IN THE HIGH SCHOOL

19

ship of the subject matter to the life of the community and the vitalizing effect of the other studies ought to make its inclusion in the program a real economy of time.

Placing it in the program of the seventh and eighth grades of the town school is a much simpler task, as two or three recitations a week of agriculture can be easily substituted for some of the more formal and less valuable parts of the other studies there. If home economics is provided for the girls of these grades and either or both the agriculture, and home economics taught by a special teacher, one or both sets of pupils can go to the rooms of the special subject to recite at the same period.

In the high school the program is more difficult to arrange. To make a four-year curriculum available to the student; to have double laboratory periods available for each class every day (Fig. 11); to teach some agriculture in the seventh and eighth grades; to teach the normal teacher training class of prospective rural teachers (Fig. 12); and yet find time for conducting home projects, community activities, short courses (Fig. 13), a school plot of ground, and home gardens of pupils, and supervise work in nearby rural schools with one agricultural instructor requires a well-arranged program for the week.

Let us see some of the possibilities. Suppose the freshman class is studying agronomy, the sophomore animal husbandry, the eighth grade two recitations per week and the normal class three per week; his arrangement could be as follows:

Thursday

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday Animal Animal Animal Animal Animal husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry Animal Animal Animal Animal Animal husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Normal Eighth Normal Eighth Normal class grade class grade class

This would leave him most of the afternoon for projects, community service, rural schools, gardens, school plot, and preparation.

Any day when a high school class needed a double period for laboratory work it could be available by extending the work into the second of the two periods provided.

A more condensed program is possible under the following plan:

Wednesday Thursday Friday

Monday

Tuesday

First period.

Animal Animal Animal Animal Animal husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry husbandry

grade

Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy Agronomy
Normal Eighth Normal Eighth Normal
class
class
class

grade

This would give him afternoons entirely free from class-room work and would allow him to use the second period for laboratory work in animal husbandry (Fig. 11) or agronomy on any day but not for both on the same day. This is only possible in case the animal husbandry students have no other recitation the first and second periods and the agronomy students none the second and third periods. The possibilities of program arrangements under different conditions can be further shown by working out the exercises at the close of this chapter

THE TEXTBOOK

Scoring Textbooks. To properly evaluate the various texts in a subject and to reach a sound conclusion regarding their relative values and their adaptability to a given set of conditions a score card is of great assistance. The following score card was originated by the faculty of the Division of Agricultural Education of the University of Minnesota and has been used for several years by the students taking courses in that department. Every student preparing to teach agriculture is required to judge by aid of this score card several books in each of the branches of agriculture, agronomy, animal husbandry, soils, horticulture, farm management and farm engineering; and also books for the grade agriculture and country schools and for the normal training class in which are prepared the country teachers. Each student thus begins his work as a teacher with a carefully developed judgment of the relative merits of the various books from which he may be required to select those to be used in his classes.

Choosing by the Aid of the Score Card.-The general plan of the score card is to assign to each desirable characteristic that a textbook ought to possess a certain numerical value, the total of

EXPLANATION AND USE OF SCORE CARD

21

which value equals 100. The values assigned to the separate characteristics on the score card are supposed to represent the relative importance of the different characteristics on the basis of their total being 100. For example; "adaptability" is of much more value than “binding.”

The general procedure in selecting a book by aid of the score card is:

First.-Obtain copies of such books as by information or cursory examination seem to be adapted to the purpose for which the chosen book is to be used.

Second.-Familiarize yourself with the general plan of the score card and with the meaning and scope and value of each item of it.

Third. Record the score of the different books for each item. Fourth. Add the values assigned to a book to obtain the total score for that book.

Fifth. Rank the books according to the total score of each, assigning first rank to the book whose score is nearest 100.

Sixth.-Examine the books without the aid of the score card and see if your "general judgment" regarding their several ranks agrees with that obtained by the score card.

Seventh.-Examine your score card and the books for errors in figures or judgment, correcting until score card and general judgment agree.

Explanation of the Score Card and its Use.-Content. This signifies the subject matter which the book contains and is somewhat independent of its specific teaching qualities although a book lacking in the characteristics scored herein would be, of necessity, a poor book to use in teaching.

Adaptability. Ask such questions as: Is it too difficult or too easy for the class of pupils for whom a book is being chosen (e.g., high school seniors, juniors, sophomores, or freshmen, eighth grade, rural school, prospective rural teachers)? Is it adapted to the type of local agriculture? Does it cover the field desired? Does it follow properly preceding texts used by this class?

Proportion.-Make careful comparisons of the quantity distribution of the various topics. Within the field desired is the content distributed in proper relative quantities over the various topics considered? Are some treated too fully (relatively) or too briefly or omitted?

Laboratory Exercises. Are there any? Do they properly clarify or reënforce the text material? Are they adapted to the laboratory facilities that can be made available to this class? Are there questions on experience? Are there suggestions for home exercises, readings and observations?

References.—Are there any? Do they refer to authorities for statements made? Are references suggested for further reading? Are they to specific pages or chapters or to titles only? Are they placed in the body of the text, at the close of the topic, at the foot of the page, at the end of the chapter or at the end of the book?

Score Card for Agriculture Textbooks

(Modified from the original developed by the Division of Agricultural Education, University

NOTE 1.-A book must be scored

on the basis of its fitness for the particular class, school and locality in which it is to be used.

NOTE 2.-Use back of sheet for explanations and remarks.

Qualities or characteristics upon which book is to be scored.

CONTENT:

of Minnesota)

EXPLANATION AND USE OF SCORE CARD

23

Index. Has it a general table of contents? Is it sufficiently full? Has it an alphabetically arranged analytic index? Is it complete? Well arranged? Accuracy. Are its statements true? Are its figures correct, recent, and based upon the best authority? Does it give specific or only general statements? Are values given accurately or only approximately? Is its analytic alphabetic index accurate?

Pedagogical Character.-A good text must contain not only good material as shown by the content score but it must have that material in proper form and arrangement for teaching. It is not enough to know that it contains valuable information of the kind needed by the pupils but is the material so arranged and expressed as to make learning economical and effective? Is it "teachable"?

Sequence. Are the chapters, topics and paragraphs arranged in the best teaching order? Do the earlier prepare for the later? Do the later utilize effectively and economically the teachings of the earlier? Is the general sequence that which you prefer to follow in your school? Does the sequence conform sufficiently to the seasonal activities of the local agriculture? To the time the pupils will be studying agriculture in the school? To seasonal opportunities for home projects or other practical applications? To the best pedagogical procedure?

Correlations. Are the different chapters, topics, and paragraphs made to reënforce each other effectively and economically? Are cross references so used that in teaching the sequence could be different from that of the numbering of the pages without destroying the value of the correlations? Are fundamentals (e.g., Mendelism) which are needed in several places explained only once and then referred to whenever wanted?

Clearness. In general is the expression clear? Are explanations cleancut and convincing? Are sentences definite and their meaning unmistakable? Will pupils obtain from the text a correct and explicit understanding of the subject?

Vocabulary.-Are the words properly chosen? Are the best terms of scientific and practical agriculture used and in their accepted significance? Are the words comprehensible by the class of pupils for whom the book is being chosen?

Illustrations.-Are the verbal illustrations apt? Are they convincingly expressed? Are the pictorial and diagrammatic illustrations pedagogical, that is, do they teach? Do they illuminate the language of the text? If from photographs, were they composed for the most instructive results? Do the essential points stand out? Do they show proper proportion? Are illustrations sufficient in number? Are they sufficiently explained or described?

Mechanical Construction.-Did the printer and the binder so perform their work as to make the book adapted to the use of the class of pupils for whom a selection is being made?

Type.-Is the type neither too large nor too small? Are the letters free from extra and unnecessary lines? Is a page of it restful or irritating to the eyes? Are the lines of print far enough apart?

Cuts. Are the cuts mechanically well made with the kind of screen best adapted to the paper used? Are they clearly defined? Is the press work good? Are cuts large enough? Well placed on the page? Well placed in relation to the subject matter which they are intended to illustrate?

Headings and Paragraphs. Are they in proper type? Are they arranged to show the relationship of the topics? Do they guide the eye quickly to the material desired? Do they aid in a grasp of the content?

Paper.-Is the paper sufficiently thin and tough? Is it sufficiently dark and sufficiently dull of finish to be comfortable for the eyes? Is it sufficiently firm and opaque to prevent any impression from the opposite page showing through? Does it permit a clear-cut impression of type and cuts?