4 BULLETIN 540, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



this out for themselves. They had no opportunity to see that the 

 mixture tasted sweeter before freezing than it did afterwards, and 

 there was no discussion of this fact. No reason was given for the 

 use of salt with the ice in the freezing mixture nor was the proportion 

 discussed, but arbitrarily given. There was interest in the lesson, 

 but it centered in the eating of the product after it was finished 

 rather than in the principles involved in the making. From this 

 example it may be seen that there is danger of much poor teaching 

 in a subject which has the possibility of as good teaching as any 

 other in the curriculum. While the example cited is of especially 

 bad teaching, it is true in most cases that teachers of home eco- 

 nomics tell the students too much, and do not allow them to reason 

 things out sufficiently for themselves. Advocates of the method of 

 teaching by means of problems agree that the subject-matter must 

 be developed gradually in class. The teacher must not tell; the 

 pupil must be required to make plans before she begins to work, 

 and so be made to think things out for herself, keeping at the same 

 time a live interest in technique. 



When this method is used in teaching home economics it means 

 that the problems given must be kept quite simple at first and the 

 facts and principles which should grow into the life of the girls be 

 developed gradually, step by step. It means thorough organization 

 of material and thorough understanding on the part of the teacher 

 of the principles involved. It means that students be given a very 

 clear idea of the problems to be solved and trained toward definite 

 standards of work. The danger in such a method lies in the fact 

 that in the interest of learning the reasons for the different steps 

 the standards for results may be lowered and drill on special points 

 missed. This can be obviated by repeating those problems whose 

 results are unsatisfactory and by having drills at stated intervals. 



The best method of opening up a lesson is by questions which call 

 to mind past experiences of the students and relate them to the 

 problem (the preparation step in the formal lesson outline). Next 

 there should be a very definite statement of the problem, made 

 clear by additional questions (the presentation step). A list of 

 these questions carefully worked out with a short and definite state- 

 ment of the problems, should be given at one laboratory period to 

 enable the student to prepare for the next. If the students study 

 this carefully they are ready to start work at the beginning of the 

 next period. An opportunity for questions should be given before 

 starting work, but too much discussion at this point results in "tell- 

 ing." After the work is done the most valuable part of the lesson 

 comes, the comparison of results and discussion of differences, 

 leading to generalizations which form the theory of the subject in 



