48 Tribune Extraa- 



Dbserved. This second exercise showed the fresh- 

 ness and originality of this undo of instruction from 

 which routine was banished, and in which all pro- 

 gress depended upon awaken in!; and stimulating tho 

 mind by a direct contact with Nature. 



THK ART OF TEACHING. 



HOW STUDENTS SHOULD BE EDUCATED. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION METHODS OP 

 IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



No one felt more deeply than Prof. Agassiz the 

 need of a change in the methods and aims of public 

 instruction. He was a constant friend and adviser 

 of tho teadier as well as the helper and inspirer of 

 tho pupil. The essential object of the course at 

 Penikese was, first, to show teachers how to learn, 

 and then to show them how to teach. Prof. Agassiz 

 felt that there was great need of getting out of the 

 traditionary ruts, especially in methods of instruc- 

 tion in natural history. In the earlier part of the 

 student's course he deemed it of much more im- 

 portance to learn how to observe and investigate 

 than to acquire by rote a mass of facts heaped 1o- 

 pether for tho student's convenience. He distrusted 

 tho methods of the book*, and aimed to bring the 

 student into direct and immediate intimacy with 

 nature herself. ,This for years had been his method 

 at the Museum of Anatomy. The great number of 

 excellent teachers not a few of them shining lights 

 in tho courts of science who were graduated from 

 that institution, shows with what success. 



lu conducting tho school at Penikese, Prof. Agas- 

 eiz introduced the method which he had pursued at 

 the Mns 'iim with so much success. One of his first 

 endeavors in the laboratory and lecture-room was 

 to expound his views of the proper modes of teaching. 



Never attempt to teach, said the Professor, what 

 you do not know yourself, and know well. If the 

 School Committee insist upon your teaching any- 

 thing and everything, decline firmly to do so. It is 

 an imposition upon the teachers and pupils alike to 

 require a teacher to teach that which he does not 

 know. This much-needed reform has already begun 

 in colleges, and I hope it will continue. More can 

 be done in this way to improve our system of educa- 

 tion than in almost any other. 



It is a great mistake to suppose that any one can 

 teach tho elements of a science. This is indeed the 

 most difficult part of instnn (ion, and it requires the 

 most mature teachers Not much progress can bo 

 made until people are convinced that everybody is 

 not capable of learning everything, and that teach- 

 ers should not be expected to master every depart- 

 ment of human knowledge. Do you expect tho great 

 artLstb of the world to be good Latin or Greek scliol- 



Pamphlet Series. 



ars, or good mathematicians T No moro snonld you 

 expect a teacher to be perfect in all departments of 

 knowledge. To have a smattering of something is 

 one of the great fallacies of our time. A teacher 

 ought to know someone thing well. 



Select tho most common things for instruction, so 

 that the pupil cannot take a ramble without meeting 

 the objects about which he has been informed. 

 Train pupils to be observers. Never attempt to give 

 instruction in natural history without having your 

 pupils provided with specimens. The nm.st common 

 specimens, as horseflies and crickets, will do as well 

 as any. Lot your pupils hold the specimens, and 

 make them observe what you say. . 



In 1817 I lectured in Milton, Mass., and I insisted 

 that every person present should take a grasshopper, 

 and hold it, and look at it. It was an innovation at 

 the time. Help me to make it a universal method 

 throughout the country. Accustom pupils to bring 

 in the specimens themselves. Induce them to go to 

 the next brook or stone wall to get their own text 

 books, for which they pay nothing. Some specimens 

 are difficult to preserve, and it is delicate work to 

 accustom pupils to handle specimens carefully. The 

 earlier this training is begun tho better. The author 

 of the Anatomy of the European Cockchafer, before 

 commencing his investigation of this animal, ab- 

 stained from all stimulants for weeks so that he 

 might have full control over his muscles. 



The study of nature is direct intercourse with the 

 Highest Mind. When you pit down to natural his- 

 tory work, it should bo with the intention to give 

 yourself up to tho thought. It is unworthy an in- 

 telligent being to triHe with the works of the Cre- 

 ator. Even to a materialist they are the works of 

 the highest power. A laboratory of natural history 

 is a sanctuary, in which nothing improper should bo 

 exhibited. I would tolerate improprieties in a church 

 sooner than in a scientific laboratory. 



Talk about your specimens and try to make the 

 pupilsobserve the most telling and striking features. 

 When you collect a specimen be sure to find out 

 what it is, and make full memoranda of everything 

 pertaining to it. Do this in every case. You havo 

 chances to find new things unknown before. Col- 

 lect carefully and preserve well, so that the speci- 

 mens will tell tho story of the animal. There should 

 bo a little museum in every school-room ; half a 

 dozen species of radiates, a few dozen shells, 100 in- 

 sects, a few fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals would 

 be enough to teach well. Do Candolle, one of our 

 most scientific botanists, said he could teach all ho 

 knew of botany with a dozen plants. It is bettor to 

 have a few forms, well known, than to make pupils 

 acquainted with many hundred species tho first 

 year; better bo well acquainted with a dozen sped- 



