained a knife, carefully cut the smaller
piece of cake into two pieces, and then asked his sister whether
she would have one piece of cake or two I Don't you know what
that boy will do when he becomes an exploiter of schemes, the
superintendent of a railroad, or a political boss ? (28 : 437)
Types of leaders. — After this example, Giddings distin-
guishes between children who are natural-born followers
and those who are natural leaders. Continuing, he says :
Now observe the methods of the child who shows early in his
life that he will be an instigator, an initiator, a " boss/' 1 use the
plain, short word. President, emperor, king — these are dignified
personages, but the real man is the " boss." . . . Does the child
that you are watching get his way by sheer savage, brute strength ?
Many children do. Does he get his way by superior courage, or
because he sees farther, sees quicker, and keeps on seeing longer
than the other children do ? Some children get their way by these
methods. Or, finally, does he get his way by bartering, or by offer-
ing a bribe ? . . . I am quite sure that it is necessary to warn all
teachers to watch the child who gets his way, perhaps when he is
only two or three years of age, by offering bribes. Unless guided
he will become one of those human beings of whom so often we
read in the newspaper obituaries : " An excellent man in all the
private relations of life, a good father, an excellent neighbor, [but]
in the accumulation of his fortune and in the methods by which he
obtained political distinction and leadership, he too often used
methods which brought him into notoriety and under investigation."
(28: 438)
The highest type of leader: energetic, diligent, intelli-
gent, resourceful, generous, good-natiired, likable, moral. —
Finally, notice the characteristics of the highest type of
capacity for leadership which Giddings brings out in the
following paragraphs :
You may find that a child is getting his way, and is beginning
to exercise a share in social control by quite another method than
any one of these already spoken of. He is not a little brute or a
savage. He is not a bribe-giver by nature. He is not clever in the
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 317
sense of being tricky. He is none of these things. You notice
that within limits he can have his way merely by being energetic
and good-natured. Everybody likes him. He creates an atmos-
phere of vitality, of liveliness. Quite unconsciously the little chil-
dren around him, all, simply because they like him and like to be
with him, spontaneously follow his suggestions. In that child you
have the possibilities of a very high type of leadership. It can
easily be spoiled ; spoiled through vanity or by indulgence. Realize,
then, that in that child you have one of the most priceless things
in human society — a human being, who, if he develops rightly
and is not spoiled in any way, may become one of those leaders of
men who have their way and produce results, because, without
especially trying or going out of their way, and merely by being
naturally superior, and working ceaselessly and generously, accord-
ing to the initiative of their own minds, they inspire confidence,
hold a following, and are obeyed.
If there is anything whatever that is inexcusable in educational
methods or institutions, it is the killing off of these priceless things
in human character and mind. To fail to kill off the evil things is
bad enough, to fail to develop the average possibility is bad enough,
but to kill off the rare, priceless things upon which the fullest future
progress of mankind depends is the most criminally inexcusable
thing that any educational system can be guilty of. Parents,
teachers, school boards, politicians, society, all share in this guilt
when they fail in his earliest days to discover, to pick out, and
properly to train that little child who, as you see by watching him
on the playground and in all the ordinary affairs of life, gets his
way not by force, nor by bribery, nor by trickery, — the devices of
politician and exploiter, — but simply and naturally by sheer intel-
lectual and moral energy, by creating an atmosphere that all little
children about him like to get into, and by making them without
conscious effort on his own part eager to help him work out his
suggestions. For that boy or that girl has in him or in her the
making of the finest possible type of leader of men or leader of
women. (28 : 440)
Other capacities. Read Thorndike. — In the foregoing
paragraphs, in order to impress the reader with the great
variety of human capacities and the social value of each, we
3i8 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
described a few of the more important and more tangible
ones ; namely, the capacities for expression in language,
drawing, painting, and music, for acquiring manual skill, for
arithmetical computation, for mathematical reasoning, for
understanding people, and for managing people. In each
case we noted, the great variations between individuals in a
single capacity. Many more capacities could be cited ; for
example, Thorndike gives, in addition to the above, the capac-
ities for self-control, energy, precision, thoroughness, origi-
nality, cooperation, self-denial, self-reliance, refinement, and
sympathy. In order to secure a more adequate understanding
of these capacities, students should read the references to
Thorndike's works given in the bibliography on page 322. He
has done more than any other American to impress teachers
and school superintendents with the necessity of adapting
school work to differences in the capacities of children. In
his " Principles of Teaching," Thorndike discusses not only
differences in capacity but also differences in the temperaments
of children and appropriate treatment. The following state-
ment by Kirkpatrick, of the special treatment needed by a
nervous child, suggests the problem which Thorndike dis-
cusses with many other examples :
It is especially important that the nervous child should not be
scolded, found fault with, or in any way induced to work hard or
worry about his work. A teacher who is loud of voice, unattractive
in dress, and sudden and variable in manner is especially irritating
to a nervous child, and may be the chief occasion of the nervous-
ness. Although a teacher should be quick to note signs of ner-
vousness, she should avoid making the child conscious of his
condition. The establishment of regular habits of work and of
rest or amusement are of great value in decreasing nervousness.
(30: 335)
Programs of National Education Association discuss indi-
vidual differences. — The most tangible evidence of the recent
wide interest in individual differences is found in the programs
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 319
of educational organizations, notably the National Education
Association. In 1910 a large part of the program of its
winter meeting was devoted to the topic. In later programs
additional papers were presented on the topic.
Study childhood, study children, study each child's talents
and deficiencies. From Rousseau to Galton. — Many of the
efforts to provide for individual differences which are dis-
cussed by the eminent educators to-day are administrative
in character ; that is, they deal with the establishment of
special schools, special classes, individual promotions, etc.
The chief concern of each teacher, however, in providing for
individual differences is so to differentiate her class instruc-
tion as to vary the pace for the talented and the deficient in
each subject, to develop each pupil's special talents toward
the greatest usefulness, and to correct his deficiencies to the
minimum skill or knowledge which may be socially neces-
sary. In order to do this she must study each child carefully,
to determine what individual attention he needs. In doing
this she is merely carrying out the program for psychologizing
teaching which Rousseau proposed in his " Emile " in 1762,
when he said, " Begin, then, by studying your pupils more
thoroughly." From Rousseau to Galton and Thorndike, the
movement to consider each pupil's capacities and progress
has been gaining momentum. For a long time the basis of
the movement was sentimental ; that is, the " sacredness of
the child's individuality " was the central thought. In recent
years the value to society of different talents — from the
manual skill of the artisan to the mathematical reasoning of
a Kepler and the social leadership of a Lincoln — has been
important in causing differentiated teaching. Probably the
most important and valid influence, however, has been the
scientific studies of human nature made by Galton and his
followers. Such studies remove the contentions of Rousseau
from the realm of sentiment and mere opinion, and transfer
them to the realm of scientific conclusions.
320 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Conclusion of discussion of individual differences. — This
will conclude our discussion of adapting class instruction to
differences in capacity. It will be recalled that we opened
the chapter with the simple example of monotones and sweet
singers in the same family, and the great difference in the
amount and kind of instruction needed to teach them to
sing. We then took up examples of school practices which
permit slow and fast pupils to advance at appropriate rates.
A presentation of statistical data then showed the need of
such differentiated teaching for the fast and the slow. Surfaces
of frequency were presented to show that only a few very
bright and very slow pupils would be found in each capacity
in a single class. Scientific studies by Galton and others
were then summarized to show that the talents and deficien-
cies of pupils are commonly due to their inborn equipment ;
hence, they call for the most sympathetic, reasonable treat-
ment by the teacher. In order to impress the latter with the
great variety of valuable possibilities to be found in different
pupils, a few of the most important human capacities were
described and attention called to the recent enthusiastic inter-
est of American educators in providing differentiated instruc-
tion to secure the greatest individual and social happiness
through the development of the talents of each pupil.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Brief general chapters. — *i. JUDD, C. H. Introduction to the
Scientific Study of Education. (Ginn and Company, 1918.) Chap, xii,
pp. 1 70-183. On social value of differentiated teaching.
2. PARKER, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High School. (Ginn and
Company, 1915.) Chap, xv, pp. 362-390.
*3. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seiler, 1905.)
Pp. 29-34, 83-98. Describes variety of human capacities.
Practical schemes for providing differentiated teaching. -
*4. BAGLEY, W. C. Classroom Management. (The Macmillan Com-
pany, 1907.) Chap, xiv, pp. 214-224. Describes supervised study.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 321
5. DRAKE, E. H. An Interesting Experiment [with Minimum and
Maximum Assignments]. Elementary School Journal, December, 1914,
Vol. XV, pp. 219-222. Described above on page 280.
6. HOLMES, W. H. School Organization and the Individual Child.
(The David Press, Worcester, Mass., 1912.) A very full summary of
many phases of the subject.
7. KENNEDY, J. The Batavia Plan after Fourteen Years of Trial.
Elementary School Journal, June, 1912, Vol. XII, pp. 449-459.
8. MEEK, C. S. A Study in Retardation and Acceleration. Ele-
mentary School Journal, April, 191 5, Vol. XV, pp. 421-431. Describes
practice of promoting individual failures. Relieves congestion in lower
grades and gives poor pupils advantages of upper grades. Quoted
above on page 287.
9. National Education Association. The Department of Superin-
tendence. The report for 1910, pp. 143-265, contains several papers
dealing with individual differences.
Individual diagnosis in arithmetic. — 10. ANDERSON, C. J. The
Use of the Woody Scale for Diagnostic Purposes. Elementary School
Journal, June, 1918, pp. 770-781. Similar to No. 12.
11. MAYBERRY, I. W. Individualizing Problems for Pupils. Ele-
mentary School Teacher, October, 1917, Vol. XVIII, pp. 133-137.
Describes measured results of an experiment.
12. SMITH, J. H. Individual Variations in Arithmetic. Elementary
School Journal, November, 1916, Vol. XVIII, pp. 195-200. Describes
an experiment including diagnosis by standard tests of each pupil's
needs followed by individual drill and measured improvement. Quoted
above on page 275.
13. UHL, W. L. Use of Standardized Materials in Arithmetic for
Diagnosing Pupil's Methods of Work. Elementary School Journal,
November, 1917, pp. 215-218. Describes actual examples.
Individual diagnosis in reading. — 14. SCHMITT, CLARA. Develop-
mental Alexia: Congenital Word-Blindness or Inability to Learn to
Read. Elementary School Journal, 1918, Vol. XVIII, pp. 680-700,
757-769. Child-study specialist of Chicago schools describes diagnosis
and instruction of 1 3 cases.
15. ZIRBES, LAURA. Diagnostic Measurement as a Basis for Pro-
cedure. Elementary School Journal, March, 1918, Vol. XVIII, pp. 505-
522. Describes diagnosis of reading needs of class of twenty boys and
ten types of remedial lessons.
Feeble-minded. — 16. ANDERSON, META L. Education of Defec-
tives in the Public School. (World Book Company, 1917.) Helpful
manual telling concretely what to do.
322 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
17. WALLIN, J. E. W. The Pedagogical Status of the Feeble-
minded School Children. Elementary School Journal, April, 1918,
Vol. XVIII, pp. 588-597. Described and quoted above on page 304.
Statistical and psychological studies. — 18. COURTIS, S. A. Meas-
urement of the Relation between Mental and Physical Growth. Ameri-
can Physical Education Review, NoTember, 1917, Vol. XXII. Full of
examples and diagrams illustrating peculiar needs of individual pupils.
Most of Courtis's publications emphasize differentiated teaching.
•19. DOWNING, E. R. The Third and Fourth Generation, an
Introduction to Heredity. (The University of Chicago Press, 1918.)
Thoroughly scientific but simple discussion for young students.
20. GALTON, F. Hereditary Genius. (The Macmillan Company,
1869, 1892.) The pioneer, mathematically precise study of inherited
genius. Without a statistical mastery of this volume all should refrain
from dogmatizing on the subject.
21. GALTON, F. A Study of Twins. Reprinted in the Teachers
College Record, May, 1901, Vol. II, pp. 260-274. Originally published
in 1 883 in Inquiries into Human Faculty. (The Macmillan Company,
1893.) Quoted above on page 306.
22. GODDARD, H. H. F~eeble-mindedness, its Causes and Conse-
quences. (The Macmillan Company, 1914.) Precise investigation of
327 cases by one of America's leading authorities.
23. THORNDIKE, E. L. Educational Psychology. Briefer Course.
(Teachers College, New York, 1914.) Part III, especially pp. 331-339,
354-368, 376-401. Very technical discussions for advanced students
by America's leading student of individual differences. For fuller dis-
cussion see Vol. Ill of the three-volume, complete edition of the same
work.
•24. THORNDIKE, E. L. Individuality. (Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 191 1.) Brief popular statement of the influence of original nature
in determining individuality.
Quoted incidentally. — 25. BREED, F. S., and FROSTIC, F. W. A Scale
for Measuring English Composition in the Sixth Grade. Elementary
School Journal, January, 1917, Vol. XVII, pp. 307-325.
26. COURTIS, S. A. Teacher's Manual for Standard Practice Tests
in Arithmetic. (World Book Company, 1916.)
27. FREEMAN, F. N. How Children Learn. (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1917.) Same comment as on No. 30, below.
28. GIDDINGS, F. H. The Child as a Member of Society. Teachers
College Record, November, 1915, Vol. XVI, pp. 435-444. Emphasis
on individual differences in children's original nature as determining
their social careers. By one of America's greatest sociologists.
DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY 323
29. HAGGERTY, M. E. Specific Uses of Measurement in the Solu-
tion of School Problems. Seventeenth Yearbook of the National Society
for the Study of Education, Part II. (Public School Publishing Com-
pany, Bloomington, 111., 1918.) Pp. 25-40.
30. KIRKPATRICK, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study. (The
Macmillan Company, 1903; revised, 1918.) One of the best interpre-
tative summaries of the scientific studies of children's instincts and
methods of learning. Avoids the sentimental, one-sided views of writers
who think of all children in terms of their own childhood and overlook
the great variation in children's instincts and capacities.
Recent additions. — 31. HENRY, T. S. Classroom Problems in the
Education of Gifted Children. Published as the Nineteenth Yearbook
of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II. (Public
School Publishing Company, Bloomington, 111., 1920.) Excellent sum-
mary of investigations and practices with full bibliography.
32. SEASHORE, C. E. The Psychology of Musical Talent. (Silver,
Burdett and Company, 1919.) Simple tests for diagnosing musical talent.
See also Eighteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education (1919), Part II, p. i n.
33. TERMAN, L. M. Thelntelligenceof School Children. (Houghton,
Mifflin Company, 1919.) Scientific diagnosis and testing.
34. WHIPPLE, G. M. Classes for Gifted Children. (School and
Home Publishing Company, 1919.) By a noted investigator.
CHAPTER XII
PROJECT TEACHING: PUPILS PLANNING
PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES
Main points of the chapter. — i. A pupil project may be defined
as some practical activity planned by the pupils.
2. Such planning was early introduced in manual- training and
assembly exercises and then extended to other subjects.
3. It is valuable because it gives pupils practice in such practical
planning as is frequently found in social life.
4. Project teaching requires of the teacher wide knowledge,
executive ability, and skill in directing problem solving.
Definition. — The central element in project teaching is
the planning by pupils of some practical activity, — something
to be done. Hence a project in teaching is any unit of
activity that makes the pupils responsible for such practical
planning. It gives them practice in devising ways and
means and in selecting and rejecting methods of achieving
some definite practical end. This conception conforms with
the dictionary definition of a project as " something of a prac-
tical nature thrown out for the consideration of its being done,"
and the statement that "to project" means "to devise," "to
scheme." Furthermore, it describes with considerable pre-
cision a specific kind of improved teaching that has become
common in progressive experimental schools since 1900.
Examples. Numerous illustrations of such planning in
the text. — In the preceding chapters we have described and
pictured numerous examples of teaching in which such plan
ning by the pupils is prominent. The part played by varied
planning by pupils is particularly well illustrated in the three
324
PROJECT TEACHING 325
pictures of medieval scenes on pages 8, 230, and 232. In
this case three different fifth-grade classes all had the same
practical problem of illustrating certain phases of medieval
life ; yet the practical outcomes varied greatly on account of
variations in the pupils' planning. Another example of such
contrasts in the pupils' planning of similar projects is shown
in the construction of two community projects by kinder-
garten children as pictured on pages 124 and 129. Apart
from these contrasting outcomes on the same project, the
reader will find illuminating examples of project teaching
pictured or described on the following pages : Frontispiece,
14, 15, 18, 65, 121-129, 132-139, i?8, 184, 185, 186,
230-241, and 312. Another rich source of examples of
projects planned and carried out by pupils is the Twentieth
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Educa-
tion, Part I (Public School Publishing Company, Blooming-
ton, Illinois, 1921). More than two hundred projects from
all grades are there briefly described.
Construction and expression projects most prominent. —
Although project teaching is possible in any subject where
the planning of practical jobs is appropriate, it was first
undertaken most extensively in the form of construction and
expression projects in manual training, history, civics, geog-
raphy, composition, and assembly exercises. Vivid examples
of such constructional and expressional projects are included
in the pictures listed above. These show sand-pan construc-
tions in history and geography, community-life constructions
planned and executed by kindergarten pupils, the dramatiza-
tion of historical scenes, and assembly exercises involving
drawing construction and dramatization.
Manual training changed from set exercises to pupil
projects. — One of the first subjects in which such pupil-
planning of practical activities replaced the performance of
dictated formal exercises was manual training. As this sub-
ject was taught in America from about 1880 until 1900, it
326 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
consisted almost exclusively of the making by the pupils
of formal exercises in the kindergarten and of the practical
Swedish-Sloyd and Russian-machine exercises in the higher
grades. Among the earliest efforts to introduce pupil-
planning in manual training we find the experiments of
Francis W. Parker and John Dewey in their model schools
in Chicago about 1900. Another very influential center was
Teachers College of Columbia University as described in
the first volume of the Teachers College Record, 1900,
PP- 249-339-
Francis W. Parker s assembly exercises. — A second field
in which the pupil-planning of practical activities early found
a place was in the morning assembly exercises. Here again
Francis W. Parker was a leader, and to-day probably the best
source of examples of such assembly programs planned by
the pupils is the Second Yearbook (1913) of the Francis W.
Parker School (330 Webster Avenue, Chicago, Illinois).
Planning practical activities carried into history, geog-
raphy, and civics. — Perhaps the next step in the develop-
ment of project teaching was found in the planning by pupils
of constructional and expressional activities in the study of
history, geography, and civics. We have pictured above
many examples of such teaching from the Elementary School
of The University of Chicago, which, under the early leader-
ship of Francis W. Parker and John Dewey, developed a
very refined technique of carrying on such teaching. In the
kindergarten the illustrations of pupils' community projects
pictured above mark a notable reform from the formal gifts
and occupations of the earlier kindergartens. In the field of
civics the organization of " clean-up " campaigns and similar
activities represents an interesting extension of the Dewey
influence on a wide scale. .
Values of practice in planning practical activities. — The
most obvious values of such project teaching are clearly
implied in the fact that skill in the planning of practical
PROJECT TEACHING 327
activities is very necessary and useful in the world at
large. Successful inventors, designers, architects, organizers,
managing editors, playwrights, scenario writers, promoters,
executives, and the like, all must have skill in planning
practical activities. Project teaching anticipates this need
by giving pupils practice in such practical planning in the
ordinary school, instead of leaving it all to the " hard school
of practical experience" after graduation. In addition to this
obvious value of such practice in practical planning, project
teaching has the additional value of securing attention to
certain school topics through appeals to certain practical
instinctive interests, as illustrated on pages 230-241.
Limitations of project teaching. — As described above,
project teaching is only one type of procedure needed in
pupils' training — not an exclusive type. There is much
valuable activity and learning in social life (including the
school) that does not consist of planning practical activities.
In fact, a large part of the work and learning of artisans,
clerks, bookkeepers, librarians, teachers, even executives and
scientists, consists in the routine juggling of mental and
material products. Hence we have a large place in the school
for the learning of organized systems of facts from textbooks,
and for drill in acquiring routine skills, as illustrated at length
in Chapter X. It is significant that while the enthusiasm
for project teaching is sweeping the country, at the same
time the scientific investigators of methods of teaching read-
ing, spelling, handwriting, and arithmetic are placing very
great emphasis on the scientific diagnosis of each pupil's
needs in each skill, and on the prescription, by the teacher,
of specific practice exercises suited to each pupil's peculiar
needs and deficiencies as described above on page 275.
A limited social objective and one mode of learning. —
By conceiving project teaching as the planning by pupils of
practical activities, we thus avoid the danger of overempha-
sizing it to the exclusion of other social objectives and modes
328 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
of learning. Skill in planning practical activities thus be-
comes one among many coordinate objectives of school teach-
ing, and practice in such planning becomes one among
several valuable modes of learning.
Teacher's technique. — The successful direction of the
practical planning of pupils probably calls for greater knowl-
edge and skill in the teacher than any other type of teach-
ing, (i) The wide knoivledge needed is illustrated by some
absurd mistakes in matters of scientific and historical fact
which I have observed in the project teaching of even highly
skilled, experienced teachers. These mistakes arose from
the fact that the solution of the practical project problems
with which the pupils were concerned carried the class into
scientific and historical fields where the teacher was not well
informed. (2) In managing group projects the teacher com-
monly needs skill in organizing and directing subdivided
labor. She needs to be able to direct the organization of
committees, and to keep track of the varied activities of indi-
viduals who have been assigned special phases of the project.
Thus project teaching requires greater executive ability in
the teacher than textbook recitations or routinized drill.
(3) Finally, the teacher needs skill in guiding pupils in
problematic thinking. Such skill is discussed at length in the
chapter on " Problem Solving " in the author's " Types of
Elementary Teaching and Learning " (Ginn and Company).1
As brought out there, we find that the successful direction
of problem solving involves in the teacher skill in getting the
pupils to do each of the following : I, Define the problem
1 Published also in the Elementary School Journal, September to Decem-
ber, 1920, Vol. XXI. As defined there, a problem is " a question involving
doubt." As defined above, a project always involves some practical prob-
lem. Besides such practical problems, however, we have purely theoretical
ones such as " Why does the mist hang on the mountain side ? " or " Who
was the greater general, Napoleon or Alexander ? " Guiding pupils in
solving either practical or theoretical problems involves the technique
outlined in the author's chapter on problem solving.
PROJECT TEACHING 329
clearly ; II, Keep the problem in mind ; III, Make a variety
of suggestions ; IV, Criticize and evaluate each suggestion ;
V, Organize the thinking systematically and summarize from
time to time its net outcomes.
Summary of Part II: learning processes, general aspects.
— We concluded the general points of vieiv presented in
Part I of the text with a presentation of the psychologi-
cal point of view in organizing subject matter ; namely, that
it should be organized not merely in terms of the subject,
but as children learn it most readily and effectively. We
found that the discussion of how children learn contained
so many problems that we devoted to it the seven chapters
constituting Part II of the book. In these chapters we
presented the following fundamental principles of learning
and teaching :
1. Each pupil learns through his own responses. Hence
what each pupil thinks and does is the great factor in learn-
ing and teaching.
2. The pupil's response is greatly influenced by his past
experience. In order that the pupil may respond with appro-
priate ideas, meanings, feelings, and attitudes, instead of
mere words, the teacher must build carefully upon his past
experience and enrich his experience with contacts with real
objects and social situations.
3. The pupil's response is also influenced by his present
frame of mind. Hence, the teacher must arouse appropriate
lines of thought and mental backgrounds and attitudes in
order to secure the specific educative responses desired of
pupils.
4. Among the most important of these attitudes are atten-
tion and interest. Attention to the school activities is best
secured by utilizing the children's active interests in romance
and adventure, animals and persons, social approval, rhythm,
rime, jingle and song, plays and games, problems, construc-
tions, collections, communications, etc.
330 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
5. One of the features of school work that has been most
improved through applying the above principles is drill. It
has been found that ten minutes a day of scientifically organ-
ized, snappy, interesting drills, adapted to the individual needs
of pupils, suffices to develop the necessary skill in any one of
the formal subjects; consequently, most of the day is left free
for the other kinds of learning to be carried on in school.
6. The adaptation of drills to the varied needs of indi-
vidual pupils gives us one of our best examples of the dif-
ferentiated instruction which is necessitated by the great
differences in the inborn capacities of pupils and their
opportunities for social usefulness.
7. Pupils who have special aptitudes for planning practi-
cal activities are given special opportunities to develop these
aptitudes in the project teaching that has recently become
popular in American schools.
Conclusion of Parts I and II. — The summary on page
155 of the broadening purposes of elementary-school teach-
ing, of economy in classroom management, and of the prin-
ciples determining the selection and organization of subject
matter, together with the above summary of the general
aspects of learning, presents some of the most important
general principles of method. Many special applications of
these general principles, together with additional facts about
learning, arise in discussions of the best ways of teaching
children to write, to spell, to read, to cipher, to understand
social life, to solve problems, to express themselves, to enjoy
themselves in harmless ways, and to behave morally, which
are discussed in the author's " Types of Elementary Teach-
ing and Learning."
Enlist for artistic teaching. — Finally, it is suggested that
the reader review the discussion of artistic teaching with
which this book opened, and endeavor to achieve artistic
success and happiness as a teacher along the lines described
in the above chapters.
INDEX
Abbott, E., 51
Abstractions, understanding of, 174
Accessory processes in drill, 257
Accuracy in drill, 256
Activity. See Self-activity
Adams, J., 192, 193, 198, 199
Addams, Jane, 43
Adventure, interest in, 201-205, 218
Aims of education. See Purposes
Almanacs, 87
Alphabet methods of Pestalozzi,
144-149
Anderson, C. J., 321
Anderson, Meta L., 321
Animals, interest in, 218
Apperception, Chap. VII, 168-189
Arithmetic, historical changes in,
95; relative values in, 102-104;
learning to count in, 170; drill
games in, 208, 241 ; drill lessons
in, 250-255; Stone's tests in,
265 ; drill in, 267 ; individual dif-
ferences in, 274-276, 279, 283,
292, 298; capacity for, 314
Artistic teaching, Chap. I, 3-1 1
Attention, 206 ff.
Ay res, Leonard, 106, 109, 112
Bachman, F. P., 156, 189
Bagley, W. C., 51, 55, 58, 83, 267,
289, 320
Bible, interest in, 49
Bibliographical notes, on artistic
teaching, u ; on purposes of
teaching, 51-52 ; on classroom
management, 83 ; on selecting
subject matter, 1 1 1 ; on organiz-
ing subject matter, 1 56 ; on self-
activity, 1 66; on apperception,
188; on preparation, 199; on in-
terests, 245; on drill, 267; on
individual differences, 320
Bingham, Caleb, 89-93
Bobbitt, J. F., x, 51, 96, in, U2
Books, 114-115, 123
Breckenridge, S. P., 51
Breed, F. S., on composition scales,
294-296, 322
Brown, H. A., 263, 268
Capacities, individual differences
in, Chap. XI, 269-323; great
variety of, 310-322
Cards for drill, 248-251
Charters, W. W., 199
Chicago, history of, 139. See Uni-
versity of Chicago
Chick, learning process of, 159
Child labor, 24-27, 51
Children, to be studied, 319
Civics, 96
Classroom management, Chap. Ill,
53-83
Collecting instinct, 234
" Columbian Orator," 89-93
Communication; interest in, 228
Community needs, 98
Composition, 10, 121, 170
Composition scales for individual
differences, 293-296
Content of children's minds, 173
Cook, W. A., 106, 112
Correct start in drill, 255
Counting, 170
Courtis, S. A., 259, 268, 290, 292, 322
Cubberley, E. P., 51
Curiosity, 222-228
Darwin, 220
Democracy, and aim of education,
22, 27, 32—34 ; and oratory, 89
Dewey, John, viii, 51,61,62, 100, 108,
112, 199, 245
Diagnosis of individuals, in arith-
metic, 275, 321 ; in reading, 321
Dickens, C., 176
Differences in capacity, Chap. XI,
. 269-323. See Individual differ-
ences
Discipline, 74-82
331
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Distribution of individual differ-
ences, 297-302
Downing, E. R., 307, 322
Drake, E. H., 321
Dramatic interest and projects, 235-
241
Drawing, Frontispiece, 145, 151,
152, 311, 312
Dresslar, F. B., 52
Drill, Chap. X, 247-268; games, 208,
239; in reading, 248; in arith-
metic, 250-255; principles of,
255-267; correctness in, 255;
avoid nonessentials in, 257 ; inter-
est in, 258; scientific systems for,
259; standard scores for, 261;
concrete, 262 ; incidental, 264-267
Drudgery, 244
Earhart, L. B., 189, 267
Economy in learning, and interests,
Chap. IX, 200-246
Economy in management, Chap.
HI, 53-83
Eloquence in early readers, 89-93
Emulation, 209-213, 216
Encyclopedic method, 116-131
Enjoyment of leisure, 19, 35, 42-44
Examinations, absurd mistakes in,
193
Experiences, building on, Chap.
VII, 168-189
Expression, training in, 19 ; interest
in, 228 ; capacity for, 310-311
Factory system, 27-32
Favorable frame of mind, Chap.
VIII, 190-199
Fear of pain, 215, 217
Feeble-minded, 74 ; heredity in, 303 ;
possible achievements of, 304, 321
First day, routine of, 62-64
Frame of mind, favorable, Chap.
VIII, 190-199
France, tuberculosis in, 39
Franklin, Benjamin, 86-88
Freeman, F. N., x, 166, 246, 265,
268, 288, 322
Froebel, and first kindergarten, 97-
98 ; and geometrical forms, 146-
148; and symbolism, 177-181. See
Kindergarten
Frostic, F. W., 294, 322
Galton, Francis, on hereditary gen-
ius, 305; on twins, 306, 319, 322
Games, interest in, 239
Genius, hereditary, 305
Geography, organization of, 116-
121 ; projects in, 117-121 ; memo-
rizing of, 176; home, 182; mod-
eling in, 183-187; sugar-coated,
207 ; supplementary assignments
in, 285
Geometrical forms, 145-148
Giddings, F. A., on capacity for
leadership, 315-317, 322
Goddard, H. II., 303, 322
Good will, 35, 44
Graphs for individual differences,
298-301
Gray, W. S., x
Greek history, 140
Grocery store in kindergarten, 126
Gymnastics, 145, 151
Habits, as educational aims, 47-48 ;
and reasoning, 61
Haggerty, M. E., 323
Hall, G. S., on content of children's
•minds, 173, 188
Handling materials, 68-71
Handwork, 13-17, 227
Handwriting, 145, 151 ; rhythm in,
222 ; drill in, 265-266
Happiness, as aim of education, 32—
35
Harmless enjoyment, 42-44
Hazen, C. D., 25-27, 51
Health as aim of education, 35-42
Heredity, in monotones, 271-272;
in feeble-minded, 303 ; in geniuses,
305 ; in twins, 306
Hill, Patty, ix, 10, 156
Historical changes in purposes,
19-34
Historical projects, pictures of,
Frontispiece, 8, 14, 132, 134, 136,
138, 184, 185, 230, 232, 236, 238,
240
History, project method in, 122;
organization of, 131-141 ; chrono-
logical order in, 131-135; psy-
chological order in, 135-141 ;
preparatory step in, 195 ; appeals
to adventure interest, 204, 218,
219; problems in, 227
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 333
Holmes, W. H., 321
Home geography, 182
Hookworm disease, 36-38
" How to Live," 40
Humanitarianism, 23-27
Hygienic conditions, 71-74
Ideals as educational aims, 48
Illiteracy, 92
Imitative play, 235-241
Improvability, 308
Inborn characteristics, 302-323
Indian life, 132-137
Individual differences in capacities,
Chap. XI, 269-323 ; for singing,
270-273 ; in drill in fundamen-
tals, 273-277 ; varied assignments
for, 279-286 ; and special promo-
tions, 287 ; and supervised study,
289; scientific studies of, 289-
307 ; distribution of, 290—301 ;
causes of, 302-307 ; sympathetic
treatment for, 307 ; and improva-
bility, 308 ; great variety in, 310-
319
Individuality, 55-61
Industrial revolution, 27-32
Information as an educational aim,
46-47
Inhibition, 163
Initiative, 55-61
Instincts. See Interests
Intensive study, 116-131
Interdependence, 27-32, 58
Interest, as a favorable attitude, 198 ;
and economy in learning, Chap.
IX, 200-246; in adventure, 201;
utilizing children's, as a business
proposition, 205 ; and spontane-
ous attention, 206 ; sugar-coat-
ing for, 207 ; questions in using
an instinctive, 209 ; in emulation,
209 ; list of instinctive, 214 ; old-
fashioned appeals to, 215; in
romance, 218; in people and
animals, 218; in social approval,
220; in rhythm and rime, 221 ; in
puzzles, problems, etc., 222-228;
in expression, 228 ; in manipula-
tion, 229 ; in collecting, 234 ; in
dramatic play, 235; in games,
239; and work, 242-245; in drill,
258
Interests as educational aims, 49-50
Irrigation project, 186
James, William, on habit and rea-
soning, 61-62 ; on simple to com-
plex, 149; mentioned, 83, 156, 246
Jesuit, discipline, 77 ; emulation, 216
Jones, W. F., 105, 112
Judd, C. H., viii, x, n, 51, 320
Kelly, Myra, on monitors, 68, 83 ;
on experiences of slum children,
171, 189
Kennedy, J., 289, 321
Kindergarten, ix ; pictures of, 16,
18, 65, 122, 123, 124, 127, 129,
170, 178, 1 80; purposes of, 16-
19; bibliography of, 52, 83, 156;
grouping pupils , in, 64-67 ; pre-
paring materials in, 70 ; hygienic
conditions in, 73 ; discipline in,
79 ; historical changes in, 97-98 ;
projects in, 125-127; geometri-
cal constructions in, 146-148;
symbolism in, 177-181 ; use of
rhythm in, 222 ; constructive prob-
lems in, 227, 231 ; imitative play
in, 235
King Tawny Mane, 202
Kingsl.ey, S. C., 52
Kirkpatrick, E. A., on rivalry, 212;
on social approval, 220; men-
tioned, 246, 323 ; on nervous child,
3i8
Klapper, P., 267
Labor, organized, 31-32
Laggards, special promotions of,
287-289
Lancasterian schools, 216
Language, capacity for, 310
Leadership, capacity for, 315-317
Learning, processes of, 154, Part II,
157-330; meaning of, 158-160
Leisure, training for, 31, 42-44
Libraries, 88, 92, 278
Life Extension Institute, 40
Lighting, 7 1-73
Local history, 137
Mclntire, R., 52
McMaster, J. B., 87, 112
McMurry, F. and C., 156, 189, 199
334 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Madison, James, 22
Malaria, 38
Management, economy in, Chap.
HI, 53-83
Manual skill, as an aim, 19 ; capacity
for, 311-313
Manual work, 13-17; interest in,
229-234
Map of Rockefeller Foundation
activities, 37
Mapping neighborhood, 182
Mark Twain, 211
Marshall, H. E., 218
Massachusetts, law of 1647, 20
Mathematical reasoning, 314
Mayberry, I. W., 321
Meek, C. S., on special promotions,
287, 321
Mental activity, interest in, 222
Minimum and maximum assign-
ments, 280
Modeling in sand-pan, 183-187
Monitors, 68-70
Monotones, 270-273, 276, 308, 309,
3M
Moral training, as an aim, 18, 44 ;
from religious to civic, 96-97
Morehouse, F. M., 83
Music, capacity for, 314. See Singing
National Education Association, 318
Native capacities, 302-323
Needs, social, 85-101
New England Primer, 21
New York City, schools of, 24, 69
Normal frequency surface, 300
North America, geographical teach-
ing of, 117-120
Obedience, 58
Open-air schools, 41, 42, 52
Oral reading. See Reading
Oratory in early readers, 89-93
Order, 74-82
Organizing subject matter, Chap. V,
113-156
Original nature, influence of, 302-307
O'Shea, M. V., 106, 112
Palmer, Luella A., 73, 83
Parker, S. C., n, 51, 83, 112, 156,
189, 320
Parker, Edith, 156
Passing of pupils, 67
Past experience, building on, Chap.
VII, 168-189
People, capacity for understanding,
315 ; capacity for managing, 316
Pestalozzi, and the psychologizing of
teaching, 142-149 ; and object les-
sons, 175; and clay modeling, 183
Physical activity, interest in, 229-
234
Physical conditions, 71-74
Play, imitative, interest in, 235-241
Playhouse in kindergarten, 126
Poetry of children, 10, 311
Postal service, 88
Practice, Chap. X, 247-268
Preparation, doctrine of, Chap.
VIII, 190-199
Problems, solving, 19; interest in,
226-228; kinds of, 227
Projects, in organizing subject
matter, 1 16-131 ; Chap. XII, 324-
330. See Historical projects
Promotions, individual, 287-289
Psychological aims, 45—50
Psychological organization of sub-
ject matter, 131-155
Pupil activity, 161 ff.
Puritan education, 19-21, 33
Purposes, of elementary education,
Chap. II, 12-52 ; of kindergarten,
16-19; colonial, 19-21; demo-
cratic, 22 ; humanitarian, 23-27 ;
influence of industrial revolution
on, 27-32; broad, social, 35-45;
psychological, 45-50
Puzzle interest, 222
Quick, R. H., 83
Reading, for enjoyment, 43, 44 ;
habit of, 48 ; historical reasons for
oral and silent, 86-95 > ABC
methods in, 144; whole method
in, 150; absurd mistakes in, 193;
preparatory step in, 196; made
interesting with adventure stories,
201-205, 218; a drill lesson in,
248-250; supplementary assign-
ments in, 282-286 ; individual dif-
ferences in, 289-292, 299-300
Reasoning, 55. 60-62 ; in mathe-
matics, 314
TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 335
Relative values, 101-107; Spencer
on, 101 ; in arithmetic, 102-104;
in spelling, 104-106; scientific
determination of, 107
Religion, in colonial education,
!9-2I> 33. 96
Riddles, interest in, 223-225
Rime, 221
Ritter, Karl, 116
Rockefeller Foundation, 37-38
Romance, interest in, 201, 218
Roman history, 140; modeling in,
184
Rousseau, J. J., and the psychologi-
cal organization of subject matter,
141-142; criticizes parrot recita-
tions, 175; and instinctive inter-
ests, 216, 319
Routine, Chap. Ill, 53-83
Rules for discipline, 80
Russian Revolution, 22
Rhythm, 221
Sand-pan, 184-187
Sarcasm, 215
Sargent, W., 152
Saxon village, 185
Schmitt, Clara, 321
Scientific investigations, of spelling
vocabulary, 104 ; general charac-
teristics of, 107-111; of learning.
159; of individual differences,
289-307
Scientific method, 107-1 1 1
Seating of pupils, 64-67
Selecting subject matter, Chap. IV,
84-112
Self-activity, Chap. VI, 157-167
Self-control, 163
Service, social, 35, 44-45
Shepherd life, 137
Silent reading. See Reading
Simple to complex, 144-149
Singing, for enjoyment 43. 44 ; in-
terest in, 221 ; capacity for, 270-
273> 276, 308, 309, 314
Slater, S., 28-29
Small, Albion, 34
Smith, J. H., 275, 321
Social approval, interest in, 220
Social needs, 85-101, 227
Social point of view, 99
Social service, 35, 44, 45
Soft pedagogy, 244
Speed in drill, 256
Spelling, investigations of relative
values in, 104-106; transfer of
skill, 263 ; individual differences,
308
Spencer, Herbert, mentioned, 20.
51, 108, 112; on social point of
view, 99-100; on relative values,
101
Spontaneity, 55-61
State, training for the, 33-34
Storm, Grace, 184-185
Stone, C. W., 265, 268
Strayer, G. D., 267
Subject matter, organization of,
Chap. V, 1 13-1 56 ; in geography,
116-121 ; in history, 122, 131-141 ;
in the kindergarten, 125-127,
146; value of project method in,
127-131 ; in terms of the learner,
131-155; Rousseau's influence
on, 141 ; Pestalozzi's influence
on, 142-149; simple-to-complex
methods in, 144-149; in larger
wholes, 149-151
Subject matter, selection of, Chap.
IV, 84-112; adapting to social
needs, 85-101 ; in reading, 86-95 <
in arithmetic, 95, 102 ; in kinder-
garten, 97-98 ; determining rela-
tive values, 101—107 ; scientific
method in selecting, 107-112
Sugar-coating, 207
Summary, of Parti, 155; of Part
II, 329
Supplementary assignments, 280-
286
Swift, on typewriting skill, 277
Symbolism in kindergarten, 177-
181
Systems for drill, 259, 267
Teachers, training, 4, 6, 119
Temple, Alice, ix, 64, 66, 70, 79,
83, 156, 189
Textbooks, 114-115, 123
Thorndike, E. L., mentioned, viii.
83, 112, 167, 189, 199, 222, 246,
268, 277, 301, 320, 322 ; on routine
and originality, 60 ; on rules, 80 ;
on scientific method, 1 10 : on learn-
ing of chicks, 159; on inhibition,
336 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
163; on symbolism, 179; on mis-
takes in reading, 193 ; reading
selections from, 201 ; on social
approval, 220 ; on mental activity,
228; on physical activity, 229;
on individual differences, 309 ; on
capacities, 318
Tidyman, W. F., 263, 268
" Tom Sawyer," 211
Tryon, R. M., 29, 51
Tuberculosis, 38-42
Twins, original nature in, 306
Typewriting skill, 277
Uhl, W. I.., 321
University of Chicago Elementary
School, ix ; course of study of,
n, 156; geography in, 117-121;
kindergarten projects in, 125-127;
history in, 135-140; use of
sand-pan in, 184; dramatic proj-
ects in, 236-241; drill in, 265;
reading rates in, 291. See List of
illustrations
Values. See Relative values
Ventilation, 71
Viking tales, 137
Wallin, J. E. W., 268, 304, 322
White, E. E., 83
Wilson, G. M., 103
Wilson, President, 92
Wonder, 222
Work and interest, 242-245
Zirbes, Laura, 321
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