138 W. B. Poioell — Geographic Instruction. 



instance, to see springs and know their causes ; to see the wear- 

 ing of river banks and the clianging of the courses of streams 

 and know their causes ; to see the denuding of elevations and 

 know its causes ; to see the filling and making of valleys and 

 know their causes. This, however, can be done by a systematic 

 course of training. The steps of such training, however, to in- 

 sure the desired result, must be sequential and each must have 

 its definite and well-outlined purpose. 



Another important end to be secured by studying geography, 

 and one which sequentially follows the first step, is that training 

 which will enable the learner to see geographic facts and to 

 understand geographic phenomena from symbols or from the 

 examination of maps and by reading text in connection there- 

 with. An attempt to teach geography by reversing these steps 

 will prove fatal to educational success, for it anticipates the 

 strength of the mind and its power to receive. The result of 

 such instruction is not knowledge but rote-information. The 

 latter purpose has in the past constituted the main effort of 

 teaching geography in our schools. The first step, that of train- 

 ing the child to understand geographic phenomena when he 

 sees them, has in the main been omitted. 



A third purpose of teaching geography is the acquisition of 

 knowledge. This purpose is easily secured, when the work for 

 the accomplishment of the first two purposes has been done 

 systematically carried out. If first knowledge is obtained in 

 the right way its value is almost inestimable from either of two 

 points of vieAV : 



First, as an acquisition of the mind on which it has made 

 an impression because obtained by contact with phenomena 

 first hand or from original sources, it will serve ever after as an 

 interpreter of kindred information, whether received first hand 

 by contact with things or through symbolic channels. 



Second, as a possession of the mind it is a nucleus to which 

 all future information on the same subject obtained by original 

 investigation or through symbolic channels will be added natur- 

 ally and logically, thus insuring a well-arranged body of infor- 

 mation on that subject at every step of acquisition. 



The process of learning to see is slow. It is, however, easy if 

 the beginning is made simple and each step is made a sequential 

 advance on its predecessor. The young mind grows by slow 

 increments ; it exjaands by short stages, but it grows and ex- 



