The question, of how to teach children to study, happened to be an issue that drew the attention of F.M. McMURRY, Professor of Elementary Education in Teachers college, Columbia University. He included this topics for discussion with his classes. On his later examination of this problem he was much surprised, both at its difficulty and scope, and also at the extent to which it had been neglected by teachers. Ever since that time the two questions, How adults should study, and How children should be taught to study, became his chief hobby. The ideas presented in this treatise are partly the result of reading; but since there is a meager quantity of literature bearing on this general theme, they are largely the result of observation, experiment, and discussion with students.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part I : PRESENT METHODS OF STUDY; NATURE OF STUDY AND ITS PRINCIPAL FACTORS : 1. Initiations that Young People do not Learn to Study Properly; the Seriousness of the Evil 2. The Nature of Study, and its Principal Factors Part II : NATURE OF THE PRINCIPAL FACTORS IN STUDY, AND THEIR RELATION TO CHILDREN : 3. Provision for Specific Purposes, as one Factor in Study : i. The Fitness of Children in the Elementary School to Select Specific Purposes of Study ii. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to find Specific Aims for Their Study 4. The Supplementing of Thought, as a Second Factor of Study : i. The Ability of Children to Supplement Thought ii. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to Supplement Thought 5. The Organization of Ideas, as the Third Factor in Study : i. The Ability of Children to Group Facts into Points ii. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to Group Related Facts into Points iii. Ability of Children to Neglect Unimportant Details iv. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to Neglect Relatively Unimportant Details 6. Juding of the Soundness and General Worth of Statements, as a Fourth Factor in Study : i. Ability of Children to Judge Values ii. Practical Suggestions for the Development of Independent Judgment among Children 7. Memorizing, as a Fifth Factor in Study : i. the Ability of Children to Memorize by Thinking ii. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to Memorize Properly 8. The Using of Ideas, as a Sixth Factor in Study : i. Children's Capacity to Include the use of Knowledge as a Factor in their Study ii. Practical Suggestions for Teaching Children to Make the Using of Knowledge a Part of their Study 9. Provision for a Tentative Rather than a Fixed Attitude Toward Knowledge, as a Seventh Factor in Study : i. How this Matter Concerns Children ii. Specific Suggestions for Cultivating a Tentative Attitude among both Children and more Mature Students 10. Provision for Individuality, as an Eighth Factor in Study : i. Practical Suggestions for Preserving and Developing Individuality Part III : CONCLUSIONS : 11. Full Meaning of Study; Relation of Study to Children and to the School