Correlated courses in woodwork and mechanical drawing

by Ira Samuel Griffith

In the third column tools necessary for performing the process are named. In elementary woodwork the block-plane and smooth-plane may be omitted, the jack-plane doing the work just as well.

In the [Lesson Outlines], section numbers of a text on woodworking to which the student is referred are given. The text to which the numbers refer is “Essentials of Woodworking.” The necessity for a text to accompany but not to take the place of the demonstration is well appreciated by most teachers of manual training. With a text in the hands of each pupil a lesson may be assigned and the pupil required to familiarize himself with the text and the illustrations relating to the subject matter. The use of a text removes most effectually the necessity for a constant repetition of oral instruction. With a text there is never any excuse for the pupil bothering the instructor with the otherwise semi-valid excuse of “I forgot” or “I was absent when the demonstration was given,” etc., etc.

In Groups VIII and IX will be found exercise pieces. One of the advantages claimed for the group system is that it permits class instruction at stated intervals, thus reducing individual instruction to a minimum. For illustration, a class beginning Group II would continue to work upon the problems of that group until all but the few acknowledged failures had completed the work required in that group. After this the class is to be instructed in the new things of Group III. This plan to continue thruout the whole course.

The work of the groups will of necessity overlap each other. For, as soon as a pupil finishes one problem in a group, he begins another problem in the same group, unless he is the slowest in the class. When the class is ready to begin a new group we are confronted with the question of whether to give the instruction belonging to the new group and allow the boys to proceed with the unfinished work of the old group, or to start them on problems of the new group. To proceed with the old is objectionable in that the worker forgets his new instruction before he has opportunity to apply it. To start new work before finishing the old is bad in that the pupil will have lost interest in the old when asked to complete it after finishing the new work. Not to complete the old at all would be a practice too vicious to be tolerated for a moment.

In the seventh grade this overlapping is not a serious problem, for the objects being small and quickly finished allow all to finish the old group before the instruction of the new has faded. In the eighth grade and high school, however, where the objects are larger, this objection is a serious one.

As stated before, the aim of the group arrangement is to permit class instruction at the beginning of each group. To make this effective the practice and application must follow within a reasonably short time. Here the “exercise” offers aid.

If ever an exercise piece has a legitimate use, it has it here. The great objection to exercise pieces lies in their inability to create a vital interest on the part of the pupil. The writer has made it a practice to talk over the applications of each exercise and to state briefly the need for the exercise before beginning it. First, that the class because of numbers must be instructed all at the same time; second, that the joints, unlike the simple one-piece objects previously made cannot be remedied or patched up by reducing the size, as in the bread board, when lack of knowledge or skill causes errors; third, that postponing the practice any length of time would be unwise. As the time required for making the exercises, as arranged in the course outlined above, is short there has never been a lack of interest either in the exercise or in the unfinished objects of the old group to which some must return after completing the exercise.

High school boys begin to take on a different attitude toward exercises and technique. Their increased knowledge and skill permit applications requiring considerable time for completing. For this reason all the exercises are grouped in the fore part of their year.

To the writer it seems unnecessary to apologize for this use of exercises. He has felt free to utilize parts of any system which seemed to serve his purpose. He does feel, however, that a long continued series of exercises in elementary woodworking without application would be fatal. American school methods have been criticised by Europeans as being superficial and lacking in thoroness. It may be that in our eagerness to develop the individual we have made ourselves subjects for such criticism to a certain extent. We need not fear the introduction of this small amount of drill and formalism, especially when there is no loss of interest or incentive. It is impossible to teach a pupil a thing that is entirely new to him unless he has in his possession a fund of “known” thru which the unknown may be made known. For this reason drawings and sketches are plentifully provided.

Experience has shown that better results are obtained, both in the development of ability to think and ability to do, if the ability to “do” is given a maximum of attention at the beginning of the course, opportunities for original thinking being introduced gradually as the pupils’ knowledge, appreciation, and skill increase. In the beginning groups the sizes or dimensions are fixed, no variation being permitted except as poor work necessitates. Requiring all to make the same pieces in the beginning groups permits comparison of results and the establishing of standards of accuracy as well as making it possible to give definite instruction with the minimum of talking.