13. SUMMARY.
(1) Thought is king in that it is the ruling factor in the making and breaking of habit. This lends import to logic, which is the science of thought.
(2) The chief function of induction is to discover new truth; whereas deduction aims at clarifying and correcting new truth. Inductive logic makes known the special forms of thought which the discoverer uses; while deductive logic tends to show how he verifies the truth thus obtained.
(3) Just as there are two general forms of thinking, inductive and deductive; so there are two general types of mind, the inductive and the deductive; the former leads to liberalism, the latter to conservatism. Both types are needed to maintain a safe balance.
(4) The schools of the day are emphasizing the deductive phase of work to the sacrifice of the inductive. They are neglecting the Columbuses and the Edisons of the class. The course of study makes for a conservatism, which “nips in the bud” any marked tendency to discover and invent.
(5) Logic may aid in the crusade against the ultra conservative tendency of class method, by giving emphasis to the method of the discoverer and inventor. An analysis of this method reveals these three steps: antecedent facts, forming an hypothesis and verification. Antecedent facts may be divided into foundational and crucial. A crucial fact leads immediately to the formation of the hypothesis; whereas the foundational facts represent that body of knowledge which makes it possible to interpret the crucial fact. The crucial fact creates an unsatisfied state of mind, which, in turn, urges the discoverer to construct some satisfactory hypothesis. Inference by analogy is the process used in such a construction. The two modes of verification arerecourse to experience, or empirical; and appeal to reason, or rational.
(6) In the class room, induction is used in form, not in spirit; in consequence we are neglecting the generals for the camp followers.
(7) The inductive method is logically the method of discovery, while the deductive method is the method of instruction. In the class room, both methods have been devoted to the matter of instruction. Because of this, induction has been robbed of its chief advantage over deduction.
(8) Man has attained his greatest success by enlarging upon the thoughts of nature and not by an absolute substitution. In enlarging upon nature’s way of educating the child, man has adopted her form of procedure, but has lost her spirit of work. In his scheme of education, man’s watchword is knowledge, while nature’s is conquest. To seek knowledge without inspiring the spirit of conquest is man’s way; whereas nature’s way is to encourage the spirit of conquest by using knowledge as a reward. Man must co-operate with nature, if the best results are to be secured.
(9) In the case of the true discoverer, it is not necessary to endow the object of his thought with added attractiveness; but with the child enthusiasm may need to be stimulated by “motivating” the subject in hand. This may be accomplished by appealing directly to the vital needs, worldly necessities, and innate cravings of the child mind.
(10) A revolt is in evidence against that insatiate desire to teach knowledge, which has been so marked in the past. Already schools are introducing departments of work which look toward conquest rather than knowledge.
When adapted to the school room the discoverer’s method naturally resolves itself into these five steps:
(1) “Motivate” the topic for presentation.
(2) Bring to mind “foundational facts.”
(3) Vividly make evident the “crucial fact.”
(4) Lead to discovery of “lesson-point.”
(5) Afford opportunity for verification.
(11) The question and answer method of presenting work,does not necessarily give full scope to the spirit of inquiry as emulated by the true born discoverer.
As a matter of affording opportunity for the development of the spirit of discovery, there are three modes of presentation which may be arranged in a progressive series:
(1) The lecture mode in which there is little opportunity for discovery.
(2) The question and answer mode which permits some opportunity for discovery.
(3) The mode by suggestion which permits ample opportunity for discovery.