D

II. Formal Instruction in the Elements of Knowledge. The preceding section has given hints as to the kind of instruction children ought to receive in their younger years, and as to the methods by which it should be imparted. This informal or incidental instruction must be continued as the child advances in years and acquirements, but in addition he must receive other instruction more formal and systematic. He must be trained to more regular habits of study. He must learn to work as well as play. Knowledge should not merely be presented to him in disconnected fragments but in regular lessons.

Thinking men accustomed to observe tne mental nature of children were long ago convinced that the dry and tedious methods of hearing them give the names of letters, and spell and pronounce words, as usually practiced in Primary Schools, could not be the best to awaken interest in study or develop the powers of the mind. Children have a natural appetite for knowledge, but it must be presented in such a form as adapts it to the condition of their mental digestive-apparatus, or it will cloy that appetite instead of satisfying it.

As we have seen, a child's first intellectual lessons are learned wholly in connection with objects. When older, if allowed to follow his instinctive promptings, objects will still engage his attention and supply the object-matter about which he thinks; and it is obviously unwise to divert his intellectual faculties from their natural course in obtaining knowledge. The lessons constructed in view of this theory are generally known by the name of

Object Lessons; and Object Lessons may be defined as lessons designed to teach the Elements of Knowledge by the use of objects.

It is proposed to consider:

1. THE DESIGN OF OBJECT LESSONS.

2. THE MATTER OF OBJECT LESSONS.

3. THE

PREPARATION FOR IMPARTING OBJECT

LESSONS.

4. THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING OBJECT LESSONS. 5. THE DANGERS TO WHICH THE OBJECT-LESSON SYSTEM IS EXPOSED.

1. THE DESIGN OF OBJECT LESSONS.-The general design of Object Lessons is made sufficiently plain in the definition just given, but it may be well to state it a little more in detail.

Object Lessons supply a want in elementary instruction. No one can be mistaken as to the lessons of which children are most fond. Their intense curiosity, their active senses, their capacious memories, and their great loquacity indicate very clearly the direction in which they can be best educated. Little is done, however, in most schools to take advantage of these vigorous manifestations of certain mental faculties. Pupils in our Primary Schools are made to sit down, shut themselves away from the world of objects in which they might find so much to interest and delight them, and engage in the dull work of learning to read, write, and cipher -dull, because abstract. Reading, writing, and arithmetic must be learned, and may be learned to

some extent in the Primary School; but neither of these branches, nor others like them, can meet the pressing educational wants of children. The true philosophy of education teaches that advantage should be taken of all mental capabilities at the time, in the manner, and with respect to the degree, in which they manifest themselves. This wise mental economy is much disregarded in the common methods of teaching; and the quick perceptive powers of children, their strong memory, and their lively fancy are made much less use of than they might be in imparting knowledge, and are suffered to remain almost altogether without systematic discipline. Children might learn much more and learn it in a much more grateful manner, they might receive much more mental discipline and receive it much more in accordance with the nature of their minds, if a well-devised system of Object Lessons were substituted for the usual course of elementary instruction. A child is a germ put into the hands of the educator, and it is his duty to supply the conditions necessary to its full development. No potentiality of its nature should be allowed to lie dormant, no talent should be buried, and unjust will be the steward who violates his trust.

Object Lessons impart valuable knowledge in a form best suited to the capacity of children. Object Lessons teach things, facts, phenomena, words, in short, the elements of knowledge- the foundation upon which the whole superstructure of learning must rest. Children have strong impulses prompting them to learn. They are constantly obtaining knowledge without a teacher. Nature teaches

them, and they enjoy her teachings. Object Lessons are intended to lead the child methodically in the way nature indicates that he should be taught. At first, they present to him things which are simple, and afterwards those which are less easily discerned or less easily comprehended.

A characteristic feature of the object method of teaching is that the matter presented to the pupil may be greatly varied. It is a common practice in our schools to confine young children to one or two special branches of study; and of these they soon grow weary, and consequently misspend much of their time. A variety of objects must be presented to children in order to enlist their attention, and gratify their appetite for knowledge. A child may learn lessons in the elements of all the sciences as he walks through field or meadow. Nature has not separated one class of things from another, but presents all in rich profusion. The teacher should learn from her.

Object Lessons furnish the best discipline for the young mind. By the ordinary methods of teaching a child his letters, to spell, and to read, he receives very little mental discipline. The same is true of the process of committing to memory and repeating forms of words which are not understood and are soon forgotten. But let a child use his senses in observing and noting the qualities of interesting objects, and it will soon be perceived that his whole intellectual nature is developing itself. One might as well deprive a plant of light or heat, and expect it to grow, as to endeavor to impart healthy mental discipline to a child without the presence of objects.

The concrete should precede the abstract in the work of education.

2. THE MATTER OF OBJECT LESSONS. The field from which the objects themselves may be chosen is as boundless as nature. It may embrace multitudes of things in the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds, and multitudes of events in the history of mankind. Writers upon Object Lessons have given long lists of such objects, and it is quite unnecessary to repeat them here. It is of much more importance to determine the principles which ought to guide the teacher, not merely in the selection of proper objects for his lessons, but in the disposition of the matter connected with those objects with which he would make his pupils acquainted. The principles about to be stated will be better appreciated if the reader will keep in view the fact that Object Lessons are designed to teach the elements of knowledge, and that the expression, elements of knowledge, is here intended to comprehend the elements of all the sciences and arts.

The matter of Object Lessons must be adapted to give exercise in their early growth to all the mental faculties. In the simple perception of an object and its discrimination from other objects, a child, probably, calls into requisition every faculty of his mental nature. It is a psychological error to suppose that any of his mental powers are dormant. Some manifest themselves more actively or more obviously than others, but all act, and all should be furnished an opportunity of gaining strength. Teachers have been accustomed to consider Object