The Maturity Factor in the Grade Placement of Certain Punctuation Skills in Bibliography Form

Abstract

Among factors influencing grade placement in curriculum construc tion, maturity is receiving greater recognition than ever before in edu cational history. By maturity, we mean that stage in a child's develop ment when learning of specific knowledges or skills takes place with a minimum amount of instruction and drill because the child is ready, as an integrated biological and intellectual organism, to learn. Evidence of physiological or physical maturity or ripeness have been established without a doubt. Nor would anyone question that in the intellectual field as well, certain degrees of mental maturity are necessary to the mastery of specific skills. Epochal among the researches carried on in this field are those in reading, spelling, and arithmetic. What, for example, has done more to mitigate the discouragement of both pupil and teacher than the discovery that a mental age of at least six years is probably essential before a child can successfully be taught to read % If it is a waste of time to try to teach reading to a mental five-year old, the curriculum can be revised so that the child may have other worthwhile preparatory activities which will help him to establish a favorable attitude toward reading when he is ready to get meaning from the printed page. The child whose read ing instruction is delayed until he is psychologically and mentally ready to read does not form a permanent distaste for reading, because he has not been forced to read before he is mature enough to do so. The child can succeed when he first begins reading, and much has been accomplished as far as attitude is concerned. Time has actually been saved, since the child who is ready to read learns much more quickly than the child who is not mature enough to get the maximum benefit from instruction. The first research carried on by Washburne has been supplemented by other investigations concerning specific reading skills, until at the present time it is possible to predict with some degree of certainty at just what levels certain reading skills can be most effectively taught. Spelling, as a measurable field of investigation, has been rather thor oughly explored to discover at what age level children can most eco nomically learn to spell specific words. 449