not only the manual aspect but also the fundamental phases of English, civics, hygiene, mathematics, history, economics, drawing and design. A natural correlation should be effected wherever it is practical. This method of approach to the interests of the working child brings very vividly to his attention the fact that the instruction in a continuation school is very different from the instruction in the full time organization.

Individual needs of the working children. Attention has been called to the range of variability existing among the pupils of every continuation school. In the face of this situation, can we continue to ignore that each child needs assistance in his place of employment, that each needs in varying degrees assistance and help in matters of health education, use and appreciation of the English language, use of the simple mathematical computations, and a working knowledge of the civic and social duties and responsibilities? Any assumption that all children need the same instruction at the same time in any continuation school is a fallacy and absolutely without a foundation of any kind.

The interest factor in continuation school instruction. The majority of children in attendance upon part-time schools have left the full time classes at the earliest possible legal age. A fundamental reason for this vast elimination is

essentially one of interest. If the fulltime organization failed to a large degree to secure the interest of the adolescent boy and girl, is it wise to proceed along similar lines in organizing and offering instruction in the newer fields? Have we not had one of the most vivid illustrations

of what mass instruction will accomplish? Are we going to follow the method that we know was successful in eliminating pupils, or are we going to attempt to profit by the experience of the full-time school and develop subject-matter and a method of instruction that are primarily and fun

damentally based on individual needs and interests?

Non-adaptability of the present text material. Existing texts and reference materials are not adaptable in their present organization for the most effective use in continuation school classes. The material itself is entirely reliable, as far as it goes, but is not in the form that sets the part-time pupil at work, holds him to it and is immediately usable in a civic, social, or economic way.

The subject-matter in the continuation schools cannot be the same formal material that is terial that is offered in the full-time schools. Many of the children left those schools for the avowed purpose of avoiding the existing type of subject-matter and the existing methods of teaching it.

The young wage-earner's employment and his immediate surroundings should be the source from which much of the subject-matter taught in the continuation school will be drawn. This source will provide material that possesses interest and a very large measure of immediate usefulness.

Few existing text-books have been prepared to provide this kind of instruction and consequently it means the preparation of much new material or arrangement of existing printed material.

5. THE TEACHING PROBLEM IN THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL

The distribution of pupils in classes. according to ability. Every educational study ever conducted to determine the achievement and progress of pupils in school subjects has shown that within each class there is a grouping that follows approximately a nomal distribution curve. This variation is absolutely disregarded in many classrooms and the common practice of offering instruction this method from one-fourth to one-third to the class as a whole is followed. Under of the students are not receiving the instruction from which they will derive the greatest profit.

In a continuation school the range of

variability is accentuated many degrees. It is only necessary to recall the predominating individual differences previously mentioned to gain an idea of the actual situation confronting every continuation school teacher. Teachers in full time classes may be able to disregard the twenty to thirty per cent of their pupils because it is the traditional procedure, but it cannot be sanctioned in any continuation school. Every hour spent by a pupil in a continuation school classroom should be a full sixty minutes of profitable and appreciated educational

progress.

clusively the method that is known to have failed with many, or is it timely to consider such modifications of our methods as will more nearly serve all?

2. THE UNIT INSTRUCTION METHOD IN THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL*

Defining the method. The factors and conditions confronting the teacher in a continuation school have been presented somewhat in detail. The limitations of certain methods and the non-adaptability of others have also been developed in the light of the continuation school problem. This immediately leads to a consideration of what methods can be employed that will

STRUCTION HAS BEEN APPROACHED

1. THE INDIVIDUAL METHOD OF TEACHING IN THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL

Public funds are provided, schools established, and teachers employed for the distinct purpose of preparing the individual to meet his daily responsibilities in a democratic society. This means that the individual is the unit for whom the organized instruction should be prepared.

This standard will require that each teacher know the facts concerning each pupil and on that basis prepare and offer the instruction that is needed to bring the student into closer accord with the civic, social, and economic demands that he is called upon to meet. This means that each pupil's deficiencies are being lessened, his aptitudes are being developed, his desirable interests encouraged, and in general, right habits are being firmly estab

lished.

Under the method of instruction the pupil realizes the presence of the personal element. His identity is not submerged and lost in the mass. With this realization of individuality comes a consciousness of the value of the instruction, an interest in the subject-matter, because it touches him, and finally the self-activity that results in development and growth.

Mass instruction, involving the use of the "spraying process", has not brought this about. Is it still desirable to employ ex

mands of the continuation school. These instructional demands are neither fancied nor remote, but decidedly in our midst, and must be solved. When face to face with this insistent demand that the instruction in our our continuation school classes shall be more effective than that offered in full-time classes, the unit instruction method of teaching was evolved.

The unit instruction sheet is distinctly a teaching agency to supplement the efforts of the teacher and in no should it be used to supplant the instructor. It is one unit of a body of organized teaching material that has been prepared for pupils to use under conditions that will insure the greatest amount of directed individual progress. It is specifically an agency that provides educational work for the pupils according to their varying abilities and interests for the duration of a class period. It is a means of attaining "self education through purposeful activity."

The unit instruction plan and the unit instruction sheet are not presented as new ideas. The entire plan in one form or another has been a part of good educational practice for a great many years.

*A complete discussion of the unit instruction sheet will be found in "Unit Instruction Sheets and Individual

Instruction in Vocational Classes." Published by C. F.

Williams and Sons, Albany, N. Y.

23rd Year Book, National Society for the Study of Education, Part II. Pages 257-274.

The form under discussion is a composite development and represents the best of the instruction methods employed by the correspondence schools, the best practice used in school science laboratories involving the use of manuals, and the idea of the factory job sheet. A fusion of certain elements of all three plans together with an observance of pedagogical principles resulted in the present idea of the unit instruction sheet.

The unit instruction sheet plan is not a device, but distinctly a method of teaching. Neither is it a teacher's lesson plan, but an assignment of selected educational problems to be placed in the hands of the pupil for solution. Under this method of teaching, every boy and girl progresses as rapidly as ability will permit. The teacher does not find it necessary to have recourse to that "marking time" device, the supplementary assignment. It is not advocated that all group or class discussion will disappear under this plan, but whenever it is used, the teacher should be certain that each member of the class or group will receive full benefit. Using this standard in a critical way will almost entirely eliminate the present form of class teaching.

Essential aspects of unit instruction method. The unit instruction sheet is the student's assignment of work. A most important factor on each sheet is the statement of the objective of the unit. It must be so worded in the language of the pupil and in such a clear and concise manner that it is readily comprehended and results in the taking up of the assignment without loss of time.

All assignments placed on the sheets must also be very specific and carefully worded. Students should not find it necessary to ask questions concerning any problem. The assignments should be of such a nature and in such form as to result not only in doing, but also in thinking. An observation of this principle will eliminate any tendency to prepare factory job sheets.

First instruction sheets placed in the hands of students may properly be rather specific, but succeeding sheets should be so prepared as to require the student to assume the responsibility for working out his own procedure. Teachers should not permit students to guess at procedure, but should always be available to render the necessary assistance. Assignments to sources of information in text and reference material should be a part of every unit instruction sheet.

Responsibility of the teacher. The unit instruction sheet is specifically for the purpose of supplementing the efforts of the teacher, thus freeing him to render greater assistance to the individual members of the class. The sheets cannot be distributed to students in an indiscriminate manner, but should be allotted on the basis of their individual needs which have been very carefully ascertained at some previous period. Meeting the need of individual pupils does not mean the preparation of individual sets of instructional material in every case or even in the majority of the cases. The classification of pupils into groups on the basis of individual needs will enable the teacher successfully to rotate sheets. Following the distribution, the teacher then has the problem of individual teaching, close follow up of each student, careful checking of results, and a recording of accomplish

ment.

Summary. The primary purpose of the unit instruction method is to provide, through carefully organized and planned assignments of educational work, in terms of individual needs, interests, and aptitudes, for the fullest possible progress of each boy and girl without undue loss of time or effort. It is not planned for use in starting an entire class together or for use in attempting to keep them together. It is planned entirely with the realization that the boy or girl is the unit of instruction.

III. WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF UNIT INSTRUCTION SHEET METHOD? 1. SECURING INTEREST AND SELF-ACTIVITY

The interests of the individual pupil are the basis of his educational progress. A pertinent and proper question is, do we get the interest of the individual pupil when problems are discussed that do not touch his life, that are too far advanced or too elementary? Inability of the pupil to see and appreciate the value of the daily instruction in terms of his own situation means ineffectual instruction.

Students are most interested when they are at work upon their own personal problems, and this is especially true when these problems are presented to them in the form of challenges that set them upon their mettle. The pupil attains to knowledge not by having it forced upon him but by taking it of his own volition. He should be constantly encouraged to instruct himself and work independently. The teacher is the co-operator and remover of only unsurmountable difficulties and should be resolutely endeavoring to render his services unnecessary. This is especially applicable to all of the instruction offered in a continuation school or class.

Accepting the most basic of the principles of teaching that interest is the compelling personal force that sets the individual at work and that it is only through self-activity that individual growth and development are brought about, how may the presence of class instruction that reaches only a part of any class be justified as an effective method of teaching?

The organization of the instructional material for continuation school students on the basis discussed and the use of the unit instruction sheet method is resulting in appreciable interest and progress on the part of individual students. It must be recalled that this progress is being made with young people who were returned to school by compulsory school laws after having left the full-time school because of waning interest.

IV. SUMMARY

The question should be immediately raised: Are we in accord that it is the business of the continuation school to provide such instruction as will permit each individual pupil to progress as rapidly as he is able and that four or eight hours of attendance upon classes shall be a ful 240 or 480 minutes of needed and usable instruction?

If this objective is accepted, will the results of many scientific studies also be accepted that show that within every class there is a distribution of ability and achievement that follows approximately a normal distribution curve? If this condition exists in the full-time classes, it is known that the diversity is much more extended in the continuation school classes. In the face of this existing diversity in the continuation school, is it rational to assume that instructional material prepared for the use of a class will be fully beneficial to all, or are the conditions being viewed frankly and recognition given to the fact that the class method will probably reach less than fifty per cent of the pupils and the remaining members will receive little or nothing? It is not physically or mentally possible for any teacher to give the needed help, encouragement, and assistance to an individual pupil through the class method.

Further, is it reasonable to expect that under classroom conditions where only a limited number of the pupils profit, or are even touched, that interest followed by self-activity will prevail? All educational progress is conditioned by these two factors, interest and self-activity.

Teachers, supervisors, and directors in continuation school work have no alternative. They must provide a type of organization, a kind of subject-matter, and a method of teaching that will immediately result in needed and desirable changes in each boy and girl in attendance upon continuation school classes.

The unit instruction method is being advocated and strongly urged for use in con