In its practical aspect, this laboratory problem takes the form of the
construction of a course of study which harmonizes with the natural
history of the growth of the child in capacity and experience. The
question is the selection of the kind, variety, and due proportion of
subjects, answering most definitely to the dominant needs and powers of
a given period of growth, and of those modes of presentation that will
cause the selected material to enter vitally into growth. We cannot admit
too fully or too freely the limits of our knowledge and the depths of our
ignorance in these matters. No one has a complete hold scientifically
upon the chief psychological facts of any one year of child life. It
would be sheer presumption to claim that just the material best fitted
to promote this growth has as yet been discovered. The assumption of an
educational laboratory is rather that enough is known of the conditions
and modes of growth to make intelligent inquiry possible; and that it is
only by acting upon what is already known that more can be found out.
The chief point is such experimentation as will add to our reasonable
convictions. The demand is to secure arrangements that will permit and
encourage freedom of investigation; that will give some assurance that
important facts will not be forced out of sight; conditions that will
enable the educational practice indicated by the inquiry to be sincerely
acted upon, without the distortion and suppression arising from undue
dependence upon tradition and preconceived notions. It is in this sense
that the school would be an experimental station in education.
What, then, are the chief working hypotheses that have been adopted from
psychology? What educational counterparts have been hit upon as in some
degree in line with the adopted psychology?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account