METHOD OF STUDYING MATERIAL. 



221 



function of scientific terms, and of the characteristics of 

 the child mind. 



Scientific terms are not mere "hard words," as the 

 non-scientific are prone to regard them. They express 

 in the most concise, clear, and exact form ideas or facts. 

 When the botanist describes the leaf shown in Fig. 

 24 as, "pinnately compound, with odd leaflet, with 

 nine leaflets, opposite, short petioled, stipellate, ovate, 

 slightly acuminate at apex, en- 

 tire, pinnately veined," he ex- 

 presses with a few words what 

 cannot be as clearly or exactly 

 expressed in non-scientific or 

 ordinary language with five, or 

 perhaps ten, times as many 

 words. From such a scientific 

 description, one familiar with 

 the meaning of the terms used 

 can make a fairly truthful draw- 

 ing, and gain, of course, a fairly 

 correct mental picture. 



The main use of scientific terms is, then, to express 

 facts in language as concise and exact as possible. 

 Young children rarely need such terms, because their 

 ideas are general rather than minutely exact. As chil- 

 dren grow older their observations become, or should 

 become, more careful and detailed, and they need exact 

 terms to express them. 



These should only be used so far as they are needed 

 by the children to express their ideas. Children should 



Fig. 24. Compound Leaf. 



