MATHEMATICS FOR CHILDREN. 



805 



about thirty years ago by Jean Mace in a little book entitled 

 U ArWimetique du Grand-Papa — Grandpa's Arithmetic — which 

 made some impression when it appeared, but has been substantially 

 forgotten. 



In this method I attach much importance to giving these exer- 

 cises a form of play. I believe that nothing in primary instruc- 

 tion should savor of obligation and fatigue. It would, on the other 

 hand, be better to try to induce the child to desire himself to go 

 on, and it would always be well to try to give him the illusion, in 

 all stages of instruction, that he is the discoverer of the facts we 

 wish to impress upon his mind. 



We need not stop with arithmetic, but may go on and give the 

 child a little geometry. To accomplish this we should give him 



the idea of geometrical objects, and 

 to some extent their nomenclature, 

 and this can be done without causing 

 fatigue. To accomplish this he should 

 be taught to draw, however rudely. 

 He can begin with straight lines, of 

 which he soon learns the properties; 

 then, when he has drawn several lines 

 side by side, he will learn that they 

 are parallels and will never meet. He 

 will learn, too, after he has drawn 

 three intersecting lines, 

 that the figure within 

 them is called a trian- 

 gle, that the figure 

 formed by two parallel 

 lines meeting two other 

 parallels is a parallelo- 

 Fjy 3 gram, and he can go 



on to make and learn 

 about polygons, etc (Fig. 3). All this nomenclature will get into 

 his head without giving abstract definitions, but in such a way that 

 when he sees a geometrical object of definite form he will recog- 

 nize it at once and give it the name that belongs to it. 



In the practical matter of the measurement of areas we convey 

 immediate comprehension as to many figures without special effort, 

 provided we do not present the demonstration in professional style, 

 limiting ourselves to making the pupil comprehend or feel things 

 so clearly and definitely that it shall be equivalent, as to the satis- 

 faction of his mind, to an absolutely rigorous demonstration. At 

 any rate, he will be better provided for the future than by rigorous 



