PRINCIPLES DETERMINING METHOD. 155 



apperceiving concepts in the child's mind, the ideas 

 gained or the impressions made will not be most clear 

 and strong unless the child is interested. 



On the other hand, the more the work in nature 

 study is based on sense-perception, on what appeals to 

 the senses, and the more the new is built upon and 

 related to the old, is based on apperception, the more, 

 in general, will the child be interested. Interest, par- 

 ticularly sustained or habitual interest, is one of the 

 surest evidences that work is being presented in ac- 

 cordance with psychological laws. Absence of interest 

 shows, in general, that something is wrong ; matter or 

 method is not adapted to the children. 



Just as apperception is the mental equivalent of phys- 

 iological assimilation, so interest may be considered as 

 the counterpart of appetite. With adults appetite and 

 interest are oftentimes not considered essential. The 

 body and mind of children will not get proper nourish- 

 ment without appetite or interest. 



With interest aroused and senses alert there is scarcely 

 a limit to what the child can do. In no other work 

 is interest more essential than in nature study. In no 

 other study will the teacher be so apt to be impressed 

 with the educational value of interest as when she and 

 her children are studying nature together under natural 

 conditions, and following natural methods. In much 

 other school-work the conditions and methods are un- 

 natural, and the importance of interest is not recognized 

 or realized. 



Sympathy is but a higher active form of interest. 



