Before 1920: Empirical Knowledge Base for Education

William James

'Principles of Psychology' (1890) by William James

Quotes from this book:

The only general pedagogic maxim bearing on attention is that the more interest the child has in advance in the subject, the better he will attend. Induct him therefore in such a way as to knit each new thing on to some acquisition already there; and if possible awaken curiosity, so that the new thing shall seem to come as an answer, or part of an answer, to a question pre-existing in his mind.

In all pedagogy the great thing is to strike the iron while hot, and to seize the wave of the pupil's interest in each successive subject before its ebb has come, so that knowledge may be got and a habit of skill acquired - a headway of interest, in short, secured, on which afterward the individual may float. There is a happy moment for fixing skill in drawing, for making boys collectors in natural history, and presently dissectors and botanists; then for initiating them into the harmonies of mechanics and the wonders of physical and chemical law...

To detect the moment of the instinctive readiness for the subject is, then, the first duty of every educator.

Web Resources:

A stroll with William James by Frank Pajares of Emory University
http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/
james.html

Publications Online:

James, William. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188-205.
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/James/
emotion.htm

James, William. (1890). The principles of psychology.
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/James/
Principles/index.htm

James, William. (1892). The stream of consciousness. From Psychology (chapter XI). Cleveland & New York,
World.
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/James/
jimmy11.htm

James, William. (1904). Does consciousness exist? Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 1, 477-491.
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/James/
consciousness.htm

James, William. (1904). A world of pure experience. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 1, 533-543, 561-570.
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/James/
experience.htm