How To Study and Teaching How To Study

How To Study and Teaching
How To Study
by F. M.
McMurry

The Project Gutenberg EBook of How To Study and Teaching How To
Study
by F. M. McMurry Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading
or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: How To Study and Teaching How To Study

Author: F. M. McMurry
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6109] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 7,
2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, HOW TO
STUDY AND TEACHING HOW TO STUDY ***

Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

HOW TO STUDY AND TEACHING HOW TO STUDY
BY F. M. McMURRY
Professor of Elementary Education in Teachers College, Columbia
University

TO MY FRIEND ORVILLE T. BRIGHT THIS VOLUME IS
DEDICATED, AS A TOKEN OF WARM AFFECTION AND
PROFESSIONAL INDEBTEDNESS

PREFACE

Some seven or eight years ago the question, of how to teach children to

study happened to be included in a list of topics that I hastily prepared
for discussion with one of my classes. On my later examination of this
problem I was much surprised, both at its difficulty and scope, and also
at the extent to which it had been neglected by teachers. Ever since that
time the two questions, How adults should study, and How children
should be taught to study, have together been my chief hobby.
The following ideas are partly the result of reading; but since there is a
meagre quantity of literature bearing on this general theme, they are
largely the result of observation, experiment, and discussion with my
students. Many of the latter will recognize their own contributions in
these pages, for I have endeavored to preserve and use every good
suggestion that came from them; and I am glad to acknowledge here
my indebtedness to them.
In addition I must express my thanks for valuable criticisms to my
colleague, Dr. George D. Strayer, and also to Dr. Lida B. Earhart,
whose suggestive monograph on the same general subject has just
preceded this publication.
THE AUTHOR.
Teachers College, May 6,1909.

CONTENTS


PART I
PRESENT METHODS OF STUDY; NATURE OF STUDY AND ITS
PRINCIPAL FACTORS
I. INDICATIONS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE DO NOT LEARN TO
STUDY PROPERLY; THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE EVIL

II. THE NATURE OF STUDY, AND ITS PRINCIPAL FACTORS

PART II
NATURE OF THE PRINCIPAL FACTORS IN STUDY, AND THEIR
RELATION TO
CHILDREN
III. PROVISION FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES, AS ONE FACTOR IN
STUDY
IV. THE SUPPLEMENTING OF THOUGHT, AS A SECOND
FACTOR IN STUDY
V. THE ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS, AS A THIRD FACTOR IN
STUDY
VI. JUDGING OF THE SOUNDNESS AND GENERAL WORTH OF
STATEMENTS, AS A FOURTH FACTOR IN STUDY
VII. MEMORIZING, AS A FIFTH FACTOR IN STUDY VIII. THE
USING OF IDEAS, AS A SIXTH FACTOR IN STUDY IV.
PROVISION FOE A TENTATIVE RATHER THAN A FIXED
ATTITUDE TOWARD KNOWLEDGE, AS A SEVENTH FACTOR
IN STUDY X. PROVISION FOR INDIVIDUALITY, AS AN
EIGHTH FACTOR IN STUDY

PART III
CONCLUSIONS
XI. FULL MEANING OF STUDY; RELATION OF STUDY TO

CHILDREN AND TO THE SCHOOL
INDEX


PART I
PRESENT METHODS OF STUDY; NATURE OF STUDY, AND ITS
PRINCIPAL FACTORS

CHAPTER I
INDICATIONS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE DO NOT LEARN TO
STUDY PROPERLY; THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE EVIL

No doubt every one can recall peculiar methods of study that he or
some one else has at some time followed. During my attendance at high
school I often studied aloud at home, along with several other
temporary or permanent members of the family. I remember becoming
exasperated at times by one of my girl companions. She not only read
her history aloud, but as she read she stopped to repeat each sentence
five times with great vigor. Although the din interfered with my own
work, I could not help but admire her endurance; for the physical labor
of mastering a lesson