SOURCE: “Science: Touchstone for a New Age in Education,” in Psychology and the Science of Education: Selected Writings of Edward L. Thorndike, edited by Geraldine M. Joncich, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1962, pp. 1-26.

In the following essay, Joncich explains the revolutionary influence of Thorndike's scientific method of educational psychology.

I

Much has been written, both perceptive and foolish, of the influence of philosophy, politics, and business on education. Far too little, however, has been said of the influence of science. Yet science is probably the most significant fact of contemporary life, the force that best represents twentieth-century civilization. And the scientists who have concerned themselves with education have been among the most vigorous, able, and influential men of modern educational history.

Edward L. Thorndike epitomized the scientific impulse in education.¹ In his forty years as a professor at Columbia University's Teachers College, he played a...