report of any considerable length is presented, the brief upon which it is based should be examined by the teacher. The brief should be very strictly inspected from the standpoint of clearness of thinking, relevancy of material, organization and value of points, clearness of phraseology, etc. As stated above, on page 280, where the use of briefs was discussed at length from the standpoint of training in expression, they should not be accepted in the form of mere outlines of topics, but should consist of completely and concisely stated propositions or sentences.

5. Oral reports to be varied with capacities of students. The oral reports upon topics which have been investigated and developed as described above may vary from two minutes to fifteen minutes in the case of most high-school students. Occasionally, longer reports may be given by specially qualified members of the class. Individual differences in capacity make an enormous difference in the amount of time to be allotted to different students. If a student is so obviously deficient in native talent for making oral reports that he would never be expected to do anything in this line in the world at large, it would probably be well not to permit him to give an oral report, in order to avoid wasting the time of the class. Other students might be relatively lacking in capacity but still be capable of getting material into shape for a report of two or three minutes, on topics of special interest to them and on which they were especially well informed. In a high school where this method of reporting was in regular use in the content subjects, fully two thirds of the students were able to make reports that were satisfactory from the standpoint of effectiveness and the economy of time and effort of all concerned.

Inasmuch as these reports should be merely supplementary to well-organized required reading in textbooks and reserved. books, they will not be very frequent. It would furnish very valuable training, however, if each fairly capable student could

give two reports a year in each of two or three subjects for example, in history, science, and literature. For each of these reports considerable time could be spent in library work and in the organization and preparation of the material for presentation. In addition to these longer occasional reports, shorter reports of two or three minutes' length might be presented at nearly every recitation. Many teachers follow this practice not only in high school but, in some cases, even in the elementary schools.

A valuable form of training administered by standardized routine. The system of reports discussed above illustrates the combination of general pedagogical principles which occurs a number of times in our discussion. (1) In the first place, a process and method which is of fundamental importance and value in social life should be represented in the training provided in school. The independent investigation of topics and the organization of reports upon them is the example which concerns us here. (2) In the second place, the system of training which is recommended departs from the ordinary practice of depending entirely upon textbook recitations, and seems very elaborate, since it requires many varied assignments to different students and conferences with individuals. (3) But even the most novel and complicated scheme can be effectively administered with little extra time and effort if special machinery is devised so that a large part of the administration becomes a matter of routine. Thus every movement proceeds according to certain definitely standardized steps, which are routinized through printed and mimeographed directions and by strict adherence to definitely established rules of procedure.

Conclusion of discussion of use of books. In this chapter we noted first that the use of books constitutes one of the most important and valuable methods of study in social life. In providing corresponding training in school, properly selected textbooks furnish the most economical basis. These

should contain thorough and adequate discussions of carefully selected topics and should be used so as to require reflective analytical study and interpretation as well as memorizing. Textbooks should often be supplemented in the daily class assignments by definitely assigned readings in a select list of supplementary books, of which a sufficient number of duplicate copies are available. In some of the content subjects further training should be provided in the independent investigation of topics by standard bibliographical methods, according to a definitely standardized, routinized scheme of assignments, conferences, briefs, and oral reports.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

1. CHARTERS, W. W. Methods of Teaching. (Row, Peterson and Co., 1912.) Pp. 278-295. A chapter on the use of textbooks.

2. Kock, T. The High School Library. In JOHNSON, C. H., High School Education. (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.) Pp. 460-470 and pp. 526–531. An excellent chapter with a bibliography which should serve as a model to all makers of bibliographies.

3. STRAYER, G. D. The Teaching Process. (The Macmillan Company, 1911.) Pp. 107-113. A chapter on the recitation lesson.

4. THORNDIKE, E. L. Education, a First Book. (The Macmillan Company, 1912.) Pp. 161–167. A strikingly original discussion of the use of textbooks.

Quoted incidentally in the chapter. 5. KEATINGE, M. W. Studies in the Teaching of History. (A. C. Black, London, 1910.)

CHAPTER XVIII

CONVERSATIONAL METHODS

Main points of the chapter. 1. Conversational methods depend largely on the past experiences of students as the sources of subject matter.

2. These methods were popularized in the form of Pestalozzian oral instruction and Herbartian development methods in the nineteenth century.

3. The Socratic method is an especially circuitous form of the conversational method.

4. Conversational methods are very likely to be wasteful unless controlled by definite objective points and unless the teacher frequently tells the subject matter instead of waiting to elicit it by questions.

5. Conversational methods are especially useful in reflective thinking and in making assignments of lessons to be studied.

Conversational method works over the student's previous experiences. The methods which we discussed in the preceding chapter on the use of books placed the emphasis upon enriching the student's experience by adding to it in considerable degree. The conversational method, which we shall consider in this chapter, depends largely upon experiences which the students already possess. These are recalled and worked over so as to derive new combinations of familiar elements. From time to time the teacher may give new information if it is needed, but for the most part he asks questions which require the students to recall certain previous experiences and view them from a new angle or use them for a new purpose. Sometimes the experiences which are drawn upon are quite similar for all the students. For an example,

recall the instruction concerning the difference between chemical and physical changes, described above on page 207. If the teacher wished to work out this difference by the conversational method instead of having it set forth in the textbook, the examples used (namely, rusting iron, exploding powder, etc.) would probably be common to the experiences of all the students. On the other hand, in discussing some topics certain students would be able to contribute pertinent experiences which would have been shared by very few members of the class. For example, in geography lessons it often happens that students who have traveled or lived in different parts of the country are able to give just as good and full information concerning a certain region as is found in the books, and to give it more vividly and at just the point where it is needed in the discussion. Thus, in a Chicago school a lesson on the climate of California was being taught largely by conversation based on a consideration of the fundamental facts of elevation, prevailing winds, etc. Certain students who had been in San Francisco and others who had been in Southern California gave descriptions of the climate of these regions, which verified the conclusions reached by the reflective consideration of physiographic data derived from the map.

Sometimes called the development method. The conver ́sational method is especially usable in reflective thinking or reasoning, because students already possess a large body of experiences which may be analyzed, compared, classified, and worked up into generalizations or interpreted from the standpoint of generalizations which have already been achieved. It may also be used in connection with other types of learning, but not so extensively. It is commonly called the development method, but the term conversational method is chosen for use here because it is more descriptive of the character of the process of give and take which is carried on between teacher and pupils who are at work upon a common topic of discussion.