The teacher now takes the ear of corn from the desk and displays it before the school; and quite a number of hands are instantly raised as if eager to be the first to tell what other use they have discovered for it.
The teacher now says pleasantly, “The use I am thinking of you have all observed, I have no doubt; it is a very important use, indeed; but as it is a little out of the common course (crucial facts) I shall not be surprised if you cannot give it. However, you may try.”
“It is good to boil,” says little Susan, almost springing from the floor as she speaks. “And it is for squirrels to eat,” says little Samuel. “I saw one carry away a whole mouthful yesterday from the cornfield.”
Others still mention other uses. Perhaps, however, none will name the one the teacher has in his own mind; he should cordially welcome the answer if perchance it is given. (Supposing that it has not been given.) “I have told you that the answer I was thinking of was a very simple one; it is something you have all observed and you may be a little disappointed when I tell you. The use I have been thinking of for the ear of corn is this: It is to plant. It is for seed, to propagate that species of plant called corn.” (Verification.) Here the children may look disappointed as much as to say, We knew that before. The teacher continues: “And this is a very important use for the corn; for if for one year none should be planted, and all the ears that grew the year before should be consumed, we should have no more corn. The other uses you have named were merely secondary. But I mean to make something more of my ear of corn. My next question is: Do other plants have seed?” Here is a new field of inquiry, etc., etc.
From the standpoint of “the greatest amount of knowledge in the shortest possible time,” this mode of presentation consumes an inexcusable amount of time and is, therefore, “impracticable.” But when viewed from the ground of interest, originality, initiative, and conquest—the watchwords of the “new thought in education”; there is no real waste in either time or energy. The spirit andmethod of the discoverer will no doubt be the educational slogan of the future age.
Epitome of Discoverer’s Method, adapted to the class room:
(1) Motivate the topic to be presented.
(2) Bring to mind, if necessary, the “foundational facts.”
(3) Make evident the “crucial fact.”
(4) Furnish every opportunity for a first-hand discovery of the “lesson-point” (establishing hypothesis through analogy).