Practice exercises in supervised study and assimilative reading. a guide for directing the formation of efficient study habits, by J. A. Wiley ...

Front matter

Class L" BlO^ Book. ■ W 5 5

GlpghtN?..

CQEBUGHT DEPOSIT.

Contents

Page

PEEFACE 3

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS NEEDED 10

Part II Specific Problems In Comprehension

V. TRAINING TO CONCENTRATE UPON THE

READING MATTER IN HAND 51

VI. TRAINING IN MAINTAINING A LONG

"SPAN" OF ATTENTION 57

VII. TRAINING IN "VISUALIZING" THE DETAILS

OF WHAT IS READ 64

VIII. TRAINING IN GETTING THE MEANINGS OF

SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS 73

IX. TRAINING TO READ UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A DEFINITE PURPOSE 82

PART in ORGANIZING AND IMPRESSING THOUGHT X. TRAINING PUPILS TO PAUSE OCCASIONAL- LY FOR SUMMARY AND CONNECTIONS 91

XI. FINAL TESTING, AND TAKING STOCK OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE ENTIRE

COURSE UP TO THIS POINT 100

XII. FOLLOW-UP TRAINING IN FITTING THE TYPE OF STUDY PROCEDURE TO THE TYPE

OF STUDY MATERIAL 104

OUTLINE 107

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS NEEDED

I. Testing materials to be ordered before starting the course: (See pages listed, for adresses, amounts, etc.)

(1) Thorndike-McCall Beading Scale, pages

Form 4, with Tabulation and Directions

Sheets 32

Form 2, with Tabulation and Directions

Sheets 62

Form 3, with Tabulation and Directions

(2) Monroe Silent Beading Test, Bevised,

Test 2, Form 1, with Class Becord Sheets. .. 33 Test 2, Form 2, with Class Becord Sheets. . . 49 Test 2, Form 3, with Class Becord Sheets... 101

(3) Courtis Silent Beading Test,

Test 2, Form 3, with Becord Slips, Folders, etc 33

Test 2, Form 1, with Becord Slips, Folders, etc 44

Test 2, Form 2, with Becord Slips, Folders, etc 101

II. Special large Tabulation Sheets for recording and reporting the data obtained with each test given during the course (See footnote page 103).

III. Correspondence Paper Checking Key for use by departments using this book as the basis of a correspondence course. A device calculated to save writing, time, and postage, and to render corrective directions more effective. (Being prepared by the writer for distribution at a nominal price).

PRACTICE EXERCISES

IN SUPERVISED STUDY AND

ASSIMILATIVE READING

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Main Points of the Chapter

1. The study problem can be solved only by habituating the specific type of study procedure most appropriate for each specific type of study material with which pupils must deal.

2. Study habits must be built up in accordance with the known principles of habit formation.

3. Supervised Study involves training in learning under the close supervision and guidance of a skilled teacher.

4. Comprehension in silent reading is the prime requisite in learning to study.

5. General directions applicable to all the exercises.

6. Cautions in regard to planning, carrying out, and reporting the suggested exercises.

7. Suggested time distribution of the exercises.

8. Studying and reciting must constantly suplement each other.

1. The Study Problem

Efficient studying involves the skilful use of those types of study procedure which result in the greatest amount of learning in particular study situa-

12 EXEKCISES IN STUDY AND BEADING

tions. Inability to learn under school conditions results in school failure, retardation, elimination, and. many other problems. These evils are observed in all the different stages of our educational system. A little personal observation on the part of the teacher will show that most pupils have very queer notions of what study means. Common among the false notions of the meaning of study is the notion that studying is synonymous with memorizing. Another false notion is that studying consists in merely reading over the material a great number of times— a sort of ' ' exposure ' ' proposition. A little of such observation, supplemented by the results obtained with the preliminary testing, will show both the teacher and the class how urgent is the need of giving training for developing more efficient study habits.

There are three general kinds of study activitiescommonly utilized in our schools. These general types frequently overlap, so that they can not be completely isolated. First in point of chronological order, and predominant from the standpoint of frequency of use, comes the reading type of study. It is the predominant type wherever the study material is gleaned primarily from printed matter, and it constitutes an essential element in practically all studying from the intermediate grades on up through high school and college. A second type of study is the laboratory demonstration type, in which the study material is not taken directly from books, but is gotten mainly through objective observation of the facts and principles demonstrated by purposely planned'

objective experiments. This type of study is becoming more common in connection with our science courses. A third general type of study involves the utilization of reflective thinking in connection with problem solving and the like. This type overlaps the reading type in all those cases where the solution of the problem depends primarily upon gathering material through reading printed matter. Indeed a clearly stated problem serves as the most effective aid in directing the discriminate selection and organization of study material. The problem solving method is frequently utilized for this purpose throughout this book, and is especially emphasized in connection with the exercises of the five chapters of Part II. This book is devoted primarily to the development of the reading type of study, because the reading type is not only the most frequently used on its own account, but is also a prerequisite to success in most of the other types of study. At a later date the writer hopes to supplement these exercises with other exercises intended to give specific training in the other two types of study.

In presenting the suggestions in this book the writer does not wish to minimize the supreme importance of intelligence, health, interest, effort, and many other general factors in successful learning. Though it will be impossible to go further at present, nevertheless it may here be said that these are essential factors, and that without due attention to these all other efforts at training in studying may prove futile.

14 EXEECISES IN STUDY AND BEADING

2. Habits of Study

Our activities go on mostly through the functioning of habit, and habit is, in general, the outcome of practice. Education should first determine the habits that will be most useful throughout life, and then devise and carry out appropriate practice for establishing those habits in the lives of the pupils. In this age of the printing press, study habits of the reading type constitute a very important set of habits which will function throughout life. Therefore, our first care should be to select those types of study procedure which seem most effective in connection with assimilative reading and then reduce such procedures to habit through drill on appropriate practice exercises carried out according to the laws of habit formation.

Three essential principles of habit formation need brief mention at this point. In the first place, we must not depend too much upon establishing general habits. Training for specific habits, that is, practicing directly the thing to be done later, yields the surest results. This means that pupils must acquire study habits by practicing the specific study procedures in the specific kind of connections in which they are to be used later. In the second place, we must first make each correct study procedure fully conscious to the pupils, so that they get a clear pattern in mind, and then we must put the pupils through appropriate practice exercises until the habit level is attained. In other words, pupils must learn to study by studying correctly until the proper procedure becomes habituated. Here it must be recognized that using knowledge or principles as a guide in practicing is one of the best methods of learning. Finally, we must take stock of what happens to consciousness when we form a habit. With practice the lower centers increasingly take over the function of directing the activity involved, and thus leave the higher thought centers relatively free for new or higher types of mental activity. Activities which at first engage full conscious attention are gradually taken over by the lower centers, and consciousness is correspondingly set free for attacking further problems. Not only is consciousness released for further activities, but each stage of habit serves as the stepping stone for attaining the next higher stage of development. The response also acquires greater perfection, accuracy, sureness, promptness, and strength as habit is perfected. This all comes about as results of the functioning of the so-called laws of exercise, of which frequency and intensity of practice are most important.

These three principles are observed in planning the exercises of this book. In the first place, it is urged that the exercises be planned and carried out as a part of the regular lesson preparation and recitation, so that pupils may learn to study by practicing the best study procedures under the direct supervision of the teacher. In agriculture classes this means specific supervised practice in learning to study the usual types of agricultural material. In history classes it means specific practice in studying history, and so on for each content subject. Similar subjects will doubtless require similar study habits, but we can not safely rely much upon general training supposedly applicable to many subjects. We must consciously relate the appropriate study procedures to each subject and to each phase within each subject. If some transfer occurs, so much the better. We must learn how to study each type of subject and, indeed, each type of study procedure for different phases of the same subject. In the second place, this book emphasizes the necessity of starting each typ£ of study procedure by first analyzing the process and demonstrating how it works. This is accomplished by means of introductory demonstration exercises which not only give the pupils a pattern to go by, but also analyze the procedure in terms of the principles involved. Each succeeding practice exercise under each type of study should be consciously related to the appropriate guiding principles, until consciousness of the principles is gradually supplanted by habit formation. Finally, the exercises are, in general, arranged on the assumption that with the perfection of each type we are better prepared to take up the next type. This assumption is especially true of the arrangement within each of the eight main divisions. As each easier stage is more or less habituated we can turn most of our conscious attention to the next higher stage. When all of these study procedures are reduced to the habit level, we are then ready to turn most of our attention to the higher types of thinking, while habit takes care of those elementary study pro-

INTBODUCTION 17 cesses which previously demanded so much of our attention. These study habits are of fundamental importance just because their perfect functioning sets free the mind for the higher types of mental activity. Consciousness still directs, but habit executes, and executes more promptly and more surely.

3. The Supervised Study Problem

Skilful study involves the discriminate selection and organization of the thought related to definite purposes. The type of procedure employed in studying varies not only with the purpose or goal set, but also with the type of subject matter, and with different individuals dealing with identically the same subject matter. Hence, supervised study requires that we acquaint the pupils with the better types of study procedure and give them plenty of practice using these in the various phases of each subject. This necessitates close supervision and guidance by a skilled teacher during the time in which pupils are gradually becoming able to do their own selecting, rejecting, organizing, etc., according to purposes and methods of their own choosing. With this idea in mind, the writer has selected from the great number of study activities those types which are thought to deserve immediate attention in connection with our content courses. It is hoped that the performance of these activities in connection with the regular class work will serve as the means of revealing to both the teacher and the pupils those types of study procedure best adapted to the type of work being pursued and best fitted to the individual pupils pursuing such work. The suggestions herein offered are in line with present day thought along the various lines concerned; but it is hoped that you will consider them as only " suggestions ", which doubtless need some modifying to meet special problems, and certainly need much supplementing through the addition of further exercises along similar lines. The writer feels sure that these practice exercises can be made to contribute very effectively not only to pupil mastery of the subject matter of the content courses, but also to your own personal benefit. All the teachers who have used this outline in its preliminary form have stated that it greatly aided in the two ways mentioned above. The majority of them have also stated that it added interest to the pupils' work. Supervised study should involve the following cycle of steps at each stage of advancement :

(1) Diagnosis, or preliminary testing and observation to discover deficiencies. If no deficiencies are discovered, we should immediately take up the next higher stage.

(2) Removing deficiencies by applying proper specific methods of teaching.

(3) Checking up, or testing again to discover whether the specific teaching has removed the deficiencies. If the deficiencies have been removed, we are ready to go on; but, if the deficiencies have not been removed, the specific method of teaching should either be changed or applied more intensively.

These exercises have been planned so as to utilize the above cycle of steps. At the beginning of the course you are asked to make certain observations and to give certain standardized tests, in order to discover whether there are deficiencies in rate and comprehension of reading. Then you are asked to put your pupils through certain specific types of training intended to remove such deficiencies as are discovered. At certain other points of the course you are asked to give other forms of the same tests so as to get a measure of the pupils' progress and an idea of the character of the remaining deficiencies. A similar cycle is utilized within the sections of each chapter. Every discovered deficiency should be pursued until eliminated, or at least until a standard appropriate for the grade is reached. This may consume a great deal of time at first; but in the end it should save much time and energy, because time and energy can be spent more economically when, these hindering factors are removed.

4. Comprehension in Silent Reading- the Prime Requisite in Learning to Study

It has already been indicated above that the* reading type of study is of prime importance because it is the means of securing data for most of the other types of study, and also because it is the most frequently used type, especially in connection with the content subjects. It is evident that a very essential part of the material of our content courses lies locked up in books, bulletins, magazines, etc., and it iSj, therefore, necessary that the pupils learn to grasp and understand the thought efficiently. The act of grasping and understanding the thought is here called "comprehension", but even when thus simply defined, comprehension remains a very complex process. The suggested types of training are proposed as the meana of getting at some of the more important elements -of this complex. After giving a few general directions applicable to all the types of training suggested, *he writer will list some eight specific types of training in comprehension, and suggest a few types of practice exercises suitable for each. It is urged that you supplement the lists as fully as possible.

5. G-enera! Directions

The exercises in each section listed below should be planned and written out in definite form at least a week before you expect to give them in class the first time. State the book, page, and paragraph on which you expect to apply each suggestion and carefully work out the full procedure which you expect to follow. At the end of the first recitation on each section carefully write out a report of the lesson as actually carried out. In this report should be included a statement of all the essential things done, results obtained, deficiencies discovered, plans for following up the training along the lines of discovered weaknesses, and any other facts or comments which you think will contribute to giving efficiency in the type of study activity in question. File your lesson plans and reports until you have finished all the sections under each chapter. Within three days* after you have finished all the sections under each chapter, you should send us copies of your plans and reports for each section of the particular chapter, together with a summary report for the chapter as a whole. For instance, within three days after you have finished all four sections of Chapter III, you should send in a full report on each section and a summary report for all four sections; and similarly for the sections of each Of the other chapters. It is suggested that you use carbon paper for making duplicates of your plans and reports. Send two copies, so that one copy may be marked and returned to you and the other filed for our records. In many cases you will find it desirable to vary your recitation somewhat from the previously prepared plans. In v such cases indicate the change made and your reason for making the change. Feel free to use your own initiative at all time, but always report all facts which may throw light upon our supervised study problem. So much for the planning and reporting of your first recitation with each suggested type of exercise. Similarly plan and carry out several recitations using the same type of study procedure. Two to four weeks should be devoted to the exercises suggested in each chapter, according to the time distribution suggested below. When you have finished your special drive on each particular type of training, give informal tests and write out a general account of your experiences with the partiodar type of training. Similarly summarize your experiences with:

ihe exercises of each chapter as a whole. At the end of the course you will be expected to give a critical account of your experiences with each type of exercise .used at any time during the entire course. The duplicate lesson plan, the duplicate immediate report -on the first recitation, and the final term report will he expected in connection with each type of exercise. Additional special directions will be given in connection with each specific type of exercise. Where there are to be any exceptions to any of the above general directions, such exceptions will be stated in connection with the sections affected.

6. Cautions

These cautions are given before you begin your work, so that you may be warned against certain things which frequently hinder the effectiveness of correspondence work. Strict observance of these cautions will make your work more effective and will avoid the necessity for future criticism along such lines.

In this course we are dealing primarily with the problem of comprehension in silent reading as it is related to study. You are expected to get much more from the course than the pupils do. Therefore, it is of first importance that you thoroughly comprehend the directions. We need not expect to make a great deal of progress in teaching comprehension until we, as teachers, become conscious of the processes involved in comprehending, and make these processes a part of our own study habits. The manner in which you plan, carry out, and report your work will indicate how well you have mastered the directions and suggestions furnished in this course. As has been stated above, there is no insistance upon rigid conformance to all the suggestions given in this outline ; but there is emphatic insistence upon a rigid comprehension of the material of this outline, as the first requirement of the course. Without an adequate study of these directions, you can not hope to plan the exercises adequately nor to carry through the class work successfully. You should carefully note every detail of the outline and study over the meaning and significance of the same, before attempting to carry out the exercises. In most cases it will prove helpful for you to go over each type of training in a preliminary way, trying to put yourself in the place of the pupil. Such a procedure will not only help you to get a better notion of the essential nature of the study process, but it will also enable you to anticipate and prepare for the difficulties which the pupils will probably encounter. In order that your efforts may accomplish the greatest good for yourself and your pupils, you should adopt the following watchwords :

(1) Complete comprehension of all directions and discussions.

(2) Thoughtful planning, with attention centered upon the pupils and their needs.

(3) Careful reporting f discussing , criticising, etc., with a view to making these exercises more useful to both teacher and pupils.

(4) Follow-up drill on each type at every opportunity, until the procedure is habituated.

7. Suggested Time Distribution of the Exercises

The writer thinks it best to start this course of training not earlier than the third week of school, so as to avoid the irregularities incident to getting school organized and started off with the normal work. He also thinks it best to get the special exercises finished before the beginning of the last school month, which is usually croweded full of irregularities incident to the closing of school. With an eight month term these special exercises can be started with the preliminary testing in the third week, and terminated with the final testing in the twenty-eighth week, thus affording six months of training during the least disturbed part of the school year. With a nine month term a little more time can be devoted to the exercises of each chapter. It is suggested that the teacher spend the first two weeks in mastering the discussions and directions in Chapters I and II, and in observing how the pupils study and how well they get along at recitation time. A brief general statement of the findings of this observation is very desirable for use in checking against the results obtained with the standard tests. The last month or six weeks of the term may profitably be devoted to training the pupils in selecting the type of study procedure approprite for the more important types of study material used in the particular content course. Chapter XII suggests exercises for this purpose.

"Where a teacher is not working for credit, but only to improve the study habits of her own pupils, she may distribute the time and emphasis more strictly according to her own teaching problems. Even in such cases, it would seem advisable to take up the exercises somewhat systematically. After a type of study procedure has once been introduced, pupils should be urged to use it in every succeeding situation for which it is appropriate, so that it may become drilled into each pupil's system of study habits. The following is suggested as a tentative distribution of the special drives on the exercises of the various chapters :

Chapter I studied by the teacher during the first

two weeks.

Chapter II applied during the 3d week. Chapter III applied during the 4 and 5th weeks. Chapter IV applied during the 6 and 7th weeks. Chapter V applied during the 8 and 9th weeks. Chapter VI applied during the 10, 11, and 12th

weeks.

Chapter VII applied during the 13, 14, and l§th

weeks.

Chapter VIII applied during the 16, 17, 18, and 19th

weeks.

Chapter IX applied during the 20, 21, 22, 23, and

24th weeks.

Chapter X applied during the 25, 26, and 27th

weeks.

Chapter XI applied during the 28th week. Chapter XII applied during the rest of the year.

It should be borne in mind that the proposed exercises should not be allowed to detract from the usual progress and purposes of the subject with which they are used. Most of the exercises are to be planned so that they utilize the regular material of the subject and produce greater facility in mastering that material. Though the testing sections do not deal directly with the content of the subject, nevertheless it will be found that they serve as effective stimuli to improvement in the efficiency of the pupils' work. This motivating effect is especially noticeable where pupils keep records of their individual improvements in rate and comprehension.

It is suggested that the teacher at first carry through this training in connection with only one class in one subject. After becoming acquainted with the exercises, the teacher can doubtless use them in connection with more than one subject. The time devoted to the exercises will need to vary with the total time available for the subject. It would seem that these exercises should be used in connection with the equivalent of at least two periods per week. Some teachers many prefer to use a part of each period for the exercises, while others may prefer to devote certain days exclusively to the exercises and the other days exclusively to the usual type of work. The writer prefers the first mentioned plan as the general rule, with and occasional total period devoted sometimes exclusively to the exercises, and sometimes exclusively to other types of work, according as the teacher judges best. The principles of Educational Psychology indicate that the best results can be secured in connection with habit formation when the particular habit is caused to function regularly at every opportunity. Therefore, it seems advisable to keep constantly at each type of exercise until pupils gain at least some facility in its use. This requires daily use of each specific type of exercise while it is the main problem on which we are driving, and also the occasional repetition of the exercise even after the main drive has been shifted to other specific exercises. Only by such a plan can we hope to establish and maintain efficient habits of study. The directions lay special emphasis upon the first recitation with each type of exercise, but it is evident that abundant follow-up drill must be afforded in succeeding recitations. At the first of the course the exercises may seem to take more time than they deserve, but there is bound to be a large saving of time in the long run, as the training begins to give a better rate of reading combined with more efficient comprehension of the material read. The standard test results obtained in connection with the preliminary use of these exercises in the vocational schools showed, in general, good gains in both speed and comprehension, with large gains in one or both functions in the case of certain schools. The teachers indicated that, in their own judgment, the exercises had added to both the interest and the effectiveness of their pupils ' work.

8. Studying and Reciting

To the writer there seems to be no justification for sharply differentiating " recitation' ' and " study' '

periods for pupils who are just learning how to study,, especially where they are under the same teacher during both periods. To him " studying" and ''reciting" seem to be part and parcel of one total learning process — selecting and understanding the thought, organizing ideas, and impressing them on the nervous system so that recall is assured. To him it seems that at least the early stages of supervised study demand an intermixture of studying and reciting, so that the one constantly supplements the other. Why do pupils study, if it is not to get the material for the recitation, and the material found lacking during the recitation? Why do they recite, if it is not to show wherein studying has succeeded and wherein it has failed to give an essential mastery of the prescribed work? It is evident that the movement for the stricter supervision of study is largely an attempt to connect properly the needs and problems arising during the recitation with the needs and problems arising during the study period. In accordance with this conception, the writer has frequently suggested that the teacher call for reciting during the study period, and for studying during the recitation period. Consequently, such expressions as "at the recitation time" and "during the study period", as used in this book, frequently describe only the predominant type of situation. "At class time*' refers to the particular time division usually set apart for the class meeting, regardless of the type of work done at such periods. "At the laboratory period" refers to the period in which the study involves the acquisition of knowledge primarily through experiments and directed observations, Tather than through the study of printed matter.

1. Starch, D. Educational Psychology, 1919, Chapter XI.

Discusses importance of study, kinds of study, how to study, etc.

:2. James, W. Talks to Teachers on Psychology, 1900, Chapter 8; or Principles of Psychology, 1890. Vol. I, Chapter IV, especially pp. 112-26; or Briefer Course, 1907, pp. 142-148.

All three discuss habit and habit formation.

:3. Edwards, A. S. Fundamental Principles of Learning and Study, 1920, Chapters 3 and 4.

Discuss the habit theory of Education.

4. Eowe, S. H. Habit Zormation and the Science of Teach-

ing, 1909, ChapterIX, especially pp. 175-76. Discuss methods of securing practice.

5. Gray, W. S. The Relation of Silent Beading to Economy

in Education. Sixteenth Yearbook of National, Society for the Study of Education, Part I. ■6. Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools, 1920, Chapter XVI. Discusses supervised study.

PART I

GENERAL PROBLEM OF RAPID THOUGHT GETTING

CHAPTER n

PRELIMINARY TESTING OF SPEED AND COM- PREHENSION FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MOTIVATION

1. The teacher's first problem is to diagnose the abilities of her pupils, in order to find out where to direct remedial teaching.

2. Next, she must motivate the work by setting an ultimate goal and by furnishing standards by which the pupils can measure their own accomplishments as they try to improve.