I2O Education through Nature 



zation, by which questions are developed to be solved 

 by careful experimentation and clever manipulation. 

 Back of all investigation is a suggestion which acts as a 

 stimulus to further inquiry. If systematic activity is 

 to result from the work of this step, it must be stimulat- 

 ing rather than satisfying. A desire for more inform- 

 ation must be aroused, and, when aroused it should 

 not now be satisfied by the teacher's answers. 



Nature is truly suggestive. But the teacher can 

 assist in making the pupil's mind susceptible to its 

 suggestions. Questions are useful for this purpose. 

 (a) A really suggestive question does not relate ex- 

 clusively to particulars that can be seen at a glance. 

 (6) They must be general questions requiring not only 

 observation but also a complex process of inference 

 and reasoning, (c) They should be connected, at 

 least remotely, with what the pupil already knows. 

 (d) They may be accompanied occasionally with 

 suggestive information, tending to arouse thought and 

 create interest, (e) But they should be of such a 

 nature that the pupil cannot answer them offhand. 

 (/) It is perfectly proper, therefore, with this purpose in 

 view, to ask questions that are as yet unanswerable. 



Thus, to take a concrete example, the dandelion, the 

 following questions would be suggestive: (i) Is the 

 dandelion alive? (2) If dead, what is the cause? 

 (3) How then does it differ from the living? (4) What 

 is life? (5) How do we distinguish between a dead 

 and a living thing? (6) Did the dandelion spring 

 from dead matter? (7) Where did it come from? 

 (8) What finally becomes of it? (9) How does it 

 differ from an animal? (10) Why do we call it a 

 plant? (n) Why has it not the same form and color 

 as the apple blossom? (12) Why does it grow in 

 some places rather than in others? (13) Why does it 

 change its appearance? (14) Why has it different 

 colors at different times? (15) Why does it not grow 



