Part 27 (2/2)

In this experiment the subject may fail in any one of the three requirements of the test or in all of them (1) He may not cooal (2) Though understanding what is expected of hi out the task Or (3) he in to play with the blocks, stacking the the idea is not completely lost, but is weakened or rendered only partially operative

In such a case the subject may compare so them at all, but continue in his half-rational, half-irrational procedure until all the blocks have been arranged

It is essential, therefore, to supple down a brief but accurate description of the perforrasp the instructions

Note especially any absurd procedure, such as placing all the blocks without hefting any of the the two at once in the same hand, etc The ideal method, of course, is to try all the blocks carefully before placing any of theeeht departure fro failure, but it renders success less probable As a rule it is only the very intelligent children of 10 years who think to test out their first arrange a final and additional trial of each block in turn Contrary to whatthe blocks successively with one hand rather than by taking one in each hand for simultaneous comparison, but as the child cannot be expected to know this, we ical

The test of arranging weights has e is that it tests the subject's intelligence in thewith _abstractions_ It tests his ability to do soe It throws light upon certain factors of reat part in the everyday life of the average hu It depends as little upon school, perhaps, as any other test of the scale, and it is readily usable with children of all nations without danger of being materially altered in translation Moreover, it is always an interesting test for the child Bobertag goes so far as to say that any 8- or 9-year child who passes this test cannot possibly be feeble-minded This may be true; but the converse is hardly the case; that is, the failure of older children is by no means certain proof of mental retardation The same observation, however, applies equally well to many other of the Binet tests, soe than this one A rather considerable fraction of normal 12-year-olds fail on it, and it is in fact somewhat less dependable than certain other tests if ish to differentiate between 9-year and 11-year intelligence But it is a test we could ill afford to eliminate[63]

[63] Compare with V, 1

IX, 3 MAKING CHANGE

PROCEDURE Ask the following questions in the order here given:--

(a) ”_If I were to buy 4 cents worth of candy and should give the storekeeper 10 cents, how ht 13 cents worth and gave the storekeeper 15 cents, how ht 4 cents worth and gave the storekeeper 25 cents, how et back?_”

Coins are not used, and the subject is not allowed the help of pencil and paper If the subject forgets the statement of the problem, it is permissible to repeat it once, but only once The response should be made in ten or fifteen seconds for each problem

SCORING, The test is passed if _two out of three_ problems are answered correctly in the allotted tiiven to a problenoring the first

REMARKS Problehly standardized, are extreence The difficulty of the test, as we have used it, does not lie in the subtraction of 4 froiven as problems in subtraction, are readily solved by practically all normal 8-year-olds who have attended school as much as two years The problems of the test have a twofold difficulty: (1) The statement of the problem must be comprehended and held in mind until the solution has been arrived at; (2) the problem is so stated that the subject must himself select the fundamental operation which applies The latter difficulty is so employed instead of subtraction

It is just such difficulties as this that prove so perplexing to the feeble-h they require more than the usual amount of drill and are likely toto add, subtract, multiply, and divide fairly well Their iven probleards initiative, judgment, and power to reason they are little educable The psychology and pedagogy of mental deficiency is epitoreee, but various procedures have been eenerally been employed, in which case the subject is actually allowed to iven only a single problem, usually 4 cents out of 20 cents, or 4 out of 25, or 9 out of 25 It is evident that these are not all of equal difficulty There is general agreement, however, that nore

IX, 4 REPEATING FOUR DIGITS REVERSED

The series are 6-5-2-8; 4-9-3-7; 3-6-2-9

PROCEDURE AND SCORING Exactly as in VII, alternate test 2[64]

[64] See discussion, p 207 _ff_

IX, 5 USING THREE WORDS IN A SENTENCE

PROCEDURE The words used are:--

(a) _Boy_, _ball_, _river_

(b) _Work_, _money_, _men_

(c) _Desert_, _rivers_, _lakes_

Say: ”_You knohat a sentence is, of course A sentence isto give you three words, and you must make up a sentence that has all three words in it The three words are 'boy,' 'ball,' 'river' Go ahead and make up a sentence that has all three words in it_” The others are given in the same way