| Summary: | "Courses called "Psychology of the Elementary School Subjects" have for a long time been designed to present the results of research on problems related to various aspects of method, instruction, and curriculum. The organization of such materials has been in the main by a subject matter classification. Although keeping to the same general theme, the present writers have provided a somewhat different content and consequently a somewhat different organization. They, like certain others, look upon educational psychology in a little different light than was formerly the custom. Earlier writers have defined educational psychology as a "study of human problems," a "consideration of the growth of the individual," "problems of human behavior," "learning," and the like. Educational psychology is considered here as a tool by which teachers may discover the most efficient way to realize the accomplishment of educational goals. For all practical purposes it cannot be considered a field disconnected from goals in education, nor as a tool can it be considered separate from method. To determine a content, then, for such a book as this, it is essential that one know what the school--the elementary school--is trying to do. The organization of material, consequently, is based upon the authors' concept of what the elementary school is attempting, and the problems presented and discussed are those which grow out of the objectives of the elementary school as so conceived. This book was written with the idea of bringing to the teacher of the elementary child a better understanding of that child, a knowledge of pertinent late research dealing with curricula for meeting the needs of that child, and a review of methodology designed to make effective reactions between child and curriculum. Such a teacher may be found in the large city school or in a one-room rural school. For the experienced teacher, trends and ways of moving toward those trends are projected. For the beginning or prospective teacher, developments in psychology and in methodology are included which will aid in orientation toward the demands of the job"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
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