Elements of pedagogics

Preface

I have long believed that the elementary principles of pedagogics should be taught in teachers' institutes. The rudimentary principles of educational psychology are easily within the comprehension of anyone otherwise qualified to teach the common school branches. It does not require a scientific knowledge of the phenomena of the soul to understand sound methods of teaching. In the unsolved and theoretical problems of psychology, teachers have really no interest. With the speculative elements of the science they are not concerned. But to teach any subject properly requires some knowledge of the principles which govern the growth of the mind.

iv PREFACE.

For convenience of treatment the text is divided into two parts. Part First aims to present in plain and simple language the essential principles of Educational PsychoIvOGY ; Part Second discusses the leading topics of PracticaIv Pedagogics. An attempt has been made to enter the schoolroom with helpful suggestions to young teachers. "Elements of Pedagogics" is not a book of methods, but a book of principles and suggestions.

In the preparation of this book I have quoted freely, in foot-notes, from Hill's ''Elements of Psychology/' Bryanfs ''Psychology/' Page's *' Theory and Practice of Teaching," Rosenkranz's ' ' Philosophy of Education, " Compayre's "Lectures/'' White's " Promotions and Examinations,''' and from the works of other distinguished educators.

PART FIRST. Educational Psychology

The lower animals are born with an almost complete adaptation for the performance of their life functions. The colt stands when only a few hours old. At the age of three, he can do almost all he can ever do in his life-time. It is not so with a human infant. For years it is absolutely dependent on others for the continuance of its existence. No living creature is more ignorant, more defenseless, more entirely at the mercy of beings other than itself. Destined for the highest attainments of intelligence, the infant j)ossesses the least of automatic adaptation to the conditions of life. Everything has to be learned from the beginning. Instinct is at the minimum. Intellect, undeveloped but potential, is at the maximum. Almost everything done by the child is done by conscious psychical reaction, not mechanically. — HilFs Psi

Chapter I. Sensation — Pkrception

INTRODUCTION:— The soul is the 5^^— the life essence. It is that which knows, feels, and wills. It exists, and knows that it exists. The body is, but it does not know that it is. The body is a thing, the soul a spirit. The relation existing between the soul and the body is one of co-existence, not of identity. Matter and mind are essentially different. Matter is known by its quality, mind by its acts ; matter is inert, mind self-active ; matter is unconscious, mind self-conscious ; matter occupies space, mind does not ; matter is particular, mind universal. The body and the soul reciprocally condition each other. They work together involuntarily. The origin and nature of both matter and mind are beyond the limits of science. We can study the phenomena of the soul, but not its nature.

I can exist apart from my body, for my body is not /. My body might be torn to pieces, but I should still be spiritually entire. The distinction is self and not-self — Ego and non-Ego. The soul is a unit in all of its actions; that is, it does not act in sections.* As intellect^ it knows; as sensibility ^ it feels; as willj it chooses and puts forth volitions. Feeling includes all pleasurable and painful conditions of the mind. Willing covers all active mental operations. Hov^ever, knowing, feeling, and willing are not three different kinds of consciousness, but three different modes of the same consciousness. All three of the elemental powers of the soul are involved in every conscious act.f

*In Psychology, Mind is considered as an Indimdual; that is, as an indivisible unit of Energy. As such it has many modes, clearly distinguishable, but wholly inseparable from one another.

From its very nature as an indivisible unit of Energy, Mind acts always as one. All its modes are involved in every act, one or another mode being predominant in each act. — Bryanfs Psychology,

tMental phenomena are known by different names. They are commonly called states of mind, or states of consciousness. Since, how-

SENSATION— PERCEPTION. 11

Psychology is the science of the mind. It is a science, because it is based upon knowledge derived from experience. The art and science of teaching are based upon the laws of psychology. Sound methods of instruction can be acquired only through a knowledge of the principles upon which they are based. If we would know how to impart instruction, we should know how knowledge is acquired. A study of the elements of knowledge naturally precedes a formal study of the principles of pedagogics.

The process of acquiring knowledge begins with consciousness of the se//. Self-consciousness is the foundation of all other knowledge. It discriminates between being and non-being; between the self and the not-self; between the £go and the non-Ego. The facts of psychology

ever, they are phenomena in time, having a certain duration and a succession of parts, they are just as often spoken of as mental processes or operations. It is important, further, to distinguish between a mental process, or operation, and its result, or product. Thus we distinguish between a process of perception and its result, a percept ; a process of association and suggestion and its product, a recollection; between an operation called reasoning and its result, rational conviction, and so forth. — Siillxj.

are facts of the se//; they are individual experiences. All other sciences deal with the not-self; hence the facts of all other sciences are the common property of all men. Since the facts of the soul are personal experiences, it follows that a knowledge of its operations is best acquired by introspection — by a study of how the self acquires knowledge. The elements of knowledge are sensations and perceptions.

Sensation. — "A sensation is a state of the soul caused by an impression upon a sensory nerve." Sensations are produced by the action of an external agent upon one or more of the five senses.* The nerves connect the soul with the material world. It is through the senses that the soul acquires a knowledge of the outer world. Each sense has its own special mode of

■■•'Sense-impressions are the alphabet by which we spell out the objects presented to us. In order to grasp or apprehend these objects, these letters mast be put together after the manner of words. Thus the apprehension of an apple by the eye involves the putting together of various sensations of sight, touch, and taste. This is the mind's own work, and is known as perception. And the result of this activity, i, e., the distinct apprehension of some object, is called a percept. — Sully.

SENSATION— PERCEPTION. 13

receiving and conveying its sensations. All parts of the body supplied with nerves give rise to sensations. Without one or more of the five senses, there would be no mental life. A person born blind is deprived of the sensations and images dependent upon the sense of sight; one born deaf is deprived of the sensations dependent upon the sense of hearing. The same statement may be made in regard to the other senses. Arranged in the order of their importance, the special senses are sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

All knowledge is acquired through the senses. That is, without the senses nothing would be perceptible; and without the conscious se^f nothing would be perceived. The soul depends upon the body for its communication with the external world. It is through external excitants that the nervous organism receives the impressions that it transmits to the soul. A sensation has a physical basis, but is a mental state. It is caused by the meeting of mind and matter. But a sensation is not knowledge. Knowledge is interpreted sensations. Merely to see, feel, hear, taste, and smell is not knowing. * A sensation is only one element of knowledge — the initial act of the soul in acquiring knowledge.

PkrcEPTION. — Perception is the immediate knowledge of an external object — a mental act, the immediate effect of sensation. A percept is a psychical image formed by one or more sensations — the image of a real being or object. But a percept is not knowledge; it is only another element of knowledge — the second stage in the progress of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is a fusion or an assimilation of percepts. The mere sight of an orange does not constitute knowledge of an orange. The percept given by the sense of sight must be fused with the percepts given by the sense of taste, the sense of smell, the sense of touch. Only by unifying these

* We hear only what we know. — Goethe.

We can see only what Ave have been trained to see. — Carlyle. The present impression produces only such an effect on the mind as the past history of the mind renders possible. — Bousseau.

SENSATION— PERCEPTION. 15

several sensations do we acquire knowledge of an orange.

Sensation and Perception are the effects of ph3^sical causes. A little thinking will show that knowledge of an object cannot be obtained through a single sense-perception. Full knovv^ledge of a rose cannot be obtained through any one sense, but only by the fusion of several individual percepts. To the percept formed by the sense of sight must be added the percepts formed by the senses of touch, taste, and smell. Knowledge of an apple is obtained only by seeing it, feeling it, smelling it, and tasting it. Knowledge of an object is the synthesis of all its individual percepts. This fact should be thoroughly understood by teachers, that pupils may enjoy the pleasure which study gives when properly directed.

Since all knowledge is acquired through the senses, it follows that the quality of the percept — mental image — depends upon the quality of the sensations. The depth of the image depends

Upon the intensity of the sensation. * Attention, interest, and feeling on the part of the pupil accompany all successful efforts to acquire knowledge. Pupils must be trained to see, to hear, to feel, to smell, and to taste, if they would acquire clear and lasting percepts. Listless habits of the mind and restless habits of the body tend to weaken the image; hence the teacher should insist upon an attentive mind and a quiet body during recitation. Tact and energy on the part of the teacher are as necessary as attention and interest on the part of the pupil. Teacher and pupil influence each other.

As knowledge cannot be conveyed directly from

"^Representation. — But a percept really becomes matured as such only through successive stages. An object must be seen many times before it is rightly seen. And repetition means retention.

A percept is developed through repeated acts of perception into clearness and accuracy and adequacy. And for each of those repeated acts of perception, through which are brought about the correction and deepening of a percept already partially formed in the mind, a new act of perception of similar character is primarily the necessary occasion.

The character of the perception in any given case depends upon that of the sensation, as this in turn depends upon the character of the stimulus which the sense-organ is suited to transmit. — Bryanfs Psychology.

SENSATION— PERCEPTION. 17

one mind to another, but must be acquired through the senses, it follows that the quality of the ''raw materials," sensations and perceptions, out of which knowledge is made, is of the very first importance. As knowledge cannot be imparted by teacher to pupil, it follows that telling is not teaching, and that learning is not education. Education is self- evolution. All that man ever had, he acquired. Moral, intellectual, and physical conditions are growths, not gifts. If it were possible for the teacher to pour knowledge into a pupil, the pupil would not be greatly enriched by the gift. One may awaken in another a percept, but the awakened image or idea is a personal creation, the result of the self-activity of the soul.

The next higher stage of knowledge is memory, which may be defined as hnowledge of particular things or events once presentf but no longer so. Memory consequently removes one limitation from knowledge as it exists in the stage of perception : the limitation to the present The world of strict perception has no past nor future. Perception is narrowly confined to what is immediately before it. Memory extends the range of knowledge beyond the present. The world of knowledge as it exists for memory is a world of events which have happened, of things which have existed. In short, while the characteristic of perception is space relations, that of memory is time relations. Knowledge, however, is still limited to individual things or events which have had an existence in some particular place, and at some particular time. — Dewey.

Chapter II. Memory In Kducation

' ' Memory is the faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of previous thoughts, impressions, and events." It is the re-presentation of a past experience — the knowing over again. The image which memory recalls represents mentally what was once experienced. The memory of a pain is not a pain ; the memory of an odor is not an odor ; the memory of the face of a friend is not a face. That which we retain is a constitutional fact ; how we do it, no one knows. The mystery of recalling is no greater than the mystery of perceiving. That we recall knowledge of persons, impressions from nature, and events in time, no one will deny. Reproduction is an intellectual process. It is independent of sensation.

20 ELEMENTS OF FEDAGOGIGS,

Memory acts upon suggestion ; hence the value of association in education. The mind tends to modes similar to previous modes. We are even unconsciously tempted to do v^hat we have done, and to do it in the same manner. The desire to repeat a past experience depends upon the frequency and intensity of the past experience. It is also quite evident that the power to recall an image, fact, or expression, depends upon the depth of the original impression — upon the attention given to it and the feelings aroused by it. ^ This fact bears directly upon method in instruction. It suggests interest and definiteness.

Reproduced impressions are similar to the original impressions, but weaker. Time weakens all kinds of impressions, but does not destroy them. The distinctness of the recalled image, or im-

* Our ability to recall knowledge in the future, depends largely upon the circumslances of its acquisition. Such physical conditions as general good health and vigor of brain are conducive to permanent acquisitions, while disease and weakness are obstructive. Psychical conditions, such as interest in the subject and attention to details, aLo affect the durability of knowledge. There is, moreover, the essential condition of sufficient time for distinct impressions to be made and for a certain amount of repetition. — HiWs Psychology.

MEMORY IN EDUCATION. 21

pression, depends upon the clearneSvS with which it wavS first stamped upon the mind. The report of a cannon is more fully recalled than the report of a pistol ; an object of bright color, more distinctly than one merely tinted; an elephant, more vividly than a sheep ; a face of irregular features than one of regular features. This fact of every day experience is full of suggestion for teachers. It suggests that instruction should be clear, concise, and impressive.

Images recalled by memory are always less vivid than percepts. "Percepts," says Spencer, ' ' are vivid states of consciousness ; memories are faint states of consciousness." It is self-evident that the vividness of the recalled image depends upon the character of the percept. In recalling the face of a friend, the distinctness of the features depends upon the definiteness and depth of the percept. In like manner, the pupil's power to recall a fact, illustration, or principle depends upon the definiteness and the depth of the original impression. Flitting impressions — the mere recitation of the words of the text-book — are not long held by the memory. * We recall what we have seen more readily and more clearly than what has been described to us. In the first instance, we recall an experience, in the second, a description — a verbal image. Upon this fact rests the superlative value of illustration in teaching.

In some schools, pupils learn much they do not know — much they never know. The mere ability to recite text-book matter is not a test of the pupil's knowledge of a subject. The pupil who knows, feels that he knows. The pupil who has mere learning only believes he knows. Belief is

* Permanence of an impression is determined not merely by its external character, but by the attitude of the mind in relation to it. If our minds are preoccupied, even a powerful impression may fail to produce a lasting effect. Hence we have to add that the permanence of an impression depends on the degree of interest excited by the object, and the corresponding vigor of the act of attention. All strong feeling gives a special persistence to impressions, by arousing an exceptional degree of interest. Where a boy is deeply afiected by pleasurable feeling, as in listening to an attractive story or in watching a cricket match, he remembers distinctly. Such intensity of feeling, by securing a strong interest and a close attention, insures a vivid impression and a clear discrimination of the object, both in its several parts or details, and as a whole. And the fineness of the discriminative process is one of the most important determining conditions of retention. — Sxilly,

MEMOR Y IN ED UCATIQN. 23

passive. It is valueless till it bears fruit in knowledge. Belief is theoretical; knowledge, experimental. Life has meaning only in action. Interest, feeling, and experience relate us to God and man.

No definite rules can be given for training the memory. The teacher must understand and apply the laws of association ; he must properly connect the several parts of the new matter, and connect the new with the old. Isolated facts cannot be remembered ; they would have little or no value if they could be recalled. Although there are no specifics for training the memory, proper methods do much to develop and strengthen it.

Interest trains Memory. — The attitude of the mind during the recitation determines the character of the impression. If the pupil is not interested and attentive, the impression, if any, will be weak and transient. Uneasy and restless physical habits disturb the mind ; * hence

* The mental attitude of attention is accompanied by cessation of bodily movement. When during a walk we try to think closely, we involuntarily stand 6til\.— Sully.

pupils should sit or stand still during recitation. Education should train both body and mind.

Attention trains Memory. — As memory is the re-presentation of a past experience, it follows that its power to recall an image, fact, or event, depends upon the character of the original impression. Memory cannot create anything new ; it recalls the old. As it can recall only what was once experienced, it follows that its trustworthiness is due to the character of the experience. Recalling is wholly an intellectual process in reviving and reconstructing. This fact bears directly upon instruction. Instruction without attention is an empty, valueless formality. Retention depends upon attention. If the mind of the pupil is pre-occupied, stop the recitation or send the wandering pupil to his seat. As pupils attend with more interest in the higher than in the lower grades, reviews are less important in the higher than in the lower branches.

Repetition trains Memory. — Repetition deepens impressions, and awakens similar con-

MEMOR Y ly ED UCA TION, 25

cepts. The value of repetition depends upon the intensity of the act of repetition and the frequency of the same. Repetition is a form of emphasis ; the greater the number of impressions, the more lasting the image. A single occurrence seldom makes a lasting impression, especially upon young children whose minds are readily engaged by the passing events of the hour.* But mere automatic repetition, parrot-like and unfeeling, has little or no value. The purely formal and mechanical does not create feeling, hence has little educational or moral value. A distinct and lasting impression requires attention, interest, and purpose on the part of the learner ; hence, the closer the attention and the deeper the feeling, the fewer the repetitions necessary to fix the image in the mind. The soul is awakened and stimulated only by organic action. Passive instruction does not inspire. Immature convic-

* Interest is rarely so keen as to be able to dispense with a number of repetitions. On the other hand, no number of rexjetitions of a lesson will avail if there is no interest taken in the subject, and the thoughts wander, — Sully.

tions do not create feeling. Earnestness in a teacher begets earnestness in the pupil.

Understanding trains Memory. — ' ' Get wisdom, but with all thy getting, get understanding." But little interest attaches to what we cannot understand. This is unqualifiedly true of subjects within the comprehension of man. The memory is more tenacious of those images, thoughts, and experiences which appealed to the understanding than of those which were only formal. A clear understanding greatly aids in recalling. Thought is more impressive than formal words. Reality is more lasting than symbols. Mechanical memorization is likely to fail just when needed. It has no mental associations. It does not reach the soul ; hence it is not trustworthy.

Important Associations train Memory. — Important events naturally strike the mind with more force than minor ones ; hence they are more easily retained, and more readily recalled. The minor events attach themselves

MEMORY IN EDUCATION. 27

to the more important ones, in accordance with vSome law of intellectual gravitation, and thus survive by sufferance. Insignificant incidents become part of a mass concept. This fact is only a re-statement of a principle of association. Nothing can be recalled which is not in some way associated with what is present in the mind. ' ' The fact narrated must correspond to something in me, to be credible or intelligible." The power to recall or recognize, therefore, depends upon the association of ideas. Memory leans upon association.

Use trains Memory. — Exercise is a means of strength, whether physical, intellectual, or moral. Trustv^orthiness of memory is a growth. Memory is most active and spontaneous in childhood. But the memory of childhood is mechanical. A child simply remembers ; he does not seek to know how or zu/iy. This fact suggests method in instruction. It suggests that the mechanical element in reading, writing, and the fundamental rules in arithmetic should be mastered before the how or why are required. In the later years, reason plays a more important part in education. Each faculty of the mind should be trained in the order of its natural growth. The faculty which is most used is the readiest and strongest.

Equality of Ideas Weakens the Memory.

In teaching, preference should be given leading facts, principles, and events. Instruction without discrimination is hardly training in an educational sense. Equalizing facts and principles prevents the mind from dwelling upon the important ones. It masses the ideas. This fact is another argument against burdening the memory with unimportant matter and detail.

The value of a retentive memory is incalculable. It is now too generally held that great creative power is incompatible with strong memory. But it is simply absurd to claim that the power to recall weakens the power to create. Many of the greatest intellects have been men of extraordinary memories. Hamilton and Macauly, Jefferson and Lincoln, Garfield and Cleve-

MEMOR Y IN ED UGATIOK 29

land were remarkable for the trustworthiness of their memories. It is the abuse of memory in our cram methods of instruction which has given memory a false place in the "new education." Stuffing pupils with isolated facts for per cents not only abuses the memory, but weakens it.

Where sound methods of instruction are used, the memory needs little or no special training. "^ If knowledge is acquired in accordance with the well-established principles of intellectual development, the memory will receive its due share of

* The value of the memory in relation to the understanding of facts and the practical applications of knowledge should never be lost sight of. In training the memory, the teacher should exercise the judgment at the same time in the selection of what is really important. In this way overloading the mind will be avoided, and the higher faculty will be improved. — Sully.

The chief thing for the teacher to keep in mind is that the training of memory is, to a very large degree, training in original apperception — in apprehension and assimilation of what is to be remembered. It may be laid down as a rule: Do not aim at training memory directly, but indirectly, through the training of the apperceiving powers. The attitude of the pupil's mind should be : I must perceive this just as it is and in all its bearings; not, I must rememher this. If the original perception, in other words, is what it should be, accurate, comprehensive and independent, memory may be left very largely to take care of itself. For the first step in remembering anything is to get it within the mind, and apperception is just this getting it within the mind. If this is thoroughly done, the first step in memory is already taken, and it needs no special training of its own. — McLellan^s Psychology.

attention. But where the laws of mental growth are unknown or ignored by the teacher, special training may be needed. Pupils who cannot *' recollect" should be required to commit complete selections, prose and poetry. Only the •choicest selections should be committed. Selections containing vigorous thought are not only more readily committed, but more easily retained. ** Memory is the outgrowth of perception."

Perception associates us with the present, memory with the past. Perception ends with space relations ; memory extends to time relations. Perception is the result of physical experience ; memory of intellectual experience. Perception recognizes actual, present existence ; memory, ideal, past experience. The book I see on the table is actually there ; the book I saw on the table 3^esterday is ideally there. I am related to one through experience — by the sense of sight ; to the other through the memory. Memory is the foundation of intellectual growth. ' ' It unites the successive elements of soul life."

MEMORY IN EDUCATION. 31

Without memory, life would be limited to the single moment of the present. There would be no past. If we could not recollect, we should have nothing for the mind to work upon.* Everything we learn is held by the mind, in some mysterious way, in the form of impressions. If we could not reason about the past we could not interpret the present. But the use of memory does not imply merely verbal repetition of the thoughts of others. The memory has a higher function than recitation. Recalling is really a constructive process. The experiences of the

*The senses are the source of all our knowledge about external things. But, if we were only capable of observing objects, we could gain no lasting knowledge about anything. Knowledge of things is not a momentary attainment, vanishing again with the departure of the things; it is our enduring possession, which we can make use of at any time, whether the objects are before us or not. — Sully,

The dependence of all the higher powers of Intellect upon Memory hardly requires illustration. Our immediate knowledge is confined to a very narrow circle of facts, and does not afford us a very extended illustration of general principles. It is through our recognition of past knowledge that we are able to interpret and understand even the little which the present furnishes. It is through acts of Memory that we are able to detect those resemblances upon which all our generalizations are built. Through the aid of Memory we exercise that function of Assimilation which broadens and deepens the knowledge acquired through the function of Discrimination. It enables us to interpret the present in the light of the past. — HilVs Psychology.

past are past, and can be recalled only by reconstructing them.

Memory is the store-house which supplies all the other activities of the mind with aliment. Without the memory, the educator could do little or nothing. In education, no other faculty of the mind is drawn upon so often. It is simply absurd to decry the memory because some teachers abuse it ; it is absurd to undervalue the office of memory because in some schools memoriter recitations pass for real ones. Memory has its place in education. It is a settled fact in Pedagogics that the cultivation of the memory is not only possible but practicable, and that the only way to cultivate it is to use it. The discredit into which memory has fallen with some teachers is chiefly due to a confusion between memory work proper and mere repetition.

The power to retain knowledge depends upon how the knowledge is acquired — upon the methods of instruction. It depends upon a practical application of the laws of association — upon nat-

MEMOR Y IN ED UCA TION. 33

ural laws.* Nature is always helpful, if we approach her in the right way, and at the right time. The application of these psychological laws to instruction is too obvious to need further elaboration or illustration. The need of teachers is a thorough grounding in the elementary and essential principles of educational psychology. With these well in hand, the detail which logically clings to them will take care of itself. The greater contains the less.