Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education — John Shaqi
Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of EducationOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education
Ontario. Department of Education
Education; Educational psychology
=Pupil's Problem versus Teacher's.=--But it is important that the
problem before the pupil at the beginning of the lesson should really be
the pupil's and not the teacher's merely. The teacher should be careful
not to impose the problem on the pupils in an arbitrary way, but should
try to connect the lesson with an interest that is already active. The
teacher's motive in teaching the lesson and the pupil's motive in
attending to it are usually quite different. The teacher's problem
should, of course, be identical with the real problem of the lesson.
Thus in a literature lesson on "Hide and Seek" (_Ontario Third Reader_),
the teacher's motive would be to lead the pupil to appreciate the music
of the lines, the beauty of the images, and the pathos of the ideas; and
in general, to increase the pupil's capacities of constructive
imagination and artistic appreciation. The pupil's motive might be to
find out how the poet had described a familiar game. In a nature study
lesson on "The Rabbit," the teacher's motive would be to lead the pupil
to make certain observations and draw certain inferences and thus add
something to his facility in observation and inference. The pupil's
motive in the same lesson would be to discover something new about a
very interesting animal. In general, the teacher's motive will be (1) to
give the pupil a certain kind of useful knowledge; (2) to develop and
strengthen certain organs; or (3) to add something to his mechanical
skill by the forming of habitual reactions. In general, the pupil's
motive will be to learn some fact, to satisfy some instinct, or perform
some activity that is interesting either in itself or because of its
relation to some desired end. That is, the pupil's motive is the
satisfaction of an interest or the promotion of a purpose.
=Pupil's Motive May Be Indirect.=--It is evident from the foregoing that
the pupil's motive for applying himself to any lesson may differ from
the real lesson problem, or motive. For instance, in mastering the
reading of a certain selection, the pupil's chief motive in applying
himself to this particular task may be to please and win the approbation
of the teacher. The true lesson problem, however, is to enable the
learner to give expression to the thoughts and feelings of the author.
When the aim, or motive, is thus somewhat disconnected from the lesson
problem itself, it becomes an _indirect_ motive. While such indirect
motives are undoubtedly valuable and must often be used with young
children, it is evident that when the pupil's motive is more or less
directly associated with the real problem of the lesson, it will form a
better centre for the selecting and organizing of the ideas entering
into the new experience.
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