THE LABORATORY METHOD 247 



study. Section B was given supervised study and no home work. 

 Upon the test following the fourteen lessons their standings were: 



Section A — with home work and no supervised study averaged 62.8, 

 with 50 per cent, receiving the failure mark. 



Section B — with supervised study and no home work averaged 65.5, 

 with 31.2 receiving the failure mark. It is to be noted that Section B, 

 a somewhat weaker section, surpassed Section A, and that its lower 

 number of failures indicates that the poorer pupils profited most from 

 the supervised study. Section A reported an average of 1J hours spent 

 on each lesson, while in Section B the actual time of class work was 

 36 minutes per day. Section B solved an average of two problems more 

 to each pupil than did Section A. With the supervised class work as a 

 basis, too much time was spent on the home assignments. Section B 

 worked slowly during the first three lessons, but with the development 

 of independence and confidence they soon worked rapidly. The interest 

 and pleasure of Section B, some of whom had failed in the preceding 

 semester, were noticeable. 



In the following topic to which six lessons were given, the methods 

 were reversed, Section A being given supervised class-room work and 

 Section B home assignments, and class recitations. At the close of this 

 series of lessons the same test was given both sections with the result 

 that Section A with supervised work and no home work averaged 77.5, 

 and Section B with home work and recitations averaged 86.4. 



12.5 per cent, of Section A failed on the test and 5.7 of Section B 

 failed. 



31.2 per cent, of Section A secured a mark of A, and 52.9 per cent, 

 of B secured the A mark. 



This seems to show that the pupils in Section B, by means of their 

 previous fourteen supervised lessons, had learned enough about inde- 

 pendent study to enable them to do their home work in such a way that 

 Section A even under supervision did not surpass Section B in six les- 

 sons. The ability of Section B, gained under supervision, persisted in 

 home study through six following lessons. 



In the Detroit Central High School a different plan has been fol- 

 lowed in some experiments in algebra and Latin. Principal David Mc- 

 Kenzie writes : 



We have experimented somewhat with a plan to give additional direction to 

 the weaker pupils of the ninth grade. I cite the two cases of first course in 

 Algebra and Latin. At the end of ten weeks all pupils who were marked failing 

 in these subjects were grouped together for special work in addition to their 

 regular recitation periods. They were given twenty lessons each, on the ground 

 covered during a period of six or seven weeks. Each pupil was treated as a 

 pathological subject. In the final test they were marked as follows: 



