  The student of general problems of education or of elementary education finds an extensive literature of varying worth. In the last decade our secondary schools have undergone radical reorganization and have assumed new functions. A rich literature on every phase of the high school is rapidly developing to keep pace with the needs and the progress of secondary education. The literature on college education in general and college pedagogy in particular is surprisingly undeveloped. This dearth is not caused by the absence of problem, for indeed there is room for much improvement in the organization, the administration, and the pedagogy of the college. Investigators of these problems have been considerably discouraged by the facts they have gathered. This volume is conceived in the hope of stimulating an interest in the quality of college teaching and initiating a scientific study of college pedagogy. The field is almost virgin, and the need for constructive programs is acute. We therefore ask for our effort the indulgence that is usually accorded a pioneer. In this age of specialization of study it is evident that no college teacher, however wide his experience and extensive his education, can speak with authority on the teaching of all the subjects in the college curriculum, or even of all the major ones. For this reason this volume is the product of a coÖperating authorship. The editor devotes himself to the study of general methods of teaching that apply to almost all subjects and to most teaching situations. In addition, he coÖrdinates the work of the other contributors. He realizes that there exists among college professors an active hostility to the study of pedagogy. The professors feel that one who knows his subject can teach it. The contributors have been purposely selected in order to dispel this hostility. They are, one and all, men of undisputed scholarship who have realized the need of a mode of presentation that will make their knowledge alive. The editor begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to the many contributors who have given generously of their time and their labor with no hope of compensation beyond the ultimate appreciation of those college teachers who are eager to learn from the experience of others so that they may the better serve their students. TENTATIVE OUTLINE FOR THE TEACHING OF —— IN THE COLLEGEI. Aim of Subject X in the College Curriculum: Is it taught for disciplinary values? What are they? Is it taught for cultural reasons? Is it taught to give necessary information? Is it taught to prepare for professional studies? Is the aim single or eclectic? Do the aims vary for different groups of students? Does this apply to all the courses in your specialty? How does the aim govern the methods of teaching? II. Place of the Subject in the College Curriculum: In what year or years should it be taught? What part of the college course—in terms of time or credits —should be allotted to it? What course or courses in this subject should be part of the general curriculum or be prescribed for students in art, in science, in modern languages, or in the preprofessional or professional groups? III. Organization of the Subject in the College Course: Desired sequence of courses in this subject. What is the basis of this sequence? Gradation of successive difficulties or logical sequence of facts? Should these courses be elective or prescribed? All prescribed? For all groups of students? In what years should the elective work be offered? IV. Discussion of Methods of Teaching this Subject: Place and relative worth of lecture method, laboratory work, recitations, research, case method, field work, assignment from a single text or reference reading, etc. Discussion of such problems as the following: Shall the first course in chemistry be a general and extensive course summing up the scope of chemistry, its function in organic and inorganic nature, with no laboratory work other than the experimentation by the instructor? Should students in the social sciences study the subject deductively from abook or should the book be postponed and the instructor present a series of problems from the social life of the student so that the analysis of these may lead the student to formulate many of the generalizations that are given early in a textbook course? Should college mathematics be presented as a series of subjects, e.g., algebra advanced), solid geometry, trigonometry, analytical geometry, calculus, etc.? Would it be better to present the subject as a single and unified whole in two or three semesters? Should a student study his mathematics as it is developed in his book,—viz.,as an intellectual product of a matured mind familiar with the subject,—or should the subject grow gradually in a more or less unorganized form from a series of mechanical, engineering, building, nautical, surveying, and structural problems that can be found in the life and environment of the student? V. Moot Questions in the Teaching of this Subject. VI. How judge whether the subject has been of worth to the student? How test whether the aims of this subject have been realized? How test how much the student has carried away? What means, methods, and indices exist aside from the traditional examination? Applies to College Teaching. The aim of the bibliography should be to give worth-while contributions that present elaborations of what is here presented or points of view and modes of procedure that differ from those here set forth. Paul Klapper |
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