Successful Teaching

SUCCESSFUL TEACHING Its Psychological Principles JAMES L. MURSELL Teachers College, Columbia University Fir t Edition THIRD IMPRESSION New York London McGRAW-IIILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. 1946 PREFACE What must any teacher do if his pupils are to learn well and are to achieve lasting, usable, and meaningful results This is the crucial problem vith which this book is chiefly concerned. The first step in writing this book began with applying the method of universal doubt. The author tried to wipe his mental slate clean, to suppose that nothing at all is known about what makes teaching successful. He attempted particularly to suppose that all methods progressive, conventional, or otherwise are equally unacceptable. This assumption was not too difficult, for it is quite clear that good teaching is not a very common thing. Thus, no method could be considered as answering the problem immediately. Where, then, to start There seemed only one possible point of departure. If there were any answer at all, it could only be found in what is known about the psychology of learning. True, our. knowl edge is not complete and does not go down to bedrock, but a great deal has been discovered, and we have a pretty good natural history of learning. Above all, there is a very striking and growing agreement among the best psychologists about the conditions of good learning. The author therefore undertook to find out the implications of this knowledge for the practice of teaching, beginning with as few pre conceptions as possible. The next step was to apply this body of knowledge about learning. It was obviously futile to say in effect to a teacher, Here is what we know about learning. Now go ahead and use it. Thatprocedure has been tried often enough, and it doesnt work out. Consequently, the author set about to refresh and extend his contacts with actual teaching. He reviewed his own experience, visited classrooms, con ferred with teachers, worked with groups of student cadets, studied accounts of teaching situations and various recommended plans for teaching. He tried to do all this without preconceived ideas for or against and with only one question in mind. How does psychology bear on these situations The author was looking for the bridge between our psychological knowledge and the practical teaching job. The solution was not found in any set method. Learning some times seemed to go well and sometimes badly, almost irrespective of the particular method used. Moreover, many samples of teaching via PREFACE hardly seemed to represent any definable method at all, and such samples also might be good or bad. The author found this bridge in a set of six principles. The more he looked at teaching and learning, the clearer it became that from the psychological standpoint certain crucial aspects attach to them. The learners mind must work in the right kind of context if he is to learn well. Pie must set up the right kind of focus. The right kind of social relationships will help him enormously. To some extent he must work in his own individual way. Each particular job of learning must be a part of a sequence of developing power and insight. The right kind of evaluation is essential, for the learner needs to know how he is getting along and other people need to know it too. These six principles context, focalization, socialization, individualization, sequence, and evaluation comprise the authors bridgebetween psy chology and the classroom. In dealing with them, the first requirement was to find out what psychology has to say about each one. It can tell us a great deal. It can show quite definitely the general characteristics of good context, good focalization, good socialization, good individualization, good sequence, and good evaluation. It can show us how learning must be organized with respect to each principle if it is to yield the best results. But a question still remains...