h n LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 975 232 3 $ Hollingo' pH 8.5 MiU Run F03.2193 PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN WILL S. MONROE Professor of Psychology in the State Normai, School, Westfield, Mass. REPRINTED FROM THE PEDAGOGICAL SEMINARY December, 1904, Vol. XI, pp. 498-507 ^1 PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. By Wii,i. S. Monroe, State Normal School, Westfield, Mass. During the past century, sense-training, in one form or an- other, has occupied a commanding place in all modern schemes of elementary education. Pestalozzi was the first great educa- tor to recognize in practice that sensations pour into the child's mind from the hour of his birth; and that during the years of most rapid brain growth, he lives mentally an essentially sense life. Frobel and Pestalozzi in their systems of education provided, accordingly, for these nascent periods of sense development and they devised definite and formal schemes for the apprehension and perception of the raw meterials thus furnished to the young mind by the senses. Their schemes outlined a more or less orderly approach to the study of concrete objects through color, form, size, material, arrangement of parts, and the like. This order was supposed to follow the child's line of interest and to represent a logical order of development; and for a hun- dred years the followers of Pestalozzi and Frobel have studi- ously followed this order in object lessons and kindergarten exercises. Fifteen years ago Professor Alfred Binet, (4) of the University of Paris, raised the question of the qualities of ob- jects of most interest to children; and, in consequence, the most readily perceived. Observations were made on two little girls in his own family, aged respectively, two and a half and four and a half years. He asked them what they meant by common words which he heard them frequently use — such as horse, clock, bottle, etc., — and he wrote down exactly what they said. After an interval of time he repeated the same list; and after fifteen such repetitions, he collated his results, which show that the greatest interests lay first in the use of the common ob- jects, and secondly in their movements. They almost never de- scribed an object by telling its color, form, size, material and structure. They gave not the qualities of the object, but what the object was good for and what it could do. Professor Earl Barnes (i) was the first in America to call at- tention to the results^ of Professor Binet's study, and to point out that not only does our work in elementary science concern itself with common objects in the chiM's environment, but that PERCEPTION OP CHILDREN. 3 most of the work in reading, number, and language is of a con- crete character and is carried on in connection with common objects. Professor Barnes verified the results of Binet by repeating the test with two thousand California school children between the ages of six and sixteen years. He prepared a list of thirty- three common words such as knife, bread, doll, water, hat, garden, table, bird, dog, clock, etc. Teachers were requested to dictate the list at the time of the spelling lesson. The chil- dren were simply asked to tell what is so and so. Teachers were requested to give no other directions; and they were cau- tioned against asking the children to define the words. The rubrics under which the children's answers were grouped, and the percentages falling under each group, were as follows : Use, 50%; larger term (concept), 18%; substance (material), 9%; action, 4%; structure, 4%; quality, 4%; place, 4%; form, 2%; color, less than 1%. Use was a dominant interest with the youngest children. At the age of six years, 77% of these children define common words by telling their use. At the age of nine, use is given by 63% of the children; at twelve years, 42% and at fifteen years, 33%. Concept, or larger term, in- creases with advance in years : At the age of six, it is given by less than 5% of the children; at nine years, 11%; at twelve years, 18%; and at fifteen years, 40%. The striking fact in Professor Barnes's study is the small place occupied by color, form, size, and the other traditional rubrics. I provided 2,191 children in the elementary schools of Mass- achusetts with cancelled two-cent postage stamps; and during a period customarily devoted to language work, the children were requested to "write an account of this postage stamp so that one who had never seen it would know all about it." From twenty to thirty minutes were given for the exercise. Returns were received from 985 boys and from 1,206 girls. The children ranged in age from seven to seventeen years. The following papers are given as fairly typical. Girl, 8 years old : "The postage stamp has a picture in it. The postage stamp costs two cents. It says united states postage on it. The man has hair braided in back of his head. The Boarder is round. It has arms on it. The shape is square. The color is red. The man is White. You can get these to the postice [post-ofiice] for two cents. There are lines around the boarder. The back of the stamp is white. It has nomber 2 on each side of it. The man has long hair." Boy, 16 years old : "Comments on the accompanying U. S. of America 2 cent Postage Stamp [Heading], i. Its meaning: The Postage stamps have glorious history. In the past 57 years they have been more and more useful until now they are not 4 PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. only absolutely necessary, but constitute one of the great helps in the study of Geography, and one of the noblest pleasures for thousands and millions of People; Kings and Queens as well as children in the most miserable social condition. "2. This Postage Stamp has the red color and is now next to the one penny stamp of Great Britain the most extensively used stamp used in the world. If I am not wrong its circula- tion in the past and present is the next largest of all others. The one penny stamp, I think has the first place. "3. Its surroundings are very interesting. It is mounted on a piece of paper, remainder of an envelope, which fact easily indicates that it is used in the most cases for letter correspond- ence. I notice that it has two imprints (that it is used), on one of them I recognize the indication that it is used in one Massachusetts Post oflSce. What is the meaning of the other imprint, if not the No. of the Post OflSce in a larger city, I cannot imagine. "4. The Stamp itself. An approximately rectangular piece of paper colored red with the picture of the head of Washington printed in the middle, just below and on the left and right sides the numerals 2—2, and below in letters TWO CENTS, Just above the head in one are the words 'United States of Amer- ica' in white. Other ornamentations are introduced here and there. It remains now after doing its faithful service ready to go in some album or else in some other collection of comrade- stamps. "5. Some particular observations. I had 500-600 of them at home which my cousin had the kindness to send me. Of course they are of no special value, but yet the)^ teach my little brothers the important lesson that such a little thing, like a stamp, will do all the necessary things for the transportation of a letter or other mail matter from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is very interesting to me that with the march of civilization the great Postal system of the World has increased its actions more and more until it is now one of the chief functions under the sun. How much this single stamp has done I cannot say, but I know that some stamps, precisely like this, have done great service to the country." The compositions were read and the descriptions collated under the following rubrics : llse, substance, color, form, size, cancellation mark, perforation, portrait correctly named, word- inscriptions, number-inscriptions, decorations, and miscella- neous. The word-inscriptions ("United States" and "two cents") were oftenest given by the children, having been mentioned by about 70% of the whole number; and the number-inscription (the two "2's") came third in frequency, having been given PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. by about 60% of the children. At the age of seven years, word-inscriptions were given by 9% of the boys and 30% of the girls with marked increase with advance in years. The number-inscriptions were given by 25% of the boys and 30% of the girls; there was increase with advance in years, but this increase was less marked than in the case of the word-in- scriptions. When one recalls the emphasis placed upon learn- ing to recognize words and numbers during the early years of the elementary school course, little importance can be attached to these two rubrics. The eight diagrams which accompany this article indicate the other dominant lines of interest. The figures on the left side of the diagrams indicate percentages, and the figures at the top of the diagrams indicate ages. The continuous lines represent the boys and the broken lines the girls. It will be seen that, with the younger children, color and use are the strongest interests, and that form, size and substance are com- paratively insignificant until the tenth year, thus agreeing — to except the color interest — with the studies of Professors Binet and Barnes. Diagram I, which follows, gives the curve for men- tion of color. It will be seen that at all ages the girls mention color more often than the boys ; and that the curve of color- interest of the girls progresses more steadily than that of the boys. Boys Xi.iACF.AM I ciris 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Boys— '7 8 9 — DIAGRAM II Girls 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ^^^^ I ^ , ._ y f ^'' { "n / / / 1 / /^ 1 1 1 1 1 ''/ y V / / Diagram I. The curve for the portrait gives only the results of the chil- PERCSPTION OF CHILDREN. dren who named it correctly. In fact, most of the children who referred to the portrait at all named it correctly. Of the 60% who mentioned the portrait, more than 54% correctly identified it. "Christopher Columbus" and "the head of a woman" were oftenest mentioned by those giving incorrect answers. Dia- gram II, which follows, gives, therefore, only the result of the correct answers. Diagram II. Substance — paper, mucilage, ink, the material in the stamp — did not appeal strongly to the young children. At the age of seven, 15% of the boys and 10% of the girls mention sub- stance. The noteworthy fact about substance is that it is the only rubric in which the boys at all ages lead the girls. As will be seen from the other diagrams, the girls/ generally led the boys in the number of statements made about the stamp. Of the whole number of children tested, substance is mentioned by 51%. Diagram III. At the age of seven none of the children refer to the form of the stamp; and at the age of eight, none of the boys and but 4% of the girls. The most rapid increase in form-iutere.st comes after the age of fourteen. Forty per cent, of the children men- tion form, about a third of whom mentioned forms bearing more or less resemblance to the form of the stamp. Diagram IV, which follows, gives the percentages of all the children mentioning form. Poys — 7 8 9 DIAGRAM III Girls 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 / / / 1 / / 1 / y \ / \ y / y ^y Boys. 7 8 9 DIAGRAM IV Girts—. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 SUBSTANCE ( 1 1 / ■/ y * 1 / y \ J / /, / ,^^ ^ ^ y FORM PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. Diagram IV. Use — after color — was the oftenest mentioned of the qualities commonly studied in objects. At seven, 45% of the boys and nearly 47% of the girls mention the use of the stamp. Use seems to decrease until about the age of ten when there is man- ifest increase of interest with the girls until twelve and with the boys until between the ages of thirteen and fourteen years. After these ages there is general decrease, although at the age of seventeen, 20% of both sexes still mention the use of the stamp. The curves in diagram V agree in the main with those in Professor Barnes's study. Diagram V. The perforated edges — one of the characteristics of the stamp — were not noted by many of the young children. The girls surpassed the boys up to the age of twelve but thereafter the boys lead. A little more than 25% of the whole number of children tested mention perforation, as will be seen by diagram VI. Boys— 7 8 9 _ DIAGRAM V Girls 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Boys^ 7 8 9 DIAGRAM V! Girls—, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ,_ --^ — w— V — USE Diagram VI. — yyT 7 i-/:s_/ • f y"" / PERFORATION Size like form is not mentioned by the youngest children. At the age of seven none of the boys and but 4% of the girls allude to size, and at eight years only one-half of one per cent, of the boys and but 5% of the girls mention size. Less than 25% of the whole number tested refer to size at all. 9 PERCEPTION OF CHIIvDREN. Diagram VII. Cancellation marks, which would be means of identifying the stamp, were mentioned by 19% of the children. All the stamps given the children for observation had been used. Between the ages of nine and fourteen the boys most often refer to can- cellation marks; but before and after these ages the girls lead. ;• 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 V 9C 80 7C 60 50 40 sc 20 10 Boys- DIAGRAM VIII Girls 10 11 12 13 14 15 1G 17 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 ^ J / L / 1 y*' ./ / ■\ 7 f^ A / / / y y ^ • \ ^ — / .— *»' ^ ^ y / &i::;i cancellation Diagram VIII. The ornamentations on the stamp were not frequenty ob- served. The small trefoils were noted by about 14% of the children, and chiefly by the older children; and the small scrolls by less than 8% of the children. The white parallel lines, the oval about the portrait, the triangles in the lower edges, and the shading of the stamp were also observed by a few of the older children; but as a rule the aesthetic features in the stamp were not perceived. Among miscellaneous facts perceived were the style of the hair, expression of the face in the portrait, where the stamps are made, penalty for using cancelled stamps, and where the stamp should be placed on the envelope. Some of the children drew the stamp (12% of the boys and 13% of the girls). Ap- parently some of them recognized their own inability to de- scribe the stamp with sufl&cient accuracy so that "one who had never seen it would know all about it," and they endeavored to supplement their written descriptions with what must have seemed to them a more graphic representation. One child in fact said: "If he would not know the stamp by what I say here is the picture below. ' ' And a reasonably accurate draw- PERCEPTION OF CHII^DREN. 9 ing follows. Drawing was generally resorted to by the chil- dren who gave the least accurate written descriptions. The question may reasonably be asked, to what extent do the facts observed by the children represent their lines of in- terest; and, representing their lines of interest, to what extent should the same be taken into account in school instruction? Professor Barnes (i) maintains that children's interests in common objects develop according to pretty definite laws, and these laws he thinks should be determined and used as a basis of educational procedure. He thinks it quite possible to estab- lish a course of instruction for the seven-year-old child, for example, after we have made a sufficient number of such tests which will rest on a basis as scientific as our treatment ot typhoid fever. The lines of interest in the postage stamp, as indicated by the whole number of different statements by all the children, are : Word-inscriptions, color, number-inscriptions, portrait, substance, form, use, perforation, size, cancellation, and orna- mentations. To some extent the children perceive in the post- age stamp what they have been taught to perceive in common objects, so that the study may reflect the prevailing methods of the teachers rather than the dominant interests of the chil- dren. In most of the essential lines of observation the con- ceptions of the children widen with advance in years; use is the only rubric which vanishes as the children mature. Sex differences are the most marked features of the study. It will be noted that in all the essential lines of observation that the girls lead the boys; they not only tell more about the stamp, but in many instances their observations show a higher order of intellectual discrimination. They seem to surpass the boys in their knowledge of the postage stamp; and they cer- tainly surpass the boys in their ability to tell what they know about the stamp. Does this apparent superiority of the girls, asks Professor Barnes, mean that they are better observers than the boys, more studious than the boys, or have better powers of expression than the boys ? The study made in Berlin (2) some twenty-five years ago, which sought to ascertain the extent of the common knowledge of children upon entering school, throws some light on these questions. It is reported in the Berlin study that the easiest and most widely diffused concepts were commonest among girls; but that the more difficult, special and exceptional concepts were oftenest given by the boys. The girls excelled in nature and space concepts, but the boys excelled in number and religious concepts. Girls excelled in fairy tales, but boys could repeat more accurately the sentences said to them and the songs sung to them than the girls. G. Stanley Hall (11), who initiated the child study move- lO PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN. ment in the United States twenty-five years ago, repeated the Berlin test in the schools of Boston. He found that girls excel in knowledge of parts of the body, home, and family, and that their stories are more imaginative; but that their power to sing and articulate correctly from dictation is distinctly less than that of boys, as well as their acquaintance with numbers and animals. In the numerous studies on the reaction time of school chil- dren there is manifest superiority of girls in the matter of rapidity of perception. The ability to respond muscularly to a signal indicates a degree of intelligence, which may not be of the highest order. In his tests of the capacity of the two sexes to read rapidly, the late George J. Romanes (i8) found that women were not only able to read more rapidly than the men, but that they were able to give a better account of what they had read than the men. But he did not find that rapidity of reading was correlated with mental efficiency. In fact some ot his brightest subjects were the slowest readers, and some of his most rapid readers were his most stupid subjects. Havelock Ellis (8) has pointed out in this connection that women are much like children in their apitudes for the rapid accumulation of facts. He says : "In youth we read rapidly, but it is within the experience of many of us that on coming to reach adult age we come to read more and more slowly. It is as though in early age every statement was admitted immedi- ately and without inspection to fill the vacant chamber of the mind, while in adult age every statement undergoes an in- stinctive process of cross-examination. Every new fact seems to stir up the accumulated stores of facts among which it in- trudes, and so impedes rapidity of mental action. It is so with the impulse to action. In the simply organized mind this is direct and immediate." It is well known of course that girls attain their growth and that they mature physically before the boys, so that in most in- stances the ten-year-old girl is comparable with the twelve-year- old boy . In consequence the girls represent degrees of superiority which are more apparent than real, since the boys continue to develop after the girls have attained their maturity. What Bowditch, Porter, Peckham and others have pointed out with reference to the earlier attainment of girls in physical growth, holds true in a measure in the mental development of the two sexes. Then, also, girls surpass boys in their powers of expression. Buckle (5) has called attention to the fact of the ready wit and the quick power of perception common among women; and he attributes this superiority to a tendency of the feminine mind to start from ideas rather than from the patient collection of facts. He refers to the notable superiority of women in quick- PERCEPTION OF CHII^DREN. II ness of intelligence among the lower social classes of Europe; and, to a fact that is well known to every traveller, that in a foreign land one can always make his wants more readily known to the women than to the men. Not only is there greater facility in the use of language among girls than among boys, but speech defects — stuttering, stammering and the like — are three times greater among boys than among girls. The only difference among the sexes may be sex, but that differ- ence, after all, seems pretty profound. Bibliography. 1. Barnes, Earl. Study of children's interests. Barnes's Studies in Education, Vol. I, pp. 203-212. 2. Bartholomai und Schwabe. Vorstellungskreis der Berliner Kinder beim Eintritt in die Schule. Berlin Stadtisches Jahr- buch fiir 1870, pp. 59-77. 3. BiNET, AiyFRED. La perception des longueues et des nombres chez quelques petits enfauts. Reinie Philosophique, July, 1890, Vol. XXX, pp. 68-81. 4. BiNET, Alfred. Perception de I'enfant. Revue Philosophiquey Dec, 1890, Vol. XXX, pp. 582-611. 5. Buckle, Henry Thomas. Influence of women on the progress of knowledge. In Miscellaneous works, Vol. I, London, 1897. 6. Chandler, Katherine Agnes. Children's interests in plants. Barnes's Studies in Education, Vol. I, pp. 217-222. 7. Dubois, Irene E. Comparison : [ways in which a horse and a cow are alike and unlike]. Pacific Educational Journal, '^o- vember, 1894, Vol X, pp. 511-522. 8. Ellis, Havelock. Man and woman : a study in human second- ary sexual characters. London and New York, 1896, pp. 165- 194. 9. Greenwood, James Mickleborough. What children know. Proc. N. E. A., 1884, pp. 195-198. 10. Hall, Granville Stanley. Adolescence. N. Y., 1904, Vol. II, pp. 134-231. 11. Hall, Granville Stanley. Contents of children's minds on entering school. N. Y., 1893, pp. 56. 12. Hartmann, Berthold. Die Analyse der kindlichen Gedanks- kries als die naturgemasse Grundlage der eisten Schulunter- richts. Annaberg, 1890, pp. 116. 13. Hoyt, William A. Love of nature. Ped. Sent., October, 1894, Vol. Ill, pp. 61-86. 14. Lange, Karl. Der Vorstellungskries unserer sechsjahrigen Kleinen. Allg. Schul-Zeitung (Jena), 1870, p. 327. 15. LeclERE, A. Description d'un objet. L' Annde Psychologique, 1897, Vol. IV, pp. 379-389. 16. O'Shea, Michael Vincent. Interests in childhood. Proc. N. E. A., 1896, pp. 873-881. 17. Preyer, Wilhelm. Mental development in the child. N. Y., 1895. PP- 30 47- 18. Romanes, George John. Mental differences between men and women. Nineteenth Century, May, 1887, Vol. XXI, pp. 654-672. 19. Shaw, Edward Richard. Comparative study on children's in- terests. Child Study Monthly, July-August, 1896, Vol II, pp. 152-167. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 975 232 3