304 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 255. 



in its high-school phases ; (b) that he should consider his subject 

 in its rise and development as a factor in education ; {c) that he 

 should present an historical view of his subject in regard to methods 

 as the best safeguard against a mechanical and slavish copying of 

 educational devices ; (d) that he should consider the educational 

 function and value of his subject ; {e) that he should treat his sub- 

 ject in its co-ordinate relation to the other subjects of the curric- 

 ulum. 



8. That, finally, since a large part of normal- school work is to fit 

 teachers for the district and country school, it is advisable to have a 

 type of this kind of school in the training department. 



Chas. DeGarmo. 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS. 



It will be remembered that several sets of interesting investiga- 

 tions have been carried on in Germany and France with a view to 

 determine what the actual content and capacity of the child's mind 

 are. In 1882 Prof. G. Stanley Hall tried experiments with Boston 

 school-children, similar to those made abroad, and published his re- 

 sults in the Princeton Review. The December issue of the Lon- 

 don Journal of Education contains the record of a similar investi- 

 gation undertaken by an English teacher. The following abridged 

 report of it is not only of interest in itself, but especially for the 

 purpose of comparison with the results of the attempts elsewhere 

 made for the same purpose. The answers were given by six 

 children. Unfortunately, the results obtained under the heads of 

 ' Observation ' and ' Information ' — the most valuable of all — are 

 very briefly given in the original. The following are some of 

 them : — 



What is bread made of ? What is the use of sleep .' How 

 would you get a garden full of flowers .' What is the color of 

 railway-signals ? How do chickens come into the world } In re- 

 spect to all these questions, the children failed to differentiate to 

 any great extent. To the question ' How many legs has a spider.-' ' 

 A answered, " Six ; " and E, " I almost think six. I killed all the 

 spiders in aunt's garden yesterday." — "Why.'" — "Oh, just for 

 sport." To the question ' Mark the length of a foot on this bit of 

 paper,' A marked i foot 3 inches ; B had never heard of a foot ; C, 

 8 inches, remarking, " Some people's feet are as long as this, aren't 

 they ? " D drew a correct foot, having toes and heel ; E marked 

 2 inches ; F, a foot and a half. To the question ' Who rules over 

 England ? ' A and E answered, " Queen Victoria ; " B, " The 

 King, I don't know who the King is ; " C and F did not know ; 

 and D made a rigmarole statement about railway-lamps, because 

 he could not answer the question, but wished to show that he knew 

 something else. 



The questions were put to each child alone, and they had no 

 opportunity for talking about them with their companions. The 

 questions were introduced after a friendly talk with the child, and 

 after shyness had somewhat worn off. The attempts to draw out 

 a child's moral notions almost invariably failed, as the children 

 grew shy. The children are indicated by letters. A, B, and C 

 were girls, aged respectively 8, 7, and 6. A was F's sister, and 

 came from a cultivated home, as did all but C. D, E, and F were 

 boys, aged respectively 7, 7, and 6. A had been running wild for 

 weeks, F for months. D had attended school for a short time. C 

 and F had had home teaching. The children enjoyed the ques- 

 tioning greatly, and it was more difficult to keep them to the point 

 than to extract answers from them. 



Below are given a selection of the questions and answers, under 

 the heading of the faculty which they were designed to test : — 



Reasoning Power. 

 I. Why do children have to go to bed so much earlier than 

 grown-up people ? 



A. Because it is better for them ; I don't know why. Is 

 it to make them strong .' 



B. Because they are not so old. I don't know any thing 

 else. 



C. Because they are little. To make them get up early. 



D. Because they get so tired. I think it is a good plan. 



E. Because they get so tired, and because they are 

 smaller. 



F. Because children are younger, and they must get more 

 sleep, and that they don't get so tired as grown-up people. 



2. If your porridge is hot, why do you eat the outside edge first } 



A [had never heard of porridge, so took soup]. Because 

 it would be cooler. I don't know why. 



B [pea-soup taken]. Because it is colder ; because the 

 edge of the plate goes round it. 



C [porridge]. The edge, because it is cooler, because the 

 plate is cold. 



D. I should eat the edge first because it is cooler ; be- 

 cause it touches the mug, and the mug is cold. 



E. Round the edge because it is coolest, because it is 

 against a cold basin. 



F [had heard of, but never seen, porridge; soup taken]. 

 Because it is cooler. I don't know why it is cooler. 



3. Do crossing-sweepers like fine or wet weather better ? Why ? 



A. Wet, because they have more crossings to sweep, and 

 will get more money. 



B. Fine, because it does not rain. 



C. Wet weather, because they get more money. 



D. Fine, because he can be outter more, and can sweep 

 the roads more. Do they get money for it ? I should not 

 do it unless I had money given to me. 



E. Fine weather. Well, perhaps they do like wet weather 

 for more sweeping. They like it wet, and then to leave off 

 raining while they sweep. 



F. Wet, because they get more money, because people 

 don't want to walk in the mud. 



4. What is the good of going to school ? 



A. To learn your lessons ; to learn every thing. [ " Will 

 you have learnt every thing when you leave school ? "] No. 

 [" Then why don't grown-up people go to school .'' " A 

 looked puzzled, then said] Because they know what little 

 people don't, but they don't know every thing. 



B. To learn to write and to play. 



C. To get you clever. I think every one gets clever whc^ 

 goes to school. 



D. Because it teaches you to know things when you grow- 

 up. [" What things ? "] Oh ! about trains and how the 

 lines are made and laid down, and all that — and — Oh ! [he 

 looked quite awe-struck] is it not a wonderful thing how an 

 engine is made ? 



E. To learn things ; reading and writing, sums, and the 

 multiplication-table. 



F. To learn something. I don't know any thing else. 



5. I gave the child several sticks of the same length, and asked it 



to make a cage for a bear with four sticks, so that it could not 

 get out ; then with three sticks, then two. 



A. I don't know how. ["Try."] How big is the bear.'' 

 [Gave a piece of paper to represent bear.] First took 

 five sticks, then right with four, then right with three. [" Now 

 try with two."] Promptly, " I can't, unless the bear can get 

 in here," putting the sticks side by side, and she slipped the 

 bit of paper between, but said at once, " It would slip out at 

 the end." 



B. Did all right ; tried a little with two sticks, then said 

 emphatically, " No." 



C. Four and three right at once ; when asked to try two, 

 said roguishly, " I'll have to make a cage with one next, I 

 can't do it with two." 



D. Four, right ; three, first wrong, then right ; with two, 

 tried again and again, and needed help to see that it could 

 not be done. 



E. Four and three, right ; then said, " I don't know how 

 we are going to manage with two." He tried, but at once 

 gave up. 



F. Four, right ; three, " I can't ; " then, very quickly, " Yes,. 

 I can " — right. Tried two, but said at once, " No, I can't." 



Imagination. 



I. What is the moon ? 



A. A light. 



B. A man. I don't know why I think so. 



