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Now that these ideas have come to us, teachers 

 are seeking on every hand tor means to advance and 

 develope them. I believe that the new era has only 

 just begun ; and that we are entering upon a 

 period of wonderful progress in this science. Certainly 

 more attention is being given to it ; and its claims for 

 more time in the curriculum and for special preparation 

 on the part of teachers is being recognized. Full 

 recognition cannot come too soon. 



Field work in geography is but one step in the 

 development of the causal notion. We are looking for 

 the forces which have produced and are producing the 

 type forms. To understand how these forces produce 

 the type forms we must see them at work. We cannot 

 see this in a book. We must go out-of-doors. 



As soon as the necessity for such work is recog- 

 nized, teachers begin to ask, " How shall we go about 

 it?" "Where shall we go?" "What things shall we 

 study?" and "What shall we do with what we have 

 learned, after we return to the class-room ?" 



I shall not attempt to enumerate all the things that 

 may be studied; but will describe a few experiences 

 with my own classes in the field, and tell what we did 

 with the material which we obtained. 



We went to the gorge of Euclid Creek, ^ten miles 

 east of the Public Square in Cleveland, to study the 

 gorge and the flood-plain of that stream. It may be 

 asked why it was necessary to go so far away to get 

 information, when we have a river flowing through 

 the city, with a larger volume of water, a wider valley, 

 and a more extensive flood-plain. The reasons are 

 two. First, the river at Cleveland lies in a densely 

 settled district covered with many buildings and 

 difficult of access by a large class. Second, the very 

 fact of size and complications due to modifications and 

 improvements made it more desirable to go out into 

 the country, where we could 6nd a small stream with 

 all its features nearly in their original condition, but 

 little modified by human agencies. 



