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INDIANA UNIVEESITY STUDIED 



tlie same course of study in history. The flexibility is in method 

 i^ather than in matter, (b) Textbooks in the hands of the children 

 are used in grades V, YI, VII, and YIII, increasing as the eighth 

 grade is approached, (c) Notebooks are not generally required. 

 Where they are used, no definite requirements are made as to the 

 material to be placed in them, (d) Map-making in elementary 

 history is pretty generally required. Maps are most often required 

 in grades VI, VII, and VIII. There is absolutely no regularity as 

 to what maps should be made. Over half of the systems reporting 

 have the pupils draw maps. One-fourth use prepared outlines. 

 [e) Collateral and supplementary reading is generally required. 

 The effect of the requirement is offset by the indefiniteness as to 

 both the amount and the frequency of such work. 



Judging from the material on which this study is based, the in- 

 dications are that the future may expect improvements in the teach- 

 ing of history in the elementary schools primarily in the following 

 respects : (1) more uniformity in the materials used in all grades 

 below the seventh, (2) more systematic work in both civics and 

 local history, (3) better trained teachers in the art of story-telling, 

 (4) more definiteness about what is desirable in the use of notebooks, 

 and in map-making, (5) a more general use of pictures, construc- 

 tion activities, and dramatization, (6) the more general use of a 

 textbook in the fourth grade, and (7) a greater definiteness in the 

 matter of collateral reading. 



