Studies in development and learning : contributions from the Department of Psychology and Child Study in the Fitchburg Normal School / made by the advanced class of 1907, and edited by Edwin A. Kirkptrick.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Studies in development and learning : contributions from the Department of Psychology and Child Study in the Fitchburg Normal School / made by the advanced class of 1907, and edited by Edwin A. Kirkptrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    65/112 (page 57)
    see the whole thing at once, instead of analyzing. Only 8 per cent, of the third grade used the method of analysis, while 57 per cent, of the normal school students used it. After several days had passed since the students and children had seen the original figures, I asked them to draw the figures again from memory. Then I asked them which method helped the most in remembering the figures. These papers I did not tabulate but from them I learned many facts. Those who considered the motor element of learning very important the first day they drew the figures said that the motor element did not help them so much when they had to remember the figures for several days. The normal school stu- dents considered this method “a quick method of learning but the easiest to forget. ’ ’ While many who did not realize that association helped them the first day say that it helped them to remember for a longer period. One student writes: “The first three figures which I associated with a familiar object came back readily to-day, but the others which I had learned by hand tracing did not come back so readily. ’ ’ It is interesting to notice the combinations of methods used and the results obtained from various combinations. Nearly all the students and pupils who received an a in both general and detailed appearance used a combination of three or four methods, while those who were marked c rarely used more than one or two methods. The normal school students obtained the best results by studying the figure as a whole first and then spending much time in associating it with other known figures and analyzing it. The children of the third grade obtained the best results by studying the figure as a whole carefully and then tracing it with the finger many times. When they thought they could draw it, they looked away and tried to trace it in the air or on the desk; if they couldn’t do it, they studied it some more. As the children grow older imagination or association seems to take the place of the motor element; and the tendency to reason and analyze grows with age. These facts too often pass unnoticed in the school room. Many teachers who do good work with older children fail with the little pupils because they do not realize the importance of the motor learning to the undeveloped mind. And the reverse is equally true. The motor process of learning must be used but not so constantly that as the child grows older he will lose the power to analyze and to reason.