PAPERS ON PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION 439 



and social studies. The arrangement of this material in 

 sequential order, both within the junior high school and 

 in the transition to and beyond the senior high school 

 is essential to real success. For instance, what certain 

 experimental schools are attempting to do in the se- 

 quential arrangement of two or more years of history 

 is necessary also in the social studies other than history, 

 and so on through the round of the other school subjects 

 which are taught in both the junior and senior cycles of 

 secondary education. 



IV. The Adaptation of Subject Matter to Individual 

 Differences. 



It is obvious that the adaptation of subject matter to 

 the different and varying abilities of pupils is as much, 

 if not more, a problem of methodology than curriculum 

 making. It is equally evident, however, that the curricu- 

 lum, when considered apart from the child, is of little 

 consequence. Our practice, too frequently, has represent- 

 ed the curriculum versus the child, or the child for the 

 sake of the curriculum, whereas ice are now convinced 

 that the curriculum must exist within the child, or for 

 the sake of the child. 



Perhaps the most ready single means for detecting 

 the varying abilities of pupils is through the use of in- 

 telligence tests. Through the distribution of these psy- 

 chological scores, it is possible to classify pupils some- 

 what reliably into homogeneous groups. As many other 

 means as feasible, — educational measurements, teachers' 

 marks and estimates, etc. — should be used to assist in 

 classifying as accurately as possible the pupils within 

 such groups. 



As already indicated, the formulation of subject mat- 

 ter and the presentation of the same are inseparable. In 

 practice, method and material are seldom, if ever, found 

 separate. So far, two large plans have cared for most 

 pupils in recognition of individual differences. In the 

 first place, pupils have been grouped into sections hav- 

 ing varying abilites, and have been allowed to cover a 

 larger amount of ground in a shorter length of time. The 

 measure in the past in the main has been the time unit 

 which has been true very largely up to the present. In 



