II. The Method of Age-Gradation (Binet-Simon Method 1 ) 



1. The Principle of the Method and the Tests Em- 

 ployed in It 



In the nineties Binet and Simon conceived the 

 idea of constructing a "graded scale of intelligence " 

 (Echelle metrique de I 'intelligence) that should be 

 especially planned for testing the intelligence of 

 children. The requirements to be satisfied by the 

 method were the following. A series of tests should 

 be found for each year of childhood the passing of 

 which could be considered normal and typical for 

 children of just precisely this age. The tests must 

 be relatively uninfluenced by external and chance 

 conditions, especially by school learning, so that the 

 result might bring out as purely as possible the real 

 mental endowment of the child ; they must admit of 

 as uniform use as possible in different nations, lan- 

 guages or grades of culture : they should be easy to 

 carry out, not necessitate laboratory apparatus or 

 instruments of precision, should not exact too much 



1 Comprehensive descriptions of his method are given by Binet 

 (partly in conjunction with Simon) in references 33 to 37. A 

 general review of the development of the method is given by 

 Bobertag (39). [Also recently by Meumann, Arch. f. d. ges. 

 Psych., 25: 1912 (Literatur, 85 ff.). Translator.} 



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