Study may be supervised study, or unsupervised study. To some people the
requirements in learning to study may seem too difficult to be possible,
but it should be remembered that the process is gradual--that one by one
these elements in study are taught to the children in their supervised
study periods. These periods should begin in the primary grades, and
require from the teacher quite as much preparation as any other period.
Many teachers have taught subjects, but not how to study subjects. The
latter is the more important. The matter of distributed learning
periods, of search for motive, of asking questions, of criticizing
achievement, of use of books; each element is a topic for class
discussion before it is accepted as an element in study. Even after it
is accepted, it may be raised by some child as a source of particular
difficulty and fresh suggestions added. Very often with little children
it is necessary for the teacher to study the lesson with them. Teachers
need much more practice in doing this, for one of the best ways to teach
a child to study is to study with him. Not to tell him, and do the work
for him, but to really study with him. Later on the supervised study
period is one in which each child is silently engaged upon his own work
and the teacher passes from one to the other. In order to do this well,
the teacher needs to be able to do two things. First, to find out when
the child is in difficulty and to locate it, and second, to help him
over the trouble without giving too much assistance. Adequate
questioning is needed in both cases. It is probably true that
comparatively little new work should be given for unsupervised study.
There is too much danger of error as well as lack of interest unless a
start is given under supervision.
Studying, especially unsupervised, may be done in groups or
individually. The former is a stepping-stone to the latter. There is a
greater chance for suggestions, for getting the problem worded, for
arousing interest and checking results, when a group of children are
working together than when a child is by himself. Two things must be
looked after. First, that the children in the group be taught not to
waste time, and second, that the personnel of the group be right. It is
not very helpful if one child does all the work, nor if one is so far
below the level of the group that he is always tagging along behind.
More opportunities for group study in the grammar grades would be
advantageous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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