Reaction against the Question and Answer Method
The second innovation in method of teaching, namely, supervised study, came as a reaction against the purely examination method of conducting class exercises which was formerly almost universal except in laboratory classes. The examination method is the familiar one of calling a pupil to his feet and then asking him one question after another to find out whether he has learned his lesson. If he answers well, he is marked with a high grade. If he answers badly, he is marked with a low grade, reprimanded, and told to do his work over.
The futility of some of this procedure is at once evident if one thinks of the student who has made an honest effort to learn his lesson, but has failed because he adopted an inefficient and often a wrong method of getting the lesson. In such a case the pupil fails because he does not know how to get his lesson. It therefore occurred to some progressive teachers that it was their duty to inquire not merely into the results of the student’s study but also into his methods of study. The moment this new idea is grasped, the function of a recitation will be seen to be something more than the examination of pupils. The recitation is now coming to be the place where pupils learn how to do intellectual work, how to attack intellectual problems, and how to guide their efforts into more economical and effective channels.