The Development and Appraisal of Work-Books in the Social Sciences

During the past ten years there have appeared in this country no less than two hundred volumes of instructional aids in the social sciences which have circulated under such titles as notebooks, workbooks, study guides, work guides, workbook-outlines, guidebooks, problems, directive-study sheets, work-outlines, directed studies, directed-study guides, unit exercises, exercise manuals, laboratory manuals, guide sheets, activity books, study helps, work-test manuals, progress books, and activity outlines. By 1930 a little order had begun to emerge out of this chaos of titles. After that date the word "workbook"' was used in about two-thirds of them. However, in spite of the multiplicity of titles under which these instructional aids circulated during the late 1920'S, the fundamental purpose back of them was essentially the same, namely, to place in the hands of pupils in social-science classes material that would enable them to attain maximum use of their time when not engaged in the routine of reciting to the teacher. After 1924 the number of single volumes of workbooks in all the social sciences, except geography, that appeared was no less than four in 1925, eight in 1926, eight in 1927, nine in 1928, nineteen in 1929, twenty-eight in 1930, twenty in 1931, twenty in 1932, fifteen in 1933, eleven in 1934, eight in 1935, eight in 1936, and three during the first four months of 1937. It will be observed from these approximations, which are in no year too high, that the peak in number of new publications a year was reached in 1930 and that since then there has been a general decline, no more having been published in 1936 than in 1927. From these data it seems safe to conclude that the contagion is now under control and that the malady will soon