Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

34 Visual Education An Experiment in Training in Observation and Report Editorial Contribution by WILLIAM C. BAGLEY A GENERATION ago it was customary to speak of "training the power of reasoning," "training the power of observation," and "training the power of attention." Then came the famous "transfer" experiments which seemed to prove conclusively that these general mental "powers" or abilities are purely mythical, and that the older notion of "formal discipline" was a delusion and a snare. THE effect upon school programs and school practices of this change in point, of view has been profound and on the whole most salutary. Especially has it served to discredit the dry, formal and perfunctory kind of teaching that was formerly condoned and sometimes even encouraged by the belief that the more difficult and disagreeable the learning, the more pronounced would be its training value. On the other hand, like all reactions, the complete repudiation of the alleged virtues of formal discipline was undoubtedly too extreme. Common-sense impels us to recognize that such important functions as reasoning, observing and attending are not entirely resistant to training, and careful experimentation is gradually revealing the conditions under which improvement in these functions can be effected. avoid in the next attempt, and (4) acquainting the subjects with the results of each effort at improvement as measured by the experimenters. In short, the training aimed to develop a conscious mastery of a method of procedure that would make observations more nearly accurate and the report of observations more reliable. Pictures with varying degrees of detail were the chief materials both of the training exercises and of the tests that were used to measure the effects of the training. THE results of the experiment are most convincing. As compared with the "control" groups, the subjects who were given this special training: (1) reported a greater percentage of the possible details correctly; (2) noted and reported on more details and omitted fewer details that should have been observed ; (3) reported erroneously fewer details, and increased the accuracy of their reports from test to test; (4) felt certain about more of their observations and reports; and (5) confirmed and strengthened this feeling of confidence in their ability as the training continued. That the improvement in ability thus trained will "transfer" to somewhat different types of material was also clearly demonstrated. ESPECIALLY significant to visual education arc the experiments on training in observation reported in the Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference on Educational Measurements of Indiana University (Bulletin of the Extension. Division, Aug., ]')Z2). These experiments were conducted by Mrs. Alice S. Beard and Mr. O. R. Chambers, under the direction of Dr. W. E. Book. University students, high-school pupils and sixth-grade pupils were the subjects of the investigation. Tn each case, parallel "control" groups were organized so that those given special training could be compared with others who were not given such training but otherwise were treated in the same way. IMPORTANT features of the training were (1) constant emphasis upon Ihc importance of accurate observation, (2) impressing the subjects with the belief that observational abilities could be improved, (3) encouraging the subjects to study their successes and failures in order to learn what to do and what to AVERY important phase of this study was an attempt to determine whether the brighter pupils profited by the training more than the dull pupils. Theoretically, improvement through training should be directly proportionate to native ability, and it is generally assumed that giving the same training to individuals of widely different native abilities will still further increase the differences. If this is a general rule, it seems to be subject to exceptions. Referring to the results of one of his series of experiments, Mr. Chambers says : " Although the upper half of the class made goodly gains under the influence of our uniform scheme of training, still at the end of the training period in each case, the lower half was much more nearly on a par with the higher half than at the beginning of the training, indicating that they had improved more rapidly than the better mentally endowed halves of our several training groups. "It is, then, the more poorly endowed who seem to reap the greatest amount of benefit from such training, which suggests that the better endowed individuals have already worked out for them