Part 29 (1/2)

PROCEDURE Say to the child: ”_You knohat a rhyme is, of course A rhyme is a word that sounds like another word Tords rhyme if they end in the same sound Understand?_” Whether the child says he understands or not, we proceed to illustrate what a rhyme is, as follows: ”_Take the tords 'hat' and 'cat' They sound alike and so they make a rhyme 'Hat,' 'rat,' 'cat,' 'bat' all rhyme with one another_”

That is, we first explain what a rhye e of 9 years understand perfectly what a rhyme is, without any illustration A feever, think they understand, but do not; and in order to insure that all are given equal advantage it is necessary never to omit the illustration

After the illustration say: ”_Now, I aive you a word and you will have one minute to find as many words as you can that rhyme with it The word is 'day' Name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'day'_”

If the child fails with the first word, before giving the second we repeat the explanation and give sample rhymes for _day_; othere proceed without further explanation to _, ”_Now, you have another minute to name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'mill,'_” etc Apart froest hurrying, as this tends to throw some children into mental confusion

SCORING Passed if in _two out of the three_ parts of the experiiven, the ti _one minute_ Note that in each case there iven These less syllables or h to accept such words as _ding_ (fro_, _Jill_ (see ”Jack and Jill”) for _irl's naht it would seeence could not be very great Sound associations betords may be contrasted unfavorably with associations like those of cause and effect, part to whole, whole to part, opposites, etc But e pass from _a-priori_ considerations to an exa of rhyence

The 9-year-olds who test at or above 10 years nearly always do well in finding rhymes, while 9-year-olds who test as low as 8 years seldoh correlation with the scale as a whole, we ether

While the feeble-minded do not do as well in this test as nore successes for thee 10 or 11

Closer psychological analysis of the processes involved will shohy this is true To find rhyiven word means that one uiding idea Every word has innureater or less degree, to be aroused when the stiiven In order to succeed with the test, however, it is necessary to inhibit all associations which are not relevant to the desired end The directing idea must be held so firht associations Besides acting to inhibit the irrelevant, it ure froive doht direction Even the feeble-reat _ He fails on the test because his verbal associations cannot be subjugated to the influence of a directing idea The end to be attained does not dominate consciousness sufficiently to create netic pole there is a conflict of forces

The result is either chaos or partial success _Mill_idea becoives _mountain_, _valley_, or some other irrelevant association The lack of associations, however, is a more frequent cause of failure than inability to inhibit the irrelevant

If any one supposes that finding rhyher mental powers, let hies of mental efficiency, say at 9 AM, when ain when fatigued and sleepy Poets questioned by Galton on this point all testified to the greater difficulty of finding rhyued In this and in ued or sleepy individual approach the type of mentation which is normal to the feeble-minded

It is i in this test than nore, Mr Knollin's ”hoboes” of 12-year intelligence doing hardly as well as school children of 10-year intelligence Those who are habitually employed in school exercises probably acquire an adeptness in verbal associations which is later gradually lost in the preoccupations of real life

There has been reement as to the proper location of this test than of any other test of the Binet scale Binet placed it in year XII of the 1908 scale, but shi+fted it to year XV in 1911 Kuhlmann retains it in year XII, while Goddard drops it down to year XI However, e examine the actual statistics for norreeely accounted for by variations in procedure and by differing conclusions drawn froave but one trial

This, of course, iven and only two successes are required To make one trial equal in difficulty to three trials we should perhaps need to demand only two rhymes, instead of three, in the one trial In the second place, the word used by Binet (_obeissance_) is much harder than one-syllable words like _day_, __ Finally, the wide shi+ft of the test from year XII to year XV was not justified by the statistics of Binet hiures of Kuhlree the fact that Goddard required three successes instead of two In four series of tests, considered together, we have found 62 per cent passing at year IX, 81 per cent at year X, 83 per cent at year XI, and 94 per cent at year XII

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 1: NAMING THE MONTHS

PROCEDURE Simply ask the subject to ”_name all theone ive no look of approval or disapproval as the estions or comments of any kind

When the months have been na: ”_What month comes before April?_” ”_What month comes before July?_” ”_What month comes before November?_”

SCORING Passed if the months are named in about _fifteen or twenty seconds with no more than one error_ of omission, repetition, or displacement, and if _two out of the three check questions_ are answered correctly Disregard place of beginning

REMARKS Some are inclined to consider this test of little value, because of its supposed dependence on accidental training With this opinion we cannot fully agree The argu the days of the week (year VII), apply equally well in the present case It has been shown, however, that age, apart froence, does have some effect on the ability to naence do about as ith it as norence

The test appears in year X of Binet's 1908 scale and in year IX of the 1911 revision Goddard places it correctly in year IX, while Kuhl have omitted it

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 2: COUNTING THE VALUE OF STAMPS

PROCEDURE Place before the subject a cardboard on which are pasted three 1-cent and three 2-cent staed as follows: 111222 Be sure to lay the card so that the staht side up for the child Say: ”_You know, of course, howto a 1-cent sta to a 2-cent stamp) _No much money would it take to buy all these stamps?_”

Do not tell the individual values of the stamps if these are not known, for it is a part of the test to ascertain whether the child's spontaneous curiosity has led him to find out and remember their values

If the individual values are known, but the first answer is wrong, a second trial iven In such cases, however, it is necessary to be on guard against guessing

If the childto indicate how he arrived at his answer, it is well to tell hiot it_”