Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education Part 17

VALUE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Within the school the child secures a control of experience only by pa.s.sing through a process of mental reconstruction, or of changes in consciousness. Moreover, to bring about these mental changes, it is found necessary for the teacher's effort to conform as far as possible to the interests and tendencies of the child. So far, therefore, as the teacher's office is to direct and control the children's effort during the learning process, he must approach them primarily as mental, or conscious, beings. For this reason the educator should at least not violate the general principles governing all mental activity. By giving him an insight into the general principles underlying conscious processes, psychology should aid the teacher to control the learning process in the child.

LIMITATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

=Psychology Cannot Give: A. Knowledge of Subject-matter.=--It must not be a.s.sumed, however, that knowledge of psychology will necessarily imply a corresponding ability to teach. Psychology, for instance, cannot decide what should be taught to the child. This, as we have seen, is a problem of social experience, and must be decided by considering the types of experience which will add to the social efficiency of the individual, or which will enable him best to do his duty to himself and to others. All, therefore, that psychology can do here is to explain the process by which experience is acquired, leaving to social ethics the problem of deciding what knowledge is of most worth.

=B. Love for Children.=--Again, psychology will not necessarily furnish that largeness of heart and sympathy for childhood, without which no teacher can be successful. Indeed, it is felt by many that making children objects of psychological a.n.a.lysis will rather tend to destroy that more spiritual conception of their personality which should const.i.tute the teacher's att.i.tude toward his pupils. While this is no doubt true of the teacher who looks upon children merely as subjects for psychological a.n.a.lysis and experimentation, it is equally true that a knowledge of psychology will enable even the sympathetic teacher to realize more fully and deal more successfully with the difficulties of the pupil.

=C. Acquaintance with the Individual Child.=--Again, the teacher's problem in dealing with the mental att.i.tude of the particular child cannot always be interpreted through general principles. The general principle would be supposed to have an application to every child in a large cla.s.s. It is often found, however, that the character and disposition of the particular child demands, not general, but special treatment. Here, what is termed the knack of the sympathetic teacher is often more effective than the general principle of the psychologist.

Admitting so much, however, it yet may be argued that a knowledge of psychology will not hinder, but rather a.s.sist the sympathetic teacher in dealing even with special cases.

METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY

=A. Introspection.=--A unique characteristic of mind is its ability to turn attention inward and make an object of study of its own states, or processes. For instance, the mind is able to make its present sensation, its remembered state of anger, its idea of a triangle, etc., stand out in consciousness as a subject of study for conscious attention. On account of this ability to give attention to his own states of consciousness, man is said both to know and to know that he knows. This reflective method of studying our own mental states is known as the method of _Introspection_.

=B. Objective Method.=--Facts of mind may, however, be examined objectively. As previously noted, man, by his words, acts, and works, gives expression to his conscious states. These different forms of expression are accepted, therefore, as external indications of corresponding states of mind, and afford the psychologist certain data for developing his science. One of the most important of these objective methods is known as Child Study. Here, by the method of observing the acts and language of very young children, data are obtained concerning the native instincts of the child, concerning the genesis and development of the different mental processes, and the relation of these to physical development. A brief statement of the leading principles of Child Study will be found in Chapter x.x.xI.

=C. Experimental Method.=--A third method of studying mind is known as the _Experimental_ method. Here, as in the case of the ordinary physical experimenter, the psychologist seeks to control certain mental processes by isolating them and regulating their action. This may be effectively done in the study of certain processes. For instance, by pa.s.sing the two points of a pair of compa.s.ses over different parts of the body, the tactile sensibility of the skin may be compared at these different parts. By this means it may be shown that the tip of the finger can detect the two points when only one twelfth of an inch apart, while on the middle of the back they may require to be two and a half inches apart to give a double impression. The experimental method is often used in connection with the objective method in Child Study.

PHASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

=A. Knowledge.=--Although, as previously stated, the stream of consciousness must at all times be looked upon as a unity, it will be found upon a.n.a.lysis to present three more or less distinct phases. A state of consciousness implies, in the first place, being aware of something as an object of attention. In other words, something is seized upon by consciousness as a presentation, and to the extent to which one is aware of this object of consciousness, he is said to recognize, or to know it. A state of consciousness is always, therefore, a state of knowledge, or of intelligence. Thus, whether we perceive this chair, imagine a mermaid, recall the looks of an absent friend, experience the toothache, judge the weight of this book, or become angry, our conscious state is a state of _knowledge_.

=B. Feeling.=--A conscious state is also a state of feeling. Every conscious state has its feeling side, since it is a personal state, or since the mind itself is affected toward its own state. Two men, for instance, may know equally well the taste of a particular food, but the taste may affect each one quite differently. To one the experience is pleasant, to the other it may be even painful. Two boys may know equally that a point has been scored by the visiting team, but the personal att.i.tude of each toward the experience may be quite different. The one finds in it a quality of joy; the other a quality of sorrow. In the same way the mind always feels more or less pleased or displeased in its present state of consciousness. To speak of any particular experience as painful, joyous, sorrowful, etc., is, therefore, to refer to it as a state of _feeling_.

=C. Will.=--Consciousness is a state of effort, or will. It was especially pointed out above, that the purposeful consciousness always implies a straining or focusing of consciousness in order to attain a fuller control of the experience. This element of exertion manifest in consciousness may appear as a directing of attention, as the making of a choice, as determining upon a certain action, etc. This aspect of any conscious state is spoken of as a state of _will_, or volition.

In the unity of the conscious life, therefore, there are three att.i.tudes from which consciousness may be viewed:

1. It is a state of Knowledge, or of Intelligence.

2. It is a state of Feeling.

3. It is a state of Will.

On account of this threefold aspect of mental states, consciousness has been represented in the following form:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The significance of comparing the threefold aspect of consciousness to the three sides of a triangle consists in the fact that if any side of a triangle is removed no triangle remains. In like manner, none of the three attributes of consciousness could be wanting without the conscious state ceasing to exist as such. No one, for instance, could feel the pressure of a tight shoe without at the same time knowing it, and fixing his attention upon it. Neither could a person at any particular time know that the shoe was pinching him unless he was also attending to and feeling the experience.

CHAPTER XX

MIND AND BODY

=Relation of Mind to Bodily Organism.=--Notwithstanding the ant.i.thesis which has been affirmed to exist between mind and matter, yet a very close relation exists between mind and the material organism known as the body. There are many ways in which this intimate connection manifests itself. Mental excitement is always accompanied with agitation of the body and a disturbance of such bodily processes as breathing, the beating of the heart, digestion, etc. Such mental processes as seeing, hearing, tasting, etc., are found also to depend upon the use of a bodily organ, as the eye, the ear, the tongue, without which it is quite impossible for the mind to come into relation with outside things.

Moreover, disease or injury, especially to the organs of sense or to the brain, weakens or destroys mental power. The size of the brain, also, is found to bear a certain relation to mental capacity; the weight of the average brain being about 48 ounces, while the brain of an idiot often weighs only from 20 to 30 ounces.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brain and Spinal Cord]

=Divisions of Nervous System.=--This intimate connection between mind and body is provided for through the existence of that part of the bodily organism known as the nervous system, and it is this part, together with its a.s.sociated organs of sense, that chiefly interests the student of psychology. A study of the character and functions of the various parts of the nervous system, and of the nervous substance of which these parts are composed, belongs to physiology rather than to psychology. As the student-teacher is given a general knowledge of the structure of the nervous system in his study of physiology, a brief description will suffice for the present purpose. The nervous system consists of two parts, (1) the central part, or cerebro-spinal centre, and (2) an outer part--the spinal nerves. The central part, or cerebro-spinal centre, includes the spinal cord, pa.s.sing upward through the vertebrae of the spinal column and the brain. The brain consists of three parts: The cerebrum, or great brain, consisting of two hemispheres, which, though connected, are divided in great part by a longitudinal fissure; the cerebellum, or little brain; and the medulla oblongata, or bulb. The spinal nerves consist of thirty-one pairs, which branch out from the spinal cord. Each pair of nerves contains a right and left member, distributed to the right and the left side of the body respectively. These nerves are of two kinds, sensory, or afferent, (in-carrying) nerves, which carry inward impressions from the outside world, and motor, or efferent, (out-carrying) nerves, which convey impulses outward to the muscles and cause them to contract. There are also twelve pairs of nerves connected with the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and face, which, instead of projecting from the spinal cord, proceed at once from the brain through openings in the cranium. These are, therefore, known as cerebral nerves. In their general character, however, they do not differ from the projection fibres.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pair of Spinal Nerves]

=Nervous Substance.=--Nervous substance is divided into two kinds--grey, or cellular, substance and white, or fibrous, substance. The greater part of the grey matter is situated as a layer on the outside of the cerebrum, or great brain, where it forms a rind from one twelfth to one eighth of an inch in thickness, known as the cortex. It is also found on the surface of the cerebellum. Diffuse ma.s.ses of grey matter are likewise met in the other parts of the brain, and extending downward through the centre of the spinal cord. The function of the grey matter is to form centres to which the nerve fibres tend and carry in stimulations, or from which they commence and carry out impulses.

=The Neuron.=--The centres of grey matter are composed of aggregations, or ma.s.ses, of very small nerve cells called neurons. A neuron may range from 1/300 to 1/3000 of an inch in diameter, and there are several thousand millions of these cells in the nervous system. A developed neuron consists of a cell body with numerous prolongations in the form of white, thread-like fibres. The neuron with its outgoing fibres is the unit of the nervous system. Neurons are supposed to be of three cla.s.ses, sensory to receive stimulations, motor to send out impulses to the muscles, and a.s.sociation to connect sensory and motor centres.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Neuron in Stages of Development]

These neurons, as already noted, are collected into centres, and the outgoing fibres give connection to the cells, the number of connections for each neuron depending upon its outgoing fibres. Some of these connections are already established within the system at birth, while others, as we shall see more fully later, are formed whenever the organism is brought into action in our thinking and doing. To speak of such connections being formed between nerve centres by means of their outgoing fibres does not necessarily mean a direct connection, but may imply only that the fibres of one cell approach nearly enough to those of another to admit of a nervous impulse pa.s.sing from the one cell to the other. This is often spoken of as the establishment of a path between the centres.

=The Nerve Fibres.=--The nerve fibres which transmit impressions to and from the centres of grey matter average about 1/6000 of an inch in thickness, but are often of great length, some extending perhaps half the length of the body. Large numbers of these fibres unite into a sheath or single nerve. It is estimated that the number of fibres in a single nerve number in most cases several thousand, those in the nerve of sight being estimated at about one hundred thousand. The fibres in the white substance of the brain are estimated at several hundred million.

=Cla.s.ses of Fibres.=--These fibres are supposed to be of four cla.s.ses, as follows:

1. _Sensory Cerebral and Spinal Fibres_

These have already been referred to as spreading outward from the brain and spinal cord to different parts of the body. Their office is, therefore, to carry inward to the centres of grey matter impressions received from the outside world, thus setting up a connection between the various senses and the cortex of the brain.

2. _Motor Cerebral and Spinal Fibres_

These fibres connect the centres of grey matter directly with the muscles, and thus provide a means of communication between these muscles and the cortex of the brain.

3. _a.s.sociation Fibres_

These connect one part of the cortex with another within the same hemisphere.

4. _Commissural Fibres_

These connect corresponding centres of the two hemispheres of the cerebrum.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

=Function of Parts.=--Because the various cells are thus brought into relation, the whole nervous system combines into a single organism, which is able to receive impressions and provides conditions for the mind to interpret these impressions and, if necessary, react thereon.

When, for instance, a stimulus is received by an end organ (the eye), it will be transmitted by a sensory nerve directly inward to a sensory centre, or cell, in the cortex of the brain. In such a case it may be interpreted by the mind and a line of action decided upon. Then by means of a.s.sociating cells and fibres a motor centre may be stimulated and an impulse transmitted along an outgoing motor nerve to a muscle, whereupon the necessary motor reaction will take place. A pupil may, for instance, receive the impression of a word through the ear or through the eye and thereupon make a motor response by writing the word. The arrows in the accompanying figure indicate the course of the stimulus and the response in such cases.