Xtbc TUnlpersft^ of Cbicago Itandardization of Tests for Defective Children A DISSERTATION ■M. '1 ! I ! I i 1 ■ .hi . . OF THF ;i;ai)i A n - I'^-di -i v, i ^\i> literature IN I'ANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OK DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OK EDTTATTON RY CT.ARA SCHMITT v.n4 PuRLif^HED AS Whole Number 83 of the Psychological MoNOaRAPHs Ubc TUnlpcrsit^ ot Cbicaoo Standardization of Tests for Defective Children A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BY CLARA SCHMITT 1914 Published as Whole Number 83 of the Psychological Monographs Gift The UnlTersj^ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For whatever is of value in this work the author is indebted to many persons. It is not possible to mention them in a para- graph. In a very special sense the author wishes to express gratitude to the following : The Juvenile Psychopathic Institute and the director of its clinic, Dr. William Healy. Mrs. Mary Chapin White, formerly psychologist of the Juvenile Psychopathic Clinic, for help in giving some of the tests. To the principal and teachers of the private school where the Healy-Fernald tests were given. These teachers gave freely of their time and enthusiastic encouragement. It is regretted that the policy of the school regarding publicity prevents a more defin- ite acknowledgment of this service. To the principals and teachers of the public schools where data was obtained. To Dr. Charles H. Judd and Dr. Frank N. Freeman of the University of Chicago for helpful and patient guidance as teach- ers before this work was undertaken, and for suggestion and criticism during its construction. To the children who so cheerfully and trustfully did their best. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I. Introduction ^ II. Historical development of tests of mental measur- ment in correlation with general intelligence 3 III. Binet-Simon tests 16 IV. Fallacies and inadequacies of the Binet-Simon series 52 V. Discussion of Binet-Simon tables 68 VI. Standardization and discussion of Healy-Fernald tests ^i VII. Correlation of three tests with school grade 124 VIII. Individual reactions to Healy-Fernald tests 129 IX. Summary of Standardization of Healy-Fernald tests 133 X. School subjects as material for tests of mental ability 137 XI. Factors involved in the mental classification of clinic cases ^^4 XII. Qualitative classification of tests "^77 XIII. Bibliography i^o INTRODUCTION The following study was undertaken to provide data for the standardization of the Healy-Fernald tests, described by the authors in Psychological Monographs, Vol. XIII, No. 2. It is offered because a standarization of these tests has been asked for by various persons interested in the development of clinical psychology. It is hoped that the study will also suggest some further clinical uses of the Binet-Simon series. The purpose of standardization is to show the reactions of a socially homogeneous group of individuals considered socially and pedogogically normal, classified according to certain principles discussed below. The psychological considerations which underlie the author's classified evaluation of these tests has been found of value in clinics where the mentally defective must be distinguished from the mentally normal, and classified for the purposes of instruc- tion in the public school and for placing in public institutions. It is hoped that the formulation of the principles which have led to such classifications may prove to be suggestive to those seeking further light on the process of mental diagnosis. The study is offered, however, with a due appreciation of its incompleteness. It is desirable that a hundred or more children of each age and grade of the school should be given the tests dis- cussed in the following pages, rather than the twenty which it was possible to get. But, though the numbers are small, they are sufficient to show clearly marked tendencies to specific types of reaction for the various grades and ages tested. This work was done by the author while psychologist to the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute. This organization maintains a clinic at the Juvenile Court of Chicago. Wherever in this work "the clinic" is mentioned it is this clinic to which reference is made. Much that is said in this study concerning mental tests in gen- 2 CLARA SCHMITT eral and concerning many of the individual tests is the result of a body of experience gained in the clinic just mentioned and a further year's experience in the clinic of the Department of Child Study of the Board of Education of Chicago. Much of this experience is not amenable to statistical classification. The par- ticular bit of work which is here used for standardization of the Healy-Femald tests is especially suitable for this purpose because it is gained from a group of socially homogeneous subjects. The work of the Juvenile Court clinic is entirely with the juven- ile delinquent; and except for this one characteristic that group of cases is not homogeneous. The work in the Department of Child Study is with children who for some reason are reacting unsatisfactorily to the school situation. This group of subjects is far from homogeneous mentally, physically and socially. Since one of the reasons for atypical social response may be mental defectiveness, the reaction of what has come to be ac- cepted by the users of these tests as mentally defective response has been compared with the mentally normal for each test. The factors which enter into consideration in classifying as mentally defective are discussed on page 164. Subjects. — The children who served as subjects for the tests comprised the kindergarten and first six grades of a private school in Chicago. These children composed as perfectly homo- geneous a group as it is probably possible to find in a school. They were the children of people of the professional class mainly. A few were children of successful business men who sought the best obtainable type of education for their children. The school was founded for the purpose of putting into application the broad- est and best conceptions of educational theory and practice. So far as heredity in its relation to social class is concerned these children were equally endowed. Home environment with reference to educational endowment and stimulus was uniform as nearly as such a matter may be measured. One may assume that the children who belonged to the same grade had had the some educational regime in home and school. II HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TESTS OF MENTAL MEASUREMENT IN CORRELATION WITH GENERAL INTELLIGENCE Psychologists have for some twenty years been concerned with finding a measure of general intelligence. Work with dif- ferent types of tests under more or less rigorously controlled laboratory conditions has been carried on with children of dif- ferent classes and with college students, graded in one way or an- other according to degrees of general intelligence. Within the last ten years there has arisen the need of application of the work of the laboratory psychologist to the practical work of clinics for investigation of socially atypical individuals. In the United States and other countries the criminal, the mentally defective, the backward school child and the supernormal child are being inves- tigated with greater thoroughness than ever before. To meet this need there have been devised and invented tests for measur- ing mental ability of a type quite different from the tests devised by the early laboratory psychologists who worked at the prob- lem. A short historical survey will serve to characterize the two groups of practical tests discussed in this article. Only a part of the great mass of literature on tests of general intelligence is outlined in the following summary, namely, that part which endeavors to establish a measure for the general intelligence of children. In 1897 the American Psychological Association (i) received the report of a committee appointed at its previous meeting to investigate the subject of physical and mental tests. This com- mittee agreed upon and reported a series of tests which it recom- mended be tried on college students in the various psychological laboratories of the country. The physical and mental tests recom- mended were classified as follows : 4 CLARA SCHMITT Preliminary Data. — Date of birth; birthplace; birthplace, of father, birthplace of mother; occupation, including class in col- lege; occupation of father; any measure previously made. Color of eyes; color of hair; right or left handed. Mother's maiden name; number of brothers; sisters; order of birth; age of parents at birth; birthplace and occupation of grandparents. Assymetry of body; color of eyes, hair, complexion; degeneracy or other stigma of head, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, hands, feet, posture; gait; manners; coordination and speech; indications of intellectual, emotional and moral characteristics. Physical Measurements. — Height, weight, and size of head. Breathing capacity. Height sitting. Keenness of lAsion Color vision Keenness of hearing Perception of pitch Fineness of touch Sensitiveness to pain Perception of weight or force of movement Dynamometer pressure of right and left hand Rate of movement Fatigue Will power Voluntary attention Right and left hand movement Rapidity of movement. — Taps on telegraph, short marks, tril- ling with two fingers or five. Accuracy of aim Reaction time for sound Reaction time with choice. — Card sorting Rate and discrimination of movement. — Marking out lOO a's in 500 letters, one of a number of geometrical figures, or colors, or pictures, or objects. Quickness of distinction and movement. — Rate at which cards are sorted, combine with reaction, with choice, with effects of practice. Perception of size. — Draw a line equal to a model 5 cm. in length, bisect it, erect a perpendicular of the same length, and bisect the right hand angle. Perception of time. — The accuracy with which a standard time can be reproduced. Memory. — The accuracy with which eight numerals heard once can be reproduced, and the accuracy with which a line drawn by STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 5 the observer at the beginning of the hour can be reproduced at the end of the hour; Hne to be identified, not drawn; ten numer- als ; nine numerals. A combined test of memory, association and finding time as described in the catalogue of the Columbian Ex- position, accuracy of observation and recollection as proposed by Cattell and Bolton. Memory type. — Variation in the use of ten numerals, compare results for indication of memory type and kind of imagery preferred. Apperception test of Ebbinghaus Imagery Much, and more than was here recommended, of this work was done in the next few years, and the attempt was made to corre- late the results with other evidences of general intelligence. Before this time, however, some very important pieces of work had been done. One of these was the work of Gilbert (2) in 1894. Gilbert correlated weight, height, lung capacity, simple reaction time, reaction time with discrimination and choice, and time memory with mental ability. In determining general mental ability the teacher's judgment was relied upon. Each teacher classified her pupils as bright, average and dull. Approximately 100 children of each age group from six to seventeen were measured. Porter (3), in 1893, correlated the height and weight of 33,500 school children with age and grade. Later Smedley (4), in 1900, correlated height, standing and sitting; weight; ergograph and dynamometer records, and lung capacity with age and school standing of children between the ages of eight and eighteen inclusive. West (5) correlated physical development and intellectual abil- ity of Toronto school children. His method of grouping for in- tellectual ability was according to the teacher's estimate of the children as good, average, and poor. The investigations of the men mentioned and others gave rise to three different conclusions with regard to the relation of physical development and mental ability. Porter, Smedley and some others found a positive correlation between physical develop- ment and mental ability of which success in school life was taken 6 CLARA SCHMITT as the measure. Gilbert found no correlation and West found a negative correlation. These differences were probably due to different arrangement of data and to different methods of group- ing grades of intellectual ability. Gilbert did not separate the sexes in his tables and did not state the proportions of his dull and bright groups. Gilbert and West classified according to the teacher's judgment; Porter and Smedley according to school grade with reference to age. A severe criticism of the method of classification according to teacher's judgment may be quoted from West's account of his experience with it : "It soon became apparent to me that any such classification of children's mental ability would be very greatly influenced by the mental caliber of the teacher making the classification. . . . There were no poor scholars. The teachers were perfectly willing to classify the scholars as of good and average intelligence but any intimation of poor or stupid scholars was taken as a personal reflection upon the teacher of the class in question. . . . The poor students were no more than a mere handful." The method of grouping according to success in school life, the method of Porter and Smedley, grades all children of the same age according to the same standard. Though some allow- ance must be made for a small group compelled by individual cir- cumstances to residence in grades below that of which the mental ability of each individual might otherwise permit. In the reaction time tests Gilbert thought to have found a correlation with intelligence. He says, "The curves for reaction time gave the most positive results showing that the brighter the child the more quickly he is able to act. In discrimination the same relation is true but to a less degree. ... Of time memory it may be said in general that the brighter the child the more accurate his sense of time." An examination of Gilbert's tables, however, fails to support so optimistic a view of the exist- ing correlation. At some ages the dull class is superior to the bright class, and the differences between the three classes meas- ured are everywhere slight. Reaction time tests of various kinds were tried out by various investigators in the following years. The results of this work STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 7 were reviewed by Whipple (6) in 1904. He distinguished be- tween two kinds of reaction time experiment, the laboratory type, and the anthropometric type which includes card sorting and sim- ilar tests. The former consists of work done under rigid labora- tory conditions upon subjects competent to make introspective analyses. The latter consists of experiments made on children or others without introspective analyses and without practice in di- reaction of attention. He pointed out that because different ex- perimenters obtained widely varying results under the same conditions, attention came to be directed to the different types of individuals, and the reaction time experiment came to be an ex- periment in reaction consciousness. The anthropometric type of experiment he criticised, because the conditions under which the data were supplied, were so loosely controlled that one could not be sure what was measured. He concludes that any reaction time is conditioned upon a large number of independent factors and when these are eliminated or controlled in the laboratory "we have left no residuum of individual variation that can be turned to account in estimating the observer's general intelligence or mental ability." In 1901 Wissler (7) pubHshed the results of a long series of tests and anthropometrical measurements made under the direc- tion of Cattell upon students of Columbia University for a period of seven years. The results of these tests were correlated with class standing. The general conclusions were that the laboratory mental tests show little correlation in the case of college students ; that the physical tests show a general tendency to correlate with themselves but only to a very slight degree with mental tests; that the markings of students in college classes correlate with themselves to a considerable degree but not with the tests made in the laboratory. Griffing (8), 1895, and others investigated the subject of at- tention with reference to general intelligence. In general some form of the tachistoscope was used. Griffing's conclusions rep- resent the general concensus of opinion among these investigators. He said, "I found that those rated 'A' for mental capacity by the teachers on an A B C basis, had somewhat higher averages than 8 CLARA SCHMITT the others. . . . There are, however, marked exceptions. . . . Those marked 'A' by their teachers for attention in class also excelled the others, but here also I found decided exceptions. Many- pupils must have, therefore, good powers of attention, even when they show no evidence of them to their teachers." In 1904 Spearman (9) made a critical analysis of the methods of work in the determination of correlations of various tests with general intelligence. With a more exact mathematical formula for the calculation of correlations and by the use of more factors for the determination of general intelligence he found large corre- lations in tests of discrimination of grays, and weight and pitch, with general intelligence. In 1909 Burt (10) correlated the general intelligence of two sets of English schoolboys with tests of discrimination of two points upon the skin, of lifted weights, of pitch, and of length of lines. To these he added two motor tests, tapping and card dealing; two sensori-motor tests, card sorting and alphabet find- ing; tests of immediate memory of concrete words, abstract words and nonsense syllables ; the tracing of a geometrical pat- tern seen in a mirror, a test of the power to acquire new co- ordinations; the reproduction from memory of a pattern of spots presented by the tachistoscope upon squared paper; and a test of voluntary attention, which consisted of pricking an irregular line of dots passing rapidly before the subject. Great care was exercised by Burt, in accordance with the recommendations of Spearman, in the mathematical work of correlating the test findings with general intelligence. The latter was estimated by the headmasters of the schools from which the reagents came. The conclusions at which Burt arrived are as follows : Of the simple sensory tests, tactile, weight, pitch, and length of line discrimination, he says, "There appears to be no general connection between intelligence and capacity to discriminate weights ; any connections between intelligence and tactile dis- crimination, if it exists, is of the slightest; there is considerable connection between intelligence and capacity to discriminate undoubted general connection between intelligence and visual discrimination of lengths. ..." STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 9 Of the motor tests, tapping and card dealing he says : "Motor tests seem to have a higher correlation with intelligence than sensory tests. But where rapidity is due to frequent practice. . . the correlations with intelligence and other tests are reduced, abolished, or inverted. Thus so far as motor rapidity is the func- tion of temporary 'facilitation' of the paths of neural discharge it appears also to be a function of intelligence, while so far as it is a function of permanent 'canalisation' of those paths it is but slightly or inversely related to intelligence." This latter con- clusion was the result of disturbance of correlational results among a group of practiced card players. Of the two sensori-motor tests, one for the sorting of cards according to color, the other for selecting a complete alphabet from a mixture of two alphabets, Burt says : "Depending as they do for their perfomiance upon processes of a more complex nature and a higher mental level, tests combining perception with motor reaction seem to involve the intelligence to a still higher degree than relatively simple sensory or motor tests. Of the two above discussed the alphabet seems to be, in practice, far the more efficient." Immediate memory was tested by the use of sets of words of abstract significance, of concrete significance; and nonsense syllables. The correlation with general intelligence found by Burt between concrete memory, abstract memory, and nonsense memory was .58, .48, .43 respectively for one group of boys and .84, .78, .75 for another group. "Thus the memory for abstract words does not show a higher, but a lower correlation, with intel- ligence. . . . The introduction of difficult vocables, whether ab- stract nouns or meaningless syllables, proves in both groups to be on the whole a distracting element." In the mirror test, a pattern is traced which, with the hand doing the work, is seen only in a mirror. This tests the subject's ability to readjust certain already learned eye and hand coordina- tions to a changed situation. Burt found many difficulties in the mechanical operation of this test as well as in the method of measuring results. In his judgment it was a test which with further perfection would be of great practical value. He, how- lo CLARA SCHMITT ever, sums up the factors which would compHcate and make uncertain the resuhs of this test in practice when he accounts for the divergence between his two groups of the correlational fig- ures, .67 and .54. "The divergence between the two schools is largely due to the fact that four of the Preparatory schoolboys had had previous practice at an analogous task in the form of a not very common parlor pastime. Only one of the thirty Elemen- tary boys had done any similar exercise before. The divergence might also be in part attributed to a greater familiarity with the use of the mirror among boys of a higher class as compared with boys of a lower status. A similar factor apparently operated when the test was applied to children of the opposite sex, though subsequent application to very young children, and to adults, have led me to wonder whether we are not dealing with one of the uninvestigated innate differences between the sexes." The spot pattern test was given in a dark room by means of a tachistoscope. The pattern was shown as many times as it was necessary for the subject to learn to reproduce it correctly. The difficulties in the use of the tachistoscope in practical work are indicated when he says, "The tachistoscope was found to require a larger amount of experience on the part of both subjects and operators, than any of the other tests, except perhaps those in- volving sensory discrimination. . . . The first series of all had to be rejected as worthless, owing partly to the irrelevant excite- ment aroused in the subjects by the 'electrical flash' as the boys named it. . . . At this school we were not able to obtain the complete darkness and silence procured at the other in our ex- temporised dark room, and consequently the reliability coefficient and the raw correlations with intelligence are not so high." The coefficient obtained was .y6 and .75 for the two groups. Burt's test of sustained attention consisted of pricking dots irregularly arranged upon a strip of paper which passed before the subject. The number of dots per minute which the student marked constituted a measure of his ability. The correlation for this test with general intelligence was found to be .75 and .96 for the two groups of boys. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS ii Of the practical significance of these tests Burt says : "Of the twelve tests six furnish coefficients below .50 and six above .50. The former six — the simple sensory and motor tests — are thus of little use in the empirical diagnosis of intelligence. Among the latter six, no single test, at any rate in its present form, can be claimed as a self-sufficient instrument for measuring and detecting ability in individuals. But they indicate the direction in which such a test may hopefully be sought. . . . McDougall's dotting machine seems to be the most scientific. Where the external conditions could be kept most uniform, . . . both the amalgamated and the average raw coefficients reached .84. Such uniformity is difficult in more extensive work, and the ensuing variety in attention and fatigue affect the performances with this test. Moreover, its figures are less discriminative than either of the other three. By increasing the number of spots in the pattern the tachistoscope test may be made to differentiate with almost any degree of minuteness. . . . It is a slow test, however, and without repetition scarcely reliable. And it calls for some experience both on the part of the boys to grasp the nature of the task, and on the part of the experimenter to manipulate the apparatus with regularity. . . . The mirror test can be pro- cured with but little trouble and expense, and needs no trained superintendent. It, too, requires further improvements, espe- cially in procedure and calculations, to eliminate the influence of possible previous practice, and to elicit more completely the sig- nificance of the figures observed. If called upon to recommend a simple test for immediate use upon untrained subjects, I should be inclined to advocate the alphabet test as perhaps the simplest and most satisfactory test of all." The work of Burt has been so fully recorded because it is the broadest and most careful attempt to correlate the results of tests with general intelligence. In this work many considerations were taken into account in constructing a scale of general intelligence of the subjects. Great care was taken in the management of the tests themselves aridi the mathematical correlations were worked out with accuracy. The conclusions drawn of the vari- 12 CLARA SCHMITT ous tests are valuable from the standpoint of an interpretation of intelligence. For various reasons, however, the results can not be immediately applied to clinical work. The reasons may- be grouped under five heads. The first and most important is the measurement of the tests against time. It is the experience of the writer and others in the work of children's clinics that time within the limits of rigid laboratory procedure can not be taken as the measure of the subject's ability with a particular test. This is because of the peculiar demands of such a clinic. One wishes the child to be unaffected by any feelings of fear or anxiety or strange- ness with the situation when he comes up for examination. As far as possible he should not know that he is being examined. He, therefore, should not be subjected to the anxious desire to make good time in any thing he is doing. There are few tests which can at all lend themselves to such measurement, since in any test which can be useful as a measure of intelligence or which can show the child's intelligence functioning, there are involved perceptual or other types of discrimination which may be interfered with if the child anxiously desires to make a good time record. This interference with thought processes may cause the final result to be a misleading and perhaps unfair judgment of his general intelligence. Only such discriminations as are habitual with him and therefore make little demand upon attention can be measured against time. Under such circum- stances one does not know what is being measured. The second reason for the impracticabihty of Burt's work is the fact that with tests which correlate most highly with gen- eral intelligence, the use of apparatus is necessary. Burt, him- self, showed how the tachistoscope mechanism interfered with attention to the object of the test itself. In much larger meas- ure would such a piece of apparatus be a stumbling block in a clinic where defective individuals are examined. As was remarked above, one wishes the child to be unaffected by any feelings of fear or strangeness with the new and usually strange situation into which he is thrust when he comes to a psychological clinic for examination. A piece of strange apparatus will so STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS I3 fill his mind with fear or speculation as to its object and its affect upon himself, that he may not act normally. The fact also that much practice is needed on the part of the subject to use a piece of apparatus must put it out of consideration for the practical clinician. The third reason for discarding some of these tests is that previous practice may vitiate results. What Burt has said with regard to the mirror test and card dealing test has already been quoted. No tests except those on reading, arithmetic or other subjects of cultural value can be used in a practical clinic which in any way may have been the subject of practice on the part of the child, and these only if the examiner knows the extent of the child's experience with them. The fourth point of error in applying the work of Burt, and all other works of its type, to the examination of atypical children is that it does not take into account the child's motive for action. In child life there are in general two motives for voluntary activity. One of these is the play motive, in which the child voluntarily seeks the end to be attained. The other is the social motive of pleasing associates, who may demand ends which he would not voluntarily seek to attain. In a psyscho- logical laboratory the motives of the adult subject and the observer are the same, — the production of scientific data. In such case the subject lends himself willingly to any conditions imposed. Knowing the end of the experiment he is able to direct attention to the attainment of that end and away from the distracting elements of unusual conditions. It is otherwise with the child. With him the motive most conducive to natural reaction, uncomplicated by disturbing emotions, is the play motive. The fifth reason for the lack of apphcability of this type of work to a practical clinic is that it has been done with subjects of so high a type of mentality that the results are of little value in measuring low types. A mathematical statement of the correlations of a test to the general ability of such subjects as form the reagents for experiments under laboratory conditions can have little significance in a clinic for defective 14 CLARA SCHMITT or abnormal individuals. The subjects for laboratory experi- ments are in general of a high type of intelligence. Among Burt's subjects there was only one defective child. In a clinic no child typical of the average in the social situation in which he finds himself, ever comes up for examination. Necessarily in some realm of social, mental or physical functioning, the child to be examined is abnormal or he would not be brought for examination. A part of Burt's work, however, can be of greater value for clinic purposes than his correlations led him to believe. Such simple sensori-motor tests as card sorting, or as Whipple designated them, the anthropometrical reaction tests, have been found by him and other laboratory experimenters to correlate little with general intelligence. The reason for this is that even with the least intelligent subjects these tests fall well within the limit of their intelligence, and, therefore, can not form a measure of the mental ability of those particular sub- jects. With many subjects of the practical clinic, however, such simple tests may be of great value. If it is found that the child can do nothing more complex than sort cards according to color or geometrical form, or whatever type of discrimination is employed, this, in part at least, establishes a measure of his mental ability. If it is found that he can not do even these tests then others of a simpler nature still must be used as a measure. Viewed from the standpoint of such use, the simple "anthro- pometrical reaction" tests are of great value as measures of certain elements of general intelligence. For use in a practical clinic any test may serve as a measure, in whole or in part, if it really does mark off a range of intellectual activity. However, no test can be of such general use as Burt thought possible of the alphabet sorting test which he considered most valuable as a test of mental measurement. The highly intelligent child can accomplish tests of far greater complexity; the low grade child may be unable to make such fine discriminations. This test, therefore can not serve as a measure of these two grades of mental ability. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS I5 To sum up, the clinic must discard time for the most part as an important factor in the measurement of results. This point is discussed further below in connection with certain tests. Some other measure, preferably a qualitative one, must be sub- stituted for this quantitative one. The clinic must discard rigorous laboratory conditions and adjust its tests to conditions more in conformity with those of everyday life. It must dis- card such apparatus as requires practice on the part of the siibject, or as is not directly connected with the object of the test. It was such considerations as the foregoing which led Binet and Simon in 1904 to compile the series of tests which have since been rearranged and modified into the series of 191 1 (11 )• In 1904 it was required that the mentally defective children in the public schools of Paris be segregated after individual ex- amination. Binet, who had contributed in large measure through his laboratory experiments to the psychology of mental tests and mental measurement, undertook to arrange a series of tests capable of practical application to young children. These tests eliminated to a large extent, the quantitative measurement of results and substituted a qualitative measure. The require- ment of laboratory conditions was discarded in favor of a situa- tion more in accord with the normal every day life of the child. Ill THE BINET-SIMON TESTS This series of tests marks the real beginning of the applica- tion of psychological tests to the practical work of discriminating defectives from normal human beings. Binet revised his first scale in 1908. In this form it was used largely by many ex- perimenters in Europe and America. Later, in 191 1, taking account of the criticism arising from these experiences with his scale, Binet again made a revision. Several experimenters have added materially to our knowledge of the usefulness of this series of tests under the conditions of practical work. Bobertag (12) has made a thorough analysis of the psychologi- cal significance of each test and applied the series to a group of German children. Goddard (13) applied it to four hundred feeble-minded children of the Vineland School for the feeble- minded, and to two thousand public school children. Kuhlman (14) used the tests in the institution for the feeble-minded at Faribault, Minnesota. Terman and Childs (15) applied the tests to a large group of normal children in California and sug- gested certain revisions and additions to them. In the following discussion it is hoped to show something of the psychological significance of the individual tests of this series and its value in clinical work. Only so much of the description of each test and its application is given as will indicate the nature of the test. In some cases a more elaborate statement will be given where the author suggests a wider use of certain tests than that recommended by Binet. The dis- cussion begins with the tests for five years because the writer's clinical experience with children under five years of age has been small. Children of Five Years I. Compare two weights."^ — Four boxes in sets of two are used. They are the same in appearance and volume and weigh STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 17 respectively, three grams and twelve grams; six grams and fifteen grams. The first two are placed on the table before the child and he is asked to lift them both and hand to the ex- perimenter the one which is the heavier. This tests the child's ability to compare two sensations and form a judgment concern- ing them. The test is concerned with the ability of the subject to make such comparison and not at all with the keenness of his discrimination of differences of weight. The subject must also exhibit ability to interpret and classify his sensations in language. In the tenth year when -weights are arranged in serial order the later test deals more with sensory discrimination. Bobertag points out the interesting significance of correspond- ence of this psychological procedure with the highest intellectual accomplishments in science and practical life. A quantity of sensations are presented to the individual under normal life conditions, and these are arranged in certain classifications of dift'erent kinds. In this way order is established in the mental life. To be able to isolate in consciousness one type of sensa- tion from all others and to arrange its variations in a serial order from little to great is the first necessity of conscious intellectual life. Defective children will hand to the experimenter the one which happens to be the most convenient to pick up, or will do nothing at all because of lack of comprehension of the problem. II. Copies a square. — To pass this test the subject must com- mand three abilities. First, the comprehension of the square as such, a perceptual discrimination. The same type of dis- crimination is tested with the Seguin form board and sorting cards. Second, the muscular control necessary to make lines of equal length or approximately so; and third, the ability to cooperate the two foregoing processes for the production of the final result. If the test is not passed it may mean that the child has not a comprehension of the distinguishing character- istics of the model before him, or it may mean that he has not * The descriptions of tests follow the translation by Town." The Binet quotations are from the same source. i8 CLARA SCHMITT the motor control which will enable him to draw a model which he recognizes, or he has not made the requisite mental coopera- tion. Binet directs that the child be required to copy the square with ink, not pencil. This direction would indicate that the test was intended to be one of motor control as well as one of intellectual comprehension, since the use of the pen adds a motor difficulty. The writer has seen defective children who were able to distinguish a square from a circle, or some other form, as was shown in the card sorting test in which cards were sorted ac- cording to the geometrical forms upon them; but were unable to initiate the process of step three sufficiently well to draw a recognizable copy of the model. Their copy was a mere scribble. There also come to the clinic children suffering from nervous derangements, who cannot control the hands sufficiently to draw a straight or approximately straight line, or draw one of the length desired, and who therefore also fail to make right angles ; but who, it seems evident from other tests which they pass, and especially from the dissatisfaction which they show with the result of their efforts with this one possess the two other abilities necessary. III. Repeat a sentence of ten syllables. — Binet says of this test, "After the comprehension of words, the next step in the development of language is not, as one might think, the verbal expression of thought and the naming of desired objects, but a repetition of words heard. It is easier, approximately, to echo a word than to use it independently, to pass from an idea to a word." In giving this test one says to the child, "I shall now say something to which you must listen carefully and then say it just exactly as I do." Binet permits no error whatever in the reproduction of the sentences. The series of sentences given by Binet are : I am cold and hungry. My name is Gaston. Oh! the naughty dog. Let us go for a long walk. Give me the pretty little bonnet. Bobertag uses the following list : I am a good child. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS i? I have a pretty dog. I sit upon a chair. My brother has gone away. I will go to visit my father tomorrow. I have bought myself a new suit.. We have not yet done our school work. Now we will go together to take a walk. I have said to my brother that he should visit me. When we have done our work then we may play. Bobertag grades these from 6 to i6 syllables. The English translation makes the number of syllables in some cases sHghtly different. In such sentences as Bobertag's the writer finds a certain advantage over those of Binet. With the Binet set one necessarily drops the voice and pauses at the end of the short sentences, which constitute the set of ten syllables or more, and the child, on the qui vive to reproduce immediately, begins to do so as soon as he hears the drop of the voice, or the pause, not realizing that the set is not yet finished. There is probably a difference in the memory process of the two types of sentences. Binet assumes that the child does not attend to the idea but only to the words and reproduces them. The Binet sets contain more than one idea. That the process of remembering the sentence which is used for the expression of one idea, such as those of Bobertag, is easier than that of remembering a sentence of the same number of syllables which expresses two or more ideas is indicated by the fact that Binet found the five-year old child generally able to remember no more than a sentence of ten syllables, but Bobertag found that sentences of sixteen syllables were not too difficult. IV. Counts four pennies.— This test shows whether or not the child has learned this series of four terms and has related the terms of the series to four like objects. Children may learn the counting series without relating it to anything; that is, without ever counting anything. General observation shows this to be the case with young children. A child of four, who could count to five as a mere word series, was observed 20 CLARA SCHMITT by the writer to make for himself the discovery that he could relate this series to five objects; upon the first occasion his five toes. To count something, then, is a step in advance of merely counting. Defective young children in the schools relate the counting series imperfectly, or not at all, to the objects before them. Some defective children will relate the counting series per- fectly to a series of objects; that is, they count correctly a row of objects but have no appreciation of the number concept involved. If, for instance, after the child has counted a series of four objects, he is asked, "How many are there?" the answer may be, "ten." If a row of objects, say two or three is placed before him, and he is asked to tell how many are there he wiU again count correctly as a series and relate the series correctly to the objects before him and answer wildly, "seven" or "nine." The normal child of this age is able not only to count cor- rectly, but also to understand that his counting numbers. He does not make so erratic an answer as has been indicated of the defective child. Binet and his followers have made this test rather a vague one by insisting that the child be asked to count four pennies and by pointing out that it is necessary for him to count some such series of objects which are of interest to him. The writer finds that if the child can count at all he can and is wilHng to count anything. The writer generally uses a row of small circles upon a sheet of paper. The child always counts these as willingly as he would count pennies, or other objects. V. Game -of patience with two pieces. — For this test an oblong card is cut along the diagonal, making two triangular pieces. An uncut card is placed on the table at the same time as the pieces of the cut card and the child is told that a card like the one before him was cut in two and that he may arrange the pieces as before it was cut. This tests his ability to con- struct from a given bit of material a product to correspond to a given model. Failure to do this is significant of the child's lack of constructive ability to the extent that the complexity of this work permits it to be measured. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS , 21 Binet says of this test, "After the operation is analyzed, it is found to consist of the following elements: i. To keep in mind the end to be attained, that is to say, the figure to be formed; it is necessary to comprehend this end, it is necessary also to 'think about it, not to lose sight of it. 2. To try dif- ferent combinations, under the influence of this directing idea, which often guides the efforts of the child though he be un- conscious of the fact. 3- To judge the formed combination, compare it with the model, and decide whether it is the correct one. In the writer's opinion the cut pieces should be laid with the two long sides of the original rectangle parallel with each other, as in figure a or figure b. This compels the child to move one piece about in such a way that his getting the pieces in the right position immediately would not be the result of accident. To place the pieces as in figure c would permit him with one movement to get them in the right position and since this is almost the only movement which it is possible for him to make with them the final result might be merely accidental. Children of Six Years I. Distinguishes between morning and evening.— The question is asked, 'Ts- it morning or afternoon now?" This tests the child's comprehension of this simple measure of time. The writer always asks, in addition, after the child's answer, "How do you know it is." The answer to this question always indicates the event of the day which the child has set up as his means of measuring time. He will say, "Because I have - just had my breakfast," or "my lunch," or some event of the school day, such as "We had our reading." Many children, who answer the question wrong, will, however, answer properly such questions as, "Do you have breakfast in the morning or in the afternoon?" "Do you have supper in the afternoon or in the morning?" "Do you go to school in the morning or in the afternoon?", and so on. This further precautionary ques- tioning shows whether or not the child has set up any type of time measure, though he may have failed to take notice of the 22 CLARA SCHMITT particular event of the day at the time of his examination, which divides morning and afternoon for him. Binet says of this test — "One expects, we, ourselves, expected more brilliant results. We would have judged that children could distinguish between morning and afternoon long before the age of six. It is a distinction which appears so easy. Think of the fact that six-year old children are the oldest in the 'maternelle' schools. Recall that the program of these schools provide for the teaching of history and geography; 'the prin- cipal irregularities of the earth's surface, brief biographies from natural history,' read the rules of the schools 'maternelle' of the department of the Seine. Is it not rather ridiculous to talk about natural history to children who cannot yet distinguish between morning and evening." Bobertag found that of 55 six-year old children 45 per cent answered the question correctly; of 126 seven-year old children 69 per cent answered the question correctly. II. Defines in terms of iise.< — The child is asked successively "What is a fork? What is a table? What is a chair? What is a horse? What is a mama?" This tests the child's ability to abstract and put in language form certain characteristic qualities of familiar objects. Binet finds that up to nine years of age the majority of chil- dren define these objects in terms of use only; of a fork, "It is to eat with" ; of a table, "To eat on and to put things on" ; of a chair, "To sit on" ; of a mama, "She takes care of the children." After nine years of age the definitions are in terms superior to use. Of a fork, "It is an object used for eating"; of a horse, "It is an animal"; of a mama, "She is the mother of a child," etc. Other definitions superior to use are those which describe, such as "A fork has four prongs and a handle, it is made of silver," etc. Very young children will answer with silence or, "A fork is a fork." Bobertag points out that many children, who are intelligent and who are not loath to take the trouble to think, remain silent or say, "I do not know." Certainly these children know what a fork is as well as the others who make some kind of STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 23 answer, and neither are they less experienced in the use of language. They make the problem a very difficult one for themselves and are in a state of mind similar to that of the adult if one suddenly asks him, "What is a hole?"; or what he understands by the term state or truth. That this is the con- dition of the minds of some children is shown by the fact that they are able to show a greater intelligence concerning the dis- tinguishing characteristics of the articles for which a definition is asked if in the beginning one guides their thought in some direction. Such guidance may take the form : — *A fork is to — ?", or "A fork is of — ?", or "A fork appears how — ?". Children in their endeavor to find a good answer will sometimes whisper c|uietly to themselves 'Tt is a — " Then they give up the problem and venture, 'T do not know." The writer has found many normal children who must be guided into an answer because they do not see the reason for asking, what to them, seems so simple a question. They have just the attitude of the adult when the latter is suddenly asked, "What is a fork?" So many possibilities for answer crowd into the mind and, not knowing for what purpose the question was asked, they stare and answer nothing. In the school in which these tests were given, the children of the second and third grades had studied and read of the customs of foreign people. It was found expedient to guide the child in this way : "You know in Japan they do not have forks. If you were there someone might ask you — What is a fork? What would you tell him?" Bobertag maintains further that one is not justified in sub- ordinating the use definition to other types of definitions of the object. He asks, "Is it not much more important that one should know of the fork that it is to eat with than that it is of iron, or pointed, or has a steel handle and two sharp points?" The use of the fork for eating is, he says, doubtless its most important characteristic. The others stand only in the relation of further information concerning the thing defined. It is probable that the tendency to add further definition to that of use is due, he thinks, to certain methods of school instruction. 24 CLARA SCHMITT In the school the question, "What is a — ?" is generally banned. If a teacher wishes to learn, for instance whether the child knows what a revolver is, he requires of him when he answers not only, "It is a weapon, or a hand weapon," but he also asks him how a revolver looks, what one does with it, etc. It therefore follows that the child of six years, who has had little of such training .in exact expression, will answer the ques- tion, "What is a fork?" with what had to him been the dis- tinguishing characteristic of a fork, and the most important in his experience. The older child adds in addition to this or substitutes for it some such further information as Binet designates, "Definition superior to use." That the definition may be made of further use for measuring mental development than that conceived by Binet is shown by Bobertag with the use of more and other words than those used by Binet. Bobertag uses the following words : — fork, chair, tongs, kitchen, doll, carriag"e, horse, soldier, penny, rose. These were selected because — i. They could be easily defined by use. 2. They could be easily defined by description. 3. They could be easily defined by means of classifying concepts. The de- velopment of the child from the use concept to the class concept in his definition of words is shown in the following table. Age of Child Fork 5 yr. Knife Chair 5yr- To use with potatoes 6yr. To eat 7yr. To eat Doll Horse Frieda has a It has ears doll Credit given by Soldier Bobertag aoii To sit upon To play with It pulls A soldier -|- 7yr. Of iron To sit To carry Something To play upon which one may sit Of wood Of glass To run To march To he hitched He plays to a wagon music lyr. 9yr. 10 yr. A handle with 3 prongs A kitchen utensil An eating utensil A back and a seat and ■four legs A piece of house fur- niture A piece of furniture Plaything Of flesh A back and belly and four legs Has a uni- form and a helmet and a saber A man A plaything An animal A warrior A plaything for girls A mammal A protector of the father- land + + + ++ ++ ++ STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 25 III. Copies a losenge. — The same may be said of this test as was said of the copying of a square. The drawing of the Hnes at other than right angles to each other, and at just the angle to be an approximately correct copy of the model before him, may frequently be more a test of motor ability than a test of the child's intellectual comprehension of the characteristics of the model before him. The writer has seen children with so little motor control as to be unable to make a passable copy, but who had an intellectual comprehension of the characteristics of the model such as to make them dissatisfied with their own copies. IV. Counts thirteen pennies. — The mental abilities underly- ing the performance of this test are the same as those under- lying the counting of four pennies discussed above. The difference between the two is only that of length of series. Whether or not a normal child of six is able to count to thirteen instead of ten, or any other number depends entirely upon train- ing. The writer has found many children of kindergarten age who have been taught to count much more, some to 100. V. Compares faces from the aesthetic point of view. — Six drawings are used for this test, representing heads of women. Three are pretty and three are ugly or deformed. The faces are compared two at a time, one pettty one and one ugly one, and the child is asked to tell which of the two he considers the prettier. This tests the child's comprehension of the normal or ideal type of face. That the faces would need to be changed greatly were one testing Chinese or Ethiopian children in their native home, goes without saying. Children of Seven Years I. Right hand, left ear. — The command is given the child, "Show me your right hand"; and then, "Touch your left ear." This test, at this early age, depends upon teaching. Up to this time the child has not done work of any such degree of manual skill as to bring out the distinction between the two hands. When he learns to write in the school such distinction is made. The test, if not passed, may mean only that the child has not 26 CLARA SCHMITT had such experiences as would lead him to distinguish between right and left. The writer's memory of the learning of this distinction may serve to illustrate. The knowledge was gained through the hand-shaking situation. The extending of the left hand was always inhibited by the parent's injunction, "No, give the right hand." Later in life, when there came the necessity for distinguishing between the right and left hands, it was always necessary to call to mind the hand-shaking situa- tion, and the kinaesthetic image in the right arm which always came with it, served to distinguish the right from the left arm from which there came no such image. This method has sometimes still to be resorted to in order to distinguish the right from the left hand in unaccustomed situations. Binet directs in his grading of this test that the child who hesitates be considered a failure in the test. But the child who hesitates for a moment and then performs the test correctly may be in some such situation as regards his knowledge of right and left hand as has just been indicated above; and this hesita- tion may in itself be proof that he has a control of the mental process which helps him to make the desired distinction. II. Desicribes a picture.' — For this test a picture is shown the child, and he is asked to tell what he sees in it. He passes the test if he does more than merely enumerate the objects which the picture contains. If he says, for instance, "A man and a boy are pulling a cart," and not merely, "There is a man, a boy and a cart," he has satisfactorily passed the test. Binet finds that three intellectual levels may find expression through this test. The first occurs at the age of three when the child enumerates separately the persons and objects which he sees in the picture, without establishing any connection be- tween them. He says, "At three years one is at the stage of recognition, or identification of objects; this is the important, fundamental work in the perception of the external world in comparison with which all the other processes of perception are complementary." The second level is that of description. This is the level of seven years. The third level is that of interpretation. "The meaning of the picture or the nature of the STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 27 people is told either by a brief word or by an explanatory remark, and often there is even an emotional note of sadness or of sympathy; it is possible that this emotional note exists with children who make a more simple response but they are unable to express it. We call these emotional responses interpretations, because they go beyond the visual impression, there is a real effort to explain the situation depicted." Bobertag criticises Binet on two counts; i. That pictures from which little in the way of description or interpretation could be given were used by Binet. The pictures, he thinks, were too wooden in character, too lacking in action. 2. That Binet's method of gaining response is too indefinite. It leaves the child in doubt and in a vague frame of mind as to what is wanted. Bobertag would add such questions as, "What are the people doing here ? What is happening here ? Why is this one doing so?" etc. In this way he would seek to guide the child into fruitful channels of response. By such methods he finds numer- ous grades of individual development instead of the three enumerated by Binet, but, in general, the three of Binet. Bobertag, with his method of questioning, finds that children younger than fifteen, the position of the test for interpretation in the 191 1 series, are able to make interpretations of pictures. The interpretations may, however, not be correct. A variation of this test was used by Squire (16). She gave five pictures by noted artists. In Disgrace, by Sigsbeeker; In Summer, by Van der Veer, Children of the Press, by Thomp- son, The Goose Girl, by Millet and Embers by Eastman John- son, to children between the ages of six and thirteen. The pictures were shown the child and he was required to give a name to each one, which he considered appropriate to the pic- torial representation. There were ten children in each group. She concludes, "From these results it seems fair to say that: (i) No six-year old child can be expected completely to com- prehend a situation presented pictorially. (2) Neither can a seven-year old child be expected to give an adequate title — a child of this age seems most interested in the appearance of the objects presented. (3) The eight-year old children are in- 28 CLARA SCHMITT clined to interpret meaning in terms of action, and a few are able to give superficial titles. (4) In the ninth and tenth years, while descriptive phases and activities of the object are most likely to be considered, there is, in the case of the first picture, complete comprehension of the artist's meaning. The descrip- tive titles, when given, are condensed into terse phrases, and no longer stretched out into disjointed sentences. (5) In the eleventh year the answers show a wide distribution, due mainly to the fact that the proportion of retarded pupils was greater in this year than any iother. (6) In the twelfth year the majority of names given to the pictures would pass for titles, although a large proportion of them deal with superficial aspects. (7) There were many cases of complete comprehension in the thirteenth year. This imaginative insight could not be expected before adolescence." It is seen from this quotation that Mrs. Squire's results agree closely with those of Binet, to whose method she adhered in refraining from asking the child stimulat- ing questions. As Bobertag points out, the results will vary greatly with the type of pictures chosen and with the method of stimulating the child to express himself. Some of the Squire pictures are plainly not within a small child's realm of experience and are therefore uninterpretable by him. This is certainly true of Children of the Press, a crowd of poorly clad children receiving papers for distribution, and Embers, an old man seated before a grate in which the fire is slowly dying. Also The Goose Girl could have no associations with the experiences of a young American child not old enough to have read of foreign customs. Mrs. Squire found that the significance oi In Disgrace, a picture of a pouting child with face in the corner, was grasped earlier and more frequently than that df any other picture. This picture certainly portrays one of the child's earliest and most significant and, perhaps, most vivid experiences. Bobertag selected his pictures carefully with reiference to the experiences of a small child, and for this reason as well as for the more stimulating method of presentation obtained a result which would lead to a more optimistic judgment of the child's STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 29 ability to interpret or abstract the meaning of a situation ^from the signs by which it is portrayed. In this as well as in any others testing the child's ability to make right deductions in a given situation one must, as Bobertag pointed out, choose the conditions of the situation with refer- ence to the child's experience. To make the sweeping declara- tion that a child of a certain age does not reason, from certain tests given him would probably quite misstate the case. He may reason or abstract correctly within the limits of his experience; or when the right motive for expressing his thought is supplied, as is the case in the picture test when he is stimulated by questions. III. Executes three commissions. — The child is asked to listen while he is told to do something, and then the instruction is given somewhat as follows; "You see the door and the pencil and the watch; go close the door, put the pencil at the end of the table, and hand me the watch." This is a test of the child's ability to attend to a set of directions which have only a sequen- tial relationship and translate them into activity. The test, according to Binet, is passed only if the child carries out the directions without any further encouragement such as, "And what else?"; You have forgotten something," The writer has found many sluggish and unresponsive chil- dren who had to be encourag^ed in this way for one or two sets of directions, but who then would follow out other similar sets without this stimulus. One would certainly deceive him- self and do the child an injustice to grade him as a failure in this test without first arousing his enthusiasm and consequent response in some such way as has been indicated. Children of the first grade fail in some cases in proper response to the school situation, — they will not attempt to carry out the direc- tions of the teacher in games and other schoolroom activities, such as counting, writing, etc. The attitude of the teacher to- ward such a child and her further educational procedure with him is wholly detemiined by the judgment which she forms of his case. She must know whether he is by reason of innate mental defect incapable of such response, or whether his failure 30 CLARA SCHMITT is due to some other factor of disposition, emotion, will, or interest. The type of stimulus which Binet inhibits is necessary to show to what one may attribute such failure. IV. Counts nine sous. — This test has for its material three objects of a value of one each, and three of a value of two each. Binet used pieces of French money. Dr. Goddard uses postage stamps, and the writer uses small squares of paper marked "i, i," etc., since the numbers on the postage stamp are not easily discernible. The test is one of the child's ability to relate the symbols of number to the idea of number. There is involved also the idea of relative value, the value of one thing in terms of another. The idea of relative value involved in buying and selling is one which first appears at some time between five and seven years. If so much of number work as this test involves is taught in the first grade, the majority of children seven years O'f age will be able to pass it. If number work is delayed until the second grade, as is the case in some schools, many children seven years of age will be unable to pass the test. The use of tests similar to this is discussed in a later chapter. V. Names four colors. — This tests the child's ability to ab- stract a quality and name it. The colors red, green, yellow and blue are to be recognized without error. The writer finds no such refinement of method as is insisted upon by Wallin (17) necessary. He directs that saturated colors and dull, not shiny, surfaces be used in the test. If a child knows red as a quality he knows it whether associated with a dull or a shiny surface. If the character of the article whose color he is to name inter- feres with his recognition of the color' — though the writer has never found so anomolous a case, — it would certainly be proof that he did not know the color. In order to relieve the situation and test of any air oi formal- ity — which is always a desirable thing to accomplish in an examination — the writer is accustomed to ask the colors of any objects at hand which happen to be of the required color sufficiently saturated and in sufficiently large masses of solid STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 31 color, such as the color of the book lying before him, the pencil which he is using, etc. The writer finds this test possible for children younger than seven. The ability to distinguish colors exists earlier than the age of seven, but its expression depends upon training. This is shown by the fact that kinder- garten children are trained in the recognition of colors, and normal children of kindergarten experience know them. As was pointed out by Binet, the naming of colors is a step in advance of the discrimination of them. Many de^fective children can not name colors correctly but can correctly sort color cards. Children of Eight Years I. Compares two rememhered objects. — Binet says of this test: "This is a valuable test because it does not depend in the least on instruction, and brings into play the natural good sense of the subject. It consists in investigating whether the subject can, in thinking of two objects, distinguish a difference between them; the perception of the difference is, in fact, the habitual and most natural result of the comparison." In this test one says to the child: "You have seen a butter- fly, have you not?, and you have seen flies. Tell me how is it that they are not alike. How do you know them apart when you see them at the same time?" In the same way he is asked to tell the difference between wood and glass, and paper and cloth. The child is expected to give what constitutes some significant difference between the two objects, such as, "The butterfly is larger than the fly" ; or, "has brightly colored wings and the fly has not." The types of response observed to this test by Binet, Bobertag, and others, are: i. The child main- tains silence. 2. He gives an answer which involves no dis- crimination, "Because they are different," or "Because it is a fly and one is a butterfly," or "They have wings." 3. He gives some non-discriminating differences such as "Wood is thick and glass is thin," or "Paper is whiter than cloth." 4. He gives a correct answer for the first pair asked and, find- ing that answer receives approval, uses it for the other pairs 32 CLARA SCHMITT and cannot be induced to make the correct discrimination for any others. 5. He gives a correct and discriminative response. Bobertag adds to this test one which requires the child to give the characteristics in which two objects are ahke. He uses sun and moon; glass and ice; honey and glue. He says to the child: 'The sun and the moon are alike in something, are they not? How is it that they are alike?" The correct answer is to the leffect that they are both round, or that they both shine, etc. Bobertag finds that the test for differences and the test for likenesses show that the two abilities differ in many cases. Some children are able to pass the one and not the other. n. Coimts backward to i from 20. — In this test the child is asked to count from one to twenty, and then he is asked to count backward from twenty to one. The test is one of the child's ability to rearrange mental content in a new and prescribed way. It shows that he is able to control his associa- tions in such a way as to produce a desired result. Reciting the months of the year and the alphabet backwards are analogous and perhaps more difficult tests. Th^ difficulty of such a test depends largely upon the familiarity with and length of series. Binet considers the test passed if the child takes not more than twenty seconds for the process. In the opinion of the writer the time required should not be so rigidly dictated. Binet also considers the test a failure if the child can be detected counting forward up to the desired point in order to get the next item of the reconstructed series. The writer's introspection at doing this sort of thing shows that there is no other method of doing it, unless the series is so familiar as to make this method of getting the next desired item unnecessary, or as to so shorten the process as to make it seem to be altogether eliminated. With the writer the alphabet is not so familiar a series as to make this method, when repeating it backwards, unnecessary. The child who is able to hit upon such a method of doing his work and to keep his mind to the task so that he makes no errors; who does not forget that his task is to count backward and to inhibit the counting forward association, shows STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 33 his ability to control his mental processes, and has surely passed the test. Defective children of this age are either unable to understand what is required of them, and reply with absolute silence, or can find no method of doing the work even though they do understand what is required and make a valiant effort. Some defective children who do understand what is required and who have a method for doing it, are unable to inhibit the usual count- ing forward association, and after one or two successes at get- ting the desired items for the new series, begin again to count forward. The performance in such case becomes as follows: nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nine- teen, tzventy- tzventy-one, etc. The test is, in the writer's experience, one that can be passed by children younger than eight years of age, in case the series used is one with which they are perfectly familiar. Kinder- garten children who can count to ten or any other number, can also successfully count backward in the series with which they feel a perfect familiarity. Some of the kindergarten children of those examined by the writer, who could count to twenty, failed to count backward from twenty but succeeded in count- ing backward from ten, because the series between ten and twenty was not so familiar to them as to have become automatic, and they could not so divide the attention between the task to be accompHshed and the imperfectly acquired series. III. Indicates omissions in pictures. Four pictures are shown, each lacking some elemental part of the physical make up, and the child is asked to tell what is missing in the picture. This tests the child's ability to compare the representation of a type with the type itself; in this case the human body. IV. Gives day and date. In this test the child is asked to give the day of the week, the month, the day of the month, and the year. An error of three or four days is allowed. That this test may be passed two conditions are necessary. The subject must possess an appreciation of the conception of the measure of time involved in the date, and he must engage in such activities as make use of the date, such as the writing 34 CLARA SCHMITT of letters or the reading of the daily papers. A subject may fail to pass the test merely because he does not engage in such daily occupations as require note of the current day, though he is quite capable of the conception of time measure. On the other hand he may be able to recite the date without possessing any idea of the time measure for which it stands. In the school children are frequently required to place the date on written work. In such case large groups of children may know the date without the corresponding idea of time measure. In order to determine whether the child's knowledge is only the result of such specific teaching or whether it is related to the time conception, the test may be extended by asking the questions, "What day of the week was yesterday? What will be to- morrow? What was last month? etc." Many defective children are able to recite the days of the week, the months of the year, and give the date without being able to answer the foregoing questions correctly. Occasionally a child fails to pass the test according to the standard set by Binet, but is able to answer these questions correctly with reference to the date which he has given. Such a case should be given full credit for the test. Binet says, "We found that in the schools 'maternelle,' a language lesson is given every day at the opening of school in which the day and date are taught. The children are told the day, date and year, and then made to repeat it. However, not one child in the school was able to give us the complete information, nor one the name of the year alone; and for the month many answers were given, even when in reality it was February 8. ... It is a curious fact that children fail most often to give the year. They give no year, they remain silent for they do not know it. Perhaps a year is for them so great a lapse of time that they can form no idea of it." If Binet's finding concerning this test and the fourth of the nine-year-old tests in which the child enumerates the months Oif the year are true for the ages under which they are put, one must conclude that the child who knows the day and date at eight years of age, but cannot know the months until he is nine years of age, is able to pass the former test only because STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 35 of Specific training. If he cannot know the months of the year until he is nine years of age, how can he have a conception of the time measure for which the date stands? V. Repeats 5 digits. — The simplest and most effective way of giving this test is as follows: — One says to the child — "Listen!" and when he is attending "2, 7, i, say it." When he has responded correctly one says again, merely keeping the same attitude of attention toward the child, "4, 9, 6, 3," and so on until he fails. Should his attention at any time wander, it is most quickly brought back by the short command, "Listen !" An added feature of this test is to discover how many repeti- tions of the set of digits, which is just beyond his memory span, is necessary before he can learn to repeat it. If the child can repeat only four digits, then a set of five may be repeated again and again until he can repeat it correctly. This gives some indication of the child's ability to take on a new habit of attention, or to advance to a higher stage of ability. The writer finds frequently a type of defective child who, when given the set, for instance, 3, 5, 9, i, 4, will repeat all the digits but in some inverted order, such as 3, 9, 5, i, 4. One says to the child, "No you did not say them correctly. Say them just as I do," and they are repeated for him again. He, however, persists in saying them in the order in which he first said them. It seems, that having made one set of associations he is unable to break it up in favor of another. Upon one occasion a teacher, hearing this type of response, said of the child "That's just the way he is in reading. If he ever pro- nounces a word wrong, it is very difficult to get him to give the correct pronunciation." The writer has observed, in addi- tion, the following types of response on the part of defective children, i. They maintain silence. 2. After the child's limen is passed, he repeats only the last one or two digits of the set given him. 3. He repeats a set of numbers which may not be at all those given him. 4. He starts out with one of the numbers which has been given him, the first or the last perhaps, and then goes on counting in serial order. Bobertag has found that children of five years of age can 36 CLARA SCHMITT reproduce a group of four digits; at seven years of age a group of five ; and at ten years of age a group of six. He adds to the test, after the child's response, "Was it right?" to which the child answers yes or no. He finds that feeble-minded children main- tain that what they have said is quite right, even though quite unlike the set given them. The normal child is more likely to say, "I do not know," or "It may be wrong." Children of Nine Years I. Gives change from twenty sous. — This test depends both upon ability, teaching and experience. The writer has not found the elaborate refinement of method described by Binet for this test a necessary condition for its proper performance. It is quite sufificient to ask the child to tell what would be the change that one would receive, and then, if he has answered correctly, to tell in what kind of pieces one might receive it. When a quarter is used, and the amount purchased is four cents, the child who answers correctly does not fail to tell you that your change might be in the form of two dimes and a penny. As a test of mathematical knowledge this one does not test the maximum mathematical ability of the child at this age, since the school requires more complex problems of him in the grade in which he normally belongs at nine years of age than the test implies. It is a test in which experience of a specific sort enters very largely in determining the type of performance. Many children who fail in doing the mathematical work of the school, but who are permitted to use money, are able to make change so far as their specific experiences with money permit them to do so. A thirteen-year-old defective boy in the third grade in school was unable to do the arithmetic work of the third grade. He could not learn to subtract or multiply. He, however, could make change with larger denominations and in more complex situations than this test calls for. He had learned to do this through collecting fares in the cab which he drove from his father's small hotel to the railway station. He could tell how much thirteen twenty-five cent fares amounted to, and yet was unable to so generalize his mathematical experience as to be STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 37 able to work out this or other problems with which he had no experience, by the use of the mathematical processes taught in his grade. The children of his grade can work out problems with which they have had no specific experience. They can apply the arithmetic of the school for the purpose. II. Defines in terms superior to use. — Discussed above. III. Recognizees all the pieces of our money. — This test is, perhaps, in its implications of innate ability not different from that one in the fourth year list in which the child is asked to name different objects. To be sure, the distinguishing differ- ences between two pieces of money may be very much finer than the differences between a key, a knife, and a penny. Whether or not the child at this age knows these particular pieces of money depends upon the same ability which enables him at four years to name objects of any other kind, plus the specific experience which enables him to name different coins. The writer has not found it necessary to show the child all these pieces of money in order to determine whether or not he is able to recognize them. The child who can recognize them is able to tell you in what respect a five dollar bill differs from a one dollar bill, or a silver dollar from a half-dollar, sufficiently well to show his acquaintance with them. IV. Enumerates the months. — The ability which underlies this test is not different from that which enables the child at an earlier age to learn the counting series. The difference is merely one of specific instruction, plus whatever difference there may be in the difficulty of learning the two series. Whether or not the majority of children are able to repeat the months of the year at this age depends upon the school curriculum. The table of time measure is taught in that part of the arithmetical course which takes up other tables of measurement. In the Chicago schools this occurs in the fourth grade. Children who begin school at six years of age and progress normally, one grade every year, are in the fourth grade at nine years of age. It is probable, since much use is made of the date before this grade, that the names of the months of the year have been learned before this time. At any rate, the majority of children nine years 38 CLARA SCHMITT of age during the first half of the year in the fourth grade learn the various tables of time measure, including the months of the year, if they have not previously learned them. If this specific bit of instruction came at an earlier or later period than this in the school, it would not, of course, be a suitable nine-year-old test ; and for that reason it cannot be considered a test of innate ability alone. The most important consideration with this test is the conception of time involved. It is characteristic of defective children, who can repeat the months of the year, that they cannot do it upon the demand, "Say for me the names of the months of the year." They re- main silent, not knowing what is wanted. If one starts them out, however, with, "January, February, go on now, say them for me," they can begin and repeat them correctly. In this case they have been able to learn a series, and when it is started for them they can go on with all of its terms but have been unable to relate the series to another conception. They have no idea of the meaning of the series as a measure of time. V. Understands easy questions. — The questions are, ( i ) "What would you do if you missed a train?" (2) "What would you do if one of your playmates should hit you without meaning to do so?" (3) "What would you do if you broke something belonging to someone else?" The answer to the first one of these questions depends upon the specific experience of the child in this particular situation. Binet considers the answer to this question, "Go home again," as incorrect; but in many instances this is what is done. Just what one would do of course depentis upon circumstances. The child whose family would have small choice of trains, say only one a day, has observed that they do go home again if the train is missed. Question number two shows the child's understanding of the relation of conduct to motive. Question number three shows his understanding of the accepted moral way of meeting the situation. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 39 Children of Ten Years I. Arranges five weights. — The weights are in the form of boxes or blocks of identical size and color weighing respectively three, six, nine, twelve and fifteen grams. The child is asked to arrange them in the order of weight. This tests, in addition to the ability underlying the weight test in the five-year series, the child's ability to distinguish small differences in weight. In the writer's opinion, the grasp of the idea of arranging them serially, and an intelligent attempt to do so, is the significant part of the test. An error in the arrangement, such as fifteen, twelve, nine, three, six, is of little or no importance in judging his general intelligence. This test was given by the writer to a college class of twenty students. Each person was given all the time that he desired to arrange the weights to his satisfaction, and was permitted to lift and test them in his own way over and over until he was satisfied that he had arranged them correctly in the order of weight, from the heaviest to the lightest. Of these twenty college students, ten arrived at a correct result and ten of them did not. The ten who failed had some such error as is indicated above. -EJ13- II. Copies drazvings from memory. — The child is asked to re- produce from memory two drawings after being allowed to look at them for ten seconds. One says to him, "I shall now show you two little drawings which you may look at for only a little while. When I take the drawings away, then you are to draw them as well as you can remember. As you have only a few seconds to look at them, you must be careful to look at both of the drawings." When the child is ready with his arms and pencil in position and attention alert, the drawings are 40 CLARA SCHMITT exposed for ten seconds. This test is one of a particular type of memory, — the visual. Psychological investigations of dif- ferent types of memory, visual, auditory, etc., go to show that they vary in ability with the individual. It is reasonable to suppose that children of the same degree of general intelligence might vary considerably in their ability to pass such a test as this, unless the drawings are so simple that they come within the lowest range of ability at visual memory, or the time of exposure so long as to place them within the lowest ability at learning the drawings. This learning may consist in getting a very thoroughly stamped visual image; or it may consist in transferring the visual imagery into terms of other imagery; or the visual imagery may be partially aided or propped up, so to speak, by a partial transference into other types of imagery. Many intelligent children show that they have a method of aiding the visual memory. Sometimes it is with a verbal analysis of the drawings before them. They will say softly to themselves of the second one, "three squares in a row" and then proceed to draw the figure more or less accurately, often with the right hand square turned outward or the middle por- tion closed. Of the first figure one often has evidence in the result that the drawing has been interpreted. The child says softly "a box," and then reproduces the figure, sometimes cor- rectly. Often the figure is reproduced as the conventionalized box, which shows even if one did not hear the child pronounce the word, that he has so interpreted the figure, forgotten the figure itself, and produced his interpretation. A clear example of the necessity for aiding the visual imagery with a verbal analysis was shown by a boy of thirteen. The test was given him in a way different from that prescribed by Binet. One figure at a time was exposed for three seconds and he was required to reproduce it. If wrong, it was exposed again until such time as it was reproduced correctly. Of the second figure, he said softly to himself, "three squares in a row," and reproduced the figure correctly, except that the center portion was drawn as a closed square. He was told that he had re- membered it wrong and might be permitted to look again. With STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 41 the second exposure, he said, "the center one is open," and then reproduced the figure correctly. When shown the first figure he said, ''two squares," and reproduced the figure with the enclosed square in the exact center of the outer one. Upon the second exposure he reproduced it correctly. When asked what he thought about it then, he said, "I said to myself the middle one is nearer one side." Many children aid the visual memory by outlining the figure in the air while observing it. In the writer's experience, the defective child never learns consciously to help out his defective memory with such an analysis. He may or may not learn to represent the figures correctly, after an indefinite number of exposures, but there never is evidence that he finds another type of mental imagery to aid the visual. III. Criticises absurd phrases. — The absurdities are : ( i ) An unfortunate bicycle rider fell on his head and was killed in- stantly. He was taken to a hospital, and they fear he will not recover. (2) I have three brothers, Paul, Earnest, and myself. (3) I am taller than John, John is taller than Henry, and Henry is taller than I am. (4) There was a railroad accident yesterday, but it was not a bad one; the number of dead is only forty-eight. (5) Some one said, "If I should ever grow desperate and kill myself, I would not choose Friday, be- cause Friday is an unlucky day and might bring me unhappiness." The performance of this test requires the ability to hold in attention the several elements of the verbally presented situation, and to form a judgment as to the possibility of their simul- taneous presence in the situation. The writer's experience with this test, as may be seen in the tables II, III, IV following, indicates that children younger than ten years of age are able to do this. To determine this fact, care should be taken, in giving the test, if the child answers incorrectly, to find if he is unable to hold the various elements of the situation in mind sufficiently well to form a judgment, or if he has forgotten or failed entirely to notice some of the elements of the situation as presented to him. It is the practice of the writer when a wrong answer is given to ask the child to repeat the thing that 42 CLARA SCHMITT was said. Frequently he has failed to take note of some of the elements of the situation; for instance, in the first one he sometimes has forgotten immediately that the unfortunate bicycle rider was killed instantly, in which case he says that there is nothing wrong with the statement. It is then repeated for him and he is asked to repeat it until he can do so cor- rectly. It is only then that a wrong response can be attributed to defect of judgment. The defective child may, however, never be able to get all the elements of the situation in the field of attention at one time. Of the normal children tested none required more than a third repetition. Among foreign children it is very common to find that they make use of such an expression as, "I have three brothers, Paul, Earnest and myself," with correct comprehension of the mean- ing. Their meaning is, "There are in my family three brothers" ; but the putting of the statement in the first person does not show a lack of judgment on their part. It is merely a very common misuse of language on the part of foreign speaking people. IV. Understands difficidt questions. — The questions are : (i) What should you do if you were delayed in getting started to school and knew you would be late? (2) What should you do before taking part in an important affair? (3) Why is a bad action done when one is angry more excusable than the same action done when one is not angry? (4) What would you do if you were asked your opinion of someone whom you did not know well? (5) Why should one judge a person by his acts rather than by his words? These questions test the child's ability to formulate a rule of action to meet a given situation. From the answers one can often determine whether the child has generalized the situation or has in mind a particular situa- tion. To question number one, Binet considers only the answers, 'T should have to hurry or "I should have to run," as correct, the idea being to reduce the amount of tardiness. However, the rule or practice adopted by the particular school or the home may determine another answer which would be equally correct. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS A3 For instance, if he says, "I would go back home and get an excuse from my mother," since some schools make this require- ment. The second question the writer finds it necessary usually to put in this form: "What ought one to do before beginning a very important piece of work or anything that is very im- portant?", since the word affair among uneducated classes is not understood. Some children generalize the situation, and answer to the effect that they would think or reflect about it. Some children have in mind particular important situations, usually those in which they have recently engaged, and answer accordingly. One girl, thinking of a fine piece of embroidery which she had been doing for days in the schoolroom for a rather important purpose, answered, "Wash your hands." A boy, thinking of a workshop where he had been for several months learning a trade, said, "Ask the boss to show you how." The generalized form of answer shows a higher range of in- telligence than the particularized form. Young children and defective individuals are, if they answer at all correctly, more likely to particularize the situation than to generalize it. V. Uses three given ivords in tzvo sentences. — Binet uses the words, Paris, fortune, stream; Dr. Goddard uses the words, Philadelphia, money river; The writer uses the words, Chicago, money, river, Binet says of this test that it shows the child's a'bility to invent his own ejcpression. He directs that the child be asked to write the sentence or sentences which he makes. The writer's practice is to ask the child to give his sentences orally. With very young children the word sentence, is not understood, and the child is asked merely to tell something about these three things, or to say something that has these three words in what he says, or to tell a story about them. The success of the test with children of different ages de- pends upon the words chosen. When there is a failure to re- spond with a correct sentence for the words Chicago, money, river, the writer gives other words, such as hoy, river, hall, when the result is generally successful with normal children. This indicates that the ability to invent one's own expression may be something apart from the ability to invent an expression for a 44 CLARA SCHMITT given set of words. Success with certain sets and failure with certain other sets may indicate, among children of the same or different ages, differences in experience, or maturity of thought, but one would have to examine further than the set given by Binet before deciding that the child lacked the ability to invent his own expression. Young children fail to respond to the words Chicago, money, river, because their experiences with such generalized ideas as these is quite lacking; or in their specific experiences, the three ideas expressed by these words may never have had any relation to each other and the child is therefore unable to form a train of ideas which would connect them all. When he is given a set of words which come within the experience possible to his age, he is successful in his response. Illustration of the influence of formal educational experience was Ifurnished by the children whose records appear in the tables below. In the local history which is taught to the third grade, the Chicago river figures much in the development of the city of Chicago. The children from this grade gave gen- erally a sentence which expressed this historical fact, — in effect, "Chicago has a river which cost much money." The children of the other grades did not generally give this sentence. Another type of sentence is one which is grammatically correct but is an invention merely to fulfill requirements, such as, "Chicago has a river, and also much money in its banks." This type of sentence is given very largely by the child who lacks the historical teaching just mentioned. A third type is non- sensical in meaning, such as, "Chicago makes more money than the river does," a sentence given by a fifteen-year-old defective girl. Squire (i6) gave the set, boy, river, hall, to six-year-old children with the requirement that they tell a story. She obtained a uniform result showing that the child of this age is able to invent his own expression. Children of Twelve Years I. Resists suggestion. — The material for this test as prepared according to Binet's suggestions, is : "Prepare a booklet of STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 45 six pages. On the first page two lines are drawn in ink, A and B ; the first, that is the one on the left, is four centimeters long, and the second five centimeters; they are placed in line with each other and one centimeter apart; on the second page two similar lines are drawn, the first five centimeters, the second six; on the third page the first line is six centimeters, and the second seven; on each of the three following pages two lines are drawn in the same positions, but all are the same length, seven centimeters." In giving the test one says to the child, "Which is the longer of these two lines?" (showing the first pair), "and of these two?" (showing the second pair), and so on. Many children attempt to measure the lines; if not directly on the page itself, in some other way, by placing the fingers appropriately on the table before them. For this reason the writer finds it advan- tageous to say to the child, "Which of these two lines looks the longer?" Binet finds that children under twelve years of age tend to answer correctly for the first three pairs, and to make the same answer for the next three. That is, the child points for the first three pairs to the longer line at the right; he has thus established a "habit," and follows the suggestion given for the next three pairs by pointing also to the ones at the right. Binet has not in his discussion of this test mentioned the fact that frequently the wrong judgment on the part of the child is not the result of the type of suggestibility which this test is designed to measure. This error in judgment occurs fre- quently under such circumstances as to make one doubt that it is the result of habit plus suggestibility. If the child pauses for a moment before the two lines of equal length, looks at and scans them carefully, and then indicates one as being longer than the other, the error is very apparently not the result of "habit" and "suggestibility." It shows that he has used his judgment but has judged incorrectly. The writer's experience with this test may throw light upon the child's error. When looking at the two lines intently and moving the eye from the left-hand end of the left line to the right-hand end of the right 46 CLARA SCHMITT line, the left line appears to be the longer. Many of the chil- dren to whom this test was given made this particular type of wrong judgment. The number is indicated in the tables which follow. Those who made the error in such a way as to conform with Binet's interpretation of it, that is, said the right hand Hne was longer, were marked failures in the tables. The writer also tried this test upon six adults who came into the clinic one after another on a certain day. All of these persons made wrong judgments, at least to the extent of saying that they thought the left line was longer than the other but were not quite sure about it. II. Cf. above, test five, under ten-year-old children. III. Says more than sixty words in three minutes. — The child is asked to say as many words as he can think of in three minutes, and is told that they will be counted. Binet says, "This test is very interesting, for its fertility in suggestions. Besides the number of words, one can know their relation. Some subjects give only detached words, each of which requires an effort to recall; others give a series of words, the furnishings of a school, various articles of clothing, geological terms, etc. Some use only names of common objects, others cite abstract words or rather far-fetched words. All this gives an idea of the mentality of the subject. The use of series of words, and of abstract terms, indicates a certain amount of intelligence and culture. ... By this test we are able to estimate, accord- ing to observations which we have made elsewhere, both the intellectual activity of an individual and his verbal type." In addition to the above phases concerned in the judgment one may derive from this test, another may be considered. In the writer's opinion, a certain paucity of words in the perform- ance of this test with young children does not necessarily indicate a low level of intellectual activity; indeed, it may indicate a high level. In the conversation of e very-day life words come not singly and unattached, but are the result of associations which the purpose of the conversation brings about. Other associations than those pertinent to the subject of discussion are inhibited by the normal person. Without a purpose for the STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 47 use of words they may not occur in association. Many children like to comment upon their successes with this test and tell how they accomplish it. One said, "I thought about all the things that we have on our boat, and named them all." Another fastened his eyes on a map on the opposite wall, and mentioned all of his observations associated with it. Many of them make the comment, "It was hard to think of the words." All of this comment on the part of the child shows the necessity for an object and a use for the word before associations with other words can be made. IV. Defines abstract terms. — The terms to be defined are: charity, justice, kindness. See III, under adults. V. Derives the sense of a sentence the words of which are mixed. — A card is given to the child with the words, For — an — the — at — hour — early — ive — country — started. The child is told that here are the words of a sentence which were mixed up, and that if he puts them in the right order he will make a good sentence. This test is discussed further on page 72. Children of Fifteen Years I. Repeats seven digits. — This test is made in the same manner as that which requires the repetition of five digits. In the writer's experience with it most children who succeed are those who after the first or second failure repeat softly to themselves the digits as they are given by the experimenter. This provides the child with an added memory image to aid in recall. II. Gives three rhymes. — The child is asked to repeat as many words as he can think of that rhyme with the word obey. The writer's experience with this test shows that the success attained with it depends upon the word which is chosen. Younger chil- dren will readily construct a rhyme with the word hill, for in- stance, but remain mute when given the word obey. The two-syllable and more unfamiliar word presents to their minds difficulties which they do not attempt to surmount. The same child, however, will glibly recite hill, fill, will, etc., when given the more easy and familiar word. III. Repeats a sentence of twenty-six syllables. — The child is 48 CLARA SCHMITT told that the experimenter will repeat some sentences to him, and that he is then to repeat them exactly as he has heard them, without the change of a single word. The writer's ex- perience shows that success with such sentences is dependent upon the familiarity of the child with the words used. An unfamiliar word or name so attracts the child's attention from the remainder of the sentence that he is unable to give it. When giving such tests to children of foreign parentage it has been found expedient to use the vernacular to which the child is accustomed. For instance, in the following sentences : The other day I saw on the street a pretty yellow dog; Little Morris has stained his nice new apron. Among children of the street type frequently encountered Morris is sometimes an un- familiar name, stained is always an unfamiliar word. The test is passed better by these children if these words are changed in such a way as to make the sentences seem very ifamiliar to them. In the following sentence, — "Ernest is frequently pun- ished for his had conduct" — frequently is a word which the street child has probably never used, even if he has heard it. It is expedient to change it to a word familiar to him in his own vocabulary, IV. Interprets a picture. — See above. V. Solves a problem from several facts. — The two situations presented to the child are : ( i ) ^ woman walking in the forest of Fontainehleau stopped suddenly, dreadfully frightened, hurried to the nearest policeman and told him that she had just seen hanging to a limb of a tree — what? (2) My neighbor has just received some singular visitors. He received, one after the other, a doctor, a lawyer and a priest. What is going on at my neighbor's house? These situations are presented to the child in such a way as to conform with circumstances familiar to him. The name of the park nearest his home is substituted for the forest of Fontainebleau. In the second situation, with Protestant children minister is substituted for priest, and with Jewish children Rabbi is substituted. The writer has considered it expedient to allow credit for answers to the first in addition to the one which Binet permits. Binet judges the only correct STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 49 response to be, "A person zvJw has been hanged." The answer sometimes is made. In addition, one often obtains the answer, ''A zvild animal." Under the circumstances, this is in the child's mind sufficient reason for the conditions of the problem. In the city of Chicago one of the large parks contains a menagerie. There occur occasionally in the newspapers stories of the escape of animals from the menagerie. That these stories are always untrue, of course the child does not know. Another answer which has been given so many times as to show the application of real experiences to this situation is, ''An owl; his eyes frighten you and make you think something dreadful is there." For the second situation, the writer has found it expedient to add an additional caution. If the child answers correctly, "He is ill," or "He is dying," he is asked to tell why in that case the three people have gone there. Frequently the child's correct judgment is made with reference to one of the conditions only, that the doctor has gone there. He does not know why the lawyer and the priest have gone, which shows that he has not taken into account the whole situation. His answer, even if correct, is given such credit only if he can give correctly the functions of the lawyer and priest in the situation. Adults I. Solves the paper cutting test. — A sheet of paper is folded along both diameters before the subject and a small triangle is cut out along the edge which shows but a single fold. The subject is asked to draw on a similar sheet before him the position of the cut out portion when the sheet is unfolded. This test requires control of the mental imagery in accordance with the given conditions, such as to bring about in imagination the correct result of the conditions. II. Reconstructs a triangle. — A card is cut in two pieces along the diagonal. The pieces are placed before the subject on a sheet of paper, and he is asked to draw the resulting shape if the lower piece is placed in such a way that the short side lies along the diagonal of the other card with the right angle at the left-hand corner of the upper card and the end of the 50 CLARA SCHMITT long side pointing downward. One says to the subject, "How will it look if I place the lower card so that this edge lies along this edge, with this corner here, and this one pointing downward?", with the gestures appropriate to the above ex- planation. This test, as the one above, is one of control of the imagery to correspond with the given conditions, with a con- crete stimulus to set up the train of imagery. III. Gives difference in meaning of abstract terms. — The question is asked, What is the difference between laziness and idleness; between event and advent; between evolution and rev- olutionf The passing of this test depends, of course, upon the training which the subject has received. Except among educated classes in America the word advent is unusual, as is also the word evolution. An example which illustrates the dependence of this test upon training is the answer of a twelve-year-old Catholic boy in the high school. He said, "Advent is a church festival; evolution is a term in arithmetic." Both these answers were correct, though strictly they could not fill the conditions of the test. Many children say for revolution^ "It is a turning about," often giving as an example, "A wheel revolves and then there is a revolution." This, to be sure, is correct. Many children give as a definition for revolution^ "It was a war," which, with reference to American history, is also correct. That there is a difference in innate ability between the per- sons whose acquaintance with the words has been somewhat limited and who, therefore, gives a limited definition but en- tirely correct within the realms of his own experience, and the older or better educated person who gives a definition for the words also correct within the realms of his larger experience, is problematical. If the two are of the same age but the educa- tion of the former was cut ofif at such a place that further experience with these words was prevented, one may not rate him upon this test with less innate ability but with less education. IV. Solves the question concerning the president. — The ques- tion is, There are three principal differences betzveen a king and a president; what are theyf This test also depends for its proper performance upon the education of the subject. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 5^ V. Stmimari:;es an observation made by Hervieu. — The child is told that a short paragraph will be read to him, and then he is to tell in his own words the meaning of it. The paragraph is : Manyf opinions have been given on the value of life. Some call it good, others call it bad. It woidd be more just to say that it is mediocre; for on the one hand our happiness is never so great as zve woidd have it, and on the other hand our misfor- tunes are never so great as others zvould have them. It is this mediocrity of life zvhich makes it just, or rather zvhich prevents it from being radically unjust. This tests the ability to control the attention over the period of the reading of the selection and to generalize the abstract thought which it contains. IV FALLACIES AND INADEQUACIES OF THE BINET-SIMON SERIES From the use and analysis of the Binet-Simon tests one reaHzes that the theory underlying their construction was not clearly conceived by their authors or was not consistently carried out. The method used in the first series was that of putting to children of different ages a large number of questions and setting down as suitable to each age those questions which re- ceived at a given age a certain percentage of correct answers. The 1908 series, which has received the largest use, contained a reading test. In the 191 1 series this reading test with a few others of less importance were eliminated in order that the series might be free from those tests which are the product of educational advantage. Because of these considerations, then, the series may be accepted as designed to measure intellectual growth from year to year without reference to the changes produced by formal instruction. Though Binet nowhere definitely outlines his theory one gains the impression that the different age groups of tests are designed to measure something in mental development which is qualita- tively different from year to year. One infers from various statements that certain tests are possible at nine years of age, for instance, which were not at eight because of a certain quality of the nine year mental age not possessed by the eight year mental age. In other words the assumption is that there is a mental growth from year to year which makes it possible to take on at corresponding ages certain experiences without ref- erence to previous experience. For instance, at a certain age it is possible for the child to know the months of the year, at another age he cannot. That is, this underlying factor of mental growth determines the form of expression of mental life. The converse of Binet's theory is that the form of ex- STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 53 pression of mental life at any time is determined by the sum of previous experiences. The theory of Binet may be expressed as follows : at a cer- tain chronological age the mental age may be represented by X, at a succeeding chronological age it is y, and at a third it is z. According to the converse theory, the mental age of the first period, is x, at the second x + i, at the third x -\- 2. A third possibility presents itself. At the earliest measurable stage of development the mental age is x, at the second it is y, and at a third it is s, and thereafter at succeeding stages it is 2 + i» ^ + 2, etc. The unknown quantities stand for the im- measurable innate factors which distinguish the vegetative idiot from the normal person and the ordinates for the measurable factors of experience. Apparently Binet assumed the first possibility to be the rule of development from infancy to adult age. That the assumption is true to this extent has not been proved by observation or experimentation in child psychology. It is probable that the third possibility more nearly expresses the truth. There are, we know, periods of development in the child where great and significant changes take place, both physically and mentally. The acquisition of walking and talk- ing mark stages of development which are of great significance in the growing child. Certainly the mind is qualitatively dif- ferent after the advent of the great increase of motor ability accompanying walking, and of language. The advent of puberty marks another such stage of development. The mental changes accompanying puberty mark off a rich field for investigation. The walking stage and the pubertal stage have their bases in physiological changes which may be more or less definitely ac- companied by intellectual changes. To what extent these physio- logical changes cause or accompany or are paralled by intellectual changes of a qualitative kind not dependent upon previous experience, is one of the unanswered problems of genetic psychology. Aside from these few possibilities we do not know whether mental development proceeds from year to year as Binet assumed. We do not yet know except in a few matters 54 CLARA SCHMITT whether a child is innately more capable of certain mental pro- cesses at one time than at another. In the discussion of the preceding pages it has been shown that some of the tests placed at certain ages by Binet and supposed to measure abilities peculiar to those ages, could be used to call out an expression of the same abilities at earlier ages if so presented as to fall within the child's range of possible experience at those ages. The interpretation of pictures, counting backward, and originating of a sentence with three given words are cases in point. Until we know more of these most fundamental of the under- lying facts of genetic psychology we can not unqualifiedly accept the Binet-Simon tests for the purpose for which they were de- vised, namely the measurement of mental age. We must know in more fundamental terms than they express what it means to be eight years of age, or ten years of age mentally. We must be able, too, to separate innate mental development from that due to education of specific types. This the Binet- Simon tests fail largely to do. This point has been indicated in the foregoing discussion of the individual tests. The most striking example of this lack is the test which requires the reciting of the months of the year. The very young or the defective individual may have the ability to learn this series with more or less facility but the conception of time relationship in- volved in the series is one which it is possible is not entertained by either. The same thing may be said of the counting series which may be learned as a verbal series without the accompany- ing conception of number. Such tests as these without further investigation fail to indicate the type of mental complex involved in passing them. It was Binet's attempt to measure only innate ability as dis- tinguished from information, however, which led him to discard reading tests from the 191 1 series.* By reason of this the series now fails to take account of a most important set of abilities, those that the school endeavors to develop. Many innate abilities can be measured only by the reaction of the individual to the learning situation. The most obvious measure of the ability or group of abilities which enables one to learn STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 55 to read is the amount that has been learned after a given period of instruction, — say a year in the first grade of the pubHc school. The use which can be made of the school tests of reading, writing, and arithmetic is discussed below. They are valuable because, in a given situation in which the curriculum and the child's history are known, the relation of the product to the experience can be measured. However, if we should admit that there is such development of mental age as may be measured from year to year, the Binet- Simon tests do not constitute an accurate measure oi it, as is claimed by Binet and his followers. This is most strikingly shown in the work of Goddard (13) who applied the scale of 1908 to two thousand nonselected children of the public school. He made a distribution table showing the relation between the mental age as measured by the Binet-Simon tests, and the chronological ages of this group. This piece of work was discussed in 191 2 (18) by the writer as follows, beginning with Goddard's table showing the chronological and mental age distribution of his two thousand subjects. Mental Ages >-~ >— 1 >— , •--, •*- Age 4 yrs 1223 8 5 yrs 2 4 8 40 16 4 114 6 yrs I 3 29 48 69 9 o I 160 7 yrs o I 2 8 IS 114 50 4 3 I97 8 yrs o o 2 2 i 87 86 16 12 3 209 9 yrs 27 54 56 58 4 2 201 10 yrs 3 15 24 ,19 124 27 8 2 222 11 prs I 4 13 25 50 60 12 I 166 12 yrs 4 10 13 42 36 39 144 13 yrs II 5 6 30 19 21 7 89 14 yrs 116543 20 15 yrs 30120 6 Showing the chronological and mental age distribution of the two thousand public school children graded by the Binet tests. The writer has computed from this distribution table the percentages of those who passed "at age" or normal, "below * Nouvelles Researches sur la Mesiire Niveau Intellectual dies les Enfants d'Ecole. L'A. P. 17: 146. 56 CLARA SCHMITT age," and "above age" for the different ages. These percentages arrange themselves as follows : Age Below Age At Age Above Age S 12.2% 35-0% 52.6% 6 20.6 30.0 49.4 7 13-2 57-8 28.9 8 44.0 41. 1 14.8 9 40.2 27.8 31.8 10 27.4 55.8 16.6 1 1 • • • • 55-4 3'6.2 7.8 12 72.9 27.0 00.0 13 92.1 7.8 00.0 This table shows that with the exception of the seven-year- and the ten-year-old children less than fifty per cent of any group were graded "at age" according to the Binet scale. Of the eight, nine, eleven and twelve-year-old children the largest group is of the "below age" group; and of the five- and six-year old children the largest is the "above age" group. Dr. Goddard has grouped all the "above age," all the "below age," and the normal or "at age" groups regardless of chronological age and obtains a curve very closely approximating a normal distribu- tion. Of this curve Dr. Goddard says, "The significance of these figures obtained from the general result is very great. There is every reason to believe, and statisticians confirm this, that any group of two thousand children may be taken as a fair sample of conditions to be found in any number of children to be found in any country. Consequently whatever percentages or proportions are found here may be taken to be very closely the standard to be found elsewhere." In answer to this state- ment we may make the very obvious objection that this curve is not made up of the measurement of one quality of an otherwise homogeneous group, but is compiled from the measure of many qualities of children of different ages. It is made up of the results of tests applied to children of different ages who may not have done the same tests, as will be presently shown. The curve can, therefore, have no statistical validity. It is merely a happy or an unhappy accident. Dr. Goddard says further, "Bearing this in mind it becomes very significant when we find that we have 78 per cent of the children practically normal and satisfactory — for we allow those children who are one year above STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 57 and one year below to pass with the central group as satisfactory children." It is only by lumping the percentages again that this approximation of a normal distribution is obtained. The percentages of those graded normal according to Dr. Goddard's standard for the different ages arrange themselves as follows: ^S^ • 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 years Per cent normal.... 77.1 91.2 80.7 90.4 83.5 76.5 73.4 52.20 31.4 This table shows that it is only for the ages five, ten, and eleven that a standard approximating that fixed by Dr. Goddard is obtained. The twelve and thirteen year group fall below, the six, seven, eight, and nine year groups above it. The adop- tion of Dr. Goddard's standard is, however, hardly permissible because of the great pliability of the rule for grading the tests laid down by Binet. This rule, presumably followed by Dr. Goddard, allows a child to be graded normal or at age if he misses not more than one of the tests designed for his age. If he misses two of the tests for his age he may be allowed to substitute tests of a higher age and still be graded normal. This method gives the nine-year-old children, for instance, opportunity to fail on any two of the six tests for that age and substitute any three of the sixteen remaining tests. They are then graded as nine 'years of age mentally. The eight- year-old children may pass any five of the twenty-two tests above those for eight years and are then graded nine years of age. The ten-year-old children may fail to pass two of the ten-year-old tests and not a sufficient number of those above to compensate and are then graded nine years old mentally. In this way we may obtain one mental age group by classing together three groups who have done different things. Dr. Goddard gives a further pliability to the method of grading by grouping together with these as normally satisfactory two other groups who have done still other things. Further doubt is cast upon the accuracy of the tests by the fact that judgments arrived at through their application do not coincide with that of the school concerning the same subjects. Dr. Goddard, himself, recognizes this. He says, "Analyzing our data so as to show where each individual is, we find that 58 CLARA SCHMITT the case is not as favorable as we suggested in the previous paragraph, that many children who are normal mentally [according to the Binet tests'] are two or three or possibly four years behind their grade. We find a great many other children who are mentally dull, not as far behind their grade as their mentality would require. We find still worse condi- tions among those who are ahead of their age mentally. They are not correspondingly ahead of their grade. In other words the two systems do not agree at all. Now having satisfied our- selves that the Binet scale is the most accurate method that we have of determining intellectual ability in children, the question at once arises, how much injustice is being done these children by the ordinary school routine?" The teachers of the school might well retort to this question that as they have the child continuously over a period o|f yea'rs their judgment of his abilities ought necessarily, in general, to be more accurate than that arrived at by a ten or twenty-minute examination over very little of the matter with which the school concerns itself. Terman and Childs (15), after the appHcation of the Binet- Simon scale of 396 non-selected children of the public school, came to the following conclusion : 'Tt is evident from the results of our investigation that the Binet scale requires a radical revision to make it at all suitable to conditions in this country." The revision of the Binet tests made by Terman and Childs, as they point out, "has made the lower end of the Scale more dijfficult by setting back many of the tests of Binet's higher years, and the upper range has been supplemented . . . and some of the tests even discarded . . . Believing that tests of memory, vo- cabulary, observation, reasoning, and reaction to a complex social or moral situation bring out fundamental characteristics of mental ability, we have given our scattered range of tests on memory, questions of comprehension, reasoning tests in- volving observation, linguistic invention, and association, such as the completion test, and rearranging a sentence of mixed words, vocabulary, etc., so that a child of any age will be tested on a number of these important questions," Daugherty (19) applied the 191 1 series to 483 public school STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 59 children with the following results: 30 per cent passed at age, 18 per cent above age, 42 per cent below age. Of the 483 children, 45 per cent were in the school grade normal to their chronological age, 49.3 per cent were retarded, and 5.6 per cent were advanced. When distributed according to mental age 48.7 per cent were in the school grade normal to that age, 21.1 per cent were retarded, and 30.2 per cent were advanced. Goddard graded four hundred institution feeble-minded with the 1908 series. He read the classified grading to the teachers and other officers of the institution and asked for criticisms upon the classification. The object of the exercise was to determine whether the individuals classed together by the Binet- Simon system would be so classed by the people who had had school and other types of acquaintance with them. The result was that no individual was considered by the majority as not belonging to the class in which his name was presented to them. One necessarily must doubt the validity of a judgment obtained under such circumstances as this. The classified list was read to the teachers. The members of this institution doubtless were already prejudiced in favor of the system adopted for use there, and in the judgment of their psychologist. Their minds were not left free for unprejudiced judgment. Kuhlman (14) asked the teachers and other officials to grade fifty institution feeble-minded into five groups. These children graded from eight to twelve years mental age by the tests. Of the result he says, "The most striking fact about this table is the frequent wide range of disagreement of the teachers' grad- ings. For nine children these grades differ by four years, for nine others they differ by three years, for nineteen by two years, and for seven there is complete agreement. There can be no question about the fact that the Binet-Simon tests do not make half as frequent or as great errors in the mental ages as are included in these gradings based on careful, prolonged obser- vation by experienced observers on this class of children. In other words, the chances for error with the tests are much less and are smaller when they do occur than is the case with the grading of any one individual experienced observer when this 6o CLARA SCHMITT grading is on the usual general observation." The answer to this objection is that there are many considerations to enter into the estimation of the intelligence of any subject, and dif- ferent teachers may have had different bases for their standards of judgment. We do not know what was the standard of the individuals who passed judgment. It is possible that each teacher had in mind that subject of instruction which it was his func- tion to impart. For one it may have been reading, for another, manual training. According to the writer's observation ability of defectives in the two subjects varies widely. The various Binet series provide no test for either, — if one takes into account the rule for grading for the series prior to 191 1. The official concerned with the institution routine work may have had in mind as his standard the reliability of the child in such work. The value to be placed upon any judgment of general mental ability is proportional to the number of items taken into con- sideration and the weighting given those different items. We do not know in view of the disagreement whether in this case it was the judgment of some of the teachers or the rating arrived at by the use of the Binet tests which was most reliable. Since there was so great disagreement between these people who were well equipped by experience and observation to make a judgment and the tests, it is probable that the former took into consideration certain factors which might well be included in any system of mental measurement. The extensive pieces of work upon the Binet-Simon tests quoted above show, also, the lack of correlation between the series and the child's ability to succeed with the work of the school. The Binet tests, therefore, while professing to test native ability are concerned very little with the education which all normal children have the native ability to acquire, and which is O'f much importance in civilized life. The school is busy during the first four years of the child's school life developing ability in the processes of reading, writing and arithmetic. In in the new series there is none at all. The arithmetic tests are: the 1908 series there was no reading test before eight years and a counting test; a test of the combination of the numbers STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 6r 2, 2, 2, I, I, I ; and making change for a quarter. The school teaches during the years for which these tests are designed more complex processes than these. Along with and after the mastery of the early subjects of formal instruction, the school is concerned with their application, especially of reading, to the acquisition of a systematized body of information, such as geog- raphy, history, etc. We have then to conclude, that since the 1908 series falls short of measuring the abilities which the school expects to develop, the 191 1 series is still more open to criticism. In the work of the public school ability to read is of the greatest importance because upon it depends all further progress in the school. Number conceptions and knowledge of the pro- cesses of their combinations are of so great importance in the practical activities of every day life that arithmetic occupies a large part of the time of the public school. Mentally defective children in the public school display their defectiveness in their slowness or failure in acquiring the processes of reading and number work. Any set of tests which fails to explore these realms of mental activity can be of little value as a measuring scale for backward children brought to the clinic of the public school. We must conclude, then, that at least the lower end of the Binet-Simon scale does not measure the ability of a child in accordance with the social standards set for him. The second psychological fallacy implicit in the grading of mental defectives according to mental age is seen in the false assumption that a defective individual of any age, who tests to a certain mental age according to the Binet-Simon scale, is equivalent to or identical with the normal child of correspond- ing chronological age. Examples which illustrate this point may be quoted from the clinical studies made by Huey (20). He says of case 22 : "In school Hilda reads poorly in the first reader, adds and subtracts very little, is poor in spelling, zvriting and industrial work, hut dances zvell. She gives only momentary attention to anything, gets on fairly well with others, and her worst fault is stated to he her insistence on being the center of attraction. She is most restless and 'always sits on one leg or 62 CLARA SCHMITT twisted around in her seat.' She appears bright, &nd even spontaneous, hut she does not get the work done. She is over- demonstrative of her affection for persons whom she likes. The Binet tests give her a mental age of eight and one-half years, a retardation of two years. She could not repeat i6 syllables, could not count stamps, nor backward from 20 to 0, could not write a four word phrase when heard, could not give the date even approximately, nor make change, name the months, or arrange weights. Hilda has learned to write with moderate legibility, but cannot use writing to any purpose. In trying to reproduce stories I and II and to write of a trip in a flying- machine, she wrote p, 6 and 4 lines respectively, being a hotch potch such as 'a fat pig a hoig to leand a good heven Cand a sometime cand.' etc. Instead of writing similars and opposites, in the tests for these, she either copied the words with strange transpositions and changes, or occasionally wrote some appar- ently unrelated word or series of letters. . She crossed 4p and 77 A's in tzvo minutes each, with no errors. Her tapping record counted to nearly normal, but she showed exceedingly poor con- trol, tensing her fingers into knots, hammering the key. etc." All of this description points out in a very striking way the defects of Hilda's mentality as compared with that of the normal 8- year-old child in the school. The normal child of this age can do more than read poorly in the first reader, has a knowledge of arithmetic processes such as enables him to make changes within one dollar; to recognize related units of measure, such as inch, foot; minute, hour, day, week; pint, quart; cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar? dollar; to use the tables of two's and three's; to count by two's to 24 and by three's to 36; to tell half of any multiple of two to 24 and one-third of any multiple of three to 36; to read and write numbers of one and two orders ; to read time by the clock to hour, half hour, quarter hour; and to answer any of the 45 addition and subtraction facts. [According to the 1912 Course of Study for the Second Grade of the Elementary Public Schools of Chicago.] The child of 8 years can use writing to some purpose; he can or- ganize his mental life with reference to this accomplishment STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 63 SO that he does not produce the results which were quoted of Hilda. Another example of this fallacy is that of Robert P., quoting from the volume mentioned above. "In school Robert reads fairly in the first reader only, does some addition and subtrac- tion, but failed on 5 x 2 and 4 x i. He does well in calisthenics and likes to 'lead.' He is also good at dancing and in basketry. In manual work he is generally quite satisfactory, only working by fits and starts, though occasionally he turns in and zvorks hard for a time. . . . Mentally Robert shows an intelligence of nine years zvith a retardation of five and one-half years. His speech is nasal, but he can articulate normally. -He could repeat five numerals but once in seven trials, could not count from 20 to 0, nor make change of 4 cents from 2^, name the months, detect nonsense in sentences, or give 6 of the /p details about the 'fire.' He seems to be bored with the trouble of think- ing. He did not make absurd replies, but was merely weak in his adaptations and at the same time rather self-satisfied with them. 'Not very hard' was his characteristic reply after utterly failing to rearrange the shuffled words of a sentence. . . . In the zvritten tests the work is very weak both in quantity and quality. His handwriting is irregular almost to scribbling, though large and therefore moderately legible. His mis-spell- ings, as in some of the other cases, suggest a form of agraphia." It is needless to point out that the normal child of nine years can do more than read in the first reader, would not fail on 5 X 2, is not bored with the trouble of thinking, and is not satisfied with absurd results, such as were mentioned in Robert's case. In the cases described above one also sees along with the fallacious assumption which they disclose, the failure of the Binet tests, alone, to adequately describe or explore the mental life of any subject. This inadequacy of the Binet tests is strik- ingly shown in the description of a case which was discussed by the writer in the above mentioned article: — "But the writer feels impelled to assert that if there were complete agreement between the test findings and school grade they would still, alone, constitute an inadequate measure of mental ability or mental de- 64 CLARA SCHMITT velopment. The best possible illustration of this is afforded by the description of a boy by Holmes in a recent article. The Classification of Clinic Cases. The following is an abstract of Holme's description of the case : The case was that of a six-year- old hoy who had been in school for six months without having made any progress in the work of the school in spite of the fact that an adult sister attempted every evening to teach him his lessons for the next day; he cried when struck by his playmates or when hurt by his playthings but did not strike back or in any way try to defend himself and would run to his mother for help; he could assemble the parts of electrical apparatus, arranging cells, wires, and bells so they would ring; could connect an in- candescent lamp so it could be lighted; coidd start and operate a gas engine by himself. In commenting upon this case Dr. Holmes fell in the fallacy of an uncritical acceptance of the Binet tests when he said, Tt presaged what was revealed by the Binet tests, namely that the boy was one year beyond the mental attainment of the average boy of his age,' that is, he had passed the Binet tests for seven years. In the case of this boy were found by Dr. Holmes four distinct judgments. His sister and the school thought him a dullard ; his father, with whom he worked at the electrical apparatus, thought him all right; his playmates considered him a mollycoddle; and the Binet tests classified him as somewhat precocious. No two of these judgments were the result of the same set of data. The school judged him by his proficiency in acquiring the processes of reading, writing, and number conceptions; the Binet tests have nothing to do with these school abilities except counting to thirteen and writing from copy in the seven-year-old tests, in either of which he may have failed and still be graded one year ahead of his age. Neither is there in the Binet tests anything which would hint at or indicate his ability with mechanical contrivances; nor that his social reactions would be as they were. Should the school and social disabilities be persisted in through life or for several years he certainly would not escape being considered a defective. It is also clearly in- dicative of the inadequacy of these tests that Dr. Holmes could not give a description of the case in terms of their result. He STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 65 had to resort to other facts in order to present a true picture. We certainly can not agree with him that this boy had the men- tal attainments of a normal boy of seven years. In that case we should have to believe that the majority of seven-year-old boys possess his mechanical efficiency and his academic ineffi- ciency, which is not true. Children of six can learn to read and if children of seven can assemble the parts of a gas engine and run it without adult supervision no one knows it. In the case of this boy there was one and possibly there were two of his social relationships in which he failed to function prop- erly, namely, in his reaction to the school and to his playmates. It would seem to be the legitimate business of the psychological clinic to find why he thus failed. Was the defect in his school work due to a lack of ability for that type of activity, to lack of interest in it; or was it a result of his defective social re- sponse? And what was the cause of this latter defect? Another case showing the inadequacy of the Binet tests to describe a case of mental defect was described by the writer in the above mentioned article as follows : "This case was a boy, Frank, aged sixteen. Following are his reactions to the Binet series copied from the notes of the writer made as they were given. Eight Year Tests : 1. Comparison of butterfly and fly, etc., passed. 2. Counts backwards, passed ( ?) (Forgot where he was once and had to ask what had said last). 3. Notes omission eyes, etc., passed. 4. Date, failed. 5. Repeats five numerals, passed (once out of three trials). Nine Year Tests : 1. Makes change, passed (25 cents — 9 cents. Instead of mak- ing the change told that one could receive it in the smallest number of pieces in a nickel, a dime, and a penny). 2. Definitions superior to use, failed. 3. Recognizes money, passed. 4. Months of the year, failed. 5. Problem situations, passed. 66 CLARA SCHMITT Ten Year Tests: 1. Arranges weights, passed. 2. Copies design, passed. 3. Detects incongruities, failed. 4. Problem situations, failed. 5. Three given words in a sentence, failed (Chicago has money in the river). Twelve Year Tests : 1. Resists suggestion, passed. 2. Three words in a sentence, failed, 3. Utters 60 words in three minutes, failed; (27 words. Pauses much, though urged to go fast). 4. Definitions, failed. (Charity? "Don't know." Justice? "Justice of the peace." Goodness? "Gracious.") 5. Rearranges shuffled words in a sentence, failed. According to the Binet series this boy grades nine years of age, and it might be thought is a fit candidate for the feeble- minded institution. The further disabilities which these tests do not disclose are as follows : 1. He cannot recognize any printed words and not all of the alphabet, though kept in school the regulation time. 2. He can write only his own and his brother's names. Told to write the cat ran away wrote the set, though he could spell cat correctly. 3. He can do simple number combinations such as 5 plus 6, 10 minus 4, by counting his fingers. 4. He knows only that his birthday comes in the summer; said, "My mother told me but I always forget." 5. He has very poor control of associations which do not provide a sense stimulus as is shown in his reactions to the opposite test. Out of 20 stimulus words he reacted correctly to only 6, gave a wrong association for 10, and failed entirely for 4 of the stimulus words. 6. He is very suggestible. In the Aussage test accepted 5 out of 7 suggestions. The positive abilities which this boy possesses and which the Binet tests cannot disclose are : STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 67 1. He can do a test involving the planning of a complex set of spatial relationships in a planned and comprehensive way. This ability is disclosed by test IV of the Healy-Fernald series. 2. He has the ability to do in a planned and comprehensive way a test requiring the analysis of the functional relationships of a simple mechanical contrivance, as is disclosed by test V. of the Healy-Fernald series. He also did tests I, H, and HI of this series in the manner considered intelligent in the grading adopted in the work of the clinic. The history of the boy's industrial life correlates with the inference that one might draw from his performance with the mechanical tests. He has been an efficient farm laborer for some months, worked satisfactorily for a creamery for a time loading and unloading cans etc., and as a janitor for a small school building. He is capable of earning his living without direct supervision." The faults of the Binet-Simon series may then be summed up as follows : 1. The assumption of serial mental development from early childhood to adult age. 2. The omission of tests of socially significant abilities. 3. Failure to distinguish certain innate abilities from a cer- tain expression of them due to age or experience. 4. Is not an accurate measure of mental development of normal children. 5. The assumption that a defective is quantitatively rather than qualitatively different from a normal individual. This point is discussed further on p. 164. There is a further lack in the series which has been implied in the description of Frank. With the Binet series alone one might have had no hint as to his industrial possibilities. The mechanical tests of the Healy-Fernald type, it is possible, may be made to supply such deficiency. To determine this, studies for the purpose of correlating them with the handwork of the school or other places where such activities can be measured need to be made. V DISCUSSION OF BINET-SIMON TABLES The reactions to the Binet-Simon tests have been summarized in the following seven tables. Each table is arranged with refer- ence to grade, one for each grade. The first column of num- bers at the extreme left of each table refers to the individual children. The age of each child is in the second left hand column, and the results of the individual tests are recorded in the following columns. A plus sign indicates success and V failure with the tests according to the Binet-Simon grading, and where modifications from the French are required those adopted by Goddard are followed. Where the author has further modified the standard for grading has been indicated in the text of discussion and in the case of some tests by footnote to the tables. The tests were given with the Healy-Fernald tests to the group of children described on page 2. These children were considered normal by the teachers who had them in charge. No child known to be defective or seriously backward is admitted to the school. There were some retarded members, the extent of which is shown in table VIII below. The causes assigned by the teachers for retarded cases were, in general, illness, de- layed start to school because of the theory of the parent that such a course was best for the child, and the interruption of regular study by travel. The general technique of procedure was adopted with reference to demands of the Healy-Fernald tests. It is discussed further on page 86. In the conduct of the two sets of tests the Binet-Simon tests were reserved for the last. By the time they were reached the child had been doing tests for an hour or more. In some cases there was too much restlessness and fatigue to carry the child as far as the majority of his comrades in his grade were able to go STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS (iCj and the tests were then discontinued. This accounts for the unevenness of the right hand side of some of the tables. Binet-Simon Record of Kindergarten. — Table I shows the record made by the twenty-four kindergarten children. A glance at the table for the tests below nine years shows that the greatest amount of failure occurs with the following tests: the 6-3 test,* six failures to copy the lozenge. When watching these children work at this test one comes ■ to the conclusion that the failure is due to lack of muscular control. The fre- quently heroic and often unsuccessful attempt to draw the slanting lines of the lozenge is easily apparent. Seven fail at y-2,, describe a picture; 15 at 7-4, give the value of nine cents; 9 at 8-2, to count backward. The counting backward test was not an utter failure on the part of any child graded ^ . Those so graded were able to comprehend the problem sufficiently well to make a reasonable attempt at it, and to get more than two-thirds of the required terms correct. The errors were mostly those of omission. They come about in this way; the child has successfully reached per- haps fifteen in his backward progress toward one, and here he pauses to go through the process discussed above by which he determines the next term in the series. He counts up from some term nearer one and having come up to fifteen again, says thirteen instead of fourteen. Twenty-four children fail at 8-4, the date; nine at 8-5, to repeat five digits. The 7-4 and 8-4 tests concern themselves with bits of specific instruction not included in the curriculum of the kindergarten. Of the nine year tests the first four are tests of the results of specific school instruction. The 9-2 test, defines in terms super- ior to use, may be classed as such because of the usual school exercise of defining words found in the reading and other exer- cises of the school. The fifth one is a test which involves having formed a generalized rule of action for a given situation. Of the eighteen children who were given the nine year tests, failure was the rule with the first four. Eleven of the eighteen were *This convention is adopted to indicate test III of the six year group. i:3 be be t4 e^ 1^ bx) VOOO WJXOOOOVOOO 1:^00 r^ w 00 00 bfibobofcflbiObflbcbiObobflbo bo!MbX)bcbobX)biObiObDbfl be bo be •T3 -O ^3 t^ w a bo in >+ + +>+ +++++>+>+ > > > ^ > > > > > > >>>>>>>>> > > + 0\ CO > > > > > > + >>> +>>> + > + + (>q +> > >++ >>> + + >> +> > + > M > > > > > > >>>>>>>>> > > + m >++>+>>+++> >+>+>+>+++ + + + + rJT >>>>>>>>>+> >>>>>>>> +> > > > + fO +++++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + 01 + > + >> +>+++ + >+>+++>+>+ >+ + + M >++++++++++ ++>+++++++ + + + + lO +>+++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + ^ >>>+>+>+>>> >>>>++>+++ + + + + >> **^ +++++++++++ ++++++++>+ >+ + + 0) ++++>>+>+>+ ++>+++>++> + + + + hH +++++++>+++ ++++++>+++ + + + + m ++++++>++++ >+++++++++ + + + + '^ >>+++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + >. ro +>+>>>>++++ ++++++>+++ + + + + 0) ++++++>++++ ++++++++++ + + + > t-H >++++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + in ++++>++++++ >+++++++++ + + + + ^ +>+++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + I-H CO +>+++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + 0) +++++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + M +++++++++++ ++++++++++ + + + + in + + CO I-H + + + + + + bo < •55- O O M M inin'P'9°??^?^V7VV ininininininmmin o o< 01 coTt-mvovoMp ^ ^J? ++ CO 1 t^OO Q comm^oo Q i-i On ininvO rnin^incovo ^m 0\'^t^cocoin(N\Q W 'i- g-^ro-^inco-<^^inco w \0 t^ in en ■^ hH t-H M % P-. u e ^ <="B a> S^ tn ^ TJ O S^ & '^ 5 V4 .3 ^ ^ S M-B rt ■-M g vz! a ^ > > > > > > > > > > HH h-( HH hH W > > > J_^ ^ > > > > > > > > > > > >> + fO >+>> ++ + +> >> + > > \N C^ +>> + > + + >> > + + + + M ++>> >+ + +> >+ + + + m +>> + >+>+>++>++ + +>+ + + U '^ +>+ + >+++++++++ + +>+ + + o CO + ++> >+>>>>++++ + >> + + + H-( CI > > > > >>>>>>>>>> >+>>+> HH >+ + + +>+>++>+++ >>+>+ + U-) + + + + ++++++++++ + + + + + + ^ >+>> > > +> > >> +> + >>+>+> >^ ro +++> +++>++++++ + + + + + + ON 01 >>> + ++++++>+>+ + + + + + + - >^+> > +>> +> +>>> >>+ + +> ir> + + + + ++>>++++++ + >+ + + + xf > > > > >> +>+>>+ + + >+ + + +> >v CO + + + + ++++++++>+ + + + + + + cx) n + + + + +++>+>++++ + + + + + + M + + + + ++++++++++ + + + + + + lO + + + + ++++++++++ + + + + + + Tt- +>+ + >+>+++++++ + + + + + + >> CO + + + + +++++++>++ + + + + + + r^ CM ++>> +>+>+>>+++ + + + + +> " + + + + ++>+++>+++ >+>+ + + m +++ + ++++++++++ + + + + ;_, -* + + + + ++++++++++ + + + + >. CO + + + + >+++++++++ + + + + VO cs ++> + ++++++++++ + + + + >H + + + + ++++++++++ + + + + ID + + + + ++ > i_^ ^ + + + + ++ + >. CO + + + + ++ + lO CM + + + + ++ + )— 1 + + + + ++ + bo < VO 'O \0 1|^ VO VO VO VO l-i i-H CM -^VDlOU-jt-v® °°'^°°°°<2S o CO On C) VQ On <0 0\ On OnOvCmS CM^OO cm <3\00 On On <0 CM CM C» 72 CLARA SCHMITT able to so generalize experience into rules of action as to succeed with the fifth test according to the Binet standard. No child of the eighteen failed to answer at least one of the problems correctly. Binet-Simon Record of the First Grade. — Passing to the record of the first grade, Table II, we find that here again the tests below ten years which depend upon specific instruction are usually not passed except the 7-4 test. The material of this test is included in the curriculum of this grade. The 9-5 test of experience is univer- sally passed. Perhaps one may venture upon the theory that it is because the children of the first grade have had more and broader social experience than those of the kindergarten. The 10-3, 10-4, and 10-5 tests, are passed by approximately two thirds of the first grade children. There is almost entire failure with the 10-2, test of visual memory, and more than fifty per cent of failure with the discrimination oi weight. Binet-Simon Record of the Second Grade. — With the second grade. Table III, the reaction to the 10-3, 10-4, and 10-5 tests remains the same as for the first grade, as do practically the weight discrimination and visual memory tests. The 12-4 test, definition of abstract terms, is generally missed, and the 12-5, test of rearrangement of words to make a sentence. This test was graded V in accordance with Binet's standard of the time factor, failure in one minute. Many of the children were given more time and several trials and finally accomplished the result. It is characteristic of the child who fails according to the Binet standard that he is unable to see the sentence entirely. He puts a few words together in the right relation and a few others in their right relation, and then he finally criticises the whole pro- duct. In no case was a child who failed to do the test satisfied with his result. This is in striking contrast with the behavior of the defective child. The latter does not criticize his failures. If he tries to perform the test he is usually satisfied with the result. pq ^ '".5 o c^ l'^ OJ be < o^ o; 2 o "^ o -S; ^ o o o^ 2 2 2 2 2 S u T3 g3 C^C^C^tNOlO^OlC^C^C^ W cv) (N (^ C^J (N 04 O lO >>>>>>>>>> > > > > +> > ^ + > ++> > > > > > >>> ++>> >. M <~o + + + + + + + +> + + >+ + +> + 1-1 c^ + > + + >+>>+ + >+ + + + + + HH >+>+ + + + >+> + + + + + + + IT) + >++>+>+ + + >+ + + + + + -^ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + >> o ro + + + +>+>+ + + + + + + + + + M > > ++> > >> + + >>+>+>> -1 >>> + + +>> + + > +>>> +> lO + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ^ >>+ + + +> + + + >++>+++ 1-^ >> ro >+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + On 0> >+ + +>+ + + +> + >>+ + + > ^ >+>+ + + >+ + > >+ + + + + + lO + + + + >+ + + + + + + + + + + + ^ + + + + >+ + + + + + + + + + + + ro + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > + 00 hH + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + IT) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + '^ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + >> ro + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + t^ >+>+ + + + + + + + + + UH + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + lO + + + + ^ + + + + CO + + + + ^C> 0) + + + + ^ + > 4- -1- p bo vo i^ooopoo 0\0\2 2 Y 00 7 t-°9 ^ 59 10-9 -f- + + + -f -f + + -t- + + V -f + + + 4-4-4- V 4 I03/ 60 10-9 -F + + + + + -f + + + + V + + + + 4- + 4- V 4 I03/ 58 1 1-2 + + + + + -f + + + + V + + -f-|- + -f 4- V V 4 10?^ 62, 1 1-6 -f-i- + + + V -f ++-f V + + + + + 4-4- V V 4 10^ m 12-2 -{- + + + 4- + -f-f- + + -f--f + + -f + 4-4-4-4- 4 12 + Wrong judgment, opposite to suggestion judgment. 15 yr. t Add to No. 62 one column as follows : V 4" V V + 76 CLARA SCHMITT Binet-Simon Record of Fifth Grade. — The fifth grade, Table VI, shows itself capable of doing the 12-5 test and fails in large numbers in the lo-i and 10-2 tests. The 15-3, test of memory of sentence of twenty-six syllables, and the 15-4, interpretation of a picture, were generally failure. TAiBLE VI Reaction of Fifth Grade Children to Binet-Simon Tests Binet Ages 9 yr. 10 yr. 12 yr. 15 yr. Grade Men ag tal No. Age 12345 12345 12345 I 2 3 4 5t e 66 10-3 + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + + + V B 5 125^ or iiVs 65 10-3 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + V + 5 125^ 64 10-5 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V V V 5 12^ II 67 10-6 + + + + + V V + + + + + + + + V V V V V 5 . 12 10/5 69 10-6 + + + + + V V + + + + + + + + + + V + + 5 l2Ys iiVs 72 II + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + + V V B 5 12^ II 71 11-2 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + V + + V V + 5 12/5 iiVs 73 ri-2 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + V + V V + 5 12^5 II 68 ii-S + + + V + + V + + + + + + + V V + V + A 5 105^ 103/ 70 II-5 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V V + 5 123/^ 11/ 74 1 1-6 + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + V + V V + 5 12/5 II 78 1 1-6 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V V A 5 12^ II 79 1 1-8 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V V A 5 122/5 II 77 12 -- + + + + + + + + + + + + + V + + V + + 5 l2Vi iiVs 76 12^1 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V V + 5 I2V5 iiVs 75 12-2 + + + + + V V + + + + + + + + V + V V + 5 12^ lOJ/s 83 l'2-6 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + V V V V B 5 12 mVs 80 12-7 + + + + + V V + + + + + V V + + V V V + 5 loVs 10^ 82 12-7 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + V V + V V + 5 I2H 11/ 84 12-11 + + + + + V V + + + 5 9^/^ 81 12-11 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + V + V V + 5 12V5 II 85 13-8 + + + + + + V + + + + + + + + + + V v + 5 12V5 11/ + Wrong judgment. t A and B indicate problems i and 2, respectively, of the test passed. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 77 Binet-Simon Record of Sixth Grade. — The reactions of the sixth grade, Table VII, were much the same as those of the fifth. The adult tests were given to the sixth grade as a class, the results being written by the children and handed in. Of the adult tests, number 2, rearranges a triangle, and 3, give differ- ences in meanings of abstract terms, were answered by two thirds of the class. The matter of test four is not a part of the organ- ized civics work of this grade, and the information in sufficiently organized form to permit of an attempt to answer the question must have been obtained through general reading by those who succeeded. TABLE VII 'Reaction of Sixth Grade Children to Binet-Simon Tests Binet Ages 12 yr. 15 yr. Adult Mental age No. Age 1234s 12 3 4 5 1234s Grade 115 12 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6 A 116 12 + + + + V + + + + + V + + + + 6 15^ 124 12 + + + + V V + V V + + V V + + 6 12 105 12-1 + + + + + + + V + V V ++ V + 6 I2>^ 109 12-1 + + + + + + + + + + + + + V V 6 15^/^ 104 12-1 + + + + + + + V + + + V + + + 6 15V5 123 12-1 + + + + + + + V V + V + + V + 6 15H III 12-2 + + + + + + V V V + V + V V + 6 12^ 100 12-2 + + + + + + + V + V + + + + V 6 15^ 114 12-3 + + + + + + + V + + + + V V V 6 153^ 102 12-6 + +++ V + + V + V V + + V V 6 125^ 106 12-6 + + + + + + + V + + V V + V + 6 isVs 119 12-8 + + + + + V + V + + V V + V V 6 12^ 118 12-8 + + + + + V + + + + V + + + V 6 15?^ 113 12-8 + + + + + + V V + + + + + + + 6 A or 153/^ 108 12-9 + + V + + + + V + + V V V V V 6 10 or II 103 12-9 + -f + + + + + V + V V V V V V 6 12V5 120 12-11 + + + + + + V V + + V ++ V + 6 is'A 99 13 + + + + + + V V V A V + V V V 6 I2ji 122 13 + + + + V + V V V + V ++ V + 6 l2Ys 117 13-4 + + + + + V V V V + V + ++ V 6 I2J/5 no 13-5 + + + + + + + V + V + + + + V 6 iSVs 107 14-2 + + + + V V V V V V V + V V V 6 12 78 CLARA SCHMITT The final column of each table shows the mental age attained by- each individual. Where the ages of ten and twelve and fifteen overlap there is some ambiguity as to the grading for mental age. Should the children who fail in some of the ten year tests but make the additional five in the twelve and fifteen sets be graded eleven years or twelve years mentally? The type of performance with the 1 2- 1 test also complicates the grading. Where there may he an alternative grade the fact has been indicated in an additional column. The results are arranged in table VIII which shows the rela- tion of chronological age to mental age. In this table are indicated the alternative gradings and the resulting alternative percentages. The 150 children grade 14 per cent (or 20) retarded, 26 per cent (or 24) normal, and 55 per cent (or 54) advanced. Table VIII Re- Nor- A( 1- ^H tarded mal vanced u u u ' OJ aj HI QJ Mental Age ^ a B :3 1 3 Chronolog- 8 3 ^ ical age 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 15 A. ^ ^ ^ :z, ^ ^ ^ 5 to S-6 2 I 3 3 100 5-6 to 6-6 3 7 4 14 3 21 II 78 6-6 to 7-^ I 3 8 6 18 I 5 3 16 14 77 7-6 to 8-6 I 3 II ID 25 I 4 3 12 21 84 8-6 to 9-6 3 18 21 3 14 18 8S 9-6 to 10-6 4 or 19 [3] I 23 19 82 4 17 5 6 5 45 6 54 10-6 to 1 1-6 or or or or or 7 [4] II 7 63 4 36 9 9 56 1 1-6 to 12-6 or or or or I [5] 3 6 I 16 6 38 3 18 7 43 2 9 4 I 12-6 to 13-6 or or or or I 3 [3] 5 S 17 12 70 5 29 13-6 to 14-6 2 2 2 100 Total 150 21 14 40 26 88 58 or or or or 30 20 37 24 81 54. Showing the relation of chronological to mental age of 150 normal children,. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 79 With these resuhs we may compare those of table IX, which shows the relation of grade to chronological age. The numbers in heavy type mark those of normal age for the grade. Since the data was obtained at the end of the school year the normal age for the kindergarten is that of the beginning first grade, for the first grade that of the beginning second grade, etc. — that is, the kindergarten children were ready for the first grade and became first grade children at the beginning of the next year. The table shows that 38 per cent are retarded, 56 per cent normal and 4 per cent advanced with respect to their school work as compared with the 14 per cent, 26 per cent and 58 per cent respectively with respect to Binet-Simon mental age. TABLE IX Age Grade Correlation Re- 'N or- Ad- Chronolog ical Age tarded mal vanced vo vo vo ^ ^ 1 ^ ^ 1 f*5 1 t^ 00 o\ Q \o ^ ^ •s ^ -l-l VO VO VO VO E a S 6 M3 \o vo ' ' 1 3 n s n Grade 10 1 VO t^ 1 00 >-< 01 :s iz; ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Kdg. 17 6 2 25 8 32 17 68 I 12 7 I 20 8 40 12 60 II 12 5 17 5 29 12 70 III 2 13 6 21 6 28 13 61 2 9 IV 2 14 4 2 22 6 27 14 63 2 9 V 3 7 6 5 I 22 12 54 7 31 3 14 VI 10 12 I 23 13 56 10 43 Total 150 S8 38 85 56 7 4 Showing relation of grade to chronological age of 150 normal children. Table X shows the relation of school grade to the mental age grading of the Binet series. If school grade age and Binet age correspond the normal Binet age for the Kindergarten would be six years, for the first grade seven years, etc. The normal mental age for the grade is indicated by the heavy type. The number retarded according to the Binet age with reference to the normal grade age is 2 per cent (or 4) ; normal, 25 per cent (or 35) ; advanced ^2 per cent (or 60). The results of the three preceding tables arrange themselves as follows : 8o CLARA SCHMITT Retarded Normal Advanced 14 (or 20) % 26 (or 24) % 58 (or 54) % By Binet Age to Chronological Age. ^8 36 4 By School Grade to Chronological Age. 2 (or 4) 25 (or 35) 72 (or 60) By Binet Age to School Grade Age. These figures show the wide variance in the various gradings. Where the school grading shows 4 per cent advanced over the normal .for the chronological age, the Binet grading shows 58 per cent over the chronological age and y2 per cent over the age normal to the school grade. TABLE X Re- Nor- Ad- tarded mal vanced •o Mental Age •|- "1 1 S c3 f 6 A. ;3 S ^ ^ g ^ 7 8 9 10 II 12 15 ^ Kdg. 6 II 8 25 6 24 19 1(^ I 7 II 2 20 20 100 II 7 10 I or I 17 17 100 III I 19 [I] 21 I 4 20 95 IV 21 22 21 95 I 4 2 19 3 13 19 86 V I or or or or or or or or 5 [15] I 22 6 26 15 68 I 4 I 10 2 VI or [I] 10 or or ir I 22, I 4 10 43 12 52 Total ISO 4 2 38 25 108 ^2 or or or or or or 7 4 53 35 90 60 Showing relation of normal grade age to Binet mental age of 150 normal children. Table X when analyzed further shows that below the fourth grade the Binet tests are not suited to children with the educa- tional experiences of those grades, since from 76 per pent to 100 per cent are advanced by the Binet tests over the age normal to the school grade. At the fourth grade the age normal to school grade and the Binet age correspond very closely. At the fifth grade the Binet age is advanced or rather close to the normal according to the convention chosen for the Binet grad- ing. At the sixth grade it is rather evenly divided between advanced and normal. VI STANDARDIZATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE HEALY-FERNALD TESTS Origin of the Healy-Fernald tests. — The Healy-Fernald set of tests was worked out for two purposes. The first was for the purpose of supplementing the Binet-Simon series. It was discovered in the work of the cHnic that the Binet-Simon series failed to explore with sufficient thoroughness the mentality of the child. The objections to the Binet-Simon series have been discussed ahove. The second reason for the preparation of the new tests arose from the language difficulty which confronted the workers of the clinic. Many children who come to the clinic are of foreign parentage or from homes where a foreign language is spoken. In many cases they come from parochial schools where little English is taught or used. In other cases, especially those of rather young children, the reactions to the Binet-Simon tests were of doubtful significance, because the tester could not be sure that the language in which these tests were given was completely understood by the child. The difficulty of using the English language with a child from an alien speaking home can be appreciated only by one who has mingled with these children informally on their own ground. The child confronts a situation in which he has not only two languages with which to deal, but rather three. There is the foreign language in the home, the patois which he gets on the street, and the classical language of the cultured person with whom he comes in contact at school or other cultural institutions. The street patois is surely not an unimportant factor in causing mental confusion in the mind of the child. In the realm of patois a man is never a man, he is a guy; a boy is never a boy, he is a kid; a foolish person is never such, he is a mut; one never stops doing something, or is commanded to leave off doing something, he 82 CLARA SCHMITT must always cheese it; and so on interminably. The confusion can well be imagined in the mind of the child who, at home, is told in a foreign language by his mother to leave off doing some- thing; who by his older brothers or street companions is com- manded to cheese it; and who by his teacher or other cultured person with whom he comes in contact, is in more or less classical terms requested to stop his misconduct. If the child has never attended a public school, but only a parochial school in which English is very little taught, the difficulty of examina- tion with such a series of tests as the Binet-Simon, which makes use of language almost wholly, can well be imagined. For these reasons, tests which show the functioning of intelli- gence without the necessity of accuracy in the use o^f language were originated by the workers and friends of the Psychopathic clinic. Evaluation of Results. — In the attempt to express the dif- ference between the defective and the normal human intellect one is confronted by two possibilities. The first is, that there exists a distinguishable qualitative difference. This idea was most vividly expressed by Tregold when he said that there exists be- tween the highest ament and the lowest normal individual an im- passable gulf. The qualitative factor of difference has been discussed with reference to the application of the Binet-Simon tests to the task of distinguishing between the normal and the defective. The second possibility is that the difference is only a quantitative one. It is to the effect that there exists a normal curve of distribution of mental abilities corresponding to the theoretically normal curve to be obtained from a large mass of fine measurements. Notwithstanding the theory of quali- tative discrimination underlying its origin the attempt has been made by Goddard, Kuhlman, Chotzen and others to fit the Binet-Simon series into this conception. Their theory of the difference between the normal and the defective is that the latter takes more time chronologically to reach a certain point of development than does the former. Clinical experience in getting developmental histories of defectives goes to show that in many phases of development that is the case. Defective chil- STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 83 dren learn to walk and talk later than normal children. In matters of formal education they acquire more slowly. In the clinic which has for its task the classification of children for educational, penal or other practical social purposes this type of data is inadequate to fulfill the demands of the situation. Developmental history can not always be obtained with ac- curacy; there are many causes of retardation of the develop- mental phases of early life the effects of which do not persist to a later period; progress in formal education and acquiring of information may be interfered with by any one or more of several physical and social factors. This use of the time factor is only another application of the quantitative idea of difference discussed in the first chapter. The use of the time factor whether in the sense of marking off developmental ranges of difference, or whether applied in the rigorous laboratory method to specific tests can make the point of distinction between the normal and the defective only an arbitrary matter. With the curve of normal distribution of quantitatively measurable phases of mental processes before us who is to decide this determining point and upon what basis ? In order to give a further meaning and value to the quanti- tative data obtainable in a clinical examination the writer proposes certain qualitative classifications in the discussion to follow. The quantitative data used to determine the qualitative classi- fications to be described below are, for the most part, number and types of errors. The classifications are made upon such considerations as the relation of error in individual cases to the number of errors possible to the test to be evaluated, other conditions peculiar to the test itself, and the object of the test from the standpoint of the child. Some of the reasons for the exclusion of time measure in evaluation of results were discussed above. They are inherent in the demands oif the clinical situation. The motive to make a good time record is unsuited to the practical demands of the clinic, because it is the desire there to test for the most part such processes as require attentional control in a new situation. 84 CLARA SCHMITT 'For some tests such as tapping tests and the Thorndike a test, the time measure is an important factor. In such tests there is no new discrimination in the perceptual or other mental pro- cesses to be made. If other things, such as the avoidance of error or the making of a plan for a bit of work, are oif most importance, time can not except within large limits be taken into consideration. In the writer's proposed classifications the only use of the time factor is to mark the point where the child's reaction to the test may be classed as failure. A further reason for eliminating time measure from the evaluation of results is that much time may be wasted by the child who is working from the play motive. His attention may be dften diverted from consideration of the end of the test. If he stops to remark that it is a pretty puzzle, or to ask who made it, the amount of time so wasted will depend some- what upon the tact of the examiner in again directing his attention to the work in hand. This, then, leads to the further consideration that one does not know whether one unit of time has been of the same value as any other unit in the performance of the test. If the child takes some time apparently examining the test before him before beginning, or stops to do so at any time during the performance of it, one does not know what is taking place in his mind. One does not know whether he is examining it with reference to the requirements of the test; or is occupying his attention with something quite apart from the object of the test such as the colors or the grain of the wood when doing puzzle tests; or is ,only staring and not thinking or planning. In an examination one is sometimes at a loss as to how to direct the attention of the child because what he is really doing can be often only a matter of conjecture. It has been shown in the first chapter that laboratory tests suitable to such fine discriminations of measurement as is de- manded in rigorous laboratory method correlate more or less doubtfully with general intelligence, the matter to be deter- mined, or measured. The reason for this is that there exists no measure of general intelligence which permits of such fine discriminations as are used in laboratory tests. An analogous STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 85 process in the realm of physics would be the attempt to find a proportion between an object measured with a micrometer and another measured with a yard stick. The object of the clinic for the present should be to find such tests as will present suitable situations in which the general intelligence may func- tion, rather than to find a correlate or measure in simple mental processes. The tests should be of various grades of complexity, but analyzable with reference to such standards as we possess for judging human social conduct. It is with the belief that they correspond to mental processes concerned in the social adjustment of the individual, and in the relation of the individual to social progress, that the writer proposes the following qualitative classifications of reaction to the tests under discussion. The three classifications chosen are termed, planned reaction, trial and error reaction and chance reaction. In the first type the subject applies his previous experiences of the kind presented to him by the test to the solution of the specific problem before him, with a minimum of error. In the second type the situation is approached as though entirely new, in which there is little conscious application of previous experience to the solution of the problem presented, but in which the experiences presented by the present problem become the basis for attack upon a new problem of similar type. In the third type of reaction every new problem is wholly new, and the experiences of early attempts with it do not become a basis for conscious modification of reaction in further work with it. The animal or low type of human intellect arrives at new attainments such as the opening of a lock, through a chance coordination gained after much trial and error. Every new lock must be an entirely new problem. Such an intelligence does not generalize upon past experiences in such way as to bring about an adaptation of the old response to the changed conditions of the old type of problem. In the following tables may be noticed certain time correla- tions with grade and in one case. Table XXI, with method of procedure or type of reaction. Since, however, the time de- 86 CLARA SCHMITT creases with the higher grades for both types of reaction, the decrease has no relation to the mental process. It probably indicates increase of motor ability with the higher grades. General Methods of Procedure in Giving Tests. — The private school children to whom the tests were given were told by the principal that we had some games with which they might play, coming one at a time, and that we wanted to see how well they liked them. They were told not to tell their mates about the games after having played with them, for it would spoil the fun of those who were still to see them. This way of putting the matter was very effective, for the children who had not yet had the tests would not permit those who had to discuss them. An effort was made to send each child back to his school room with the feeling that he had had a very good time. The other children then came with only pleasant antici- pations. The children were given the tests singly in a quiet room with which they were familiar. The word quiet is not intended to convey the idea that it was noiseless. As a matter of fact it was on a street car line and many other noises such as the closing of doors, etc., reached it. The noises were such, however, as the children were accustomed to hearing and did not distract attention. The older children who were not satisfied with the reason for giving the tests were told that we wanted to see how much better older children could play the games than younger ones. Very few of the children asked for a reason further than the one given them by the principal, that the games were intended for their own amusement. In the clinic it has been found that this reason generally suffices. In case the real reason is de- manded it is generally best to give one that assures the child of the examiner's personal friendship toward him. One to the effect that we want to see how well he can do these things so that we may know what kind of work to get for him or how to help him out of his trouble, if coupled with the assurance all along that he is doing well, is always satisfactory. Test I. Introductory Picture Form Board. — This test, with the exception of the sixth grade, was always given first. Its Fig. I Plate I A Picture Form-Board — our Test I An example of a test in which form and color perceptions, some apperceptions, and methods of trial and success are brought out. From Individual Delinquents — Healy Courtesy Little, Broivn & Co. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 87 bright colors and the animal pictures immediately excite interest. Its simplicity disarms suspicion that anything unusual or difficult will be required. The pleasure of constructing the puzzle leaves the child in a very pleasant and anticipatory frame of mind for further tests. By giving tests of this character first the child's friendliness for, and confidence in the examiner grows to such an extent that he is willing to undertake tests of a less immediately interesting character. The design shows a certain number of pieces cut out on the natural lines of some of the objects in the picture, together with four other pieces, one of which is irregular in shape, and three of which are cut on geometrical lines. Two of these last somewhat resemble each other, but are not interchangeable. The third is an isosceles triangle divided into two right angle triangles. The purpose of this was to provide for a simple trial and error procedure, if the make-up of the parent triangle was not at once recognized — as it usually is not. The puzzle is put before the child, the pieces scattered at random on the table, with the remark that here is a pretty puzzle which one would like to see how well he can do. With the exception of the divided triangle this test presents a one to one relationship between the openings and the pieces to be placed, that is there is one opening for each piece. The usual procedure is to leave the divided triangle until the last, since there is no place for either piece alone. The high grade child above five years of age makes few errors or none at all in placing pieces other than those of the divided triangle. That is, he does not attempt to put a piece where it does not belong, the head where the legs ought to be, etc. The child of low grade intelligence places the pieces by trial and error, trying each piece in each opening until he finds the one in which it fits. The still lower grade of intelligence persistently tries to fit a piece into an opening and finally fails of accomplishing the test because his lack of recognition of failure has prevented his giving up a misfit attempt in favor of another opening for the piece he is trying. The divided triangle, because of the 88 CLARA SCHMITT difference between the numerical relation of the opening and the pieces, really constitutes a test within itself. It may be placed without any trial and error, in which case the subject immediately perceives the relation between the opening and the pieces. It may be placed by trial and error in which the pieces are turned around and around until the right position is hit upon. The most common error of the child in this re- peated trial and error is to turn the piece through an arc of i8o° or more instead of through 90° which would accomplish the task. Because of the diversity between the body of the puzzle and the triangular portion these two parts are tabulated as two distinct tests. Table XI presents the data obtained from the body of the puzzle. TABiLE XI Introductory Puzzle. Test I. (Body f Puzzle) Er rors r 3 to 5 ^ 6 or more A errors I & 2 errors errors errors Grade Number Time r~ Numb er % 1 ~^~" Numb er % Number % 1 \ Number % Kdg. 27 i'-4i" 9 33 7 25 8 29 3 II I 21 l'-2l" 16 7^ 3 14 2 9 II 17 i'-i6" 9 52 5 29 3 17 III 21 i'- 4" 10 47 7 33, 4 19 IV 24 I'- 3" 13 54 II 45 V 22 il'-IO" 12 54 9 40 I 4 The table shows the average time of performance of the children of the different grades, and the number and per cent of errors which are indicated in the fourth and succeeding columns to the left. An error is any wrong attempt to place a piece. It is counted an error to take any piece and attempt to place it in an opening other than the one in which it fits; if the piece is turned about and placed in another wrong opening another error is scored; if the attempt is made to place a piece in its own opening upside down an error is scored ; if a piece is discarded and later tried again in the same wrong opening an additional error is scored for the second and each succeed- ing wrong attempt. The table shows that the trial and error is small after the kindergarten, when 80 per cent or more of STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 89 each grade perform the puzzle with less than three errors; 89 per cent of the kindergarten children make less than six errors. The most common errors are the attempts to inter- change the two heads, the two legs, and the diamond and modified diamond. The errors of nornial children are attempts to interchange these roughly paired pieces. Defective children will attempt such errors as placing a head where a leg should be, etc. Table XII presents the data obtained from the triangular portion of the test. The data are arranged to show the average time required to arrange the two pieces in the opening, and the type of mental process which the child employed in ac- complishing the task. The data have been arranged to show two types or methods of work, the trial and error method and the planned method. A child was recorded in the trial and error column if he tried each piece in more than two positions before finding the right one, and in the planned column if he tried one or both pieces in less than two positions before finding the right one. A more careful grading of the trial and error method is not practicable because the pieces are turned quickly and often held covered up. TABLE XII Introductory Puzzle, Test I (Triangl le) Method Failure Trial & error ^ Planned Average J, ^ ( \ / \ Grade Numbei r time Number % Number % Number % Kdg 27 i'-36" 4 14 23 100 I 21 I '-28" I 4 15 76 5 2Z II 17 I '-25" I 5 12 70 5 29 III 21 l'-2S" 12 57 9 42 IV 24 54" 21 88 3 II V 22 2i" 13 59 9 40 The percentage of trial and error of the above table is that of the sum of the trial and error and the failure records. The object is to find the percentage of children who do not do the test by a method superior to that of trial and error. It is probable that those marked failure, if permitted to work in- definitely, would accomplish the task. The table shows that go CLARA SCHMITT from 60 per cent to 100 per cent of the children between the kindergarten and the fifth grade have not had sufficient ex- perience with such geometrical problems to enable them to do this one without trial arid error. Since, then, the problem cannot be used as a test of a child's ability to perceive the spatial relationship involved without error, it may be used as a test of his ability to learn by experience with it. Twenty-six of the kindergarten children were asked to do the triangle a second time. Those who had failed in five minutes were shown how to do it. Of these twenty-six children, twenty did it a second time without error, requiring, with one exception, not more than twenty seconds; three children did it a second time with repeated trial and error, but the third time without error; and three did it a second time with error but no repeated error, that is no wrong position for each piece was tried more than once. These results may be compared with those obtained from delinquent children seen at the Juvenile Court Clinic mentioned above. Of twenty-six children between 7-6 and 8-6 years of age seen at the clinic, five because of their reactions to this and other tests, were graded feeble-minded. Of these five cases, three failed to complete the body of the puzzle because of lack of recognition of failure in attempting to place the pieces; two others failed to complete the triangle. Among those graded normal there were no failures of either part of the puzzle ; four of the normal children made six or more errors in doing the body of the puzzle, four did the triangle by trial and error. Of twenty-,two children between the ages of 8-6 and 9-6 years, three were graded feeble-minded. Two of these children ac- complished the whole puzzle, with more than six errors for the body and the triangle by trial and error; the third failed on the triangle. Of the children graded normal, one failed to accomplish the puzzle, one made six errors, and two did the triangle by trial and error, and one failed to do the triangle.* * In the process of evaluating a child's mental condition, in general, failure with one test which the child's age might lead one to expect him to accom- plish is disregarded if he has uniformly accomplished more complex tests. One must take into consideration the fact that clinical conditions can not Fig. 2 STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 91 Above this age failure in one or both parts of this test always accompanies the condition jof feeble-mindedness, but not all feeble-minded persons above this age fail in the test. Test II. Special Picture Puzzle. This test was given second in order to the first four grades. The twelve pieces of the puzzle are so cut as to form five rather closely resembling pairs and two unpaired pieces. Four of the pairs differ in shape and cannot be interchangeably placed. The quadrilateral pieces can be interchanged. Except for the two unpaired pieces the differences of form are not sufficient to serve as a guide in placing the pieces. The placing must be accomplished by the matching of the lines and colors preserved on the piece with those of the surrounding picture. In giving the test the form is placed before the child with the pieces scattered at random. He is told that "the game" with this puzzle is to look so carefully at each piece before at- tempting to place it that he will not try to put any piece where it does not belong; that is, that he should not try to give any- one the wrong head, but give to each one just what belongs to him at the very first trial. If the child makes an error in attempting the first piece the warning is again repeated with the remark that he has just made a mistake and should look carefully and not do it again. With young children the author has tried to excite greater interest in doing the puzzle care- fully by saying that to try to give any boy the wrong head hurts him very much and care should be taken not to do that. This extra appeal to the imagination, however, while amusing the child, does not seem to stimulate him to greater care in placing the pieces. Apparently the type of motive for doing the puzzle, whether the humanitarian one just referred to or the play motive or the desire to please the examiner who has asked him to do it, has no effect upon calling into greater activity his ability to do it. In the performance of this test account is kept of time and always be kept uniform with reference to the child's motives, and that the child's reactions are not always uniform with reference to his general mental level. 92 CLARA SCHMITT errors. Attempts to place a piece in the wrong opening, to place one upsidedown in its own or a wrong opening, at- tempts to interchange the quadrilateral pieces, are counted as errors. The puzzle may be done by trial and error in which each piece is tried out in several places until the right one is found for it. In this case the child does not discover that some other distinction than form is necessary to aid him in placing the pieces, and his apparent compliance with the direction to look carefully at each piece and the opening before attempting to place it does not lead him to see the distinctive differences of color and matching of pattern which would accomplish the task. The mentally low grade child does the test by the trial and error method. Table XIII shows the data obtained from the first four grades and the kindergarten. TAiBLE XIII Test II. Sped al Picture Puzzle Errors II or u CU o I and 2 3 to 5 6 to lO more 1-1 "* ' V- Vh p 3 Xi s s Grade 1 < ^ ^ % ^ ^ ^ :z; ^ ^ ^ Kdg. 22 3'-iS" I S 5 22 9 40 7 31 I 21 2- 8" I 4 4 19 9 42 5 ^3 2 9 II 17 2'-Il" 3 17 4 ^3 6 35 4 23 IH 21 2'-I7" 3 14 7 33 7 33 4 19 IV 21 2'-22" 7 33 lO 47 3 14 I 4 This table shows that at the fourth grade the perceptive abilities of these children are such as to lead them to see the distinctions necessary for the accomplishment of the test with little error. At this grade 80 per cent of the children are able to do the test with less than three errors. Of the kindergarten children 71 per cent do it with six or more errors, an average of more than one error for each of the five pairs. Of the fourteen feeble-minded children between eleven and Fig. 3 1 f^^^SU^^^Mi. Wn 1 ■'■ff/p . . , ', ,,, ', ,„ i:^'..'.i, ~r — Ej Plate II Construction Test A An example of a test which demonstrates planfulness and the powers of learning by experience. The illustration shows the test as presented, as completed, and two types of error. From Individual Delinquents — Healy Courtesy Little, Brown & Co. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 93 thirteen years of age seen at the clinic, one did the test with two errors, two with five errors, nine with from six to twenty errors, and two were of so low grade as to be unable to attempt the test. Table XIV shows the results of the test arranged accord- ing to age. This table shows that at the age of 9-6 years 75 TAiBLE XIV Test II. Special Pict ure Puzzle . (By ag :e) (- Errors II or I and 2 3 to 5 6 to 10 more u J' t- ^ Ih (U bfi «, *^ P n P p ^ Q Age ^ < ^ ^ IZ ^ ^ ^ 12; ^ ^ ^ 5- to 6-6 16 3'- 9" 2 12 7 43 7 43 6-6 to 7-6 13 2'-I7" 2 15 4 30 4 30 2 IS I 7 7-6 to 8-6 27 2'-3i" 3 II 3 II 10 37 9 33 2 7 8-6 to 9-6 23 2'- 16" 2 8 8 34 10 43 3 13 9-6 to 10-6 20 I '-43" 6 30 9 45 4 20 I 5 10-6 to 1 1-6 6 I -18" 2 2i2> 4 66 per cent of the children do the test with less than three errors, a marked advance over the preceding year when 42 per cent make as good a record. Test III. Construction Puzde A. This puzzle is made up of an outer frame and five pieces, two of which are identical in size and shape, which fill up the frame opening when properly placed. The test may be accomplished with a minimum of 5 moves, one for each piece. There are eleven possible errors without repetition. In giving the test, records of the number of errors and the time for its accomplishment are kept. In the final evaluation of results the removal of a piece from a right position is counted as error. The frame is placed before the child with the pieces scattered on the table beside it and he is told that the pieces will exactly fill the frame if he finds the right way to put them in. The result is counted failure if the task is not accomplished in ten minutes. 94 CLARA SCHMITT Table XV shows the results of the test arranged according to grade. TABLE XV Test III. Construction Puzzle A. (By grade) Errors 1— V 12 or Fail ure I to 5 6 to II more s^ ?^ Ih u ~~\ l-H Ui u ^ "3 e ^ ^ rP ^ ^ s fe.§ a a E a a 3 > -^ 3 3 3 3 3 Grade ^ < ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Kdg. 26 3'-io" 9 34 I 3 5 19 6 23 5 19 I 20 2'-l8" 5 25 I 5 4 20 4 20 6 30 II 17 2'- 7" 7' 41 5 29 5 29 III 21 i'-34" I 4 10 47 6 28 4 19 IV 24 54" 3 12 15 62 6 25 V 22 I'- 6" I 4 15 67 I 4 5 22 VI 24 43" 3 12 13 52 6 25 2 8 This table shows that the number of errors decreases until in the fourth grade 74 per cent of the children do the test with less than half the possible number of errors and may be considered as having planned the disposition of the pieces of the puzzle. Those in the 6 to 11 error column have made more than half the possible number of unrepeated errors and may be classed as having done the test by the method of trial and error. Those of the 12 error and the failure columns have failed to learn from the trial and error of their attempts and have repeated one or more errors. When this repetition begins in the child's performance the accomplishment of the test is then a matter of chance, — that is, the chance that he will hit upon the right relationship of the pieces. It is possible and probable that at some place in this repeated trial and error, learning and planning begin in the case of some children; but where they begin in any case can be only a matter of con- jecture on the part of the experimenter. The data of this table have been rearranged in table XVI to show the percentages of planned, trial and error and chance methods in the accomplishment of the test. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS TABLE XVI Test III. Construction Puzzle A Method 95 Number Planned Trial an d Error Chance Grade Number % 1 Number % Number % Kdg. 26 6 23 6 23 14 53 I 20 5 25 4 20 II 55 IT 17 7 41 5 29 5 29 III 21 ir 52 6 28 4 19 IV 24 18 75 6 25 V 22 16 73 I 4 5 22 V'l 24 16 66 6 25 2 8 This table shows the increase of ability to plan the work of this test up to the fourth grade where it is highest, 75 per cent. There is a decrease of the chance method of per- formance to the fourth grade where it is the lowest. Table XVII shows the same data arranged with reference to age and in accordance with the plan of evaluation of table XVI. TABLE XVII Test III. Construction Puzzle A. (By age) Number Meth( 3d Planned Trial and Error Chance Age Number % Number % Number % 5 to 6-6 18 3 16 6 33 9 50 6-6 to 7-6 18 6 33 I 5 II 61 7-6 to 8-6 23 5 21 8 34 10 43 8-6 to 9-6 23 13 56 6 26 4 17 9-6 to 10-6 22, 16 69 6 26 I 4 10-6 to ii-t) II 10 90 ID I 1 1-6 to 12-6 18 14 77 I 5 3 16 12-6 to 14-6 20 12 60 6 30 2 10 This table shows the increase of the use of the planned method until the age of 10-6 where it is highest, 90 per cent. The chance method decreases up to 9-6, where it is the lowest. Of thirteen feeble-minded delinquent children between the ages of 10-6 and 14-6 seen at the clinic, jfive failed to do the test in ten minutes, one was of too low grade mentality to attempt it, six did it by the chance method with from 10 to 35 repetitions of error, and one did it by the trial and error method. 96 CLARA SCHMITT Since the results show that the test is not suitable for the testing of abilities for its performance above those of trial and error and chance for children under 8-6 where 82 per cent use a method superior to chance, it was given to the kindergarten children as a learning test. After the first performance of the test, the children were asked to do it again. Those who had failed to accomplish it were shown how. This showing con- sisted in such suggestions as led the child to place the pieces correctly once. Of the twenty-three children who were so tested, eleven repeated the test with no error; eight with one and two errors; one with three errors; and three by the trial and error method. The last mentioned group were asked to do the test again. One of them did it with no error and two with one error each. Test IV. Construction Puzzle B. — This test consists oi eleven pieces to be arranged to fit six openings. Three of the pieces are of identical shape and size and four others are paired in the same way. Two of the openings are the same in shape and size. Three of the openings sustain a one to one relationship with the pieces which will fill them, thus leaving three openings to be filled with eight pieces. In the accomplishment of the puzzle only one arrangement of pieces is possible, with the exception of the two identical openings which permit of an alternate arrangement of their respective pieces. In doing the test one may perceive the relationship between all the openings and the pieces so perfectly as to accomplish the task with no error. In the actual performance of the puzzle it is usually accomplished by first placing the pieces which have a one to one relationship with their openings and thus reducing the task to its simplest form. As some of the pieces when put together will fill some of the openings but leave the task unaccomplished because there will be pieces and openings which do not fit-, there is the possibility of trial and error which has a show of possibility of success. In this trial and error the child does not take into account in his work all the openings and all the pieces, but only the relationship of part of the openings and part of the pieces. In this type of reaction to Fig. 4 Plate III Construction Test B Another test for planfulness and learning by the method of trial and success. The illustration shows the test as presented, and one example of error in placing the pieces. From Individual Delinquents — Healy Coui'tesy Little, Brown & Co. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 97 the test there are sixteen possible errors, — made up by counting all the different possible ways of placing all the pieces. In addition to these two types of performance there is another lower type of reaction in which pieces are placed without refer- ence to their spatial relationship to the openings in which they are placed ; as for example when a circular piece is put into a rectangular opening. This type of reaction if it does not fail to accomplish the test in the given time, does so by chance. In this type the only ability measured is the subject's recog- nition of success and his ability to keep before him the object of his work until it is attained. There is, of course, the lower type still with whom the test would not be a possible one, since the subject could not conceive the object of the task. Table XVIII shows the arrangement of the data obtained with reference to grade. TABLE XVIII Test IV- Construction Puzzle "B." (By grade) Errors r 17 or ^ I to 4 5 to 8 9 to 16 more Fail ure u ii, i-, ;-H u, Vh ii (U t^ ^> cu u 1) (U +^ s :3 3 3 3 3 Grade ^ < ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 12^ ^ ^ ^ :^ ^ Kdg. 26 3'-Si" 2 7 2 7 7 26 5 19 2 7 8 31 I 20 4'-23" 5 25 I 5 4 20 4 20 6 30 II 17 2'-I5" 9 53 3 17 I 5 I 5 3 17 III 21 3'-'i3" I 4 8 38 4 19 I 4 5 23 2 9 IV 24 2'-I0" 6 25 9 37 5 20 I 4 2 8 I 4 V 22 2'- 8" 3 13 6 27 6 27 3 13 4 18 VI 24 2'- 1 7" 4 16 9 37 5 20 4 16 2 8 As was done in the preceding tests, the data of this one have been arranged with reference to a qualitative standard. Those who made eight errors or less, that is, not more than half of the possible number of unrepeated errors are classed as having done the test by the planned method ; those who made more than half the possible number of errors without repeating any, in the above table under the column "9 to 16" are classed as having done the test by the method of trial and error; those 98 CLARA SCHMITT who repeated errors or failed to perform the test in ten minutes are classed under the head of Chance. This is under the sup- position that those who failed would have accomplished the test if given unlimited time. The data so arranged is shown in Table XIX. TABLE XIX Test IV. Construction Puzzle "B." (By grade) Number Method Planned Trial am d Error n'I Cbance Grade • Number % Number % imber % Kdg. 26 II 42 5 19 ID 38 I 20 6 30 4 20 10 ."^o II 17 12 70 I S 4 23 III 21' 13 61 I' 4 7 33 IV 24 20 83 I 4 3 12 V 22 15 68 3 13 4 18 VI 24 18 75 4 16 2 8 This table shows that the use of the planned method was greatly increased at the second grade and is largest at the fourth grade, 83 per cent. Table XX presents the same data arranged with reference to age. TABLE XX Test IV. Construction Puzzle "B." (By age) Method Age Planned Number Number % Trial and Error Chance Number % Number % 5 to 6-6 6-6 to 7-6 7h6 to 8-6 8-6 to 9-6 9-6 to 10-6 10-6 to II -6 11-6 to 12-6 12-6 to 14-6 18 18 23 23 23 II 18 20 7 7 12 IS 16 ID 13 13 38 38 52 65 69 90 71 65 16 22 8 4 13 9 16 16 44 38 39 30 17 o II 20 This table shows the increase of the use of the planned method up to 10-6 where it is highest, 90 per cent. The chance method decreases up to this point where it is lowest. Of nineteen feeble-minded children above the age of nine years tried at the clinic after the test came into use there, six STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 99 were of too low grade to attempt the test, — that is, they could not conceive the object of the test and could not keep at work at it. Six failed to do it in ten minutes, two did it by the method of .chance, two by trial and error, and three by the planned method. Of these three, one was 13-6 years of age and two were fifteen years of age. The test was given to the kindergarten children in two ways. Those who failed were shown how to do the puzzle. The showing consisted of suggestions for the proper placing of the pieces which the child carried out. Each child who had not failed was asked to do the puzzle a second time, and those who had failed were asked to do it after being shown. Of the twenty-four cases, one child required to be shown a second time before learning to do the puzzle without error. The test was then given as a test of the child's ability to readjust a learned content to a changed situation. The puzzle board was turned upsidedown and he was asked to do it again. In this situation, the pieces which were originally placed at the top of the board now had to be placed at the bottom. Of the twenty-four kindergarten children so tested, nineteen made less than two errors in doing the test in the altered position, and five made two errors or more. It is characteristic of the feeble-minded child to do the test under the altered condition with the same amount, or more, of trial and error as in his first performance of the test; and sometimes after having once learned the test in one position he fails entirely to do it in the other. The data for the above tables for this test were made up by counting as errors the wrong placing of any piece and the removal of a rightly placed piece from its proper opening. In some individual cases this method of evaluating results may be unjust. A child sometimes, finding that he can go no further, removes all the pieces already placed and begins again, though some he knows are right and he replaces them immediately. The data are again rearranged below, made up by counting as errors only wrongly placed pieces and ignoring the rightly placed pieces removed for any reason from their proper open- 100 CLARA SCHMITT ings. According to this method the percentaged gradings become as follows : Grade Planned Trial and Error Chance Kdg. 40% 18% 40% I 38 14 47 II 70 II 17 III 66 9 23 IV 87 4 8 V 77 9 12 VI 78 20 Comparison of the percentages resulting from this method of reckoning error with those of Table XIX shows the former to be slightly more favorable to a grading above that of the chance method. Whether this method affords a more accurate judgment of the mental process is doubtful. In many cases the removal of a rightly placed piece is a positive error, for instance that of the half circle, since there is no other piece to fill the opening. Test V. Puzde Box. — In the previous tests the child had to analyze more or less complicated sets of spatial relationships or pattern matching. In this test he analyzes a set of functional relationships of a contrivance all of the parts of which are open to view, and involve no complex mechanical principles such as the lever, or pulley, etc. The test consists of a box which he is told he is to find a way of opening. The necessary number of steps to accomplish the result is seven. These steps consist of the loosening of the three inner rings from their confining posts, the removal of the staple at the back, the removal of the ring from the hook at the front of the lock, the removal of the hook itself from the lock and the raising of the lid. The arrangement is such that the steps must be accomplished in a certain order, and a tool must be used for the removal of the three inner rings. A long hook after the fashion of a shoe button hook is provided for this purpose. In giving the test the box with the hook on top is placed lock side before and the child is told that he may look all over the box inside and outside and any which way it occurs to him to examine it to see if he can find a way to open it, and that he may do anything he thinks will help in opening it or use anything he Fig. 5 Plate IV A Puzzle Box — our Test V An example of a concrete problem to be reasoned out from perceived relationships. Each step to the solution, namely, opening the box, is plainly visible. From Individual Delinquents — Healy Courtesy Little, Brown & Co. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS loi thinks will help. No further hint concerning the tool is given him, except in case he tries to accomplish step one, the first one it is necessary to manipulate, without the tool and leaves it to try something else since he can not succeed. He is then told that he may use the hook. He is then recorded in the classification under tool idea — . The child who is not classified under tool idea — sees for himself the need of the tool and uses it without suggestion or asks permission to do so. In the record of data the time which the child spends in studying the box without touching any of the fastenings is recorded, each step or attempt, and the time to accomplish the test. Wrong attempts are recorded as errors. The data for the time spent studying the box before proceeding to work were found to have no correlation with anything else. Whether the child spent a few seconds or several minutes in such study had no relation to his age or to the quality of his performance in doing the test after he began. Table XXI shows the data obtained ar- ranged with reference to grade. The qualitative classification was made as follows : a child was placed in the trial and error column if after his manipulation of step one he made any other errors before accomplishing the opening of the box. He was placed in the planned column if, after the manipulation of step one, he made no further errors in opening the box. The one exception to this was the attempt to do step five, removing the ring from the hook at the lock, after step three. This error is permitted for the reason that after step three has been done the string holding the ring of step five is somewhat loosened and one can only know by trying it whether it is sufficiently loose to permit of the removal of the ring from the hook. It may also be explained here that error six is an attempt to push the hook through the lock with one movement instead of making the turn in the lock which is necessary to permit of its removal. In this classification the assumption is made that in the attempts preliminary to step one, (and no case has been seen in which some were not made), the child does or does not learn the arrangement of the fastenings and their rela- tionship to each other. If his learning has been complete he 102 CLARA SCHMITT can then proceed without further error. If it has not been complete other errors are made, and he then can open the box only by a trial and error process. The usual procedure on the part of the child in this learning process is to take up the box and trace the fastenings back from the lock. He ex- amines the lock and the ring of step five, follows it back to step four, and so on back to step one. He usually tries one or all of them before arriving at step one and sometimes does not follow the series through the ifirst time but goes back to the lock or some other point and tries some of the fastenings again. TABLE XXI Test V. Puzzle ! Box. (By grade) ■M-.xT-- J Ave nun lV±CLi Trial and IIUU Tool rage iber Average u Failed error Planned i( lea moves time iH TS OJ 1 ^ (U dj OJ dj OJ (U c dj n! I- ,Q ja ^ ,Q ,Q c c s S E s a CT3 rt c -^ h: 3 xi 3 n S C aJ •n < The cross lines represented in the above figure are drawn before the child and he is told that in the space with the lines going upward and opening upward an I is placed; in the space opening out to one side a 2 is placed; in the space with its lines going downward a 3 is placed, and in the space opening out to the other side a 4 is placed. While he is being told this each space is outlined with the pencil and the number is written in. Then one of the elements of the figure is drawn at one side, and he is asked to tell which one of the spaces it is like. If he answers correctly, his reason for his answer STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 105 is asked. If he answers to the effect that its Hnes point Hke or open up Hke the one he has named, one may assume that he understands the problem, and go on with the next step in the test. If he answers wrongly, the figure is discussed further with him until he understands the nature of the analysis to be made. There are cases of such low mentality as to be unable to comprehend the problem. When the child's comprehension of the problem is sure, the figure which has been drawn for him is covered, with the remark that he may now see if he can do the same thing with it covered up. The elements are then drawn for him one by one and he is asked to number them. The question asked him is, zvliich space is this one like? He is provided with a pencil to place the appropriate number. If he begins by making errors he can sometimes be led to find a method of recall for himself by the suggestion that he think of the covered up figure and see if he can remember what kind of space one is in, and two, and three and so on. If, after the four spaces are drawn and num- bered there are errors, he is asked to draw the figure himself. In case of error one wishes to know if he has remembered the figure and its scheme of numbering incorrectly, but has analyzed correctly according to his memory of it, or if he has remembered it correctly and analyzed it incorrectly. If he has analyzed it correctly as he has remembered it he is placed in the list of those who have succeeded at the first attempt, since it is his ability to do the analysis correctly that is to be tested. If he has not analyzed correctly but has remembered correctly, he is told that he did not number the spaces correctly at first and that he may try again. If he has neither analyzed nor re- membered correctly he is permitted to look at the original figure and then is asked to draw it again, and is given as many trials as is necessary to learn to draw the figure and number it correctly from memory. The writer has found no child who has been able to comprehend the problem of the test who could not learn to draw and number the figure correctly with as much as three such trials. If, after the second attempt at io6 CLARA SCHMITT analysis from memory, he still iails to number all the elements correctly he is again asked to draw the figure and the process is repeated as before. He is given four such trials at the analysis before being classed as failure. Table XXIII shows the data obtained with this test arranged with reference to grade. It cannot be given to kindergarten children because of their unfamiliarity with written numerals. TAB>LE XXIII Test IX. Cross Line Test A. (By Grade) Failure Succeeded Fourth First Second Thir d Fourth trial trial trial tria trial Ui u t:^ Vh ~^ iH Sh (U «j m OJ tu o .n ^ ^ Xi ^ .a S a a a a a =i s 3 Ti 3 3 Grade 12; ^ ^ ^ ^ % ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I 20 2 lO 12 6o 3 15 3 15 O II 17 2 II 14 83 I 5 o O III 21 o 19 go I' 4 I 4 o o IV 25 o 21 84 I 4 I- 4 2 8 V 22 o 22 lOO o o o o VI 24 O o 24 100 o o o o The table shows that the percentage of children between the first and the sixth grades who fail to do the test is negligible, and that after the first grade the percentage who need more Fro, 7 i (2 i- 1 g / 3| ^ I f n L n 1 J c r u D n STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 107 than a first trial is negligible. Since the results ior the grades are so uniform an age table is omitted. Test X, Croiss Line Test B. — The procedure for this test is, so far as its own circumstances permit, like that of the preceding test. The figure is constructed before the child, and the spaces in which i, 2, and 3 are placed are outlined while being numbered. He is then given four trials, proceeding as prescribed in the preceding test. The results are evaluated as in the preceding test. Table XXIV shows the data of this test arranged with refer- ence to grade. TABLE XXIV Test X. Cross Line Test B Failure Succeeded Fourth First Second Third Fourth trial trial trial trial trial fe «r< t< >H y t< a; s > -^^ 3 P p P X^ ^ 3 p O ^ < IZ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ % ^ ^ ^ :? ^ :§ ^ I 20 2V5 2 10 12 60 4 25 I 5 3 IS 10' 50 6 30 I S II 16 2V5 8 SO 6 Z7' II 6 ii 6 6 Z7 6 37 3 18 I 6 III 21 2Y5 6 28 12 57 3 14 3 14 II 52 4 19 3 14 IV 23 2 14 61 8 34 I 4 II 47 9 39 2 8 I 4 V 22 ■lYs 17 77 4 17 I 4 IS 67 7 31 VI 24 lYs 211 87 3 I'2 13 54 10 41 I 4 The table shows that, beginning with the second grade, the percentage of children who make more than two errors become negligible; beginning with the fourth grade, from 61 to 87 per cent make no errors. On the failure side we see that, beginning with the fourth grade the percentage of those who make more than two failures becomes negligible, and at the fifth grade more than fifty per cent of the children make no failures. Table XXVII shows the same data arranged with reference to age. The same statement with reference to errors as above TABLE XXVII Test XV. Opp osite Test. (By ■ ag :e) r Errors r Failures 5 or S or c i I & 2 3 &4 more I & 2 3 & 4 more u en u ^H ii ^ I- ll ti ;-( !U '-M ^s n P ^ 3 3 3 P Age 'Z < ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ g ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 12; ^ 6-6 to 7- -6 8 2y5 5 62 3 37 ~6~ 75 I 12 I 12 7-6 to 8-6 24 2y5 9 37 II 45 2 8 2 8 6 25 II 45 6 25 I 4 8-6 to 9 -6 23 2 9 39 III 47 3' le 9 39 9 39 3 13 2 8 9-6 to 10 -6 23 iVs IS 6S 8 34 9 39 II 47 2 8 I 4 10-6 •to II- -6 II iVs 6 54 4 36 I 9 4 36 5 45 I 9 I 9 11-6 to 12- -6 17 iVs 13 7(> 3 17 I 5 lai 6r 6 35 12-6 to 14- -6 20 vYs 17 85 3 13 II 55 8 40 I 5 STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 115 may be deduced from this table beginning with the age 8-6, and for failures beginning with the age 9-6. At 11-6 more than 76 per cent of the children make no errors and 61 per cent no failures. Of thirty feeble-minded children between the ages of 9-6 and 17-6 seen at the clinic, twenty-one were unable to under- stand the import of the test and so control their associations as to make a record for it; the defective child fails to inhibit the wrong association, responds with a whole sentence, goes off on a tangent of discussion with each stimulus word, or re- sponds with absolute silence. Of the nine remaining, four made two errors or less, two made either three and four errors, and three made five or more errors. Five made two failures or less, one made three failures, and three made five or more failures. Text XII, Memory from Visual Verbal Presentation. — A typewritten sheet like the ordinary printed page, containing the following selection is placed before the child : If a man finds that the house is on fire, he should first look to see if it is a large fire. If it is a small one, he should quickly pour water on it or smother it. But if it is large, he should run to the fire alarm box, calling out fire to the other people in the house. Then he should go back and help old or sick people or little children to escape from the burning building. When all the pe.ople are out, if there is time he may save valuable things such as money or jewelry. Then when the fire engine comes, he may keep the crowds or curious people out of the way so that the firemen may work more easily. The child is told that he may read this selection to himself once and then hand it to the experimenter and tell what he has read ; just as nearly like that which he read as he can remember ; but that if he can not remember it precisely he should not be worried about it but give it as best he can. The request to hand it back as soon as he has finished reading, is to let the experimenter know that he has finished, and to discourage his attempting to read it a second time, as was found sometimes to be the case when this order was not given. He is also told that if there are any words which he does not know, if he will merely point to them they will be pronounced for him. It was found with the children of this school that those of the second grade and above found very few words which they could not pronounce. ii6 CLARA SCHMITT The experimenter uses for permanent record a printed sheet with space sufficiently wide so that changes in the text as rendered by the child may be written in, or words or phrases omitted in his rendering may be crossed out. Permanemt Record Sheet of Test XII If a man finds that the house is on fire he should look to see if it is a large fire if it is a small one he should pour water on it or smother it but if it is large he should run to the fire alarm box calling out fire to the other people in the house then he should go back and help old or sick people and little children to escape from the burning building when all the people are out if there is time he may save valuable things such as money or jewelry then when the fire engine comes , he may help to keep the crowds of curious people out of the way so that the firemen may work more easily. Table XXVIII shows the data, arranged according to grade, obtained from this test. The data are the number of items the child remembers. What is considered an item is indicated by the length of line in the record sheet above, each line con- stituting one item of the passage. A judgment is made in each case as to whether the child was verbally accurate, approxi- mately verbally accurate, or made no attempt to be verbally accurate. The correctness of the sequence of items is also noted. He is noted in the column. Sequence correct if there is not more than one detail misplaced in the selection. He is put down in the column. Sequence incorrect if more than one detail is misplaced in the selection. Following is an example of an approximately accurate verbal reproduction. It may be remarked here that there were none absolutely accurate. "If a man finds his house is on fire, he must first look to see if it is a large fire. If it is a small fire, he should pour water on it to smother it; but if it is large, he should run to the fire alarm box and call out Tire!' to the people. Then STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 117 he must go to help old or sick people out from the fire. Then, if there is time, he may bring out jewelry. Then when the fire engine comes he may help to keep back the crowds of curi- ous people." Following is another case, which was put in the column No attempt at Verbal Accuracy: "If a house should catch on fire, and the man should see it, he should look to see if it is a large fire. If it is a small fire, he should pour water on it or smother it; but if he finds it is large, he should run as fast as he could to the fire alarm box and ring for the firemen. Before the firemen come, if the fire isn't very bad he first saves the sick who could not get out. Next, get the children out, and when the firemen come keep the crowds back so that the firemen can work." Following is another example of a reproduction placed in the column No Attempt at Verbal Accuracy. It is not so in- accurate as the preceding one. "If a man sees a fire, he must first look to see if it was a big one or a small one. If it is a small one, he should throw water on it; but if it is a big one, he should run to the fire alarm box and call up the fire engine. Then he should go back and see if he can do anything for sick or helpless people. After all the people are taken care of he should save money TABLE XXVIII Test XII. Memory from Visual Verbal Presentation Details Remembered Accuracy Sequence 19 14 Approx- No at- Incor- to IS or less imate tempt Correct rect ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ rS G g a g c s g g 3 13 3 3 3 3 3 3 Grade ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ II 17 I 5 7 41 9 52 10 58 7 41 16 94 I 5 III 21 I 4 12 57 8 38 19 90 2 9 19 90 2 9 IV 24 15 (>2 9 Zl 23 95 I 4 n 95 I 4 V 22 3 13 16 72 3 13 14 63 8 36 19 86 3 13 VI 24 I 4 15 62 8 Z2, 22 91 2 8 22 91 2 8 ii8 CLARA SCHMITT and valuable things. Then when the fire engine comes, he may help to keep the curious people away from the fire, so that the firemen may work more easily." The data of Table XXVII show that beginning with the third grade more than 6i per cent of the children are able to recall not less than fifteen items of the twenty they have read. These data are in striking contrast with those which Binet obtained with his visual verbal memory test of the 1908 series. He found that two items constitute the normal for eight-year- old children. The data which Goddard (15) derived from the same test led him to conclude that it was too difficult for eight- year-old children. The material used for the Binet test was as follows : New York, September 5th. A fire last night burned three houses in Water Street. It took some time to put it out. The loss was fifty thousand dollars, and seventeen families lost their homes. In saving a girl who was asleep in bed, a fireman was burned on the hand. The difficulty with the Binet test' probably lay in the un- familiarity of much of its material. In such case the child's attention is often so much engaged with the matter which is unfamiliar to him that he fails to organize that part which is familiar to him, and so presents the appearance of failure when such is not really the case. The newspaper type of beginning of the paragraph could only confuse a non-newspaper reading child; the unfamiliar street name, and the unfamiliar quantity, fifty thousand, followed by another number in enumerating the loss, may detract attention and prevent an organization of the story into a complete whole. The table shows that all the children were approximately accurate in their reproduction of the selection read, and that the number of children who reproduced the selection with errors in the sequence of items is negligible throughout, with the excep- tion in each case of the fifth grade. This grade presents a rather large percentage of children who make no attempt at verbal accuracy and who made errors in the sequence. Test XIII. Memory from Auditory Verbal Presentation. The following passage is read to the child four times. He is told STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 119 before the reading that he must hsten very carefully and then re- peat the story as nearly as he can as it was given to him, but that if he cannot remember it precisely he should give it as well as possible. If a sailor on the ocean is shipwrecked in a wild country, he must first look for water to drink; then he must find a place to sleep, where wild animals can't get at him; and after that he can take time to look for food, but he must be careful not to eat poisonous berries or fruit. Next, he had better hunt for other people on the land, and put up a flag to stop ships which may be going by. Permanent Record Sheet for Test XIII If a sailor on the ocean is shipwrecked in a wild country he must first look for water to drink then he must find a place to sleep where wild animals won't get at him and after that he can take time to look for food but he must be careful not to eat poisonous berries or fruit next he had better hunt for other people on the land and put up a flag to stop ships which may be going by. The same data are kept for this passage as for the one given above. Following is an example of a passage classed as No Attempt at Verbal Accuracy: "If a sailor is shipwrecked, he has to be careful to see that he has water, then to see that he sleeps where wild animals won't get at him, and then he has to look for food, and be careful not to eat poisonous berries or such things, and then he has to look for other people, and put up a flag to stop ships going by." The following is an example of a reproduction placed in the approximately verbally accurate column : "If a sailor on the ocean is shipwrecked in a savage land, he must first look for water. Next, he must find a place to sleep where wild animals won't get at him. Then he may look for food, but be careful that he does not eat poisonous berries or fruit. Next, he must look around for other people on the land, and put up a flag to stop ships going by." Table XXIX shows the data obtained from this test : CLARA SCHMITT TABLE XXIX Test XIII. Memory from Auditory Verbal Presentation Details iRemembered Accuracy Sequence 11 8 App rox- No i at- Incor- 12 to 9 or less imate tempt Correct rect t) ^ ir< t- Vt- ;-. f ' — \ t4 Failur e Trial an d Error Planned Grade Number Number % Numb er % Number % I 9 7 77 2 99 II 4 3 75 I 100 in I I 100 100 IV 8 2 25 5 87 I 12 V 5 I 20 2 60 2 40 VI 3 I 33 2 6b VII I I 100 VIII Total 33 14 42 33 24 A similar table was constructed for each of the ages from 11 -6 to 15-6, the years for which the grade of which the child was a member in the school or at which he quit if he did so at the legal limit of fourteen could be most surely ascertained. These tables showed for each age the same large break in the per- centages of qualitative reaction to the test at the two year re- tardation point as has just been shown in the table for the 13-year-olds. The tables were then combined to show the reac- tion for two year or more retarded cases and those showing- less than two years or no retardation. Table XXXII shows the data so arranged. TABLE XXXII Test V. Puzzle Box. (11-6 to 15-6, Retarded and Unretarded, Clinic Cases) Method Failure Trial & Error Planned ^ ^ d !d ;3 s :^ ^ :? 46 40 57 8 II 34 ^ ^ Retarded 2 yr. or more Unretarded IIS 49 12 27 10 39 The table shows that of the retarded cases 10 per cent were able to plan the work of this test, and of the unretarded cases 39 per cent were able to plan it; that 40 per cent of the re- tarded failed and 11 per cent of the unretarded cases failed. STANDARDIZATION OF TESTS 127 Table XXXIII shows the data obtained for the 12-6 to 13-6 cases for Test IX, Cross Line A. TABLE XXXIII Test IX. Cross Line A. (Age 12-6 to 13-6. Clinic Cases) Succeeded Failure First Second Third Fourth ^. ^ ^ ^ ^ .a B a g g a g p 3 s ^ ^ Grade ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I 9 7 77 I II II 4 2 50 I 25 III 3 2 66 I 33 IV II 5 45 3 27 I 9 2 18 V 6 2 33 3 50 I 16 VI 2 2 100 VII I I 100 VIII 2 2 100 Total 38 18 47 14 36 3 7 3 7 The table shows that above the fifth grade practically all succeed and that below the fifth grade there is a large per- centage of failure. The data of this test were arranged with reference to re- tardation as was the test last discussed, showing success and failure. Table XXXIV shows the data so arranged. TABLE XXXIV Test IX. Cross Line A. (11-6 to 15-6, Retarded and Unretarded, Clinic Cases) Failure Succeeded Number Number % Number % Retarded 2 yr. or more Unretarded 123 79 45 7 36 78 72 63 91 Here it is seen that of the retarded cases 63 per cent succeeded and of the unretarded cases 91 per cent succeeded. The data for test X, Cross Line B, for the 12-6 to 13-6 year cases is shown in Table XXXV. 128 CLARA SCHMITT TABLE XXXV Test X. Cross Line B. (Age 12-6 to 13-6. Clinic Cases) Succeeded Failure First Second Third Fourth ^ ^ •rQ *P ^ S E g •p 3 3 J5 3 3 ^ Grade ^ g ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ S ^ I 9 7 77 I II I II II 4 3 75 I 25 III 3 2 66 I 33 IV 10 6 60 II 10 3 30 V 7 I 14 3 42 2 28 I' 14 VI 6 5 83 I 16 VII I I 100 VIII 2 2 100 Total 42 19 45 12 28 6 14 2 4 I 2 This table also shows the large percentage of success above the fifth grade and the very large percentage of failure below that grade. Table XXXVI shows the data with reference to retarded and unretarded cases. TABLE XXXVI Test X. Cross Line B. (in-6 to 15-6, Retarded and Unretarded, Clinic Cases) Failure Succeeded Number Number % Number % Retarded 2 yr. or more 123 52 41 71 57 Unretarded 84 4 4 80 95 This table shows that S7 per cent of the retarded cases and 95 per cent of the unretarded succeeded with this test. VIII INDIVIDUAL REACTIONS TO HEALY-FERNALD TESTS The following seven tables show the individual data of the children of the private school to those tests which involve quali- tative types of reaction. The first column to the left shows the individual number of the child when the data were recorded from the original notes. The next column records age ; the third grade, and the following columns the type of reaction to each test. TABiLE XXXVII Reaction of Kindergarten Children to Healy-Fernald Tests Test III Chance, Learning -[- Tr. and Er., Learning Tr. and Er., Learning Chance, Learning -|- Planned Chance, Learning + Chance, Learning -j- Tr. and Er., Learning Chance, Learning -f- Chance, Learning -j- Chance, Learning -j- Chance, Learning -[- Planned Planned Tr. and Er., Learning Tr. and Er., Learning Chance, Learning + Tr. and Er., Learning Chance, Learning -)- Chance, Learning -(- Chance, Learning -\- Planned Chance, Learning -{- Planned Chance, Learning + Chance, Learning -j- + Method for second attempt. Trial and * Made errors, but method planned. No. Age Grade 157 5 + Kdg. 158 5 + " 140 5- 3 " 155 5-8 it 145 5- 9 " 154 5- 9 " 138 5-10 ** 160 5-10 ** 141 5-II " 159 5-II 149 6 (( 132 6- I " 139 6- I " 137 6- 2 " 144 6- 2 ^-^^;^ com- pared with ^ (ratio) ; ^, compared with >4 ; ^ of ^; ^ of >4, 1. (Test for required work.) /^ + ^ = 2. (Additional.) If four dozen apples cost $1.50, what will three apples cost? Table XLVI shows the number of children of each grade who succeeded with the tests as far as each individual was able to go. Each child was given all the problems included in higher grades with which there was a possibility of success. Each grade was given such problems of lower grades as were not implicit in the work of the grade being tested. Examination of the table shows that with each grade success was almost universal with the required work of the grade. The numbers in bold type at the head of each column indicate the problems testing required work. The few failures in required work may have been due to the fact that the children were chosen for satisfactory reading ability. The results of the tests with defective children are given first in the absolute numbers and in the line below reduced to a scale of seventeen. The table shows that about two-thirds of the defective children were able to accomplish the required work of. the second grade; one-third had learned the multiplication table and one-sixth had learned to multiply. The success of the defective children with the addi- X I P^ o o O t^ On VOOO t^ tN. IT) l-I * \d O tn 3 o > > Q i ° > S