Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education Part 13

Large tracts of valuable land, timber, etc., made available.

Highway--need of such between East and West. Difficulties to be overcome, ca.n.a.l, s.h.i.+ps. Compet.i.tion of railways, How? Cla.s.ses of goods back and forth. Avenue to and from the wheat land.

_IV. Sub-topic 3.--Importance industrially:_

Great commercial centres--where located and why? Water powers, elevators, manufacturing of raw materials made available in the large areas; Immigration; Fis.h.i.+ng.

STUDY OF BACTERIA

_I. Topic.--Bacteria:_

What they are; relations, comparisons; other plants in same cla.s.s, or those of higher orders; size, shape; where found; conditions of growth; propagation; modes of distribution; etc.

_II. Sub-topic 1.--Our interest in bacteria, arising out of the injury or good they do:_

(_a_) Injury: Decay of fruits, trees, tissues, etc., diseases--diphtheria, typhoid, tuberculosis; how developed, conditions, favourable toxins.

(_b_) Benefits: In soil, cheese, b.u.t.ter, etc.; chemical action, building new compounds and breaking up other compounds.

_III. Sub-topic 2.--Our interest in controlling them; the methods based on mode and conditions of growth, etc.:_

(_a_) Prevention: Eliminating favourable conditions; low temperature, high temperatures, cleanliness; sewerage disposal; clean cow-stables, cellars, kitchens, etc.; antiseptics--carbolic, formalin, sugar for fruit, sealing up; quarantine, vaccination, ant.i.toxin.

(_b_) Cultures,--alfalfa, cheese, b.u.t.ter, under control.

GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE

_I. Topic.--Europe:_

What interest to us; why we study it; position, lat.i.tude, near water, boundaries, size; Surface features--highlands, lowlands, drainage rivers, coast-line, etc. Climate--temperature (means, Jan., July), wind, moisture.

_II. Sub-topic 1.--Products (based on above conditions):_

Vegetation, animal, mineral; vary over area according to physical climatic, and geological conditions; Kinds of products of each cla.s.s, in each area, etc.

_III. Sub-topic 2.--Occupations (based on Lesson II):_

Study of operations and conditions favourable and unfavourable under which each product is produced, gathered, and manufactured.

Industries, arising from work on the raw materials.

_IV. Sub-topic 3.--Trade and Commerce (based on Lessons II and III):_

Transportation, producers selling and manufacturers buying raw material, distributed to homes in country and city, to factories within the region itself, to regions beyond, across oceans, etc.

Manufactured products sent out, exports and imports.

_V. Sub-topic 4.--Civil advantages (based on Lessons I, III, and IV):_

Conditions of living--homes, dress, work and pleasure; trades, education, government, social, religious, etc.

PARTS TO WHOLE

The method of whole to parts cannot be followed in all cases even where a number of lesson units may possess important points of inter-relation.

Although, for instance, simple and compound addition and addition of fractions are only different phases of one process, no one would advocate the combining of these into such a unified lesson series. In Canadian History, also, although the conditions of the Quebec Act, the coming of the United Empire Loyalists, and the pa.s.sing of the Const.i.tutional Act, have definite points of inter-relation, it would nevertheless be unwise to attempt to evolve these out of a single complex lesson unit. In such cases, therefore, the synthesis of the various parts must be made as the lessons proceed. Moreover, it is well to ensure the complete organization of the elements by means of an outline review at the end of the lesson series. The student-teacher will meet an example of this process under the topical lesson in Chapter XVII.

PRECAUTIONS

It is evident from the above considerations, that certain precautions should be observed in deciding upon the particular subject-matter to be included in each lesson topic.

1. A just balance should be maintained between the difficulty of each lesson unit and the ability of the cla.s.s. Matter that is too easy requires no effort in its mastery and hence is uninteresting. Matter that is too difficult discourages effort, and is, therefore, equally uninteresting. It should be sufficiently easy for every pupil to master, and sufficiently difficult to require real effort.

2. The amount of matter included should be carefully adjusted to the length of time taken for the lesson and to the attainments of the cla.s.s.

If too much is attempted, there will be insufficient time for adequate drill and review, and hence there will be lack of thoroughness. If too little is attempted, time will be wasted in needless repet.i.tion.

3. Each unit of instruction in any subject should, in general, grow out of the preceding unit taken in that subject, and be closely connected with it. It is in this way that a pupil's interest is aroused for the new problem and his knowledge becomes organized. Neglect in this regard results in the possession of disconnected and unsystematized facts.

Each lesson should contain one or more central facts around which the other facts are grouped. This permits easy organization of the material of the lesson, and ensures its retention by the pupils. Further, the pupils are by this means trained to discriminate between the essential and the non-essential.

CHAPTER XVII

LESSON TYPES

=The Developing Lesson.=--In the various lesson plans already considered, the aim has always appeared as an attempt to direct the learning process so that the pupil may both build up a new experience and also gain such control over it as will enable him to turn it to practical use. Because in all such lessons the teacher is supposed to direct the pupils through the four steps of the learning process in such a way that they discover for themselves some important new experience, or develop it out of their own present knowledge, the lessons are spoken of as developing lessons. Moreover, the two parts of the lesson in which the new experience is especially gained by the pupils, namely the selecting and relating processes, are often spoken of as a single step and called the step of _development,_ the lesson then being treated under four heads: Problem, preparation, development, and application.

=Auxiliary Lessons.=--It is evident, however, that there may be lessons in which this direct attempt to have the pupils build up some wholly new experience through a regularly controlled learning process, will not appear as the chief purpose of the lesson. In the previous consideration of the deductive lesson, it was pointed out that this type may be used to give a further mastery of general rules previously learned, rather than a knowledge of particular examples. Such would be the case in an ordinary parsing and a.n.a.lysis lesson in grammar. Here the primary purpose is, evidently, not to give the pupils a grammatical knowledge of the particular words and sentences which are being pa.r.s.ed and a.n.a.lysed, but rather to give them better control of certain general rules of language which they have partially mastered in previous lessons. So also a lesson in writing may seek, not to teach the form of some new letter, but to give skill in writing a letter form which the pupils have already learned. In an exercise in addition of fractions, also, the aim is not so much to have the pupil know these particular questions, as to have him gain a more complete control of the previously learned rule. In other lessons the pupils may be left to secure new knowledge largely for themselves, and the recitation be devoted to testing whether they have been able to accomplish this successfully. In still other lessons the teacher may merely outline a certain topic or certain topics, preparatory to such independent study by the pupils.

The following outlines will explain and exemplify these auxiliary lesson types.

THE STUDY LESSON

=Purpose of Study Lesson.=--The purpose of the Study Lesson is the mastery by the pupils of a stated portion of the text-book. Ultimately, however it is the cultivation of the power of gleaning information from the printed page, of selecting essential features, and of arranging these in their proper relations.h.i.+ps.

The main difficulty in connection with the study lesson is the adaptation of the matter to the interests of the pupils. This difficulty is sometimes due to their inability to interpret the language of the book, and to the difficulty of their distinguis.h.i.+ng the salient features from the non-essential. The trouble in this regard is accentuated when they approach the lesson with an inadequate preparation of mind.

The study lesson falls naturally into two parts, the a.s.signment and the seat work.

=The a.s.signment.=--The object of the a.s.signment is to put the pupils in an att.i.tude of inquiry toward the new matter. It corresponds to the conception of the problem and the step of preparation in the development lesson. The most successful a.s.signment is one in which the interest of the pupils is aroused to such a pitch that they are anxious to read more about the subject. In general it will consist of a recall of those ideas, or a statement of those facts upon which the interpretation of the new matter depends. Most of the unsuccessful study lessons are due to insufficient care in the a.s.signment. Often pupils are told to read so many pages of the book, without any preliminary preparation and without any idea of what facts they are to learn. Under such conditions, the result is usually a very slight interest in the lesson, and consequently an unsatisfactory grasp of it.

=Examples of a.s.signment.=--A few examples will serve to ill.u.s.trate what is meant by an adequate a.s.signment. When a new reading lesson is to be prepared, the a.s.signment should include the p.r.o.nunciation and meaning of the different words, and a general understanding of the pa.s.sage to be read. For a new spelling lesson, the a.s.signment should include the p.r.o.nunciation and meaning of the words, and any special difficulties that may appear in them. In a.s.signing a history lesson on, say, the Capture of Quebec, the teacher should discuss with the cla.s.s the position of Quebec, the difficulties that would present themselves to a besieging army, the character and personal appearance of Wolfe (making him stand out as vividly as possible), and the position seized by the British army, ill.u.s.trating as far as possible by maps and diagrams.

Then the cla.s.s will be in a mental att.i.tude to read with interest the dramatic story of the taking of the fortress. If the pupils were about to study the geography of British Columbia, the teacher might, in the a.s.signment, ask them to note from the map of Canada the position of the province and the direction of the mountain ranges; to infer the character and direction of the rivers and their value for navigation; to infer the nature of the climate, knowing the direction of the prevailing winds; to infer the character of the chief industries, knowing the physical features and climate. With these facts in mind the cla.s.s will be able to read intelligently what the text-book says about British Columbia.

=The Seat Work.=--However good the a.s.signment may be, there is always a danger that there will be much waste of time in connection with the seat work. The tendency to mind-wandering is always so great that the time devoted to the preparation of lessons at seats may to a large extent be lost, unless special precautions are taken in that regard. Unfortunately every lesson cannot be made so enthralling that the pupil's mind is kept upon it in spite of distractions. To prevent this possible waste of time, suggestions have already been made in another connection (page 112 above). These will bear repet.i.tion here. Questions upon the matter to be studied might be placed on the black-board and pupils asked to prepare answers for these. The difficulty with this plan is, that, unless the questions are carefully thought out by the teacher, the pupils may get from their reading only a few disconnected facts instead of organized knowledge. The pupils might be asked to prepare lists of questions for themselves, and the one who had the best list might be permitted to put his questions to the rest of the cla.s.s. The difficulty here is that most pupils have a tendency to question about what is unimportant and to neglect the important. In the higher cla.s.ses, the pupils might be required to make a topical outline of the lesson studied. This requires considerable a.n.a.lytic ability, and the results at first are likely to be disappointing. However, it is an ability worth striving for. The individual who can readily outline what he has read has mastered the art of reading.