PRINCIPLES DETERMINING METHOD. 173 



eralizations. After studying the cricket or grasshopper 

 (see Fig. 27, p. 229) and other insects, and having the 

 idea impressed upon them that these animals have dis- 

 tinct head, thorax, and abdomen, nine children out of 

 ten will think of and draw the crayfish or spider (see 

 Figs. 22 and 23), when they begin to study them, as hav- 

 ing a distinct head, although their eyes tell them that 

 head and thorax are very closely united, without any 

 neck. After studying the dandelion and thistle flowers 

 as typical of the composites, nearly all pupils will assume 

 that all compound flowers, such as the clover, are com- 

 posites. The experienced teacher, who has been over 

 the ground and located these "switches," will have the 

 foresight to warn the pupils before they reach these 

 points. 



A common method of keeping children to a definite, 

 line of thought is the Socratic method, or development 

 method. By a series of skilful, well-related questions 

 the child is led to see and to state just what the teacher 

 wishes him to see and state. , 



This development method is often invaluable. In 

 leading children to an abstraction or general truth, 

 such as a rule in mathematics or grammar, or a group- 

 ing or classification in botany or zoology, or in helping 

 the pupil to see relations which he can never work out 

 for or by himself (as the fact that a potato is a modified 

 stem, and that a thorn may be a modified leaf), it is 

 most effective and necessary. 



But in most science work the development method 



