Vol. XV.-NOVEMBER 1902.-No. 3. KINDERGARTEN TRAINING AND MOTOR DEVELOP M MENT.* A STUDY OF A THOUSAND CHILDREN. C. VICTOR CAMPBELL. OTOR control develops from the center outward; it appears first in the large muscles, the simple coördinations, and the coarse adjustments; later, in the small muscles, the complex coördinations, and the fine adjustments. On this established general principle many kindergartners are basing a reconstruction of the "occupations." Thus, within the kindergarten itself has risen the question: "Is kindergarten practice down to bed-rock in the matter of motor training?" Among the advantages claimed for the kindergarten-trained child, none is more frequently insisted upon than that of superior motor control. The literature of the kindergarten, from Froebel down, accepts without question such assertions as that of the author of "The Children of the Future," when she says: "It is probably conceded by everyone who has taken thought of the matter at all, that manual skill is acquired to a considerable extent in the kindergarten, notwithstanding the youth of the pupils." Now it is beyond doubt that children, while in kindergarten, grow rapidly in the "dexterity and skill of muscular movement" which Froebel desired. To say that this growth is due to their kindergarten training is to reason: "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc." A great many children enter the primary school without the benefits of the fifteen or more hoursa week which others spend in the kindergarten; are these children inferior in motor control to their little neighbors from the kindergarten? This is clearly a question of fact, a problem to be investigated. It is not something to be taken for granted; it is not a matter to be settled by massing the opinions. of educational authorities. Too much of our educational work is *From a paper read before the Wisconsin Association for Child Study, at the meeting of the Wisconsin State Teachers' Association, Dec. 26, 1901. 136 based on assumptions which may be correct, but which have never been proved. "Follow the Leader" is a fine game in its place. which is not in the conduct of our schools. In medical procedure slavery to authority is called "quackery." It is none the less quackery in educational procedure. The spirit of the age demands that we examine the foundations of our educational prac tice by the methods of science. The effect of kindergarten training on the motor development of the children is a problem for serious study. Supt. E. G. Cooley, of the Chicago schools, desiring to help in the solution, set on foot an investigation of which it is proposed to give some brief ac count. This investigation was carried on during the first four months of the year 1901. The children tested were pupils in the kindergartens and primary grades of certain Chicago schools. The ages ranged from four to eight years inclusive. With simple apparatus, tests were made of certain voluntary movements. The presence of motor abnormalities was also noted, the records representing the observer's estimates. The experience gained from taking part in a previous examination of nearly seven thousand children may be presumed to lend some value to these estimates. The strength test employed was that of the squeeze or grip of each hand. This was measured with Smedley's adjustable dynamometer; with this instrument the smallest hands could be fairly tested in strength. The test of rapidity was that of tapping with a full forearm movement, in a standing position. With the more skillful hand the subject tapped lightly on a metallic plinth with a metal-pointed pencil. Each tap closed an electric circuit, and was registered by an electric tabulator. The tabulator reading was recorded at the end of ten, of twenty, and of thirty seconds, the limit of the test. By subtraction, the number of taps recorded for each of three successive ten-second periods was obtained. The successive decreases in these numbers measure the fatigue induced, and so afford, in some degree, a test of endurance. In addition to the above tests of grip and tapping, record was kept of the pupil's height, height sitting, and weight. These measures of general physical development were made to determine whether the two groups of children-from kindergarten and non-kindergarten-were comparable in growth. A considerable difference in general development would invalidate any compari son of motor abilities, so far as the purpose of this investigation is concerned. It were unreasonable to give the kindergarten either credit or blame for what grew out of heredity or nutrition. In dividing the primary children's records into the two groups of "from kindergarten" and "non-kindergarten," an arbitrary line had to be drawn. No pupil was reckoned as "from kindergarten" unless he had spent over four weeks therein; had the minimum time been fixed at four months the number shifted to the other group would have been inconsiderable. Observations of motor abnormalities--defects of movement and posture were made without apparatus. Motor control has two sides. It includes the power to put forth energy, and the power to check energy-action, and inhibition. The child must learn to do, but he must also, in the words of Uncle Remus, "larn ter don't." The power to put forth energy may be tested directly; the lack of inhibition may be inferred from the occurrence of incoördinate movements during voluntary action, and from the outcrop of similar aimless movements during the absence of voluntary action. It may be remarked, in passing, that nervous waste results not so much from excess of working-energy, as from leakage because of defective inhibition. Muscular control takes the kinetic form in movements, the potential in postures; both phases were noted. Abnormalities may be either plus or minus in character. The opposite types of nervous condition which appear as over-action or under-action, tension or relaxation (lack of muscular tone), both show weakness and want of poise. Applying the above general divisions of abnormality to various special bodily activities, thirty points of departure from normal motor condition were observed. The detailed list need not be given. Having outlined the scope and methods of the investigation, it remains to state the precautions taken to eliminate error. (1) In the case of the primary pupils the examiner did not know which group claimed a child till his record was complete. No set order of sending in the little folks was followed by their teachers. (2) Every child appeared before the examiner at least twice, many coming several times. (3) In testing the strength of grip several trials were allowed, the best result for each hand being set down. (4) In the case of the tapping test a preliminary experiment was made; about one hundred children were given four or five trials, the different trials coming at various hours on different days. This was to determine the effect of scattering practice. After the second trial no noteworthy difference in average rate occurred, but the first trials averaged much lower. One trial seemed necessary, and also sufficient, to familiarize the children with the instrument. In striking averages for tapping only second or later trials. were counted. (5) In all the tests the pupils were examined in small groups and each child was encouraged to excel. They enjoyed the experience, and the normal activities of the child among his fellows came under observation. (6) The apparatus was tested from time to time to secure correct registration. From the above it will be seen that care was taken to get at the facts, to eliminate errors in short, to study the given pedagogic problem in as scientific a manner as the circumstances would permit. The difficulties were very great-the tests had to be made simple, the choice of apparatus was limited, the subjects examined were very young. In view of these facts, and of the relatively small number tested, the main result of the investigation is to show the urgent need for a broader and deeper study of the whole question of the relation of kindergarten training to the development of motor control. So little has been done along this line that a crumb is, perhaps, better than no bread. What are the results? Will the kindergarten-trained child, by reason of his training, excel in tests requiring specific motor control, such as gripping, tapping, or the various movements observed without apparatus? Every kindergarten teacher, questioned on this point in advance, said "yes." If so, he ought, in the primary grades, to excel in other specific tests of motor control, such as learning to write or to draw. Does he? A great many primary teachers, questioned on this point, said "no." Does the kindergarten "manufacture nervousness?" Some educators say it does. If so, the kindergarten-trained child will show a higher average number of motor abnormalities, or "nerve signs," as Warner calls them. So far as such questions can be answered by the present investigation the following are the RESULTS. 1. Comparing the sexes at each age from four to eight years it was found that: a. In the strength test the girls at each age were about equal to the boys a year younger. Hence, for this test, the averages were kept separate for the sexes. b. In the tapping test the sexes averaged almost exactly. the same at each age, both in rapidity and endurance. Their averages were combined. c. In the number of motor abnormalities the average at every age was distinctly lower for girls than for boys. The "nervous girl" has passed into a proverb. It would seem as tho, among young children, the nervous boy were of more frequent occurrence. 2. The percentage increase of motor control from year to year, as shown by the apparatus tests, develops some striking facts: a. In strength of grip the per cent of increase was: Four to five years, boys 23 per cent, girls 20 per cent; five to six years, boys 20 per cent, girls 18 per cent; six to seven years, boys 15 per cent, girls 15 per cent; seven to eight years, boys 16 per cent, girls 14 per cent. b. In tapping, the per cent of increase (sexes combined) was: Four to five years, 9.5 per cent; five to six years, 11.8 per cent; six to seven years, 8.2 per cent; seven to eight years, 6.9 per cent. During the years from four to six motor control develops, in proportion, more rapidly than at any later period. These are the kindergarten years; hence it is of prime importance that the motor training given then be the best that human skill can devise; hence, too, the importance of a scientific investigation of the topic under discussion; hence, also, the danger of assigning any accident of education as the cause of a growth condition that may be due to the great fundamental movements of the child's development. 3. In general physical development, as shown by the averages for height, height sitting, and weight, the two groups, "from kindergarten" and "non-kindergarten," were, at the age of six, almost exactly equal. These measurements were dropped after about 560 children in primary grades had been examined. These groups had been shown to be comparable from the point of general growth, hence they were comparable with reference to motor development. TABLE I. STRENGTH OF GRIP AND NUMBER OF MOTOR ABNORMALITIES. Kindergarten-trained and non-kindergarten children. |