In geography, arithmetic, language lessons, and
natural science, we must collect more materials in the lower grades;
more simple, concrete illustrations. They are the basis upon which we
can soon begin to generalize and classify. The more attractive the
illustrative materials we select, the stronger the appeal to the
child's own liking, the more effective will be the instruction. A way
has been discovered to make the study of the concrete and individual
lead up with certainty to the grasp of general notions and even of
scientific laws as fast as the children are ready for them. If the
concrete object or individual is carefully selected it will be a
_type_, that is, it illustrates a whole class of similar objects. Such
a typical concrete object really combines the particular and the
general. It has all the advantage of object-teaching, the powerful
attraction of real things, but its comparison with other objects will
also show that it illustrates a general law or principle of
wide-reaching scientific importance. In both these steps natural
interest is provided for in the best way. A full and itemized
examination of some attractive object produces as strong an interest as
a child is capable of.
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