A study of the Ebbinghaus conjectural method

Abstract

While the need for persistent drill is clearly recognized in the elementary and secondary schools, when the student enters college it is supposed that he is prepared to at once assume responsibility for his studies, a responsibility which in his preparatory work was largely assumed by his parents and teachers. This sudden attenuation in discipline is usually accompanied by a novel and distracting change of environment. At best, it can be expected that the student will show personal initiative only in a few of the subjects which he will take during his first two years at college. The age at which the student enters the university makes considerable degree of supervision desirable, if not absolutely necessary. Yet where the classes are large end the instructor cannot personally assure himself that every student is spending the proper proportion of his time in study, some method must be devised which reflects the habits of study, and if possible exerts control over these habits. One of the best means of doing this is the giving of frequent quizzes, but the time required for grading the papers may take up so much of the instructor's time, that little opportunity is left for self-improvement. Grading papers is of Iittle benefit, either to the student or the instructor, and since the Ebbinghaus conjectural method reduced the time required for grading papers to a very great extent, it was thought worthwhile to attempt a quantitative study of the results secured by the method.