The Washington herald., 1913-10-26
Experiments in Studying Car
ried on by New York Edu-
Gator in Zurich, Switzer-
: land, Are Laying Founda-
ti0ns for New School Laws.

The easiest way to learn lessons has
been discovered. II is so simple that
II will help in the a-b-ab class and all
the way up through the grades, where
pupils for the first time come face to
face with strange molluscs and fright
full invertebrates. and on to the dread
Dred Scott decision and the division OF
Gaul into three parts.
To begin with. the easiest way Il
the result OF experiments carried out
in Meumann's laboratory. Zurich. which
geography classes know is a city in
switzerland. lying at the foot of q
lake and of the Alps. and famous fol-
its schools for teachers
| DR.. p. r. Radosavljevich, assistant
professor of experimental pedagogy In
New York University. directed the ex-
periments with twenty-seven boys OF
various ages as his subjects. The OBJ
tect sought was method by means OF
which pupil could learn lesson IL
the least time.
The experiments extended over a
number of weeks and reduced to con-
clusions show:
That, to< memorize verse, a poem
a prose passage. a definition or a rule
the time saving way. is to repeat II
from beginning to end at each read
ing.
| That less actual time Is required to
learn verse, poem or other lesson, II
1t is repeated from beginning to end
once day at given hour, instead
OF repeated at short intervals at one
sitting.
How to study Well.
That, while adults memorize more
quickly than children. the retentiveness
OF the child mind is greater than the
mans.
That, while a bright child will learn
faster than dull child. the latter re-
tains what is learned better
Other experiments at the laboratory in
which Profs. Meumann. Ebbert, and
Mayer had part sought to settle the
matter as to how TO study effectively.
This has always been a problem In
every household where there are chill
dren Of school age.
should child go on in a corner, open
a book and try to obsorb II in silencks
II he recited the lesson would the
sound Of his own voice help him along?
Is there any advantage in the pupil
being alone with his books. or would he
learn faster with other children gath
cred about him. alike busy at their
studies?
These experiments were carried out
with painstaking care and repeated until
the trend one way or another was defin-
itely established.
As a method OF study, Il was found
that children learn more easily by read
ing silently or in a whisper which they
alone can hear. Older persons succeed
better by reading half aloud.
School Best Place.
In the test OF the ability Of school
children TO work alone or in company
with others, the result was reached that
with classroom groups of pupils the
work was superior to that done by indi-
viduals OF this class working alone in a
school room,
II was also found that school work
prepared at home was usually inferior to
work performed in school. thus proving
In general way that the environment
Of the school. with its desks, blackboards,
maps, etc. makes for mental concentra.
ticn on topics suggested by the sur
rcundings
The art of teaching is far from old:
1t is not new. Abroad and at home, the
art Is touching real efficiency now. L
recognizes that child eyes are perfect
little cameras and that the child mind
is a sensitive plate. ready at all times
to receive a picture and capable of pre-
serving ii as a photograph.
, In way, the new teaching idea plans
to time the exposures Of the child-eye
cameras to a nicely, and to prevent
blurred and unsatisfactory pictures be-
ing photographed on the child mind
Shortening the distance and saving time
between books and study points makes
of the modern teacher a school engineer
From the primer to Latin and biology
is a long run at best. The school engi-
neer is working to cut out the useless
curves and. straighten the line so that
the pupils energy will not be wasted in
travelling the roao.
Trying 10 Cut Time.
1t requires from six to eight years for
a pupil to pass through the grades of
American nnhlir schnnls Not less than