General Methods 75 



may yield. In mathematics, for instance, we do not 

 set the pupil to work merely to manipulate figures, 

 according to directions for each step. We usually 

 state the problem, and seek to develop the self-activity 

 and ingenuity of the pupil in manipulating figures 

 according as the conditions of the problem may re- 

 quire. It is difficult to see how an experiment in 

 nature study can be performed without some similar 

 method. Indeed one of the essential conditions to 

 the performance of an experiment is to state the prob- 

 lem. The problem may be stated by the teacher; but, 

 better still, the pupil may be led to state his own 

 problem, after having discovered that a problem exists. 



The disadvantages of the investigation method in 

 nature study arise from the fact that the pupil has 

 neither the knowledge nor the training to enable him 

 to derive the most benefits from its use. In many 

 cases the necessary skill in manipulation has not 

 been acquired; knowledge of the simplest elements 

 of the subject may be wanting. He may not even 

 have enough of a general idea of the subject to know 

 what the work means, and is, consequently, very much 

 like a child lost in the woods. 



Some of the advantages of the investigation method 

 are, that it develops independence and self-reliance; 

 it develops originality in solving difficulties and gives 

 freedom to the creative instinct. It is well suited 

 to those rare pupils who succeed best when let alone; 

 and, consequently, give greatest promise of future 

 success. 



3. THE THUMB AND RULE METHOD is a method 

 sometimes employed even by teachers of advanced 

 science. It consists in laying down rules for each 

 step to be taken without stating the object in view, 

 and then insisting that the student do the work, accord- 

 ing to explicit directions, sometimes given orally, some- 

 times even printed. Laboratory outlines are occa- 



