EDUCATION OF THE SENSES
In a pedagogical method which is experimental the education of the
senses must undoubtedly assume the greatest importance. Experimental
psychology also takes note of movements by means of sense measurements.
Pedagogy, however, although it may profit by psychometry is not designed
to _measure_ the sensations, but _educate_ the senses. This is a point
easily understood, yet one which is often confused. While the
proceedings of esthesiometry are not to any great extent applicable to
little children, the _education_ of the _senses_ is entirely possible.
We do not start from the conclusions of experimental psychology. That
is, it is not the knowledge of the average sense conditions according to
the age of the child which leads us to determine the educational
applications we shall make. We start essentially from a method, and it
is probable that psychology will be able to draw its conclusions from
pedagogy so understood, and not _vice versa_.
The method used by me is that of making a pedagogical experiment with a
didactic object and awaiting the spontaneous reaction of the child. This
is a method in every way analogous to that of experimental psychology.
I make use of a material which, at first glance, may be confused with
psychometric material. Teachers from Milan who had followed the course
in the Milan school of experimental psychology, seeing my material
exposed, would recognise among it, measures of the perception of colour,
hardness, and weight, and would conclude that, in truth, I brought no
new contribution to pedagogy since these instruments were already known
to them.
But the great difference between the two materials lies in this: The
esthesiometer carries within itself the possibility of _measuring_; my
objects on the contrary, often do not permit a measure, but are adapted
to cause the child to _exercise_ the senses.
In order that an instrument shall attain such a pedagogical end, it is
necessary that it shall not _weary_ but shall _divert_ the child. Here
lies the difficulty in the selection of didactic material. It is known
that the psychometric instruments are great _consumers of energy_--for
this reason, when Pizzoli wished to apply them to the education of the
senses, he did not succeed because the child was annoyed by them, and
became tired. Instead, _the aim of education is to develop the
energies_.
Psychometric instruments, or better, the instruments of _esthesiometry_,
are prepared in their differential gradations upon the laws of Weber,
which were in truth drawn from experiments made upon adults.
With little children, we must proceed to the making of trials, and must
select the didactic materials in which they show themselves to be
interested.
This I did in the first year of the "Children's Houses" adopting a great
variety of stimuli, with a number of which I had already experimented in
the school for deficients.
Much of the material used for deficients is abandoned in the education
of the normal child--and much that is used has been greatly modified. I
believe, however, that I have arrived at a _selection of objects_ (which
I do not here wish to speak of in the technical language of psychology
as stimuli) representing the minimum _necessary_ to a practical sense
education.
These objects constitute the _didactic system_ (or set of didactic
materials) used by me. They are manufactured by the House of Labour of
the Humanitarian Society at Milan.
A description of the objects will be given as the educational scope of
each is explained. Here I shall limit myself to the setting forth of a
few general considerations.
_First._ _The difference in the reaction between deficient and normal
children, in the presentation of didactic material made up of graded
stimuli._ This difference is plainly seen from the fact that the same
didactic material used with deficients _makes education possible_, while
with normal children it _provokes auto-education_.
This fact is one of the most interesting I have met with in all my
experience, and it inspired and rendered possible the method of
_observation_ and _liberty_.
Let us suppose that we use our first object,--a block in which solid
geometric forms are set. Into corresponding holes in the block are set
ten little wooden cylinders, the bases diminishing gradually about the
millimetres. The game consists in taking the cylinders out of their
places, putting them on the table, mixing them, and then putting each
one back in its own place. The aim is to educate the eye to the
differential perception of dimensions.
With the deficient child, it would be necessary to begin with exercises
in which the stimuli were much more strongly contrasted, and to arrive
at this exercise only after many others had preceded it.
With normal children, this is, on the other hand, the first object which
we may present, and out of all the didactic material this is the game
preferred by the very little children of two and a half and three years.
Once we arrived at this exercise with a deficient child, it was
necessary continually and actively to recall his attention, inviting him
to look at the block and showing him the various pieces. And if the
child once succeeded in placing all the cylinders properly, he stopped,
and the game was finished. Whenever the deficient child committed an
error, it was necessary to correct it, or to urge him to correct it
himself, and when he was able to correct an error he was usually quite
indifferent.
Now the normal child, instead, takes spontaneously a lively interest in
this game. He pushes away all who would interfere, or offer to help him,
and wishes to be alone before his problem.
It had already been noted that little ones of two or three years take
the greatest pleasure in arranging small objects, and this experiment in
the "Children's Houses" demonstrates the truth of this assertion.
Now, and here is the important point, the normal child attentively
observes the relation between the size of the opening and that of the
object which he is to place in the mould, and is greatly interested in
the game, as is clearly shown by the expression of attention on the
little face.
If he mistakes, placing one of the objects in an opening that is small
for it, he takes it away, and proceeds to make various trials, seeking
the proper opening. If he makes a contrary error, letting the cylinder
fall into an opening that is a little too large for it, and then
collects all the successive cylinders in openings just a little too
large, he will find himself at the last with the big cylinder in his
hand while only the smallest opening is empty. The didactic material
_controls every error_. The child proceeds to correct himself, doing
this in various ways. Most often he feels the cylinders or shakes them,
in order to recognise which are the largest. Sometimes, he sees at a
glance where his error lies, pulls the cylinders from the places where
they should not be, and puts those left out where they belong, then
replaces all the others. The normal child always repeats the exercise
with growing interest.
Indeed, it is precisely in these errors that the educational importance
of the didactic material lies, and when the child with evident security
places each piece in its proper place, he has outgrown the exercise, and
this piece of material becomes useless to him.
This self-correction leads the child to concentrate his attention upon
the differences of dimensions, and to compare the various pieces. It is
in just this comparison that the _psycho-sensory_ exercise lies.
There is, therefore, no question here of teaching the child the
_knowledge_ of the dimensions, through the medium of these pieces.
Neither is it our aim that the child shall know how to use, _without an
error_, the material presented to him thus performing the exercises
well.
That would place our material on the same basis as many others, for
example that of Froebel, and would require again the _active_ work of
the _teacher_, who busies herself furnishing knowledge, and making haste
to correct every error in order that the child may _learn the use of the
objects_.
Here instead it is the work of the child, the auto-correction, the
auto-education which acts, for the _teacher must not interfere_ in the
_slightest_ way. No teacher can furnish the child with the _agility
which he acquires_ through gymnastic _exercises_: it is necessary that
the _pupil perfect himself_ through his own efforts. It is very much the
same with the _education of the senses_.
It might be said that the same thing is true of every form of education;
a man is not what he is because of the teachers he has had, but because
of what he has done.
One of the difficulties of putting this method into practice with
teachers of the old school, lies in the difficulty of preventing them
from intervening when the little child remains for some time puzzled
before some error, and with his eyebrows drawn together and his lips
puckered, makes repeated efforts to correct himself. When they see this,
the old-time teachers are seized with pity, and long, with an almost
irresistible force, to help the child. When we prevent this
intervention, they burst into words of compassion for the little
scholar, but he soon shows in his smiling face the joy of having
surmounted an obstacle.
Normal children repeat such exercises many times. This repetition varies
according to the individual. Some children after having completed the
exercise five or six times are tired of it. Others will remove and
replace the pieces at least _twenty times_, with an expression of
evident interest. Once, after I had watched a little one of four years
repeat this exercise sixteen times, I had the other children sing in
order to distract her, but she continued unmoved to take out the
cylinders, mix them up and put them back in their places.
An intelligent teacher ought to be able to make most interesting
individual psychological observations, and, to a certain point, should
be able to measure the length of time for which the various stimuli held
the attention.
In fact, when the child educates himself, and when the control and
correction of errors is yielded to the didactic material, there _remains
for the teacher nothing but to observe_. She must then be more of a
psychologist than a teacher, and this shows the importance of a
scientific preparation on the part of the teacher.
Indeed, with my methods, the teacher teaches _little_ and observes
_much_, and, above all, it is her function to direct the psychic
activity of the children and their physiological development. For this
reason I have changed the name of teacher into that of directress.
At first this name provoked many smiles, for everyone asked whom there
was for this teacher to direct, since she had no assistants, and since
she must leave her little scholars _in liberty_. But her direction is
much more profound and important than that which is commonly understood,
for this teacher directs _the life and the soul_.
_Second._ _The education of the senses has, as its aim, the refinement
of the differential perception of stimuli by means of repeated
exercises._
There exists a _sensory culture_, which is not generally taken into
consideration, but which is a factor in esthesiometry.
For example, in the mental _tests_ which are used in France, or in a
series of tests which De Sanctis has established for the _diagnosis_ of
the intellectual status, I have often seen used _cubes of different
sizes placed at varying distances_. The child was to select the
_smallest_ and the _largest_, while the chronometer measured the time of
reaction between the command and the execution of the act. Account was
also taken of the errors. I repeat that in such experiments the factor
of _culture_ is forgotten and by this I mean _sensory culture_.
Our children have, for example, among the didactic material for the
education of the senses, a series of ten cubes. The first has a base of
ten centimetres, and the others decrease, successively, one centimetre
as to base, the smallest cube having a base of one centimetre. The
exercise consists in throwing the blocks, which are pink in colour, down
upon a green carpet, and then building them up into a little tower,
placing the largest cube as the base, and then placing the others in
order of size until the little cube of one centimetre is placed at the
top.
The little one must each time select, from the blocks scattered upon the
green carpet, "the largest" block. This game is most entertaining to the
little ones of two years and a half, who, as soon as they have
constructed the little tower, tumble it down with little blows of the
hand, admiring the pink cubes as they lie scattered upon the green
carpet. Then, they begin again the construction, building and destroying
a definite number of times.
If we were to place before these tests one of my children from three to
four years, and one of the children from the first elementary (six or
seven years old), my pupil would undoubtedly manifest a shorter period
of reaction, and would not commit errors. The same may be said for the
tests of the chromatic sense, etc.
This educational method should therefore prove interesting to students
of experimental psychology as well as to teachers.
In conclusion, let me summarize briefly: Our didactic material renders
auto-education possible, permits a methodical education of the senses.
Not upon the ability of the teacher does such education rest, but upon
the didactic system. This presents objects which, first, attract the
spontaneous attention of the child, and, second, contain a rational
gradation of stimuli.
We must not confuse the _education_ of the senses, with the concrete
ideas which may be gathered from our environment by means of the senses.
Nor must this education of the senses be identical in our minds with the
language through which is given the nomenclature corresponding to the
concrete idea, nor with the acquisition of the abstract idea of the
exercises.
Let us consider what the music master does in giving instruction in
piano playing. He teaches the pupil the correct position of the body,
gives him the idea of the notes, shows him the correspondence between
the written notes and the touch and the position of the fingers, and
then he leaves the child to perform the exercise by himself. If a
pianist is to be made of this child, there must, between the ideas given
by the teacher and the musical exercises, intervene long and patient
application to those exercises which serve to give agility to the
articulation of the fingers and of the tendons, in order that the
co-ordination of special muscular movements shall become automatic, and
that the muscles of the hand shall become strong through their repeated
use.
The pianist must, therefore, _act for himself_, and the more his natural
tendencies lead him to _persist_ in these exercises the greater will be
his success. However, without the direction of the master the exercise
will not suffice to develop the scholar into a true pianist.
The directress of the "Children's House" must have a clear idea of the
two factors which enter into her work--the guidance of the child, and
the individual exercise.
Only after she has this concept clearly fixed in her mind, may she
proceed to the application of a _method_ to _guide_ the spontaneous
education of the child and to impart necessary notions to him.
In the opportune quality and in the manner of this intervention lies the
_personal art_ of the _educator_.
For example, in the "Children's House" in the Prati di Castello, where
the pupils belong to the middle-class, I found, a month after the
opening of the school, a child of five years who already knew how to
compose any word, as he knew the alphabet perfectly--he had learned it
in two weeks. He knew how to write on the blackboard, and in the
exercises in free design he showed himself not only to be an observer,
but to have some intuitive idea of perspective, drawing a house and
chair very cleverly. As for the exercises of the chromatic sense, he
could mix together the eight gradations of the eight colours which we
use, and from this mass of sixty-four tablets, each wound with silk of a
different colour or shade, he could rapidly separate the eight groups.
Having done this, he would proceed with ease to arrange each colour
series in perfect gradation. In this game the child would almost cover
one of the little tables with a carpet of finely-shaded colours. I made
the experiment, taking him to the window and showing him in full
daylight one of the coloured tablets, telling him to look at it well, so
that he might be able to remember it. I then sent him to the table on
which all the gradations were spread out, and asked him to find the
tablet like the one at which he had looked. He committed only very
slight errors, often choosing the exact shade but more often the one
next it, rarely a tint two grades removed from the right one. This boy
had then a power of discrimination and a colour memory which were almost
prodigious. Like all the other children, he was exceedingly fond of the
colour exercises. But when I asked the name of the white colour spool,
he hesitated for a long time before replying uncertainly "white." Now a
child of such intelligence should have been able, even without the
special intervention of the teacher, to learn the name of each colour.
The directress told me that having noticed that the child had great
difficulty in retaining the nomenclature of the colours, she had up
until that time left him to exercise himself freely with the games for
the colour sense. At the same time he had developed rapidly a power over
written language, which in my method as presented through a series
of problems to be solved. These problems are presented as sense
exercises. This child was, therefore, most intelligent. In him the
discriminative sensory perceptions kept pace with great intellectual
activities--attention and judgment. But his _memory for names_ was
inferior.
The directress had thought best not to interfere, as yet, in the
teaching of the child. Certainly, the education of the child was a
little disordered, and the directress had left the spontaneous
explanation of his mental activities excessively free. However desirable
it may be to furnish a sense education as a basis for intellectual
ideas, it is nevertheless advisable at the same time to associate the
_language_ with these _perceptions_.
In this connection I have found excellent for use with normal children
_the three periods_ of which the lesson according to Seguin consists:
_First Period._ The association of the sensory perception with the name.
For example, we present to the child, two colours, red and blue.
Presenting the red, we say simply, "This is red," and presenting the
blue, "This is blue." Then, we lay the spools upon the table under the
eyes of the child.
_Second Period._ Recognition of the object corresponding to the name. We
Say to the child, "Give me the red," and then, "Give me the blue."
_Third Period._ The remembering of the name corresponding to the object.
We ask the child, showing him the object, "What is this?" and he should
respond, "Red."
Seguin insists strongly upon these three periods, and urges that the
colours be left for several instants under the eyes of the child. He
also advises us never to present the colour singly, but always two at a
time, since the contrast helps the chromatic memory. Indeed, I have
proved that there cannot be a better method for teaching colour to the
deficients, who, with this method were able to learn the colours much
more perfectly than normal children in the ordinary schools who have had
a haphazard sense education. For normal children however there exists a
_period preceding_ the Three Periods of Seguin--a period which contains
the real _sense education_. This is the acquisition of a fineness of
differential perception, which can be obtained _only_ through
auto-education.
This, then, is an example of the great superiority of the normal child,
and of the greater effect of education which such pedagogical methods
may exercise upon the mental development of normal as compared with
deficient children.
The association of the name with the stimulus is a source of great
pleasure to the normal child. I remember, one day, I had taught a little
girl, who was not yet three years old, and who was a little tardy in the
development of language, the names of three colours. I had the children
place one of their little tables near a window, and seating myself in
one of the little chairs, I seated the little girl in a similar chair at
my right.
I had, on the table, six of the colour spools in pairs, that is two
reds, two blues, two yellows. In the First Period, I placed one of the
spools before the child, asking her to find the one like it. This I
repeated for all three of the colours, showing her how to arrange them
carefully in pairs. After this I passed to the Three Periods of Seguin.
The little girl learned to recognise the three colours and to pronounce
the name of each.
She was so happy that she looked at me for a long time, and then began
to jump up and down. I, seeing her pleasure, said to her, laughing, "Do
you know the colours?" and she replied, still jumping up and down, "Yes!
YES!" Her delight was inexhaustible; she danced about me, waiting
joyously for me to ask her the same question, that she might reply with
the same enthusiasm, "Yes! Yes!"
Another important particular in the technique of sense education lies in
_isolating the sense_, whenever this is possible. So, for example, the
exercises on the sense of hearing can be given more successfully in an
environment not only of silence, but even of darkness.
For the education of the senses in general, such as in the tactile,
thermic, baric, and stereognostic exercises, we blindfold the child. The
reasons for this particular technique have been fully set forth by
psychology. Here, it is enough to note that in the case of normal
children the blindfold greatly increases their interest, without making
the exercises degenerate into noisy fun, and without having the child's
attention attracted more to the _bandage_ than to the sense-stimuli upon
which we wish to _focus_ the attention.
For example, in order to test the acuteness of the child's sense of
hearing (a most important thing for the teacher to know), I use an
empiric test which is coming to be used almost universally by physicians
in the making of medical examinations. This test is made by modulating
the voice, reducing it to a whisper. The child is blindfolded, or the
teacher may stand behind him, speaking his name, in _a whisper_ and from
varying distances. I establish a _solemn silence_ in the schoolroom,
darken the windows, have the children bow their heads upon their hands
which they hold in front of their eyes. Then I call the children by
name, one by one, in a whisper, lighter for those who are nearer me, and
more clearly for those farther away. Each child awaits, in the darkness,
the faint voice which calls him, listening intently, ready to run with
keenest joy toward the mysterious and much, desired call.
The normal child may be blindfolded in the games where, for example, he
is to recognise various weights, for this does help him to intensify and
concentrate his attention upon the baric stimuli which he is to test.
The blindfold adds to his pleasure, since he is proud of having been
able to guess.
The effect of these games upon deficient children is very different.
When placed in darkness, they often go to sleep, or give themselves up
to disordered acts. When the blindfold is used, they fix their attention
upon the bandage itself, and change the exercise into a game, which does
not fulfil the end we have in view with the exercise.
We speak, it is true, of _games_ in education, but it must be made clear
that we understand by this term a free activity, ordered to a definite
end; not disorderly noise, which distracts the attention.
The following pages of Itard give an idea of the patient experiments
made by this pioneer in pedagogy. Their lack of success was due largely
to errors which successive experiments have made it possible to correct,
and in part to the mentality of his subject.
"IV: In this last experiment it was not necessary, as in the one
preceding, to demand that the pupil repeat the sounds which he
perceived. This double work, distributing his attention, was outside the
plane of my purpose, which was to educate each organ separately. I,
therefore, limited myself to following the simple perception of sounds.
To be certain of this result, I placed my pupil in front of me with his
eyes blinded, his fists closed, and had him extend a finger every time
that I made a sound. He understood this arrangement, and as soon as the
sound reached his ear, the finger was raised, with a species of
impetuosity, and often, with demonstrations of joy which left no doubt
as to the pleasure the pupil took in these bizarre lessons. Indeed,
whether it be that he found a real pleasure in the sound of the human
voice, or that he had at last conquered the annoyance he at first felt
on being deprived of the light for so long a time, the fact remains that
more than once, during the intervals of rest, he came to me with his
blindfold in his hand, holding it over his eyes, and jumping with joy
when he felt my hands tying it about his head.
"V: Having thoroughly assured myself, through such experiments as the
one described above, that all sounds of the voice, whatever their
intensity, were perceived by Vittorio, I proceeded to the attempt of
making him compare these sounds. It was no longer a case of simply
noting the sounds of the voice, but of perceiving the differences and of
appreciating all these modifications and varieties of tone which go to
make up the music of the word. Between this task and the preceding there
stretched a prodigious difference, especially for a being whose
development was dependent upon gradual effort, and who advanced toward
civilisation only because I led thitherward so gently that he was
unconscious of the progress. Facing the difficulty now presented, I had
need to arm myself more strongly than ever with patience and gentleness,
encouraged by the hope that once I had surmounted this obstacle all
would have been done for the sense of hearing.
"We began with the comparison of the vowel sounds, and here, too, made
use of the hand to assure ourselves as to the result of our experiments.
Each one of the fingers was made the sign of one of the five vowels.
Thus the thumb represented A and was to be raised whenever this vowel
was pronounced; the index finger was the sign for E; the middle finger
for I; and so on.
"VI: Not without fatigue, and not for a long time, was I able to give a
distinct idea of the vowels. The first to be clearly distinguished was
O, and then followed A. The three others presented much greater
difficulty, and were for a long time confused. At last, however, the ear
began to perceive distinctly, and, then, there returned in all their
vivacity, those demonstrations of joy of which I have spoken. This
continued until the pleasure taken in the lessons began to be
boisterous, the sounds became confused, and the finger was raised
indiscriminately. The outbursts of laughter became indeed so excessive
that I lost patience! As soon as I placed the blindfold over his eyes
the shouts of laughter began."
Itard, finding it impossible to continue his educational work, decided
to do away with the blindfold, and, indeed, the shouts ceased, but now
the child's attention was distracted by the slightest movement about
him. The blindfold was necessary, but the boy had to be made to
understand that he must not laugh so much and that he was having a
lesson. The corrective means of Itard and their touching results are
worth reporting here!
"I wished to intimidate him with my manner, not being able to do so with
my glance. I armed myself with a tambourine and struck it lightly
whenever he made a mistake. But he mistook this correction for a joke,
and his joy became more noisy than ever. I then felt that I must make
the correction a little more severe. It was understood, and I saw, with
a mixture of pain and pleasure, revealed in the darkened face of this
boy the fact that the feeling of injury surpassed the unhappiness of the
blow. Tears came from beneath the blindfold, he urged me to take it off,
but, whether from embarrassment or fear, or from some inner
preoccupation, when freed from the bandage he still kept his eyes
tightly closed. I could not laugh at the doleful expression of his face,
the closed eyelids from between which trickled an occasional tear! Oh,
in this moment, as in many others, ready to renounce my task, and
feeling that the time I had consecrated to it was lost, how I regretted
ever having known this boy, and bow severely I condemned the barren and
inhuman curiosity of the men who in order to make scientific advancement
had torn him away from a life, at least innocent and happy!"
Here also is demonstrated the great educative superiority of scientific
pedagogy for normal children.
Finally, one particular of the technique consists in the _distribution
of the stimuli_. This will be treated more fully in the description of
the didactic system (materials) and of the sense education. Here it is
enough to say that one should proceed from _few stimuli strongly
contrasting, to many stimuli in gradual differentiation always more fine
and imperceptible_. So, for example, we first present, together, red and
blue; the shortest rod beside the longest; the thinnest beside the
thickest, etc., passing from these to the delicately differing tints,
and to the discrimination of very slight differences in length and
size.