Hygiene of the Educational Process at the Basic Nine-Iear School with All-Day Care

The authors investigated the working capacity of pupils at an experimental school with all-day care in the course of a week and in the course of each day. They have arrived at the following conclusions:
1. Working capacity is at its maximum between 10 and 11 o’clock a. m.; at about 1 p. m, it is at its lowest. The afternoon rise culminates at about 3 p. m. (graph No. 1).
2. Working capacity of the pupils improved after a P. T. lesson in the open air (graph No. 2). The P. T. lesson was between 10 and 11 o’clock. The fine motorial power, which rises until 10 o’clock) falls to the minimum after the end of the P. T. lesson, but rises again during the following hour, and so the working capacity in the fine motorial power test is prolonged until 12 — 1 o’clock. As a result P. T. the curve of the reaction time rises from 10 o’clock very sharply, but in the following hour it falls again and then rises slowly, which testifies to a fall in working capacity immediately after the P. T. class, but to a rise in the subsequent hours.
3. The working capacity of the pupils also varied in the course of the week. Towards the end of the week the pupils were showing signs of fatigue. Their working capacity was on a lower level, unstable, fluctuating. Friday was the worst day, Tuesday and Wednesday being the best (graph No. 3). These findings served as a basis for the adjustment of the time-table and the daily and weekly programme of the pupils’ occupation both in and after school. The results of the investigation are important not only for schools with all- day care, but they also provide valuable information for planning time-tables at the elementary school.