Excerpt from Practical Methods in Arithmetic
The following chapters suggest a working procedure that may be followed in the teaching of the several topics that properly belong to the mathematical course of the eight years of the elementary school. The plan of the work precludes the presentation of a multiplicity of devices in teaching a given topic to the pupils of a certain grade; it does, however, suggest the manner in which each subject may profitably be treated throughout the grades in which it is usually taught.
Believing that some of the unsatisfactory results in arithmetic are due to over-zealous teachers who think that there can be no merit in doing things in the direct and obvious way, and that children derive some peculiar benefit by being required to perform their tasks in a manner that is considered pedagogical because it is roundabout and difficult, the following pages are intended to show the simplest way of teaching arithmetic, and that the simplest way is the most scientific one. Although the suggestions are presented in plain language, carefully avoiding the employment of the technical terminology of pedagogy and of psychology, the opinions of the authorities on mathematical teaching are carefully followed.
Practical Methods in Arithmetic
