Part 25 (1/2)
The following are sa arranged roughly in the order of their value fro:--
(a) _Balloon_
_Satisfactory_ ”A balloon is a h the air” ”It is a kind of airshi+p,and as in it and carries people up in a basket that's fastened on to the bottooes up” ”It is like a big bag with air in it” ”It is a big thing that goes up”
_Unsatisfactory_ ”To go up in the air” ”What you go up in”
”When you go up” ”They go up in it” ”It's full of gas” ”To carry you up” ”A balloon is a balloon,” etc ”It is big” ”They go up,” etc
(b) _Tiger_
_Satisfactory_ ”It is a wild animal of the cat family” ”It is an animal that's a cousin to the lion” ”It is an anile” ”It is a wild ani cat” ”It lives in the woods and eats flesh” ”So that eats people”
_Unsatisfactory_ ”To eat you up” ”To kill people” ”To travel in the circus” ”What eats people” ”It is a tiger,” etc ”You run from it,” etc
(c) _Football_
_Satisfactory_ ”It is a leather bag filled with air andyou play with” ”It isyou kick” ”It is brown and filled with air” ”It is a thing shaped like a watermelon”
_Unsatisfactory_ ”To kick” ”To play with” ”What they play with” ”Boys play with it” ”It's filled with air” ”It is a football” ”It is a basket ball” ”It is round” ”You kick it”
(d) _Soldier_
_Satisfactory_ ”A oes to war” ”A brave un” ”It is a ht” ”It is a oes to war and shoots” ”It is a ht and o to war” ”It is a soldier”
”A soldier that hts,” etc ”When you march and shoot”
Silence accounts for only a small proportion of the failures with children of 8, 9, and 10 years
REMARKS The ”use definitions” sohtly better quality than those given in year V Younger children more often use the infinitive form, ”to play with” (doll), ”to drive”
(horse), ”to eat on” (table), etc Use definitions of this year o up in it” (balloon), ”they kick it” (football), etc
Why, it arded as inferior to the descriptive or the classificatory definition? Is not the use to which an objectabout it, for the child at least? Is it not more important to know that a fork is to eat with than to be able to name the material it is made of? Is not the use primary and does it not determine most of the physical characteristics of the object?
The above questions y We must rest our case upon the facts The first lesson which the student of child psychology ence, of maturity, or of any other mental trait on the basis of theoretical considerations Experiment teaches that normal children of 5 or 6 years, also older feeble-ence level, define objects in terms of use; also that normal children of 8 or 9 years and older feeble-minded persons of this e of use definitions into the descriptive or classificatory stage An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory
The test has usually been located in year IX, with the requirement of three successes out of five trials and with so of the individual definitions When only two successes are required in four trials, and when scored leniently, the test belongs at the 8-year level
VIII, 6 VOCABULARY; TWENTY DEFINITIONS, 3600 WORDS
PROCEDURE Use the list of words given in the record booklet Say to the child: ”_I want to find out how many words you know Listen; and when I say a word you tell ive him a printed copy of the word list and let him look at each word as you pronounce it
The words are arranged approxih not exactly) in the order of their difficulty, and it is best to begin with the easier words and proceed to the harder With children under 9 or 10 years, begin with the first Apparently normal children of 10 yearsasked to define thein ord 16, and 15-year-olds ord 21 Except with subjects of alive the last ten or fifteen words, as these are almost never correctly defined by school children A safe rule to follow is to continue until eight or ten successive words have beenthee_?” ”What is a _bonfire_?”
”_Roar_; what does _roar_ own_?” ”What does _tap_ mean?” ”What does _scorch_ mean?” ”What is a _puddle_?” etc