168 NATURE STUDY. 



she has neglected to lay some of the foundations on 

 which present work must be built, and who is frequently 

 compelled to interrupt her advance work, and go back to 

 lay the foundations for it, cannot do the best teaching. 



In studying the dandelion, unless the children have 

 observed out-of-doors the closing of the flower, the 

 growing of leaves and flowers away from the shade 

 and toward the light, and the arrangement of the leaves 

 to catch the rain and direct it toward the root, a lesson 

 on the relations of the dandelion to sun and rain is 

 almost useless. No foundations have been laid for it. 

 The value of sequence or continuity of thought in in- 

 dividual lessons and in series of lessons is illustrated in 

 Chapter II on the study of the rabbit. 



A second error often committed by teachers, and par- 

 ticularly by teachers of young children, consists in 

 attempting to take several steps at once, or to jump 

 from point to point. Adults learn to take long steps, 

 to go up-stairs two or three steps at a time, to take 

 great leaps. Children must first creep, then take short 

 steps, and after a time learn to run and jump. Par- 

 ticularly when climbing (and education is a process of 

 climbing) they must progress step by step. They can 

 jump or fall downward, but not upward. 



What is true of the bodies of children is equally true 

 of their minds. The mind, however, is much later than 

 the body in attaining the stage of development when it 

 can habitually jump or leap. 



The adult teacher habitually, but often unconsciously, 

 makes mental jumps in her line of thought, paying little 



