This book is the result of eight years of experimentation. In 1909 the Department of Education of The University of Chicago abandoned the practice of requiring courses in the History of Education and Psychology as introductory courses for students preparing to become teachers. For these courses it substituted one in Introduction to Education and one in Methods of Teaching. This move was due to the conviction that students need to be introduced to the problems of the school in a direct, concrete way, and that the first courses should constantly keep in mind the lack of perspective which characterizes the teacher-in-training.

In the years that have elapsed since 1909 the conviction has gained almost universal acceptance in normal schools and colleges of education that the History of Education is not a suitable introductory course. Psychology has grown in the direction of a scientific discussion of methodology, and the demand for a general introductory discussion of educational problems from a scientific point of view has often been expressed by teachers in normal schools and colleges. In this period the writer has had frequent opportunity to try out various methods of presenting such an introductory course. The results of this experience are presented in this volume, which is designed as a textbook for students in normal schools and colleges in the first stages of their professional study.

The teacher who uses this book can expand the course to double the length here outlined by introducing schoolroom observation and supplementary reading. The questions and references offered at the end of each chapter and the references in the footnotes are intended to facilitate such further work. A set of questions is given in the Appendix as a guide to classroom observation.

The obligations which the author has incurred in the preparation of the book are numerous. Almost every member of the Department of Education of The University of Chicago has at some time or other given the course to a division of students, and all have contributed suggestions and criticisms with regard to the organization of material. Special obligations should be noted in this connection to Professors J. F. Bobbitt, S. C. Parker, F. N. Freeman, H. O. Rugg, and W. S. Gray. To Professor E. H. Cameron the author is under obligation for suggestions made after reading the manuscript. To the authors and publishers whose works have been drawn upon for extensive and numerous quotations, special thanks are due for courteous permission to use their material. Finally, it is to the students who have from year to year passed through this course that the largest obligation should be acknowledged because of the suggestions which their reactions have given to the writer.

C. H. J.

Chicago, Illinois