to take up physiological psychology.
ii. That those who have a sufficient knowledge of physiology find
the correlation difficult. In beginning to study psychology, the two
aspects of one set of facts and their bearings upon each other cannot
be easily seen. Much work in both sciences is needed before good work
can be done in physiological psychology.
The students use Sully, James, and Höffding as text-books. The lines
of work, however, are not those of any particular writer or school.
The students have ample opportunities of wide reading and research,
not only in psychology, but in all branches of pedagogy. These are
afforded by the Bryson Pedagogical Library in the college building.
This library, founded in connection with the Teachers’ College, for
the purpose of affording opportunities of research to students of
the college, is open to all teachers of the city and to the public
generally. It contains 5,000 volumes, including books on pedagogy and
connected subjects, text-books of all kinds, and the current literary,
scientific and educational periodicals published in America and Europe.
In the study of the history of education, the plan adopted is a
thorough and exhaustive treatment of one or two great educational
reformers, with mere outline sketches of others. The reformers
specially considered are regarded, not only as educators, but in
all other possible aspects. Their lives and works, their ideas, the
contemporary history of their own and other countries, are fully
discussed. When this has been done, all other facts of educational
history are as far as possible compared with, and illustrated by, the
facts connected with the reformer who has been specially considered.
Such a method seems very stimulating and interesting to the student,
and much more satisfactory, than a general treatment of the whole,
suggested by many text-books on the history of education.
Methods of chemistry, physics, physiology-botany, geology, are taught
by means of actual lessons in the various subjects, given by the heads
of departments and their assistants, to children in the practising
school. Students are required to observe the teaching, to attend
lectures and discussions upon the methods pursued, to learn the art of
experimenting, and to prepare themselves for directing laboratories.
They are also guided and helped in making a careful inspection of the
science teaching in the public schools of the city. In addition to
this, they are introduced to some of the practical problems of science
teaching in the school-room, such as the difficulties of teaching
science without a laboratory, or without fixed times for experimenting.
All students who take science as their major or principal subject
are required also to take courses in:--(i.) The use of tools for
constructing home-made apparatus; (ii.) fundamental principles of
drawing and their applications for students who take special work in
other departments; (iii.) the specified courses in psychology, history
of education, and science and art of teaching; (iv.) outlines of the
lives and work of eminent scientists, as illustrating methods of
scientific research. A Time-Table for the Two Years’ Course in Science
is as follows:--
_First Year._
_Time._
MONDAY.
Physics for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Lecture and Laboratory 12.55-2.15.
TUESDAY.
Botany for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
WEDNESDAY.
Physics for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Methods 11.15-12.15.
Lab. Practice 12.55-2.15.
THURSDAY.
Geology for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
History of Education 10.50-11.30.
FRIDAY.
Use of tools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Methods 11.15-12.15.
_Second Year._
_Time._
MONDAY.
Psychology 10.50-12.15.
Lect. and Lab. Instruction 12.55-2.15.
TUESDAY.
Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Drawing 10.50-12.15.
Chemistry for High Schools 12.55-2.15.
WEDNESDAY.
Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Lab. Practice 12.55-2.15.
THURSDAY.
Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Drawing 10.50-12.15.
Chemistry for High Schools 12.55-2.15.
FRIDAY.
Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
The practice department of the Teachers’ College is one of its most
important features, for a fundamental assumption is that practice
is the key-note of all training, that no one can consider himself
trained who has not taught, and that the future teacher must observe
good teaching, and must teach under normal conditions. The Horace
Mann School for the observation and practice of the students of the
Teachers’ College comprises kindergarten, primary, grammar and high
school grades. The heads of departments arrange the teaching of the
students, and great care is exercised in keeping the school efficient,
as the observation of good teaching is considered only second in
importance to actual practice.
I heard a botany lesson in the practising school, given by the
instructor in methods of botany. The class, numbering about twelve
children, of about ten years of age, was furnished with lenses, and
needles, and a plentiful supply of flowers. Each child was required to
see and examine all the flowers that were given to him, to describe
carefully and exactly what he had observed, and to take nothing for
granted. The methods adopted were such as to make the children original
investigators, and the attitude of the teacher towards her subject was
such as to develop a spirit of reverence in the children, and to arouse
an interest æsthetic as well as scientific. No technical terms were
used in descriptions. The botany lessons are adapted to the different
seasons of the year. For example, the scheme of work for the Autumn
term is:--
Autumn Flowers.
How differing from Spring flowers in
Colour.
Size.
Growth.
Autumn Fruits.
Their growth.
” parts.
” use to man.
” use to animals.
Study of Seeds.
Growth.
Methods of Distribution.
{ Food.
Uses for { Oil.
{ Medicine.
Grain and harvesting.
Observation of Trees.
Falling of leaves.
Colours ” ”
Leaf-buds.
Deciduous trees.
Evergreen trees.
Preparation for winter by plants.
Seeds.
Buds.
Leaves.
The herbarium is not much used, but in autumn each child and student
brings a specimen of one tree or plant. All the specimens are kept and
are used for the study of seeds during the winter. Twigs are brought
into the school-room and made to grow in water, seeds are grown in
shavings, and plants of all kinds are watched during the year.
The work in geology is a special feature of the practising school.
Courses of work have been adapted by the head of department to the
lowest grades of the grammar school--viz., to children about nine
years old. The work is closely connected with the geography teaching,
and children are encouraged to collect specimens of different kinds
of building stone they see, or to bring any other specimens of rock
or minerals. Trays of quartz, felspar and mica are provided for each
child, for beginning practical work in geology. After examination of
these minerals, granite is studied, and afterwards gneiss, as leading
the way to the general history of rocks. Slag structures are given for
examination, as specimens to illustrate the effects of heat. Artificial
geodes and lavas are also studied, when connecting the history of rocks
with their structure. Students who are preparing to become specialist
teachers in geology have special work with the children. They prepare
lessons under the guidance of the teacher--submitting written notes
of the subject matter, but talking over with their head of department
the proposed methods of dealing with the facts. They have also special
laboratory work, in constructing simple apparatus, and making maps,
charts and drawings.
The physiology lesson I heard was given to a high school class, by the
director of the department of physiology. It was a revision lesson,
conducted with the special object of making the class discover the
general position of Man in the Animal Kingdom. The particular features
I noticed about the lesson were:--
(i.) No technical terms were used in description, if the required
meaning could be expressed in ordinary language.
(ii.) Any difficulty as regards animal structure which arose during
the process of classification was settled by actual reference to the
museum specimen at hand. The doubt as to whether a fish might be
said to have a brain was settled by inspection of a haddock’s brain,
brought from the museum.
(iii.) Great care was exercised by the teacher in order to prevent
hasty or incorrect inferences being drawn.
(iv.) There was constant reference to text-books. The pupils had been
taught to use a reference library.
It is evident to those who have watched the movement of the training of
secondary teachers in the Eastern States that the Teachers’ College of
New York has done a work peculiarly its own. It was organized on the
present lines, to combat the idea, even still existent to some extent,
that college graduation equips for successful teaching. It has done
this, not by emphasizing the value of professional training in itself,
apart from its connection with scholastic equipment, but by insisting
that the secondary teacher can only be fully prepared for his work
when careful scholastic preparation is supplemented by a consideration
of principles and methods of teaching, and by actual class work. Much
of the successful work of the Teachers’ College is probably due to
the thorough preparation required before beginning work, and to the
maturity of the students who take the courses. With such material,
and under such conditions, it is possible to make training thorough
and very valuable. This is especially so in an institution, such as
this, which can extend its interests, and broaden its outlook, by
alliance with a University like Columbia, securing by this means the
philosophical as well as the practical standpoint.
The School of Pedagogy of the University of the City of New York,
established to give opportunities of higher training to graduates
of colleges or of Normal Schools, differs fundamentally from other
departments of Universities already considered, in only offering its
pedagogical degrees to those persons who can show evidence of three
or four years’ successful teaching experience. This is a necessary
qualification for admittance to the junior or senior pedagogical
course of the University. A student who has a college degree, and
who is credited with a sufficient number of attendances during two
years’ membership of the senior class, becomes “Doctor of Pedagogy,”
after passing an examination on five prescribed courses of work,
and presenting a satisfactory thesis on some educational subject.
Students of the junior class are required to pass an examination in
four subjects, and to attend the required number of lectures during
one year, in order to obtain the degree of “Master of Pedagogy.” The
courses studied are:--
(i.) History of Education from Socrates to the present time (lectures
and Seminar).
(ii.) Psychology and Ethics, special attention being paid to the
Physiological Psychology and the Psychology of Experiment.
(iii.) Institutes of Education, including--
Educational values; incentives; co-ordination of studies; school
hygiene; school organization; child-study; methods.
(iv.) Educational classics and æsthetics.
(v.) Systems of Education:--European, American, National, State,
County, City, District.
Opportunities are given for visiting schools in the city, and observing
teachers and children, but no practice department is connected with the
University.
At Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, systematic instruction in
pedagogy is given as a part of the Department of Philosophy. There is
a professor of pedagogy, who gives courses of lectures on:--Institutes
of Education; School Systems and Organization; Logic and Methodology;
History of Education. Simple problems for experimental investigation in
the psychological laboratory are discussed. Pedagogical conferences,
somewhat on the lines of the German “Conferenz,” are arranged, for
criticism of school reports and plans of teaching various subjects;
and seminaries of pedagogy and psychology have been instituted
for laboratory work and original research. Beyond these strictly
professional courses, there are courses in English, mathematics, Latin,
etc., with direct reference to those who wish to become teachers in
these subjects. Attendances at such courses counts towards a “Teachers’
Certificate.” The “Teachers’ Certificate” is given to graduates of
Cornell University, who have successfully pursued the first course on
the Science and Art of Teaching, or that portion of it which relates
to the general theory of education; and have also attained marked
proficiency in a course of five hours’ advanced work per week, for two
years, in each subject for which the “Teachers’ Certificate” is given.
At Syracuse University, New York, pedagogy is an elective subject
during the third terms of the third and fourth university year, for
those who take the philosophical course. There are also Normal Courses
given by the university professors in their various subjects.
The introduction of pedagogy as a definite branch of the philosophical
department at Harvard University, is perhaps one of the most important
movements in the progress and development of the Science of Teaching
in America. In establishing its course, “adapted to the purpose of
teachers and persons intending to become teachers,” Harvard has made
recognition of the fact that something more than pure scholarship is
needed to produce the successful teacher or professor. Accordingly, it
has established two departments of training:--
i. Strictly professional courses in educational theory, history of
educational theories and practice, lectures on the management of
public schools and academies, and on the curriculum of the public
schools; and a seminary course for advanced students.
ii. Other courses in methods, in connection with actual university
instruction in the different parts of the curriculum.
Connected with the lectures on methods, and the organization and
management of public schools, is the systematic inspection of
designated schools by students, and a detailed report on some phase
of school life observed there. Each student is required to make a
comparative study of the teaching of a chosen subject, in all the
grades of at least two schools; or he may make a study of supervision
and discipline in two schools. Students must also make a comparative
study of not less than three city school systems, of three State school
systems, and of the school system of England, France, and Germany. This
work of inspecting and reporting is considered a very important part
of the pedagogical course.
The courses in methods, given by the professors of different college
departments, are conducted by means of lectures and conferences in
connection with Greek, Latin, English, German, French, history,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geology and
geography. Most of these “Teachers’ Courses” require attendance at
some other college course in the same subject, where the professor
illustrates his own method. In a few cases, attendance at lessons in
the specified subjects, in schools near the University, is required.
The courses in pedagogy have, until the present year, been closed to
all but graduates. Lately, however, the regulations have been changed,
and pedagogical work may now count towards a degree.
There is no opportunity given to the Harvard pedagogical students for
actual teaching; but the connection brought about between the college
department and the secondary schools, by the constant attendance of
students in the school-rooms of the neighbourhood, may possibly develop
into a system wherein trained students may act as substitutes in these
schools. Quite apart, however, from this possible future connection,
there is even now an important practical relationship between
Harvard University and some of the secondary schools--viz., that of
supervision. In establishing a system of examination of the teaching
in such schools as make application, Harvard has acknowledged the
important principle that chief among the functions of an university is
that of directing and stimulating secondary education.
The Department of Education at Clark University, Worcester,
Massachusetts, is a branch of the Department of Psychology. While doing
much to advance the cause of the professional training of teachers,
it does not strictly adapt its courses to the wants of the future
secondary teacher. The fact that Clark University, unlike any other
University in the United States, exists solely for the purpose of
research, and admits only graduates as its students, determines that
the pedagogical work shall also have a special character, well marked
off from that of any other university. The department is purely one of
higher pedagogy. Its aim is stated to be twofold:--
i. To give instruction and training to those who are preparing to
be professors of pedagogy, superintendents, or teachers in higher
institutions.
ii. To make scientific contributions to education.
The work pursued is in six courses, with an additional seminary course.
These are:--
i. Present status and problems of higher education in America and
Europe.
ii. Outline of systematic psychology.
iii. Organization of schools in Europe. Typical schools and typical
foundations.
iv. School hygiene.
v. Educational reforms.
vi. Motor education of children, involving the study of writing and
drawing, manual training, play, and gymnastics.
The _Pedagogical Seminary_, an educational magazine edited by Dr.
Stanley Hall, the President of Clark University, exists chiefly for the
purpose of publishing results of work in this department. There is a
special pedagogical library for research, and a complete collection of
the current educational literature of America and Europe.
Among the other departments of psychology, there are many of great
interest to the student of higher pedagogy.
Some of these are:--
i. History of psychology.
ii. Experimental psychology.
iii. Anthropology (the investigation of myth, custom, belief).
iv. Ethics (the investigation of criminals, paupers, defective
classes).
v. Feeling (investigations of conditions of the agreeable and
disagreeable, abnormal states, the hypnotic, the insane).
vi. Neurology (researches on brain fatigue, etc.).
For investigation in these departments, there are four psychological
laboratories, a neurological laboratory, and an anthropological
laboratory. Opportunities are also given to students to observe
patients in State and city lunatic hospitals, and in institutions
for the defective and criminal classes. The departments of research,
most closely bearing upon the teacher’s work, are perhaps those of
experimental psychology and neurology. Investigations on muscle and
brain fatigue, the diurnal variations of mental vigour, the memory of
children, etc., bring results important to the teacher, and especially
so when carried out as at Clark University, by experts in scientific
experiment. The _American Journal of Psychology_, edited by Dr. Stanley
Hall, and published quarterly, contains the results of many of the
researches in the psychological laboratories of Clark University.
It is to the contribution of new scientific facts to the educational
world that Clark University chiefly devotes itself, and in doing this
valuable work it has shown itself quite willing to acknowledge the
results of observation and experiment of a very different kind from
its own--viz., that of parents and teachers in the home and school.
The records of the observation of children made by the students of the
Worcester Normal School are given to Dr. Stanley Hall to be used in
any way that may help true scientific research on the subject. It is
evident that results gain by approaching the same problems from the
practical and scientific standpoints, will be much more secure than
they could be otherwise, and will supply valuable contributions to the
educational world.
_SUMMER SCHOOLS AS ACCESSORY TO THE WORK OF TRAINING._
Among the most distinctively American educational institutions are
Summer Schools for Teachers. They are meetings organized during the
long summer vacations by private individuals, or in connection with
some University Normal or Training School, for the help and stimulation
of teachers who have otherwise no opportunity for training.
The exact character of the work of a school is dependent entirely upon
the educational aims and methods of the principal of the school, and
the purpose for which teachers give up three or four weeks of their
holiday to attend a Summer School may be different in different cases.
The teachers of country schools, inadequately prepared for their work
of teaching, often attend the Summer School in their county, in order
to gain a State training certificate of a higher grade than that which
they already possess; while teachers in city schools, most of whom have
been trained in Normal Schools, attend a Summer School like that of
Colonel Parker, at Englewood, to get stimulation for future work, and
to pursue, in addition, a systematic study of pedagogy. Graduates, who
are teaching in schools and academies during the year, often attend
a Summer School in connection with an University, in order to pursue
further study in various branches. The Summer Schools I visited at
Benton Harbour, Englewood, Chautauqua, and the Summer School of Cornell
University, illustrate the different lines of work mentioned.
At Benton Harbour, a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan, a
Summer School was held for four weeks, and was attended by about fifty
teachers of the rural districts of Michigan, who came to prepare
for a third-grade Teachers’ Certificate of the State of Michigan.
Lessons were given in ordinary school subjects, pedagogy and drill
from half-past seven in the morning until three or four o’clock in the
afternoon. I spent three or four days at this school, heard daily
lessons in psychology, physical culture, civil government, English,
elocution, and other subjects, and saw the working of the school
generally. The teaching in all subjects was very elementary, as little
previous knowledge could be assumed.
Daily work began with exercises in which the whole school took part.
The singing of a hymn afforded an opportunity for a singing lesson
being given to the whole school, the principal acting as instructor.
Then came the reading of Holy Scripture, or of selections from
literature, and a short discourse by the principal, after which
students were called upon to give quotations from the works of famous
men and women, or to recite short poems which had been previously
prepared. At the end of these public exercises, the students were
required to dismiss according to word of command, to turn, march to
music, and to drill as a class of children would have been required to
do. This was intended to teach the students how to dismiss and drill a
school or class.
Lessons in psychology were given by the principal. The treatment of the
subject was necessarily very elementary, and, indeed, superficial. I
noticed that the teacher constantly digressed on practical points, and
seemed to know exactly when digression would be of advantage to his
pupils.