Stephen Sheldon Colvin

Background

Stephen Sheldon Colvin was the son of Stephen Colvin, a loom manufacturer, and Clara Turner Colvin. He was born on March 29, 1869 in Phénix, Rhode Island, United States.

Education

Colvin received his early education in private schools, completing his preparation for college in Worcester Academy. He graduated from Brown University with the degrees of Bachelor of Philosophy (1891) and Master of Arts (1894). During a part of the period of his graduate work at Brown he was engaged in reporting for the Providence Journal and the Evening Bulletin. Later he studied philosophy at the universities of Berlin and Strasburg and prepared a thesis on Schopenhauer’s Doctrine of the Thing-in-Itself and his Attempt to Relate it to the World of Phenomena (published 1897). He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Strasburg in 1897.

Career

Colvin became instructor in rhetoric at Brown University in 1892, serving in this position until 1895. About 1897 he filled the position of instructor in English in the Worcester high schools for four years, from 1897 to 1901. During this period he attended the seminars of G. Stanley Hall at Clark University, where he became absorbed in the applications of psychology to education. His later interest in high-school education is to be traced to his studies with Hall. In 1901 he became assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois and remained in this position until 1903. After a year (1903 - 1904), during which he served as assistant professor of philosophy at Brown University, he returned to the University of Illinois as associate professor of psychology. He was later promoted to a professorship and to the headship of the department, which position he held until 1912.

At the University of Illinois he was associated intimately with William C. Bagley, in collaboration with whom he prepared a book entitled Human Behavior (1913). Much of his writing during this period dealt with problems in the field of educational psychology, the most important being The Learning Process (1911). In this book he stated his position on the subject of formal discipline, which was at that time much discussed. He vigorously defended the position that there are general mental habits and that through these transfer of training takes place.

In 1912 he was called back to Brown as professor of educational psychology. He continued in this position until 1923, assuming in 1919 the duties of director of the School of Education in addition to those of his professorship. At Brown University he inaugurated the plan of administering intelligence tests to all students and of following these tests with personal guidance on an extended scale. In 1923 he went as professor of education to Teachers College, Columbia University, where he had for a number of years given courses during the summer. He had suffered from a heart lesion for some time, and during his first year at Teachers College he died suddenly of a severe angina.

Achievements

• Colvin assisted the State Department of Education of Rhode Island as inspector of high schools in developing the secondary schools of the state. He published a book entitled Introduction to High School Teaching (1917), which was extensively used as a text-book in teacher-training institutions in all parts of the country. He also published a number of important papers, especially on mental tests of college students and high-school seniors. All his writings were characterized by careful attention to details and by a strict empiricism. He exercised a strong influence in the direction of a conservative use of mental tests as substitutes for the conventional college-entrance examinations. His contributions to the literature of methods of teaching have done much to systematize and improve instruction in American high schools.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Schopenhauer's Doctrine of the Thing-In-Itself and His Attempt to Relate It to the World of Phenomena

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • Human behavior; a first book in psychology for teachers

    (Human behavior; a first book in psychology for teachers. ...)

  • An introduction to high school teaching

    (An introduction to high school teaching. 492 Pages.)

  • The learning process

    (The learning process. 384 Pages.)

Connections

Colvin was married in 1891 to Edna F. Boothman of Riverpoint, Rhode Island. She died in 1893. He was married again in 1895 to Eva M. Collins of Providence.

Father:

Stephen Colvin

Mother:

Clara Turner Colvin

Spouse:

Edna F. Boothman

Spouse:

Eva M. Collins