Review of The learning process in young children

Abstract

Reviews the book, The learning process in young children by Julia A. Kirkwood (1926). This monograph gives an account of a study of the learning process in young children. It not only makes a contribution to information on how children learn, but also adds to the methodology of experimentation in this field. The various problems studied center around the task of learning a series of twenty associations which the author has cleverly devised. These consist of associations between blocks and pictures which are not too difficult for children above three years (or even somewhat younger), but which are difficult enough so that only one of seven adults of superior mentality made a perfect score on the first attempt. In all instances the data have been collected and handled with precision and good judgment. The author very wisely refrains from attempting to establish norms for the various age groups, and from drawing inferences and conclusions beyond those justified by the data. Among the things of particular interest to the reviewer was the contrast between paired children, half of whom were learning on successive days and half on alternate days. In spite of the immaturity of the children the superiority of learning on alternate days was clearly demonstrated for this material. Another point of interest was the fact that plateaus occurred more frequently among the less mature children than among the older ones. The reviewer reports that the whole study is interesting and well worth the time of any individual interested in this field of experimental work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)