Abstract
We refer to this book, not so much because of its detailed account of the working of a play centre, a subject which is somewhat outside our province, as because we think it exemplifies a really scientific approach to the problems of child-study. As Dr. Susan Isaacs points out in her foreword, young teachers find it difficult to connect the generalizations of their text-books of psychology with their own experience, or with the actual children they have to face in the schools. In fact, they begin at the wrong end. They are led to disobey the accepted rules of pedagogic and of scientific method. From this mistake the play centre, where children can be observed under the most natural conditions, provides a way of escape. Let the young teacher begin there, and the text-books will convey far more meaning than they usually do at present.
The Children's Play Centre:
its Psychological Value and its Place in the Training of Teachers. By D. E. M. Gardner. (Contributions to Modern Education.) Pp. xv+143. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1937.) 3s. 6d. net.
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The Children's Play Centre. Nature 142, 1058 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/1421058c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1421058c0