William W. Speer
(24 Nov 1848 - 1 Jul 1934)
American administrator and educator who wrote books on the teaching of arithmetic. His innovation, the “Speer Method” of dealing with number, was in vogue for a few years. He was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Chicago (1894). [Dates are best guess from fragmentary information found by Webmaster.]
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Science Quotes by William W. Speer (2 quotes)
A superficial knowledge of mathematics may lead to the belief that this subject can be taught incidentally, and that exercises akin to counting the petals of flowers or the legs of a grasshopper are mathematical. Such work ignores the fundamental idea out of which quantitative reasoning grows—the equality of magnitudes. It leaves the pupil unaware of that relativity which is the essence of mathematical science. Numerical statements are frequently required in the study of natural history, but to repeat these as a drill upon numbers will scarcely lend charm to these studies, and certainly will not result in mathematical knowledge.
— William W. Speer
In Primary Arithmetic: First Year, for the Use of Teachers (1897), 26-27.
A superficial knowledge of mathematics may lead to the belief that this subject can be taught incidentally, and that exercises akin to counting the petals of flowers or the legs of a grasshopper are mathematical. Such work ignores the fundamental idea out of which quantitative reasoning grows—the equality of magnitudes. It leaves the pupil unaware of that relativity which is the essence of mathematical science. Numerical statements are frequently required in the study of natural history, but to repeat these as a drill upon numbers will scarcely lend charm to these studies, and certainly will not result in mathematical knowledge.
— William W. Speer
In Primary Arithmetic: First Year, for the Use of Teachers (1897), 26-27.