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
=F. Composition.=--The teacher wished to take up the writing of letters
of application with a class of Form IV pupils. He wrote on the
black-board an advertisement copied from a recent newspaper, for
example, "Wanted--A boy about fifteen to assist in office; must be a
good writer and accurate in figures; apply by letter to Martin & Kelly,
8 Central Chambers, City." Then he said, "Some day in the near future
many of you will be called upon to answer such an advertisement as this.
Now what should a letter of application in reply to this contain?" The
class at once proceeded, with the teacher's assistance, to work out a
satisfactory letter. Here, a purpose for the future was the principal
need promoted.
=G. Nature Study.=--The pupils of a Form II class had been making
observations regarding a pet rabbit that one of their number had brought
to school. After reporting these observations, the pupils were asked,
"What good do you think these long ears, large eyes, strong hind legs,
split upper lip, etc., are to the rabbit?" Here the problem set was
related to the children's instinctive interest in a living animal,
appealed to the instinct of curiosity, and challenged their capacity to
draw inferences.
CHAPTER X
LEARNING AS A SELECTING ACTIVITY
OR
PROCESS OF ANALYSIS
=Knowledge Obtained Through Use of Ideas.=--As already noted, the
presented problem of a lesson is neither a state of complete knowledge
nor a state of complete ignorance. On the other hand, its function is to
provide a starting-point and guide for the calling up of a number of
suitable ideas which the pupil may later relate into a single
experience, constituting the new knowledge. Take, for example, a person
without a knowledge of fractions, who approaches for the first time the
problem of sharing as found in such a question as:
Divide $15 between John and William, giving John $3 as often as William
gets $2.
In gaining control of this situation, the pupil must select the ideas $3
and $2, the knowledge that $3 and $2 = $5, and the further knowledge
that $15 contains $5 three times. These various ideas will constitute
data for organizing the new experience of $9 for John and $6 for
William. In the same manner, when the student in grammar is first
presented with the problem of interpreting the grammatical value of the
word _driving_ in the sentence, "The boy _driving_ the horse is very
noisy," he is compelled to apply to its interpretation the ideas noun,
adjectival relation, and adjective, and also the ideas object, objective
relation, and verb. In this way the child secures the mental elements
which he may organize into the new experience, or knowledge
(participle), and thus gain control of the presented word.
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