September. 1. Measure height, determine weight. From records determine growth since September, 1905. 2. Learn to read thermometer. Make accurately, scale one fourth inch representing two degrees on paper one inch broad. Find average temperature of different days of month. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for the thermometer scale. Count 100 by 2’s. 3. Make temperature chart. 4. Measure and space calendar, making figures of size appropriate to inch squares. Learn names of numbers to 30. 5. Make inch-wide tape measure for use in nature study, number book and cubic-inch seed boxes. 6. Review telling time. A. In addition to above; analyze numbers from 11 to 40 into tens and ones. Walsh’s Primary Arithmetic to top of page 10.
October. Problems on calendar,—number of clear, of cloudy, and of rainy days in September. Compare with September, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902; temperature chart and thermometer; height and weight. Lay off beds for tree seeds; plant the same. Make envelopes for report cards. Drill on combinations in the above. Make rod strings and hundred-foot strings for determining distance wing seeds are carried from plants. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for thermometer scale. Develop table of tens. A. In addition to the above analyze numbers from 40 to 50 into tens and ones. Primary Arithmetic, pp. 10-22. Teach pupils to add at sight.
November. From wall calendar count number of clear days, of cloudy days, and rainy days in October. Compare with September; with October of 1905, of 1906. Find average daily temperature; 8.30 A.M., 1 P.M. What kind of trees grow fastest? Measure growth of twigs of different kinds of trees. Compare this year’s growth with that of last year and of year before last. Compare rate of growth of different kinds of trees, as oak, willow, Carolina poplar, and elm. Develop table of 5’s from lesson with clock dial; review 2’s and 10’s. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for the thermometer scale. Learn words representing numbers as well as figures. Make seed envelope. A. Analyze numbers from 60 to 65 into tens and ones. Primary Arithmetic. B, pp. 17-26; A, pp. 39-49.
Last six weeks of first term.—Continue finding average daily temperature. From wall calendar count number of clear, of cloudy, and of rainy days in November. Compare with November, 1906, 1905. Continue measurements on growth of trees. Drill on telling time from clock dial. Practice making figures from 1 to 100 for thermometer scale. Continue learning words representing numbers. Review tables of 2’s, 5’s, 10’s; learn table of 3’s. Primary Arithmetic. B, pp. 27-40. Analyze numbers from 11 to 30 into tens and ones. Primary Arithmetic. A, pp. 49-61. Analyze numbers from 66 to 100 into tens and ones. In January review all facts in number book. Drill on tables.
(Only the first one half of the third year’s course shown.)
The system from which this last selection is taken had the following remarkable rankings: 3d best in general excellence, 2d best in concreteness, and 5th best in drill. And as measured by the tests of this study, this system stood 4th from the best in abilities, and spent a little less than the medium amount of time.
CHAPTER XIX
MEASURING RESULTS IN EDUCATION
Efficiency in any line of human endeavor depends upon our ability to evaluate the results which are secured. No one would question the progress which has been made in education during the past hundred years; but one may very justly inquire concerning the efficiency of the work that has been done from the standpoint of the money which has been spent, and the effort and devotion of those who have engaged in teaching. In the mercantile pursuits it has been noted that seven out of every ten failures can be charged directly to a lack of knowledge of facts. Such investigations as we have had in education tend to prove that a like situation is to be found in this field. The failures in education, whether due to a lack of economical use of the funds available, to an inefficient system of organization, or to unintelligent practices in method, are, on the whole, not to be charged to a lack of devotion on the part of those who have given their lives to the schools. Until it is possible to measure the results achieved, the facts of success or failure cannot be established.
Of course, no one would deny that real progress is made by the process of trial and success, both in the art of teaching and in the practice of administration. It is true, too, that we shall have to depend in considerable measure upon demonstration as a means of bringing about improvement in current educational practice. It is none the less true, however, that scientific work in education will furnish the basis for the more rapid elimination of the mistakes in current practice, as well as point the way for improved organization of teaching. The science of education will, in its development, occupy relatively the same position with reference to the art of teaching that the science of medicine occupies with respect to the art of healing. The progress which has been made during the past twenty-five years in the art of farming would never have been possible without the scientific work that has been done in agriculture.