The experimental determination of mental discipline in school studies / by Harold Ordway Rugg.

  • Rugg, Harold Ordway, 1886-1960.
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The experimental determination of mental discipline in school studies / by Harold Ordway Rugg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EDITOR’S PREFACE. The problem of mental discipline, of determining under what conditions, by what methods and to what extent training received in a given line of mental activity spreads to other lines of mental activity, is acknowledged to be the central problem of educational psychology. The an- swer that experimental investigation affords to this prob- lem is acknowledged to possess a most significant bearing upon several cardinal problems in education. Thus, for instance, the arrangement of the curriculum, particularly in the high school, the designation of prescribed courses in both high school and college, the selection of methods of instruction in various subjects—all these things depend in part upon what we know about the nature of mental discipline. Dr. Rugg’s monograph claims attention for two reasons especially: (1) it presents in a compact semi-tabular form a valuable and comprehensive summary of all the experi- mental work that has been done upon formal discipline to date; (2) it presents the results of the author’s own investigation, which is conspicuous because it deals with a large number of subjects (students in the University of Illinois), and because it measures the effect upon mental efficiency produced by a course of instruction (descriptive geometry) carried on under regular classroom conditions. The demonstration of a certain degree of transfer of train- ing is of real importance both in educational theory and practice. G. M. W.