CATECHISM ON METHODS OF TEACHING.

4. What mode of teaching is to be used?

That one which develops by questioning, (die fragend-entwickeldnde.)

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5. Is this mode practicable in all three courses, (set down by Hintze elsewhere with regard to the capability of the scholars)?

In the first course, questioning is predominant; on the second, "der vortrag," i. e., proper teaching and explaining must be joined with it; on the third again, questioning predominates. In all good instruction questioning is predominant, and with it conversation with the whole class.

6. What have we to think of lecturing?

Lecturing is no form of instruction at all; it is a rocking chair for teacher and pupils; the former has easy work, whilst the latter stare and dream.

7. What ought to be required of the pupils?

Their first and chief object must be to learn to see right; then follows right reproduction; and the necessary result is right understanding.

8. What is the value of learning by heart?

In all instruction nothing must occur which is not understood, and merely learnt by words. One fact well understood by observation, and well guided development, is worth a thousand times more than a thousand words and sentences learnt by heart without understanding. A well guided pupil has nothing to learn by heart particularly; what is understood, is remembered for life. 9. Shall the pupil use a text-book?

For natural history it is useless. The good teacher does not depend on it, the bad one has a good means to cover his inability, and the scholar has nothing but a dry skeleton.

The teacher must have mineralogical, botanical and zoological collections, and, if possible, a microscope.

10. What must the pupil do at home?

Write out and draw what has been treated in school-in proportion to his time-in a brief, concise and neat manner. Besides, the well directed pupil will voluntarily and eagerly occupy himself with nature, look with interest and intelligence at plants, stones, etc., and collect them.

11. How does an able teacher distinguish himself in this study?

The able teacher takes pains with his school every where, and particularly in this branch; all energy, punctuality and vivacity, must be applied here, if instruction is not to be a dead and dry mechanism.

12. What distinguishes a painstaking (strebsamen) teacher?

The able teacher is found out at school, the painstaking one at home. There are certain branches which are soon done with. But this is not the case with natural history; he who is devoted to it, must follow its own path of progress. The teacher must never cease to study, to make excursions, experiments, collections, etc., to search, to listen, to observe and investigate.

13. What characterizes the inspiring (geistanregende) teacher?

He is distinguished by a happy development of sound talents, love of study, and devotion to his vocation. By force of application every one may acquire the necessary knowledge, for nature is every where. If the able teacher shows himself at school, the painstaking teacher principally at home,-there flows from the inspiring teacher every where something that indeed can not be completely gained by study and application; but an earnest will accomplishes a great deal. Besides, it is true, that as under the hands of Midas every thing was changed into gold, so in the hands of an inspiring teacher every thing

becomes enlivened. As the creative mind every where works attractively, so particularly in natural history, zeal, application, love and devotion, spring up spontaneously in the pupils.

VI. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, BY A. DIESTERWEG.

1. Should natural philosophy be studied in the common school?

Certainly. Shall the children in the common school learn nothing of weather and wind, of thermometer and barometer, of the phenomena of light and air, of rain and snow, dew and hoar-frost, fog and clouds, lightning and thunder? shall they see the aëronaut, travel by steam, and read telegraphic news, without knowing the how and the why? Shall they remain ignorant of the constituents of food, and of the process of their stomachs and their lungs? Or is it sufficient to read of all this in the Reader? He who answers those questions in the affirmative, is either himself an ignoramus or a misanthrope, and he who affirms the last knows nothing of the way in which real knowledge is acquired. 2. What do we begin with? and when does the proper instruction in natural philosophy commence?

As every where, with showing single phenomena, with intuitive contemplation, with oral representation of what has been observed, and reflection thereupon. We begin with it in the intuitional instruction of the lowest class. The instruction in geography and natural history develops further the faculty of intuition, and in the highest class the proper instruction in this branch commences. 3. On what portions of natural philosophy are we to lay stress?

On all such as belong to the knowledge of phenomena, within the pupil's sphere; the knowledge of the most common things is the chief point.

By this principle we make our choice; we omit, therefore, all that is remote, invisible, and incapable of being made visible; all that can be demonstrated only by mathematical proofs; and keep within the field of immediate observation, stops with those things which every one may know by observation and experience, and show such things, as are not obvious, by experiments with simple and cheap apparatus.

4. What method is to be used?

To say nothing of the regard for the individual quality of the pupil, the method depends on the nature of the subject, and on the way in which man naturally acquires his knowledge. Every where man is surrounded by natural phenomena; they happen before his eyes. These, therefore, must be opened, in order to observe apprehendingly, to remember what has been observed, to fix the succession of phenomena, and what is common in a series of similar ones; not only to learn the facts, but also the laws by which they happen, and finally, by reflection, to discover the hidden causes.

Natural philosophy belongs to the inductive sciences, i. e., to those which begin with the knowledge of single facts, abstract from them the law of the process, and then in inverse order, deduce the phenomena from the causes.

The way, therefore, prescribed by the nature, as well as the history of natural philosophy, is, that which proceeds from observation and experience to rule and law, if possible, advancing to the cause, (the so-called regressive method.) 5. What is the aim of this instruction?

The knowledge of the most essential phenomena, by which man is surrounded, and the ability to explain them, that is, to state in a simple way their causes. Most important is the knowledge of all that refers to weather, and we expect, therefore, from a graduating pupil, correct answers to the following questions:

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What is the temperature of the air in the different months of the year? Which is the maximum and minimum of heat in our country, and when do they usually occur? What is the corresponding state of temperature in other countries? What are its causes? How do the winds originate, where do they come from, and go to? What are the principal currents of air on the globe? Their causes? What weather is caused by the winds in our country? To which winds is our country chiefly exposed, and why? Origin of fogs and clouds? What is dampness? What causes rain? These and similar questions come so near home to man, that it would prove enormous dullness, if he did not ask them himself, and reflect, on answering them. No doubt that such stupidity is still frequent; but no one will doubt what is the indispensable duty of the common school in the premises.

VII. ASTRONOMY, BY A. DIESTERWEG.

1. Is instruction about the nature of the universe about astronomy, expedient? Most certainly; we require the same from every man. To any one who does not admit that this is requisite, I address the following questions: Has that man an idea of the work of the Creator, and of his relation to both, who is ignorant of astronomy? or even, is he a man? No; he is like a brute confined to a narrow sphere, and has not even learned to make the right use of his upright stature, and of his sense for the universe, the eye; he has not enlarged his faculty of observing beyond the smallest compass, satisfied the inborn desire of knowledge, developed his intellect; he might be compared to a mole that closes its eyes to the light. We justly pity the poor man who has had no opportunity to learn the wonders of the starry sky; we despise him, if he has neglected an opportunity; we blame indignantly whatever would prevent his acquiring that sublime and elevating knowledge.

2. What should every body know of the universe?

He should know of infinite space, its laws, the qualities of the sun, the moon, and of our solar system, the relation of the planets to the sun, the position of the earth relatively to the same, its rotations and all that result therefrom, as years, seasons, day and night, in short, the substance of popular astronomy. 3. How is the pupil to learn this?

By observation-not by books; for from these we get empty words, hollow notions and phrases; books may at best assist the preceding instruction, but they can never replace it—ask among the "educated" people, what ideas they have in this respect, though they have heard of all and can talk of all. The true, vivid and moving ideas of the great subjects in question are exclusively acquired by an intuitive, developing instruction.

4. What, therefore, is the teacher to do?

He stimulates the pupil to observations; he makes him conscious of what has been observed, by illustrative questions and conversations; he draws his attention to the sublime phenomena of the sky by day and night; he talks over with him such observations as can be made daily all the year round on sun and stars; he fixes these observations in good order, and in clear, well defined propositions. This is the first step. Scientifically expressed, the pupil advances to the point of view—of what appears to the senses-of spherical astronomy.

This point being attained, considerately and firmly, (we must know first what appears, before we learn what is,) then reflection follows, whether the things really are such as they appear. The pupil advances from appearance to essence or nature. This step is very important, not only in astronomy, but in all

things, and astronomy, for the very reason that it furnishes the clearest and greatest example of this important progress in human education, is of inestimable value. The pupil learns the nature of the things; his perceiving is raised to knowing. Disorder becomes order, variety uniformity, and chaos rule and law. One power reigns in the universe, every thing obeys his laws, and every where there results order, harmony, development, life; and each heavenly body becomes a part of the universe in its infinite sublimity and brightness.

It is worth while, not only to hear or to read of that, but to know and to understand it. The pupils now advance to theoretic and the physical astronomy. At last there commences the construction of the whole, at least of our solar system, out of the centre. From the beginning, instruction proceeds from the periphery, from the point on which the pupil stands; the individual is himself the centre, around which every thing is grouped, and to which every thing is referred; the observation is subjective. Afterward, it is made objective, and man recognizes himself, the human race and the globe, as a part of the infinite universe.

5. What has the teacher to attend to more particularly?

This necessary instruction being still uncommon, we may give here several suggestions:

(a) He excludes every thing that can not be brought to sight.

(b) He goes always from observation and experience over to reflection and deduction. Astronomy is an inductive science; hence teaching follows the inductive method. The teacher does not "dociren," (teach or lecture,) he guides; he does not say one single sentence that could not be found by the pupils themsoves; for such as can not be found by them-except historical notices-are not fit for them.

(c) He fixes the results in the most definite and pregnant expressions.

(d) He brings the things observed, thought, spoken of, to view on the blackboard, and directs the pupils to similar representations. But he does not begin with drawing, this is secondary to the finding of perceptions. He employs every where the pupil's imagination; astronomy is an excellent means to lead it on a sure and safe way. Drawing proves the correctness of the ideas, therefore it should not precede. If the pupil makes a correct drawing, it is the surest proof of his having viewed and reflected right.

(e) He abstains throughout from any use of models, (telluria, lunaria, etc.) They serve afterward as proof, but they may be entirely done without. Who uses them in the beginning, is wrong; who requires the pupils to transfer that which is represented by those models, to the universe, requires what is impossible: nobody succeeds. The value of models, even of the best, is very much confined. They show the apparent things better than the real; but even for the former they are not necessary. The teacher may sometimes, by means of a larger and smaller globe, a candle, etc., represent every thing needed. But the perception and representation of what is going on in space, even with shut eyes, is what is indispensable, because it is the principal thing. Whoever does not succeed so far, does not really know or understand.

He who wants to know more, may read my "Astronomical Geography,” (Astronomische Geographie,) fifth edition, Berlin, 1855, 1 thaler. (We may add, that this book of Diesterweg's is universally considered as a master-piece of method.―ED.)

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VIII. GEOGRAPHY. BY ABBENRODE.

1. What are the principles on which the present methods of teaching geography are based?

They are intimately connected with the general principles of education. Some consider it necessary to proceed from a general view of the globe, in order to gain at first a general outline,—a scaffold, by means of which the building may be gradually constructed in all its details,—and this in such a way that the pupil shall remain always conscious of the relation of the several parts to the whole, and that the latter itself shall gradually be made more and more perspicuous in all respects.

Others think that the beginner should first be led into a sphere commensurate with his faculties, near to him and capable of being surveyed by his bodily eye; and that he ought to be made familiar with it, in order to sharpen his sight and tongue for the later geographical perceptions, and the intellect for the relations more and more complicated. Then, and not before, the boundaries of this field should be gradually extended, to give his growing powers more extended exercise, until, at last, in the highest grade of his studies, the whole earth is considered in all its various relations.*

Others again are of opinion, that the mere observing, hearing and speaking of geographical matter, does not give thorough knowledge; that it is requisite to appeal to the spontaneous activity of the pupils themselves, and to cause them gradually to complete drawn or pictured representations of the localities studied. This method they say is not only in harmony with the juvenile inclination to such work, but gives an indelible knowledge of what is pictured, particularly of its relations of form and surface; which will serve as a solid basis for all further instruction.

On these three foundations rest the ideas of the geographical methods now in use, the analytical, synthetical and constructive, (drawing,) method, each of which, in practice, admits of various modifications.

2. What are the peculiar advantages and disadvantages of the analytical method?

One advantage that should not be undervalued is, that it designedly keeps in view the connection of the several parts of the earth to the whole, so that, from the beginning, all discontinuance of the perceptions is avoided. It most carefully regards especially the topical and physical elements, as well as the necessity of graphic representation. It, however, has this peculiar disadvantage, that it

Raumer, in his "Contributions to Pedagogy," has a valuable chapter on teaching geography, which will be found entire in Barnard's “American Journal of Education," Vol. VIII, p. 111–122. He guards teachers against the too frequent or extreme application of Rousseau's suggestions, that the walks of children should supply lessons for map-drawing in the school-room, lest the scholars begin to look on themselves as peripatetic lessons, and get a dislike to geographical reading and study. He advises the use of the map of the city or town in which scholars reside, as an introduction to the understanding of maps and even the globe. He advises that special attention should be paid to oceans, mountains, and rivers, as they help to fix the great facts of history; and of cities, as the most ancient monuments of men. Their sites seldom change; and, with few exceptions, the name of a city once great and flourishing never disappears from the earth or from human history. The poetic side of this study should be cultivated; and the reading of travels, and of the news of the day, and the transactions of commerce, should be associated with it.

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