Feb. 13, 2007 - Scientific Management in Education
One of the Google Book Search links I found while researching the history of reading instruction was Joseph Mayer Rice’s 1912 "Scientific Management in Education." It also has some educational thoughts that are interesting. While the basics of the 3R’s can be agreed upon by almost all, and Christians would add the Bible as a foundational document, the other areas of education depend on your Worldview, your interests, and the interests of your student.
Here are some quotes from the book that made me think:
“The number of recitations a week in a subject must be determined by the amount of time required for brain cells that have been in active operation fully to recover their strength, and again be prepared for the process of assimilation. If they are set to work earlier, they labor under unfavorable conditions, and less will be accomplished in a given time than if the recuperation had been complete.” (Rice page 59)
This quote from Rice on page 42 is applicable not just to education, but how we live our lives as well. Little things do add up, I find that hard to keep in mind myself sometimes:
“The importance of such questions of relative values becomes strikingly apparent when we consider that thirty-five minutes a day is equivalent to an entire year out of eight devoted to elementary education.”
I also liked this quote on page 56:
"When I speak of incidental instruction, I do not mean that satisfactory results might be secured if a branch were left to take care of itself. Incidental instruction, to be worthy of the name, is not a laissez-faire system, but must be as carefully planned and as thoroughly and systematically conducted as if the subject were separately taught. If the teacher, for instance, should act on the theory that, in time, the pupil would learn to write neatly and legibly just because he writes, and accordingly would accept manuscript in any form in which it was presented, she would not be imparting incidental instruction, but would simply be neglecting penmanship.”
And finally, on page 57):
“The arrangement of a school programme on a purely logical basis may involve, therefore, an enormous waste of time, for more reasons than one. In a recitation sixty minutes in length, twice as much ground can be covered, it is true, as in a recitation only thirty minutes in length; and again, in four recitations a week in a given subject, twice as much ground can be covered as in two. It is not, however, the number of ideas presented to the child, but only those assimilated, that count.”
Rice’s book is worth reading through. I know that I learned a subject more thoroughly when I was interested in it and when I spent little bits of time on it daily or weekly spread out over a period of weeks or months. Cramming for tests worked well for things I didn’t care to learn long term, but was not really an efficient mode of learning.
On a related note about efficient modes of learning, I took an Engineering Mechanics class where we did boardwork throughout the lesson. The instructor would teach for about 20 minutes, then we would all get up and do a problem on the board. He would correct our errors and explain any confusion. Then, he would teach a little more and we would do another problem. When taught with this method, I did quite well in a subject that did not come naturally to me. Unfortunately, I did so well I got promoted out of his class and into an advanced Engineering Mechanics class where the teacher did not teach this way. It took me a while to figure out that I really didn’t understand Engineering Mechanics, and I only ended up passing the class with the help of some friends and a lot of studying for the final exam.
Comments
Feb. 13, 2007 - uberchronicles
Posted by Anonymous
I am excited to find another blog to hit in the day. Thank you for sharing the quotations for the history of reading instruction.
Feb. 14, 2007 - The learning that counts is what is assimilated
Posted by greenehouse2003
I agree with the comment you posted from RIce's book about learning many things in a larger chunk of time, but that it doesn't really matter, when only 1/2 or less is assimilated.
I can give a practical example: my 5year old daughter (5yod) was BEGGING me to do school. OK, so I bought her some workbooks and started working with her on letter recognition and number recognition. She was doing well in shorter periods of time and although I, as the teacher, might have felt a little frustrated that "that was it?" for her comprehension--it was exactly as the quote said--only so much can be absorbed in a given amount of time. She needed less time at one shot and more consistency throughout the week.
Thanks for giving such good highlights from a great resource!
Corrine
Feb. 15, 2007 - Attention Span and Learning
Posted by PhonicsMom
Corrine-
Our almost 5 year old girl has the same attention span! However, it's amazing how much she can learn in a few minutes a day. She also watches and "helps" when I'm working on things for my phonics website, and learns this way as well. She also likes to help teach her little almost 2 year old brother the sounds of his letters. She says she want to help teach him to read when he's a little older.
Liz