We
need to clear up all confused and faulty perceptions and to stimulate
children to make their future observations more reliable.
We have already seen the importance of object lessons in this full and
real sense to _interest_. Interest in every study is awakened and
constantly reenforced by an appeal, not to books, but to life. Much of
the dull work in arithmetic, geography, and other studies is due to the
neglect of these real, illustrative materials.
Of the six great sources of interest, (Herbart's) three, the
_empirical_, the _esthetic_, and the _sympathetic_, deal entirely with
concrete objects or with individuals, while even the _speculative_ and
_social_ interests are often based directly upon particular persons or
phenomena. In addition to this it may be said that the interests of
children are overwhelmingly with the concrete and imaginative phases of
every subject, and only secondarily with general truths and laws. The
latter are of greater concern to older children and adults. Object
lessons therefore contain a life-giving element that should enter into
every subject of study.
Nor should these interesting, illustrative object lessons be limited to
the lower grades.
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