JUNE, 1915 UNGRADED 7 RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE BINET. The February, 1914, number of the Journal of Educational Psychology contains some suggestions and recommendations made by members of the International Congress for School Hygiene, on the Binet-Simon scale. Some of the more important follow: We recommend that for the present all experimenters employ the translation fo the 1911 scale prepared by Dr. Clara H. Town, but with the following provisions: (a) That the same uncolored pictures be used that Binet prescribed. (b) That the word 'defender' be tried in the test for riming. Sample rimes: pretender, contender, suspender. (Nearer to the original Binet.) (c) That in the first test at 9 years, 6 cents be used instead of 4 cents (or of 9 cents, Goddard) in making change from a quarter [because this affords a degree of difficulty nearer that of the original Binet test (taking four sous from 1 fr.)] (d) That in the 3d test, 9th year (knowing money), the following coins. be shown, but not in regular order :-cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar. The child should then be shown a dollar bill, and, if it is known, should be asked what bills there are larger than one dollar. If he answers--“two, three, four, five," etc., he is to be asked whether he has seen a three or a four dollar bill, and the test is to be considered as passed if he denies having seen the bills that do not exist. We agree to use each number as at present popularly used, i. e., 5 years means between the fifth and the sixth birthday, averaging 5.5 years. Trial should be made downward to include at least one year below the basal age, and upward to include at least two years beyond the last year in which any test is passed. Both these limits should be exceeded if the child shows eccentricities or irregularities in response that might indicate epilepsy, insanity, or any other unusual mental disturbance. We believe that current misconceptions as to the aim of the scale should be removed. It is not intended to test the emotional or volitional nature, but primarily intelligence (judgment). The scale does not always furnish a sharp, nor a positive diagnosis of feeble mindedness: in particular— (a) a mental age of 10 or above is not necessarily indicative of feeblemindedness, regardless of how old the examinee may be, and (b) a young child may test almost at age and yet be feeble-minded as determined by other criteria. 8 UNGRADED VOL. I, No. 2 Specific directions are necessary for the proper administration of each test. It is well to begin with a few fairly easy tests, then to take up some harder ones, then again some easier ones. Seek variety. Follow up suggestions gained by watching the examinee as to his interests. A favorable order in beginning is first to ask the child's name, his age, and then to try the pictures. The following record blank for Binet tests has been arranged by Dr. Samuel B. Heckman for the use of the Educational Clinic of the College of the City of New York. It is based upon the translation of the 1911 scale prepared by Dr. Clara H. Town and embodies the suggestions made by members of the International Congress for School Hygiene. 1. Compares two weights, 3 and 12 grams; 6 and 15 grams. 1. Distinguishes between morning and afternoon. 2. Defines in terms of use: a fork, a table, a chair, a horse, a mamma. 3. Copies a diamond. 4. Counts thirteen pennies, pointing to each. 5. Chooses prettier of faces, two at a time. (No error.) 1. Compares remembered objects: Butterfly and fly; wood and glass; paper and cardboard. 2. Counts from 20 to 0. (Time, 20 sec. One error allowed.) 3. Recognizes omissions in pictures. (Three correct.) 4. Knows day and date. 5. Repeats five numbers: (Give three trials. One correct answer.) 1. Makes change, 25 cts.-6cts. NINE YEARS 2. Defines in terms better than use. (See VI: 2.) 3. Recognizes the different pieces of money. 4. Names months of year in order. (Time 15 sec. One error allowed.) 5. Comprehends easy questions. (Two good answers required.) a. Missed train. b. Struck by playmate. C. Broken something. TEN YEARS 1. Arranges five weights. (Three trials, two correct.) 2. Draws designs from memory. (Expose ten seconds.) 3. Recognizes absurd statements. (Three out of five satisfactory.) a. Unfortunate bicycle rider. b. Three brothers. c. Railroad accident. Walking toward Albany. 4. Comprehends difficult questions. (Three good answers required.) a. Delayed on way to school. b. Important affair. C. Forgive easier. 5. Uses three given words in two sentences: New York, money, river. d. Asked opinion. 9 (The other day I saw on the street a pretty yellow dog. 4. Interprets pictures. (See III: 3 and VII: 2.) 5. Understands problems. VOL. I, No. 2 b. My neighbor's visitors. ADULT 2. Rearranges a triangle. 3. Gives differences of meaning of abstract terms. (Two correct.) 4. a. Laziness and idleness. C. Evolution and revolution. b. Event and advent. Give three differences between president of a republic and a king. 5. Gives the meaning of a selected passage. JUNE, 1915 UNGRADED SENSE TRAINING. 11 E. A. Walsh, Assistant Director of Ungraded Classes, New York City. It has been said that the senses are the "mouths of the mind." In man at least, mind is completely dependent on sense organs. The senses, which are specialized nerve endings, are the only means by which the environment may bring about changes in the brain. That the sense powers may be developed to a high degree is demonstrated in the blind whose senses of touch and of hearing become very keen because special demands are made upon them. Persons engaged in certain occupations become very skilled in making sense discriminations. A dealer in linens by passing his hand between a pile of materials can tell whether they are linen or cotton. The exercise of the senses is a fundamental impulse and through this exercise the sense powers develop. There have been developed two general methods of procedure in the training of the senses, the direct or formal method, and the indirect or informal method. The direct method is logical both in arrangement and in procedure. It is based on the worn out doctrine of formal discipline. The indirect method is psychological and is based on the doctrine of interest. Among those who have advocated the direct method of sense training are Comenius, Rousseau, Sully and Montessori. Comenius in the Orbis Pictus says, "There is nothing in the understanding which was not first in the senses. And therefore to exercise the senses well about the right perceiving of the differences of things will be to lay the grounds for wisdom and all wise discourse and all discreet actions in one's course of life, which, because it is commonly neglected in our schools, and the things that are to be learned are offered to scholars without their being understood or being rightly presented to the senses, it cometh to pass that the work of teaching and learning goeth heavily onward and offereth little benefit." Rosseau speaks in much the same way and he thought a special search should be made for materials upon which to train the senses during the early years. He says, "The first faculties which are formed in us are the senses. These then are the first which should be cultivated, but these are the very ones that we forget or that we neglect the most". Sully in his Teacher's Handbook of Psychology writes, "After the exercise of the child in the perception of form comes the training of the senses as a whole in the knowledge of objects and their constituent qualities. The systematic development of this side of the training gives us the object lesson. The object lesson aims at nothing beyond the training of the observing powers themselves". In our own time Madam Montessori is the best known exponent of formal sense training exercises. In the Montessori Method she says, "Our didactic material renders auto-education possible, permits a methodical education of the senses. Not upon the ability of the teacher does such education rest, but upon the didactic system. This presents objects which, |