A study of reading interests of third grade subjects

1. What are the elements, from an approved list of twenty-three texts, that are of most interest to children of the third grade?' 2. What is the most popular story from each of these texts ? 3. Do the preferences of children making least progress in school differ materially either quantitatively or qualitatively from the choices of those making most progress ? The pupils for this investigation were drawn from the third grade of one of the elementary schools of Raleigh, North Carolina. One hundred and nine children ranging in age from seven to fourteen years, officially classified into three sections of the same school grade, were available for the experiment. The method used in this study might be analyzed into two components. The first of these elements is concerned with the major problem; namely, that of gathering data on children's interests. Such data were gathered by means of questionnaires supplemented by group questions and interviews. Four different questions were submitted to the groups of children at intervals of from one to two weeks. The first of these called for the name of the favorite selection read during the study of each book and called for a reason for the choice; the second asked which one of the three best liked selections in each of the twenty-three texts determined by the total frequency of choice the children liked best; the third requested the children to choose the three best liked selections from among a list of twenty-three selected choices from the twentythree texts; and the fourth question called for one choice from the already

Linguistics · Mathematics education · Reading (process · Selection (genetic algorithm · Computer Science · Education and Technology Integration · Psychology