It is evident that development of science in the fields of biology, psychology and sociology had emphasized the impor tance of the years from two to five, and it was recognized that during the pre-school years the child gains control of his body; develops the beginnings of response to tone, rhythm, colour and form ; and forms his speech habits and acquires a vocabulary. It was shown also that the physical habits of sleeping, feeding, elimi nation and exercise, the mental habits of concentration, self-con trol and self-reliance, or their opposites, and the social attitudes toward authority, reality and affection, whether good or bad, are developed in this period and are likely to be little changed in future years. These scientific developments led many parents to seek help in training children during the years when the child is ordinarily dependent upon the home for all his contacts. Study groups of mothers, magazine articles, and books assisted.
In 1919 the Bureau of Educational Experiments in New York city organized a nursery school to serve as a basis for studying the educational factors in the environment of pre-school children and for research. The State of Iowa in 1917 authorized the estab lishment of a child welfare research station at the State university which, in Oct. 1921, opened a play school to provide a laboratory in child psychology for experimental work with pre-school chil dren. In 1916 a fund was left in Detroit, Mich., to finance a centre for teaching child care, and in Jan. 1922, the Merrill-Palmer Nurs ery school was established for the purpose of training pre-school children and their parents, as well as a group of prospective par ents and teachers. Since that time a considerable number of insti tutions of college and university grade have established similar centres for training and research which have stamped the Ameri can nursery school as an agency for parental education as well as a centre for child development. Research schools also pro vide a laboratory for the scientific study of the pre-school child ; the experimental type, organized to study and experiment with the educational factors in the environment of the pre-school child ; the co-operative type, organized by the parents themselves and conducted with their active co-operation ; the high-school or train ing school type, organized to give high-school girls training in child care ; and the collegiate type, by far the largest group, organ ized in connection with colleges and universities for the purpose of providing a laboratory for the teaching of child care to pre parental and parental groups. A number of nursery schools rep
resent a combination of one or more of these types. The only outstanding American experiment comparable to the social type represented by the English nursery school is the Nursery Train ing school of Boston, formerly the Ruggles Street Nursery school, established in 1922.
In an educational programme for pre-school children, partici pation in living activities and play form the basis for physical and mental development. The essentials of the nursery school, there fore, include spacious rooms equipped for small children, with plenty of suitable play equipment, adequate bath and toilet facili ties, sleeping space, a garden and outdoor equipment, and the supervision of skilled teachers. In order that the programme may be suitable for the individual child, and the parents furnished with accurate information, the services of specialists of various types must be available. On the physical side, a physician, nutri tionist, physiotherapist, and dentist are essential if a complete picture is to be secured. Daily inspection of the children by a nurse is an essential service, since at these early ages they are especially susceptible to infections. A psychologist specially trained to determine the mental level and character traits of the pre-school child and a liaison officer between the school and the home are also essential. Experience has shown that the pre school period of the child is also the most desirable time for train ing the parent whose ideas are then less crystallised.
BIBLIOGRAPI1Y.-Grace Owen, Nursery School Education (1920) ; A. Gesell, Mental Growth of the Pre-School Child (1925) ; Ilse Forest, Pre-school Education (1927) ; H. M. Johnson, A Nursery School Experiment (Bureau of Educational Experiments; Progressive Educa tion, vol. ii. ; Pre-school and Parental Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (1929). (E. N. W.)