When man commenced to study nature’s mode of education, he saw that fearful sacrifices were entailed, both in time and in energy as well as in life itself; and so he evolved a more economical way of leading the child through the experiences of the race. In consequence, he has developed the present splendid system of education.
In the evolution of all great institutions, there are in evidence crucial weaknesses, and in the evolution of man’s educational system it appears that he has erred in adopting nature’s form of education without her spirit of education. In his anxiety to have the young acquire as much as possible, man has overshot nature’s true purpose. For example, the big word in man’s educational system is knowledge; but the big word in nature’s educational system is conquest. Nature gives man knowledge simply to reward him for his effort; but man would give to his fellow the reward without the effort. According to nature, the strongest men are those who overcome most; according to man, the strongest men are those who know most. The common educational principles, such as, “From the concrete to the abstract and from the known to the related unknown,” etc., are interpreted by man from the viewpoint of knowledge; whereas nature would teach that these are a feasible way to develop power—to grow manhood. It is seen that nature uses knowledge only as a means to an end, and therefore when man usesknowledge as an end only, he is trying to substitute a plan of his own for nature’s plan. The best results can be secured only when man co-operates with nature in developing, and at the same time regulating, the spirit of conquest.
9. MOTIVATION AS RELATED TO THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
It has been remarked in this chapter, that the “crucial fact” serves to stir the mind of the natural born discoverer to an activity raised to the nth power of effectiveness. Naturally, the intent of such activity is to solve the mysteries which the crucial fact may suggest. This passion of the mind to “know more about it” is appropriately termed “the mental urge.” From the viewpoint of the pedagogue, the “mental urge” is simply an intrinsic interest in the situation at hand; an interest born of an innate or acquired passion to know the truth.
With the average child, the “mental urge” is strong only when the situations appeal to some immediate need or vital experience. The attempt to make the school work concrete and vital; to make it answer the child’s natural curiosities and real necessities, is dignified with the name “motivation.” It is obvious that this is a new term for an old condition. To motivate the work, means to give to it an attractiveness which any situation might have for the true born discoverer and inventor. If we would use the discoverer’s method successfully, we must learn the art of motivating the work. This may be accomplished by appealing to the play instincts, to the business instincts, and to the vital interests of every day life.
10. DISCOVERER’S METHOD OR THE REAL INDUCTIVE METHOD ADAPTED TO CLASS ROOM WORK.
A revolt has already set in against this insatiate desire to teach knowledge, rather than to teach the child. Many schools are permitting a study of those topics which vitally concern every day life. Less attention is being given to formal discipline, and more attention to self activity. Gradually will the scheme of education be directed toward fitting the school work to the child, rather than fitting the child to the school work. When this new thought in education is fully upon us, then will every device and method be directed toward giving full scope to the spirit of inquiry, which so completely possesses every normal child.
It now remains for us to indicate ways in which the spirit of inquiry, or the “discoverer’s method,” may be adapted to school room work. In the first illustration, we shall outline the topic as it is generally given in the average school where attention is paid to development work. This will then be followed by a second outline which may be suggestive of the discoverer’s mode of procedure.
First illustration. School Room Method.
I. Aim: To teach addition of business fractions.