Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education Part 12

The man was old.

The weather turned cold.

The day grew stormy.

The boy became ill.

The concert proved successful.

What kind of man is referred to in the first sentence? What part of speech is "old"? What part of the sentence does it modify? In what part of the sentence does it stand? Could it be omitted? What then is its duty with reference to the verb? What are its two duties?

(It completes the verb "was" and modifies the subject "man.")

Lead the pupils to deal similarly with "cold," "stormy," "ill,"

"successful."

_Comparison, Abstraction, and Generalization, or Organization:_

What two duties has each of these italicized words? Each is called a "Subjective Predicate Adjective." What is a Subjective Predicate Adjective? (A Subjective Predicate Adjective is an adjective that completes the verb and modifies the subject.)

2. CONDENSATION OF VAPOUR

_a.n.a.lysis, or selection:_

The pupils should be asked to report observations they have made concerning some familiar occurrences like the following:

(1) Breathe upon a cold gla.s.s and upon a warm gla.s.s. What do you notice in each case? Where must the drops of water have come from?

Can you see this water ordinarily? In what form must the water have been before it formed in drops on the cold gla.s.s?

(2) What have you often noticed on the window of the kitchen on cool days? From where did these drops of water come? Could you see the vapour in the air? How did the temperature of the window panes compare with the temperature of the room?

(3) When the water in a tea-kettle is boiling rapidly, what do you see between the mouth of the spout and the cloud of steam? What must have come through that clear s.p.a.ce? Is the steam then at first visible or invisible?

The pupils should be further asked to report observations and make correct inferences concerning such things as:

(4) The deposit of moisture on the outside surface of a pitcher of ice-water on a warm summer day.

(5) The clouded condition of one's eye-gla.s.ses on coming from the cold outside air into a warm room.

_Comparison, Abstraction, and Generalization, or Organization:_

In all these cases you have reported what there has been in the air. Was this vapour visible or invisible? Under what condition did it become visible?

The pupils should be led to sum up their observations in some such way as the following:

Air often contains much water vapour. When this comes in contact with cooler bodies, it condenses into minute particles of water. In other words, the two conditions of condensation are (1) a considerable quant.i.ty of water vapour in the air, and (2) contact with cooler bodies.

It must be borne in mind that in a conceptual or an inductive lesson care is to be taken by the teacher to see that the particulars are sufficient in number and representative in character. As already pointed out, crude notions often arise through generalizing from too few particulars or from particulars that are not typical of the whole cla.s.s.

Induction can be most frequently employed in elementary school work in the subjects of grammar, arithmetic, and nature study.

INDUCTIVE-DEDUCTIVE LESSONS

Before we leave this division of general method, it should be noted that many lessons combine in a somewhat formal way two or more of the foregoing lesson types.

In many inductive lessons the step of application really involves a process of deduction. For example, after teaching the definition of a noun by a process of induction as outlined above, we may, in the same lesson, seek to have the pupil use his new knowledge in pointing out particular nouns in a set of given sentences. Here, however, the pupil is evidently called upon to discover the value of particular words by the use of the newly learned general principle. When, therefore, he discovers the grammatical value of the particular word "Provender" in the sentence "Provender is dear," the pupil's process of learning can be represented in the deductive form as follows:

All naming words are nouns.

_Provender_ is a naming word.

_Provender_ is a noun.

Although in these exercises the real aim is not to have the pupil learn the value of the individual word, but to test his mastery of the general principle, such application undoubtedly corresponds with the deductive learning process previously outlined. Any inductive lesson, therefore, which includes the above type of application may rightly be described as an inductive-deductive lesson. A great many lessons in grammar and arithmetic are of this type.

CHAPTER XVI

THE LESSON UNIT

=What Const.i.tutes a Lesson Problem.=--The foregoing a.n.a.lysis and description of the learning process has shown that the ordinary school lesson is designed to lead the pupil to build up, or organize, a new experience, or, as it is sometimes expressed, to gain control of a unit of valuable knowledge, presented as a single problem. From what has been learned concerning the relating activity of mind, however, it is evident that the teacher may face a difficulty when he is called upon to decide what extent of knowledge, or experience, is to be accepted as a knowledge unit. It was noted, for example, that many topics regularly treated in a single lesson fall into quite distinct sub-divisions, each of which represents to a certain extent a separate group of related ideas and, therefore, a single problem. On the other hand, many different lesson experiences, or topics, although taught as separate units, are seen to stand so closely related, that in the end they naturally organize themselves into a larger single unit of knowledge, representing a division, of the subject of study. From this it is evident that situations may arise, as in teaching the cla.s.ses of sentences in grammar, in which the teacher must ask himself whether it will be possible to take up the whole topic with its important sub-divisions in a single lesson, or whether each sub-division should be treated in a single lesson.

=How to Approach a.s.sociated Problems.=--Even when it is realized that the related matter is too large for a single lesson, it must be decided whether it will be better to bring on each sub-division as a separate topic, and later let these sub-divisions synthesise into a new unity; or whether the larger topic should be taken up first in a general way, and the sub-divisions made topics of succeeding lessons. In the study of mood in grammar, for example, shall we introduce each mood separately, and finally have the child synthesise the separate facts; or shall we begin with a lesson on mood in general, and follow this with a study of the separate moods? In like manner, in the study of winds in geography, shall we study in order land and sea breezes, trade-winds, and monsoons, and have the child synthesise these facts at the end of the series; or shall we begin with a study of winds in general, and follow this with a more detailed study of the three cla.s.ses of winds?

WHOLE TO PARTS

=Advantages.=--The second of these methods, which is often called the method of proceeding from whole to parts, should, whenever possible, be followed. For instance, in a study of such a lesson as _d.i.c.kens in the Camp_, the detailed study of the various stanzas should be preceded by an introductory lesson, bringing out the leading thought of the poem, and noting the sub-topics. When, in an introductory lesson, the pupil is able to gain control of a large topic, and see the relation to it of a given number of sub-topics, he is selecting and relating the parts of the whole topic by the normal a.n.a.lytic-synthetic method. Moreover, in the following lessons, he is much more likely to appreciate the relation of the various sub-topics to the central topic, and the inter-relations between these various sub-topics. For this reason, in such subjects as history, literature, geography, etc., pupils are often introduced to these large divisions, or complex lesson units, and given a vague knowledge of the whole topic, the detailed study of the parts being made in subsequent lessons.

=Examples.=--The following outlines will further ill.u.s.trate how a series of lessons (numbered I, II, III, etc.) may thus proceed from a first study of the larger whole to a more detailed study of a number of subordinate parts.

THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER SYSTEM

_I. Topic.--The St. Lawrence River:_

Position, size, extent of system, other characteristics.

Importance--historical, commercial, industrial.

_II. Sub-topic 1.--Importance historically:_

Open mouth to Europe; Open door to continent; Cartier, Champlain.

System of lakes and rivers large and small gave lines of communication, inviting discovery and subsequent development and settlement.

_III. Sub-topic 2.--Importance commercially:_