Child study in Chicago : [a report ] / [by Fred W. Smedley].

  • Smedley, Fred W.
Date:
[1902]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Child study in Chicago : [a report ] / [by Fred W. Smedley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    6. The investigation shows that there is no “memory period,” no period in early school life when the memory is stronger than it is at any later portion of the child’s life, a period especially adapted for learning to spell. While there are no memory stages, there are undoubtedly periods of interest that are especially favorable for the child’s learning to spell; times when, through the influence of companions or teach- ers, the child is aroused from indifference or from a feeling that spelling is a small part of life to a recognition that it is important. 7. It has been pointed out that during early school life the auditory memory h the stronger, and later that the visual memory is stronger. During the whole o: ■g^hooThfelthe audio:visS'inemory is stronger than either the auditory or visual that is, a simultaneous appeal to both sight and hearing produces a richer and more usable image than is brought about by an appeal to either sense alone. This fac is very far-reaching in its application to teaching. The audio-visual-articulator] memory, in which the impression is produced by an appeal to the hearing, sight and the muscle sense, is even stronger than the audio-visual. It would seem fron this that the more senses we can appeal to the deeper will be the impression. Thi fact should be made use of in spelling drills. 8. The aim in teaching spelling should be to render words of the most frequen use automatic, to have them so well known that in writing they will flow from th point of the pen, requiring but little thought as to their formation. Then there is large class of words of less frequent occurrence which should be recalled on sligli reflection. For the more unusual words the individual should have tne dictionar habit so firmly fixed that he will conscientiously look up every word he needs t write if in doubt about its correct spelling. The spelling of words is rendered aut< matic through practice in writing them. Though the first grasp of the word ma well be made through other combinations of sense memories, yet the final retentio of the spelling of most words should be through the audio-visual-hand-mpt( memory. jfl 9. The per cent of pupils having sight and hearing defects is greater among tt poor spellers than among the good spellers; yet there are pupils with decided sensoi defects among the very best spellers. While these sensory defects are handicaps i learning to spell, still they may be overcome through careful application by thoi pupils who have good memory power. 10. Much that has been said here concerning the teaching of spelling will app with but slightly diminished force to instruction in the other branches of tl curriculum.