The following are samples of satisfactory definitions, those for each word being arranged roughly in the order of their value from excellent to barely passing:—
(a) Balloon
Satisfactory. “A balloon is a means of traveling through the air.” “It is a kind of airship, made of cloth and filled with air so it can go up.” “It is big and made of cloth. It has gas in it and carries people up in a basket that’s fastened on to the bottom.” “It is a thing you hold by a string and it goes up.” “It is like a big bag with air in it.” “It is a big thing that goes up.”
Unsatisfactory. “To go up in the air.” “What you go up in.” “When you go up.” “They go up in it.” “It’s full of gas.” “To carry you up.” “A balloon is a balloon,” etc. “It is big.” “They go up,” etc.
(b) Tiger
Satisfactory. “It is a wild animal of the cat family.” “It is an animal that’s a cousin to the lion.” “It is an animal that lives in the jungle.” “It is a wild animal.” “It looks like a big cat.” “It lives in the woods and eats flesh.” “Something that eats people.”
Unsatisfactory. “To eat you up.” “To kill people.” “To travel in the circus.” “What eats people.” “It is a tiger,” etc. “You run from it,” etc.
(c) Football
Satisfactory. “It is a leather bag filled with air and made for kicking.” “It is a ball you kick.” “It is a thing you play with.” “It is made of leather and is stuffed with air.” “It is a thing you kick.” “It is brown and filled with air.” “It is a thing shaped like a watermelon.”
Unsatisfactory. “To kick.” “To play with.” “What they play with.” “Boys play with it.” “It’s filled with air.” “It is a football.” “It is a basket ball.” “It is round.” “You kick it.”
(d) Soldier
Satisfactory. “A man who goes to war.” “A brave man.” “A man that walks up and down and carries a gun.” “It is a man who minds his captain and stands still and walks straight.” “It is a man who goes to war and shoots.” “It is a man who stands straight and marches.”
Unsatisfactory. “To shoot.” “To go to war.” “It is a soldier.” “A soldier that marches.” “He fights.” “He shoots.” “What fights,” etc. “When you march and shoot.”
Silence accounts for only a small proportion of the failures with children of 8, 9, and 10 years.
Remarks. The “use definitions” sometimes given at this age are usually of slightly better quality than those given in year V. Younger children more often use the infinitive form, “to play with” (doll), “to drive” (horse), “to eat on” (table), etc. Use definitions of this year more often begin with “they,” or “what”; as, “they go up in it” (balloon), “they kick it” (football), etc.
Why, it may be asked, is the use definition regarded as inferior to the descriptive or the classificatory definition? Is not the use to which an object may be put the most essential thing about it, for the child at least? Is it not more important to know that a fork is to eat with than to be able to name the material it is made of? Is not the use primary and does it not determine most of the physical characteristics of the object?
The above questions may sound reasonable, but they are based on poor psychology. We must rest our case upon the facts. The first lesson which the student of child psychology must learn is that it is unsafe to set up criteria of intelligence, of maturity, or of any other mental trait on the basis of theoretical considerations. Experiment teaches that normal children of 5 or 6 years, also older feeble-minded persons of the 5-year intelligence level, define objects in terms of use; also that normal children of 8 or 9 years and older feeble-minded persons of this mental level have for the most part developed beyond the stage of use definitions into the descriptive or classificatory stage. An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory.
The test has usually been located in year IX, with the requirement of three successes out of five trials and with somewhat more rigid scoring of the individual definitions. When only two successes are required in four trials, and when scored leniently, the test belongs at the 8-year level.
VIII, 6. Vocabulary; twenty definitions, 3600 words
Procedure. Use the list of words given in the record booklet. Say to the child: “I want to find out how many words you know. Listen; and when I say a word you tell me what it means.” If the child can read, give him a printed copy of the word list and let him look at each word as you pronounce it.
The words are arranged approximately (though not exactly) in the order of their difficulty, and it is best to begin with the easier words and proceed to the harder. With children under 9 or 10 years, begin with the first. Apparently normal children of 10 years may safely be credited with the first ten words without being asked to define them. Apparently normal children of 12 may begin with word 16, and 15-year-olds with word 21. Except with subjects of almost adult intelligence there is no need to give the last ten or fifteen words, as these are almost never correctly defined by school children. A safe rule to follow is to continue until eight or ten successive words have been missed and to score the remainder minus without giving them.