Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/251

Rh study. Section B was given supervised study and no home work. Upon the test following the fourteen lessons their standings were:

Section A—with home work and no supervised study averaged 62.8, with 50 per cent, receiving the failure mark.

Section B—with supervised study and no home work averaged 65.5, with 31.2 receiving the failure mark. It is to be noted that Section B, a somewhat weaker section, surpassed Section A, and that its lower number of failures indicates that the poorer pupils profited most from the supervised study. Section A reported an average of 1 hours spent on each lesson, while in Section B the actual time of class work was 36 minutes per day. Section B solved an average of two problems more to each pupil than did Section A. With the supervised class work as a basis, too much time was spent on the home assignments. Section B worked slowly during the first three lessons, but with the development of independence and confidence they soon worked rapidly. The interest and pleasure of Section B, some of whom had failed in the preceding semester, were noticeable.

In the following topic to which six lessons were given, the methods were reversed, Section A being given supervised class-room work and Section B home assignments, and class recitations. At the close of this series of lessons the same test was given both sections with the result that Section A with supervised work and no home work averaged 77.5, and Section B with home work and recitations averaged 86.4.

12.5 per cent, of Section A failed on the test and 5.7 of Section B failed.

31.2 per cent, of Section A secured a mark of A, and 52.9 per cent, of B secured the A mark.

This seems to show that the pupils in Section B, by means of their previous fourteen supervised lessons, had learned enough about independent study to enable them to do their home work in such a way that Section A even under supervision did not surpass Section B in six lessons. The ability of Section B, gained under supervision, persisted in home study through six following lessons.

In the Detroit Central High School a different plan has been followed in some experiments in algebra and Latin. Principal David McKenzie writes: