Evening star., 1939-08-24

: Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.
1t is probably next to impossible for
a boy or girl to overwork the brain dur
ing school years.
Such is one of the conclusions of a
report on child development just pre-
pared for the National Education AS
ISOLATION by DR.. Charles D. Flory pro-
fessor of education at Lawrence Col
lege, Wisconsin.
When a child enters school, DR..
Flory says, the brain is about 90 per
cent of its maximum size. 1t can hardly
be looked upon as an immature organ
in the process Of growth. At the age
of IL, however, the heart is only half
its mature size and will still be grow
ing in the goth year.
Teachers, DR.. Flory stresses, should
keep these differential growth rates in
mind. The growing heart needs care
full protection, he says, from over
jealous coaches who use athletics to win
games for the school rather than to de-
velop pupils. The lungs, unlike the
heart, are in little danger of over-exer-
ton since their development seems to
keep pace with the strains they receive"
Girls, he points out, are relatively
more mature than boys at every age
from birth to maturity and can be SUBJ
jected to quite different schedules. This
is especially true, he says, in respect
to skeletal development, where "the sex
difference is about one year at school
entrance, about two years at entrance
to the junior high school, and at least
one year to 18 months during the high
school period. Teachers must be aware
Of the fact that they are dealing with
a group of girls who, age for age, have
from one to two years advantage ana
tomically and physiologically over boys.
These differences affect motor skills
and social development in children,
which in turn may have some relation to
the fact that girls usually have better
achievement records than boys"
DR.. Flory 81 report, intended to serve
as guide for teachers all over the
country, dwells especially on the emo
tional development of children. Much
Of the basic training in this line. he
says, already has been completed when
child enters school, The fears which
they bring with them are the result of
their pre-school training, but many of
them can be overcome by wise guidance.
Emotional states are aroused slowly"
he says, but when aroused persist longer
than purely sensory experiences. This
| is due to the characteristics of the au-
tonomic nervous system. When one en-
counters a situation that produces an
| emotion this system which controls the
| internal organs, is stimulated to action.
Regardless of the type of stimuli re-
ceived, the smooth muscles Of the Wis
ceral organs contract relatively slowly
and relax even more slowly than they
contract.
| Teachers should be aware that the
appreciations and aesthetic experiences
sought in school are attained only by
prolonged contacts with suitable stimuli.
1t takes time to develop an apprecia-
ton. Hence it may well be that appre-
citation periods in school should be longer
than they now usually are in order to
insure adequate emotional arousal and
full enjoyment of the experience. Most
schools have not even begun to cope
with the problem of individual differ
ences in the speed with which children
reach the peak in an emotional expert
ence."
In spite of the accelerated physical
development of girls, DR.. Flory finds little
evidence that this extends over into the
intellectual fields, especially during the
elementary and high school years. Boys
and girls of the same ages can compete
in the same tasks on equal grounds, he
says, although one sex or the other may
excel in some particular field because
Of the trend of interests. Thus, he says,
girls seem to have a slight advantage
in language and boys in mechanical and
mathematical tasks The language ad-
vantage found in girls may be evidence
of their more rapid maturation, but the
fact that similar differences are found
in adults argues against it. The mathe-
matical and mechanical advantage re-
ported for boys reflects to some extent
environmental demands for greater skill
In these respects among males"
While Unborn intelligence differences
between children never can be entirely
overcome, DR.. Flory says, experiments
have shown that a great deal can be
accomplished by adequate stimulation,
both at school and in the home.
although the dull child has longer
growth period he says, "he will never
equal the superior child in intellectual
ability. There will be less difference at
maturity, however, than there was dur
ing adolescence If adequate stimuli are
provided for each child. This means
that educational experiences may need
to be provided for greater number of
years for the below-average child. He
can master many things which the
bright child masters, but 1t will take him
longer time.