CHAPTER XVI

METHODS

MEANING OF THE TERM “METHOD”

The problems of instruction are by no means solved when a subject has been selected and placed in its proper relation to the other subjects in the curriculum. There is still the problem of presenting the subject to the class in such a way as to appeal to the attention and interest of its members. The special term which is applied in educational writings to the organization of material for class instruction is the term “method” or “method of teaching.”

In contrasting American schools with European schools it was pointed out in an earlier chapter that the American method is the textbook and recitation method, while the method of the European schools is predominantly the oral or lecture method. The subject-matter of instruction can be treated by either of these methods.

MEANING OF THE TERM “DEVICE”

Another term which has been used in educational discussions to distinguish between the more general modes of procedure and certain details of classroom work is the term “device.” A classroom device is some special piece of equipment or some particular way of dealing with a class that can be described as appropriate to a single classroom situation or to some topic of a given subject. For example, if a teacher of Latin has verb forms printed on cards for the purpose of drilling his classes in the recognition of such forms, his cards are spoken of as devices. Again, if one calls the roll by assigning a number to each member of the class and then requiring each number to be given in its order, it is said that one has a time-saving device.

PERSONAL METHODS AND DEVICES

Every teacher has methods and devices of presenting material to his or her classes. The experienced teacher behaves skillfully in the presence of a class because all the details of procedure have been tried, and those which proved successful have been retained. The inexperienced teacher is clumsy in his methods, just as is any novice in dealing with an unmastered social situation.

SUPPOSED CONFLICT BETWEEN METHODS AND SUBJECT-MATTER

It is sometimes pointed out that in the training of teachers there is danger that competition will arise between the demand for skill in methods and the demand for knowledge of subject-matter. The specialist in science scoffs at a course in methods of teaching, saying that all the prospective teacher needs is to know the subject thoroughly, and method will take care of itself. Furthermore, such a critic of methods often points out that the time required for a course in methods must be taken from time which the student ought to devote to subject-matter.

The school principal who is looking for a science teacher is likely to reply that he has had teachers thoroughly acquainted with the science but utterly unsympathetic with pupils. Such teachers do not know how to get the facts to the students. They are abstract, or speak too fast, or do not assign the lessons in such a way as to help the students see the important points.

There is no necessity of being one-sided in this matter. The successful teacher will ultimately have both knowledge of the subject-matter and methods and devices of presenting the subject-matter. If he is lacking in either, he will be in just that degree inefficient. There can be no doubt that a properly balanced appreciation of both is the sane and wise attitude to assume.

TWO EXAMPLES OF MODERN METHODS

It will, of course, be quite impossible to do more than illustrate the problems of method in this general introduction. The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to comments on two significant innovations in method which are characteristic of present-day teaching as contrasted with the teaching of two generations ago. The older of these innovations was the adoption of the laboratory method; the later general innovation is the movement in the direction of supervised study in all subjects.

OBJECT TEACHING

An appreciation of the laboratory method can be gained by reviewing briefly the history of this method in American schools. As far back as 1809 a follower of Pestalozzi, one Joseph Neef, conducted a school in Philadelphia, where he exhibited Pestalozzi’s object method. Pupils learned by direct contact with things. Such teaching was in sharp contrast with the ordinary methods then in vogue, for at that time instruction consisted exclusively of statements, either oral or written, which the pupils were supposed to learn by heart.

The object-teaching movement made little progress until it was taken up in 1860 by Dr. Sheldon, the head of the normal school at Oswego, New York. From Oswego the movement spread, especially to the new Western schools, and had so wide an influence that the study of nature in the lower schools was vigorously advocated and extensively undertaken. The inductive method of direct contact with the facts was advocated in fields other than nature study. Dr. Sheldon’s daughter took a vigorous part in the development of instruction in history based on direct contact with source material. The laboratory method in history, as it was sometimes called, spread and inspired enthusiasm for methods in all the literary subjects analogous to the laboratory work of the sciences.

LABORATORY METHOD IN PHYSICS

In the high schools a parallel movement took place in the last third of the nineteenth century, leading to the adoption of laboratory work as a definite mode of instruction. On this subject one writer on the history of physics has given the following statements:

Experimental work had not been entirely unknown in secondary schools even in the early part of the century, but no attempt had been made to bring the pupil into personal contact with its results. The Boston Grammar Schools were all furnished with a $275 set of physical apparatus as early as 1837, and most of the academies installed sets about that time, but the apparatus was for the use of the instructor only, the pupils not being allowed to handle it. And this condition existed to within about thirty years of the end of the century, when the agitation for individual laboratory work began.

This period of agitation was marked by the beginning of some laboratory work and the discussion of the value of individual work and the inductive method by educators. But there was no general adoption of the plan till a later period. It was about this time that David Starr Jordan accepted the chair of Natural History in an Illinois college and attempted to establish a chemical laboratory. His attempt was promptly vetoed by the board of trustees....

In the report from the Albany, N.Y., City School, for 1882, the Superintendent recommended that a whole year be given to the study of physics with opportunity for daily experiments, the class participating in the experiments as far as practicable. The report of 1882-1883 from the Washington, D.C., High School, states that laboratories have been fitted up. Indianapolis reported in 1883 that the experimental method had been introduced and was meeting with approval from both teacher and pupil. Cincinnati reported in 1882 that physics was taught from a syllabus four hours a week during the third year. St. Louis reported physics taught through the second year of the high school. The reports show only qualitative experiments....

The general trend of accumulated opinion in 1884 shows increased favor of the idea that mental discipline is the chief aim in physics teaching. There was a general notion that the study of physics ought to train the pupil to think, but as to what method should be used to bring about this result there was no settled opinion. Laboratory work meant anything from a few simple demonstrations by the teacher to a complete individual laboratory course, such as is given at the present day.

For the next fifteen years, physics teaching, in fact, science teaching in general, was in an experimental stage. In the effort to make science a disciplinary study, the laboratory method was coming into general use rapidly, but the old idea of making science include everything in reach—a remnant of the _Natural Philosophy_ stage—had prevented its becoming a really disciplinary study. We find David Starr Jordan in 1889 lamenting the superficial way in which science was taught.[77]

SPREAD OF THE LABORATORY IDEA

The historical statements given above show how recent is the acceptance of the laboratory method even in science teaching. The enthusiasm for the method is as impressive as its youth. It would be impossible to turn the present generation of science teachers away from the laboratory method of teaching. In spite of its cumbersomeness of administration, its demand for expensive equipment, and the deliberation which it compels in teaching the results of science, the laboratory method is everywhere accepted as the true method. Indeed, as stated above, the literary subjects such as history and English, the latter especially in the teaching of composition, not infrequently adopt the term “laboratory method” in order to show their recognition of the effectiveness of the method worked out by the sciences.

REACTION AGAINST THE QUESTION AND ANSWER METHOD

The second innovation in method of teaching, namely, supervised study, came as a reaction against the purely examination method of conducting class exercises which was formerly almost universal except in laboratory classes. The examination method is the familiar one of calling a pupil to his feet and then asking him one question after another to find out whether he has learned his lesson. If he answers well, he is marked with a high grade. If he answers badly, he is marked with a low grade, reprimanded, and told to do his work over.

The futility of some of this procedure is at once evident if one thinks of the student who has made an honest effort to learn his lesson, but has failed because he adopted an inefficient and often a wrong method of getting the lesson. In such a case the pupil fails because he does not know how to get his lesson. It therefore occurred to some progressive teachers that it was their duty to inquire not merely into the results of the student’s study but also into his methods of study. The moment this new idea is grasped, the function of a recitation will be seen to be something more than the examination of pupils. The recitation is now coming to be the place where pupils learn how to do intellectual work, how to attack intellectual problems, and how to guide their efforts into more economical and effective channels.

INEFFICIENT METHODS OF STUDY

Observation of high-school pupils who are asked to study will always show the need of attention to methods of study. The following description of such observation is illuminating:

To ascertain to what extent the other members of the class might have this difficulty, the following experiment was tried. In assigning the next lesson, suggestions were given with unusual care. The pupils were then told that the next fifteen minutes would be given to studying the lesson, and that they should begin the assigned home work immediately. The experiment showed at once that the pupils did not appreciate the value of limited time, for all were slow in beginning work. It took some of them the whole fifteen minutes to go through the technique of getting started. Several evidently were not in the habit of working alone, for they looked about helplessly and simply imitated the others. However, these same pupils had come to the classroom daily with the lessons well prepared. Very little was accomplished in the fifteen minutes indicating that the pupils very probably wasted much time in studying their assignments of home work. Although the class had been in the high school only a short time, the teacher had been presupposing a habit of study which did not exist. Much of the difficulty is due to lack of knowledge as to how to study and how to use time to advantage. The remedy in this case is, of course, definite instruction as to methods of study.[78]

ORGANIZING A SCHOOL FOR SUPERVISED STUDY

The organization of a school to provide opportunity for supervised study is thus described by the principal of one of the first schools to undertake this type of work on a large scale:

We took five minutes from each of the six recitation periods, which we have in our school day, and put these together to make a thirty-minute study period coming once a day. In order that each class might receive the benefit of this period, we arranged that the first period class use the time on Tuesday; the second period class on Wednesday; and the third period class on Friday; the following week that the fourth, fifth, and sixth period classes use the period for supervised study. On Monday and Thursday the teacher uses this study period by having come to her room for individual attention, such students as she thinks may need individual help. So much for the plan.

In regard to the results, we have found that the plan is of greatest advantage with the younger students, and in the first part of a subject. That is, the younger students need direction in method of study, and all the students find it helpful when learning the method of attack upon a new subject.

We find it necessary, of course, to keep some definite check upon the work of the students. This is done by setting for them certain concrete problems in their study. For instance, to work out a certain number of examples; to be ready to prove a given theorem; to pick out the topic sentences in a given paragraph; to determine the most important points of a certain topic in physics; to pick out the leading events in a given historical topic, etc. We find the method works very well in mathematics, science, and history. Some difficulty has been experienced in the study of an English classic, such as _Macbeth_, in making the work of the study period definite. We are working at this problem.

Besides teaching methods of study, we have found one decided advantage of this study period is that by reason of it, the teacher gets a considerable insight into the methods of study of the various students and can discover those who waste time, who have faulty methods of attack, etc.

Another point which we have found as a result of this work is that the teachers themselves are not at all clear as to definite methods of study.[79]

ORGANIZING SUBJECT-MATTER FOR SUPERVISED STUDY

One of the recent elaborate plans for supervised study is thus described by its author:

It has been erroneously assumed by many writers that supervised study was synonymous with effective study. It has been taken for granted that schools administering supervised-study schedules taught pupils how to study. There is a wide difference between _more_ study and _effective_ study. Supervised-study schedules may secure the former and miss the latter. Effective study depends upon many elements, among them proper time and place, concentration, reading ability, organization habits, questioning habits, and memory. Supervised-study schedules mechanically provide for the first two and more nearly secure the third than do other devices. The remaining elements involved in the technique of study are not necessarily concomitants of so-called supervised study....

The origin of the plan I am about to describe grew out of study of the classroom exercise in typewriting. In the typewriting class pupils remain in the same group, but are individually apart. A pupil taking typewriting may stay out of school for two weeks and return to the same group in his mathematics, Latin, and typewriting. In the last subject he starts in exactly where he left off with a distinct realization that his muscular-mental co-ordination has been impaired, while too often in the first two subjects he takes up the advanced work with his classmates apparently without any particular sense of loss. Why should he, if he makes his grade? Does he not figure out a distinct gain?

Two things differentiate the mechanics of the typewriting exercise from the mathematics and Latin recitations: (_a_) consecutive, daily assignments which the pupil may follow without the guidance of a teacher; (_b_) individual responsibility and progress or an accounting for individual differences. Apply these same principles to academic subjects and it becomes necessary to provide printed daily lesson assignments and to check upon individual preparation of these daily assignments. One added factor, however, appears with the academic subject which uniquely distinguishes it from the manual, namely, the _expression_ of the lesson ideas.

In typewriting the pupil during the exercise concretely and muscularly shows the teacher how well he understands the lesson. In academic subjects the understanding must first be tested by language expression. There is no machine yet invented for eliminating this language-expression exercise. Consequently for all academics there must always remain the recitation period. _Throwing one’s ideas into a language mold is not the same as expressing one’s ideas by mechanical means._ For this reason the recitation period must always be stressed....

The laboratory-recitation plan is based on the fundamental idea that recitation groups should be organized on the basis of preparation. Pupils need not recite on the day’s preparation, but the recitation for the day is upon work previously prepared and tested. The recitation teacher knows that when his group assembles each and every pupil has previously prepared and has been checked in the work to be recited upon, otherwise the pupil would not be in the group. This is accomplished by the following _modus operandi_:

_Co-operating laboratory-recitation teachers._ Forty or fifty pupils are assigned to a certain laboratory-recitation period operated by two teachers—one the laboratory, the other the recitation, teacher—in adjoining rooms. While the laboratory teacher is supervising the preparation of lessons during the ninety-minute period, the co-operating recitation teacher is conducting recitations with groups of pupils taken from the laboratory on the basis of their preparation. For illustration, each Friday the laboratory algebra teacher in the second period will give the co-operating recitation teacher of that class and period the advancement of the slowest pupil in each of two or three recitation groups previously determined on the basis of laboratory preparation. The recitation teacher prepares his work for the following week on the basis of this information. If there are three groups, the recitation teacher devotes thirty minutes to each group; if two groups, forty-five minutes. The pupil spends either one-half or two-thirds of each period in the laboratory, the time depending upon the number of groups into which the recitation has been divided, and the remaining time in recitation.[80]

EXPERIMENTS IN METHOD

The meaning of experiments such as have been described is not far to seek. The ingenious supervisor or teacher who has watched the ordinary recitation made up of a series of questions and answers recognizes the fact that such a recitation is very formal. His efforts to improve teaching will carry him into new types of class exercises. The laboratory type of exercise will serve better in certain cases; in others, the supervised-study type. Sometimes it is desirable to try other experiments. Without attempting to deal with these other experiments in detail, it may be well to enumerate some of the types of class exercise which have not been discussed in full.

The lecture method is common in higher institutions. In the primary grades this method has taken the form of story-telling and has been developed of late with elaborate technique.

The study lesson is a name which has been used to describe an exercise in which the pupils study new material on which they have not prepared in advance. The special forms of this kind of exercise may vary from a critical reading together of an advanced section of the textbook to a series of readings by members of the class of various scattered sources in collateral books.

A report lesson is a modification of the lecture method. The members of the class, rather than the teacher, furnish the lecture material; each student having prepared a part of the whole in advance has an opportunity to present his findings to the class, with the result that the subject is studied in full through the coöperative efforts of all.

The laboratory method may take on the form of field excursions in the geographical sciences and the form of gardening in agriculture. Whatever its form it is one of the most radical departures from the traditional class exercise.

Shopwork has become common in many lines. With the girls the class exercises in domestic science and domestic art are crosses between construction exercises and investigation exercises.

Drill exercises in mathematics and language consist in the performance under the teacher’s supervision of a series of tasks which are designed to cultivate fixed habits in the fields to which they belong. Very often such exercises are conducted in such a way that each pupil works individually.

Written examinations ought to be included here. Whenever a class is given a series of review questions for the purpose of requiring a general review of a whole subject, the result of the exercise is to fix in the student’s mind certain larger elements of the study and to establish certain broad habits of selection. Written examinations may be, from this point of view, devices of training, not merely tests of results. The examination method as a training method has, accordingly, an important place.

The coöperative recitation is one in which the pupils ask the questions. The teacher withdraws as far as possible, and allows the members of the class to initiate the discussions. When this kind of exercise is first introduced, the pupils are likely to follow as closely as they can the manner of questioning which they have seen exhibited by their teachers. If the experiment is carried out persistently, the pupils will ultimately become quite independent and spontaneous in their questioning.

METHOD AS A SUBJECT OF SCIENTIFIC TESTS

Class exercises are thus seen to differ in form and in results. When the student of standards begins to make his tests and measurements, he finds an inviting field for study in the different effects which follow the various types of exercises enumerated above.

EXERCISES AND READINGS

Methods can be discussed from various points of view. Let the student consider methods in relation to the different subjects of instruction. How will the method of teaching manual training compare with the method of teaching Latin or arithmetic or music? Again, let the relation of method to the maturity of pupils be discussed. What can be done in a high-school class in English that is not possible with an elementary class? In this connection what are the methods of teaching adults? Does a preacher exhibit method in his preaching? What is the method of a writer in a newspaper as distinguished from the method of a writer of novels? Methods can be considered from the point of view of the teacher’s personality and equipment. Are there any natural differences between the methods of men and women in teaching? Classify teachers with respect to the aggressiveness of their methods of attack. Some are very quiet and require the pupils to do most of the talking; others are not.

In the Appendix will be found a list of questions designed to aid in the observation of classroom methods.

CHARTERS, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Row, Peterson & Company, Chicago.

EARHART, L. B. Types of Teaching. Houghton Mifflin Company.

MCMURRY, C. A. The Elements of General Method. Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois.

PARKER, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. Ginn and Company.

STRAYER, G. D. A Brief Course in the Teaching Process. The Macmillan Company.

STRAYER, G. D., and NORSWORTHY, N. How to Teach. The Macmillan Company.

FOOTNOTES:

[77] David A. Ward, The History of Physics Instruction in the Secondary Schools of the United States. Unpublished thesis for the Master’s degree in the Department of Education of The University of Chicago.

[78] E. R. Breslich, “Supervised Study as a Means of providing Supplementary Individual Instruction.” Thirteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I, p. 45. The University of Chicago Press, 1914.

[79] F. M. Giles, late principal of the Township High School of De Kalb, Illinois. Thirteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I, pp. 57-58.

[80] I. M. Allen, “Experiments in Supervised Study.” _School Review_, Vol. XXV, No. 6 (June, 1917), pp. 401-404.