208 NATURE STUDY. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE ORDER AND METHOD OF STUDYING MATERIAL 

 (CONTINUED.) 



THE next step in the presentation of matter in the 

 schoolroom is the study of structure, that in the plant 

 or animal which adapts it to its environment and fits it 

 for its work or function; and that in the rock which is 

 the result of the action of the agencies by which it was 

 formed. 



While much of structure is studied in connection 

 with previous work, it is studied incidentally. At this 

 stage structure must be emphasized both as a means of 

 reviewing and clinching and unifying or binding to- 

 gether what has been learned about habit and function 

 and story, and as a basis for a subsequent step in the 

 process of unification; that is, comparison .and general- 

 ization, or classification. After the child has learned 

 the work or function of the dandelion root, has discov- 

 ered how firmly it holds the plant in the ground, has 

 seen its store of " milk " and noticed the disappearance 

 of the u milk" and the shrivelling of the root as the 

 seeds ripen, has learned that the rootlets take up water, 

 and food dissolved in the water, then he is not only 

 prepared to study the form and structure of the root, 



