| Summary: | "The present volume is a very interesting as well as a very successful attempt to apply the knowledge which we have recently accumulated in the scientific applications of psychology to the concrete problems of instruction in the elementary school. It is neither a scientific treatise on psychology nor a book of special methods, though embracing something of the content of each. Instead, the present volume occupies a field lying between the two, being a presentation of the psychological principles underlying the most effective instruction in the commonly recognized subjects of the elementary-school curriculum. The present volume is a treatise on the psychology of the learning process, and as applied to the so-called fundamental subjects of the elementary-school course. For three of the subjects applications are made to the high-school field as well. The attempt has been made so to present the fundamental psychological facts as to give a clearer understanding of the pupils' difficulties, the best methods for overcoming these, and the psychological reasons for the special methods to be pursued. A leading purpose has been to show the teacher how to follow or apply methods intelligently, and especially how to adapt methods to the peculiar needs of the individual pupil. The order of treatment deserves mention, as it follows the well-known pedagogical principle of proceeding from the simple to the complex. The volume begins with the psychology involved in the teaching of handwritings which requires a relatively simple form of learning of the sensorimotor type. This is followed by the psychology involved in teaching drawing, reading, and music, which are good examples of what is known as "perceptual" learning. Next follows the psychology of instruction in spelling, which is an example of the fixing of associations. This in turn is followed by history and geography, which are examples of a more difficult teaching process, as they involve the organization and extension of experience through the use of the imagination. Next comes the psychology of teaching mathematics, with applications to instruction in algebra and geometry as well as arithmetic, studies which involve abstract thinking. The volume closes with a consideration of the psychological principles involved in giving instruction in the natural sciences, which involve the ability to generalize upon the basis of accumulated experience. Taken in this order and together, the different elementary school subjects offer an excellent basis for the presentation of the chief types of the learning process"--Book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
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