Classes for gifted children : an experimental study of methods of selection and instruction / by Guy Montrose Whipple.

  • Whipple, Guy Montrose, 1876-1941.
Date:
[1919], ©1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Classes for gifted children : an experimental study of methods of selection and instruction / by Guy Montrose Whipple. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/160 (page 6)
    for that reason the idea that special classes ought to be formed for the instruction of extra-dull pupils has been received with almost no opposition. Experience in many cities has shown the value of the idea, and it has turned out that the advantages have accrued almost as much to the pupils of the regular as to those of the special class¬ es. The evolution of this principle has given rise to an extensive literature and to a fairly well-developed peda¬ gogy of the subnormal child: into details it is unneces¬ sary to go. Our problem concerns the children at the other end of the intellectual scale. Is it not probable that bright children as well as dull children fail to profit to the utmost from instruction and training adjusted to the mental pace of the average? Will not the segregation of bright children into special classes be as profitable as the segregation of dull children proved to be? Granted an affirmative answer, there must be raised numerous more specific questions: At what grade ought such a selection to be made? By what method ought pupils to be selected for the special class? How many ought to be placed in a given class? Does the teacher need spe¬ cial qualifications? Ought the course of study to con¬ tinue the same? Or ought it to be enlarged by supple¬ mentary work? Or ought the course of study to be abolished entirely? Ought the pupils to do more or to do less home work? Ought the methods of instruction— the use of illustration, of induction, of practise drills— to be altered? Ought the pupils to be encouraged to participate more actively in class discussions or ought these tendencies to be repressed in favor of rigorous drill and the development of a high degree of precision and speed? What should be done to detect and to foster