In connection with the study of the foregoing chapters and collateral readings it is desirable that students visit classrooms and make systematic observations of the work there under way. In order that such observations may be productive it is necessary that the student have definite ends in view, otherwise observation will be scattered over many phases of that which is seen. The questions below are intended to furnish guidance.

It is recommended that each student in the course be required to spend at least three hundred minutes in observation and that he or she prepare a written report.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS

Before going to the classes for observation determine which of the topics outlined below you are going to make the subject of special study. It will be advantageous for you to learn the questions.

Go prepared to take notes. Confine your attention after the first general observations outlined below to the particular topic on which you are to report. Take down facts and definite individual observations. You are at liberty to talk with teachers if you can do so without imposing on them, but your report is not to be based on what they say but on what you see. Do not quote from books on the subject of your study.

Prepare a report of not less than two thousand words.

GENERAL QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN EACH REPORT

1. In what school or schools did you make your observations?

2. How many visits did you make, and how long was each? (Give dates and minutes.)

3. What was the grade of the class, and what was the subject of instruction?

4. Report on the physical conditions of each room. What was the condition of the temperature, of the lighting, of the ventilation? What kind of furniture was used? Did you see signs of fatigue on the part of teacher or pupils?

After noting these general external conditions, turn your attention to one of the problems outlined below and prepare your report with reference to that single topic.

I. GRADING

Attend a class several times until you come to know something of each individual member; then form a judgment as to the desirability of holding the group together. Suggest changes such as the putting forward or putting back of certain individuals.

1. Are the students alike in their physical development, or are some oversized?

2. Are the mental differences parallel with the physical?

3. Do you observe symptoms showing that some children frequently do not understand the class work and therefore are to be regarded as below the grade?

4. Do you see evidences that children are not fully occupied because the work is too easy for them?

5. Children differ in their willingness and ability to take part in class work. How far should this be considered in grouping children?

6. How far does the grouping of students in a class help or hinder the development of an individual? Give definite cases.

7. Should the class be changed in size to provide for the best teaching?

8. In certain schools the effort is now being made to organize more individual instruction. What do your observations lead you to conclude about the desirability of such a plan?

II. METHODS OF DISCIPLINE

For observations under this section visit a number of different classes and note the general restlessness or quiet of the groups. Note in detail how the “order” is maintained, and try to determine (1) what is the teacher’s notion of order in each case, and (2) what devices he employs in securing what he wants.

1. Are there formal rules? For example, must the pupils sit in a certain way? Must they ask questions in a certain way?

2. Does the teacher talk about order?

3. Does he have other devices that are evident, such as pausing and looking at some member of the class?

4. Does he inflict penalties?

5. Does he have devices that are less obvious, such as varying the character of the work or calling on a member of the class who is disorderly?

6. What is the relation of order to the subject of instruction?

7. Does the teacher neglect disorder which you would correct?

8. Of all the cases which you observed, which do you regard as the best kind of order?

III. PREPARATION ON THE PART OF THE TEACHER

Visit several different teachers and contrast their methods. It may be advantageous after a first visit to go back to observe again teachers who are radically different.

1. Distinguish between a teacher’s general preparation or broad knowledge of a subject and his special preparation for a particular class exercise. What evidence is there that the teacher prepared for this particular exercise?

2. Does the teacher seem to have in mind a fixed order in which the lesson is to proceed?

3. What is the relation of economy of the time and energy of the class to the teacher’s preparation?

4. Has the teacher anything to contribute outside of the textbook material?

5. Does the teacher know how to fit the work to the class period so as to make a complete exercise?

6. Is there evidence that the teacher has made specific preparation for the next exercise?

IV. PREPARATION ON THE PART OF PUPILS

One of the best ways to get material for this section is to go first to the high-school study room or to the general library and take note of the way in which people study. The kind of question which should be raised in these observations of study periods is illustrated in V (B) below. After making these preliminary observations go to some recitations and see if there are evidences in the individual recitations of the way in which the work of preparing the lesson has been done. The purpose of this particular section is to discuss the methods of judging preparation from the recitation.

1. What proportion of the class has thought about the lesson as well as learned what is in the book?

2. When a student fails try to determine whether his failure is due to lack of study or to bad methods of study. For example, if a student has learned his lesson by heart, and forgets, he is very different from the student who has not tried either to understand or to learn by heart.

3. How far is the recitation an examination, and how far does it teach students to think? What is the effect of the teacher’s method on the future study of the pupil?

4. How far do students show initiative in carrying forward the work?

5. How many questions do they ask?

6. Girls generally get better marks than boys for their class work. Why is this? Do boys contribute anything that girls do not?

7. Is there any difference in intellectual maturity exhibited by different members of the class?

V (A). ATTENTION DURING RECITATION

This section will be of special interest to those who wish to observe in the lower grades. Productive observations can be made, however, in every grade. The chief business of the school is to train in concentration. Observe individual pupils closely.

1. How long does a child keep his attention fixed on one thing?

2. What distractions does a schoolroom present?

3. What concession does the teacher make when pupils do not keep up concentration? For example, does he repeat questions?

4. What positive devices are adopted to keep up attention?

5. What are the physical symptoms of attention and its absence?

6. What individual differences are to be noted?

7. Do you note differences in attention at different times in the day or at different periods of the recitation?

V (B). ATTENTION DURING PERIODS OF STUDY

For this section go to the study room or to some class that is engaged in individual work, as, for example, the laboratory.

1. Note the way in which a student goes about his work. Is he ready to begin at once, or does he have to get matters together deliberately after he sits down?

2. Note whether he reads continuously from the book which he is studying.

3. Pay attention to the sort of thing that the student does when he looks away from the book. Does he turn his attention to other objects, or is he trying to think about the book itself? In general, what are the distractions that seem to take his attention from the work? When he comes back to his book, where does he take up the work?

4. Is his rate of work evidently slow or rapid? This can be judged by watching him long enough to see how much time he spends in reading a given page.

5. Note, if you can, the different ways in which students study different subjects. For example, is their work in history different from their work in mathematics? If so, which one seems to you to secure the highest degree of attention? Is the writing of notes apparently of value in keeping them at work?

VI. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

A comparison of different teachers and of different subjects of instruction will bring out most clearly the distinctions here aimed at.

1. What part of the recitation is consumed in asking questions?

2. Are the questions such as to require answers of more than a single sentence?

3. Are the questions based directly on the text?

4. What is the mode of assigning the question to members of the class for answer?

5. Give examples of good questions with reasons for your selection.

6. Contrast different subjects of instruction with reference to the questions which they permit.

7. Give examples of questions which seem to you too general or otherwise vague.

VII. MOTOR PROCESSES

The gymnasium, the sewing class, the cooking class, and the manual-training shop furnish the best opportunities for observations on this topic. Penmanship classes and almost any lower-grade exercise will, however, serve.

1. What are the characteristics of a clumsy movement?

2. Point out certain instinctive elements of behavior; that is, forms of movement which do not have to be learned, but are natural. Are these always helpful in the learning process?

3. Note the prevalence of rhythm in many forms of behavior. Is the rhythm more striking where the behavior is natural and instinctive or where it is being acquired as a special habit of skill?

4. Comment on the educational value of repeating acts which seem to have reached a high degree of perfection, such as taking stitches or swinging Indian clubs.

5. Are individual differences in rate and grace of movement capable of elimination through class training?

6. How far is skill dependent on knowledge?

VIII. RELATION BETWEEN SUBJECTS TAUGHT

For purposes of this section follow a class for a whole forenoon. If the class observed is one of the lower grades, the organization which places this class largely in the hands of one teacher favors a close interrelation of subjects. In the upper grades and high school, on the other hand, organization makes interrelating difficult.

1. What cases did you observe in which the teacher consciously tried to illuminate one subject by reference to another?

2. Did the pupils ask any questions or make remarks which showed that they were thinking about other school topics?

3. Within a given subject there is sometimes opportunity to relate topics which are remote from each other in the textbook. Did the classes visited show any examples of such relating of topics?

4. What opportunities for interrelating subjects did you observe in addition to those taken advantage of by the class?

5. Sometimes the contrast produced by change from one topic to another or from one classroom to another is important in arousing or depressing a class. What contrasts did you observe?