GROUP BEHAVIOR I45 



Frequently, too, the teaching practice varies in 

 the two classes. Thus in one experiment the smaller 

 classes in high-school geometry contained about 

 twenty-five, while the large ones had about one 

 hundred members. In the large classes a student 

 helper was present for every ten class members. 

 These helpers were superior students in geometry of 

 the preceding year. As nearly as I can discover, there 

 were no student helpers in the small classes. Under 

 the conditions it is perhaps not unexpected that a 

 better showing was made by those in the large classes. 

 With them, there were present not only more in- 

 structors per student but these were people of nearly 

 their own age, who could be approached without 

 hesitation not only in class but out of class and even 

 out of school hours. Every mature teacher knows 

 that even with the best intention and the most demo- 

 cratic attitude, age differences widen the gap between 

 the teacher and the taught, whatever other compen- 

 sations there may be. 



The most comprehensive experiments I have seen 

 reported in this field are those of the sub-committee 

 on class size of the committee on educational re- 

 search at the University of Minnesota. (66) These 

 were carried on at the college level and involved 109 

 classes under twenty-one instructors in eleven de- 

 partments of four colleges in the University of Min- 





