PRINCIPLES DETERMINING METHOD. 171 



on the movements of the canary-bird may thus be divided 

 into: step 1, position at rest; step 2, perching; step 3, 

 hopping ; step 4, swinging ; step 5, flying. The teacher 

 should get all that she can from the observations of the 

 children about the position of the bird at rest, perhaps 

 supplement this from her own observations, and have it 

 gathered up or summarized by two or three pupils be- 

 fore asking them or even allowing them to tell about 

 the perching of the canary. If such a plan is followed, 

 the children soon learn to observe in some order, and 

 are much more apt to be orderly in their oral and writ- 

 ten expression. 



In Chapter II this step by step progression and sum- 

 marizing is frequently illustrated. 



A third precaution necessary to insure sequence or 

 continuity of thought is the avoidance of digressions. 

 When the teacher has decided on her line of thought, 

 she must be careful about wandering out of the path 

 into the fields on either side. In no other study is the 

 tendency or temptation to do this greater than in nature 

 study. If pupils talk freely, as they should, they are 

 apt to bring in much extraneous matter. It requires 

 tact to keep them to the line of thought without dis- 

 couraging them from expressing themselves. 



The pupils can be more readily kept to the line of 

 thought if told at the beginning of the lesson just 

 what the aim or point of the lesson is. When they are 

 deeply impressed, at the beginning, with the idea that 

 " to-day we will try to discover how the snail-shells are 

 made, and what becomes of them," or, " to-day we want 



