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Page 63
The same is true of church catechisms. The memorizing of such material
will be difficult and unpleasant, and no value will come from it. The
most likely outcome of such ill-advised requirements is to discourage
the child and make him dislike the church school and all its work. It is
not to be expected that the child will understand the _full_ meaning of
every bit of matter suitable for him to memorize; this will have to
await broader experience and fuller development. The material should,
however, be sufficiently comprehended that its general meaning is clear
and its significance understood.
3. The law of _vividness of impression_. The relation of vividness of
impression to learning has already been discussed in another chapter. In
no one of the mind's activities is vividness a more important factor
than in memorizing. Matter committed under the stimulus of high interest
and keen attention is relatively secure, while matter committed under
slack concentration is sure to fade quickly from the memory. Songs can
therefore best be committed under the elation of the interesting singing
of the words; a verse of poetry, when the mind is alert and the feelings
aroused by a story in which the sentiment of the verse fits; a prayer
when the spirit of devotion has been quickened by worship. To insure
full vividness the imagination must also be called upon to picture and
make real such parts of memory material as contain imagery.
4. The law of _repetition_. For most minds memory depends on repetition.
The impressions must be deepened and made lasting by being stamped again
and again on the mind. The neurons of the brain which do the work of
retaining and recalling must be made to repeat the process over and over
until their action is secure. It is therefore not enough to make sure
that the child has his memory material committed for this particular
Sunday. If the matter was worth committing in the first place, it is
worth keeping permanently. If it is to be kept permanently, it must be
frequently reviewed; for otherwise it will surely be forgotten. It is to
be feared that much, if not most, of the matter memorized by the pupils
in many church schools lasts only long enough to show the teacher that
it has once been learned, and that not many children know in any
permanent sense the Bible passages they have committed. In so far as
this is true it would be much better to select a smaller amount of the
choicest and best adapted material to be found, and then so thoroughly
teach this that it is permanently retained.
5. The law of _wholes instead of parts_. Many persons in setting at work
to commit a poem, a Bible passage, a psalm have a tendency to learn it
first by verses or sections and then, put the parts together to form the
whole. Tests upon the memory have shown, that this is a less economical
and efficient method than from the first to commit the material as a
whole. This method requires that we go over all of it completely from
beginning to end, then over it again, and so on until we can repeat much
of it without reference to the text. We then refer to the text for what
the memory has not yet grasped, requiring the memory to repeat all that
has been committed, until the whole is in this manner fully learned. The
method of learning by wholes not only requires less time and effort, but
gives a better sense of unity in the matter committed.
6. The law of _divided practice_. If to learn a certain piece of
material the child must go over it, say, fifteen times, the results are
much better if the whole number of repetitions are not carried out at
one time. Time seems necessary to give the associations an opportunity
to set up their relationships; also, the interval between repetitions
allows the parts that are hardest to commit to begin fading out, and
thereby reveal where further practice is demanded. Where songs, Bible
verses, or other material are committed in the lesson hour, provision
ought to be made for the children to continue study and practice on the
material at home during the week. The so-called cramming process of
learning will not work any better in the church school than in the
day-school lessons.
7. The law of _motivation_. Like other activities of the mind, memory
works best under the stimulus of some appealing motive. The very best
possible motive is, of course, an interest in and love for the matter
committed. This kind of response can hardly be expected, however, in all
of the material children are asked to commit. It is necessary to use
additional motives to secure full effort. The approval of the teacher
and parents, the child's standing in the class, and his own sense of
achievement are some of the motives that should be employed.
A very powerful motive not always sufficiently made use of is the wider
_social motive_ that comes from working in groups for a particular end.
For example, a school or class pageant based on some biblical story or
religious event has the effect of centralizing effort and stimulating
endeavor to a degree impossible in individual work. Hymns and songs are
committed, Bible passages or other religious material learned, stories
mastered, characters studied and their words committed under the stress
of an immediate need for them in order to take one's part in a social
group and prove one's mastery before an audience of interested
listeners. The church school can with great advantage centralize more of
its religious memory work in preparation for such special occasions as
Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or other church celebrations or
pageants.
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