102 



Indiana University Studies 



Comparison of the First Six Weeks^ Gain under Drill in Each 

 Grade. — Grade 6W pupils who had fifteen minutes of drill once 

 per week made the greatest gains in all tests. The figures of Table 

 X do not show the real gain so far as a comparison of the seventh 

 and eighth with the fifth and sixth grades goes. This tabulation 

 is unfair to the two upper grades. The reason is this: In all 

 grades, regardless of the kind of drill or whether they had drill, 

 greater gains were shown on the second test than on the third. 

 The reason for this is that the pupils knew so much better how 

 to go about the work in the second test than in the first that they 

 were able to make great gains. The third test found them not 

 much better acquainted with the nature of the tests than they 

 were the second time, and they were thus not able to make such 

 great gains. In Table X, the gains shown for the fifth and sixth 

 grades are for the second test, while the gains of the seventh and 

 eighth grades are for the third test. 



The fifth grade pupils were at a great disadvantage in each 

 series of tests in those parts in which reasoning was required, 

 not so much on account of the reasoning required but on account 

 of the difficulty which they encountered in reading the problems, 

 or at least in reading them rapidly. Too large a proportion of 

 their time was consumed in the work of reading the problems. 

 The child's abihty to read is put to the test in sets six and eight 

 of each series quite as well as his ability to reason. 



It seems that our sixth grade pupils made more progress on 

 account of drill work than the other grades. Whether this would 

 be true with other groups of pupils and other teachers in charge, 

 I am unable to say. There was a smaller proportion of pupils 

 in the sixth grade who were not doing passing work than in any 

 other grade tested. This would have a tendency to skew the results. 

 I beheve that no adequate conclusion can be formed from these 

 tests as to which grades will profit most from drill work. 



TABLE X.— COMPARISON OF THE FIRST SIX WEEKS' GAIN 

 UNDER DRILL, GRADES 5 TO 8 



Figures show the gains of grades 5-6 during first six weeks and grades 7-8 during 

 second six weeks. The seventh and eighth grades had no drill work between the first 

 and second tests. 





Grade 

 5 



Grade 

 6E 



Grade 

 6W 



Grade 

 7 



Grade 

 8 



All tests 



19.5 



34.3 



45. 1 



9.1 



8.6 



Fundamentals 



14. 1 



14.7 



18.1 



4.7 



13.3 



Reasoning, attempts and rights 



23.4 



67.2 



83.5 



18.6 



— .4 



Reasoning, rights only 



26.2 



75.9 



102. 1 



19. 1 



^.8 



