140 W. B. Powell — Geographic Instruction. 



It will be observed that in the study of units of work thus far 

 named the child has been made acquainted with many geo- 

 graphic phenomena and has come into the possession of a large 

 geographic vocabulary, every word of which is the symbol of a 

 geographic fact that has come into his possession by contact 

 with the phenomenon itself. To this extent, then, has the mind 

 been trained geographically; it may be said to have a geo- 

 graphic bent. 



It will be observed also that the teaching thus far has had for its 

 purpose, first, that training which leads to the perception of facts 

 without reference to their causes— facts of size, color and form, 

 of which the vegetal and animal world furnish so great and 

 so delightful a variety, — and second, the perception of facts of 

 size, color and form, and also of use or purpose, which involves 

 an effort to see effect and to discover cause. 



■ The materials for use in training the child in these two steps 

 are easily obtained. Their investigation affords a most delight- 

 ful occupation for the child, which occupation correlates mental 

 and physical activity in the acquisition of knowledge, thus in- 

 suring both mental and physical improvement. 



. The next series of units or facts is learned by both experiment 

 and observation. The child has become strong enough now to 

 project causes and note results. The unit or series of work is the 

 stucl}^ of vapor and its various phenomena, as steam, cloud, rain, 

 hail, mist and dew. By experimenting the child sees water 

 changed to dust, become invisible, return to dust, and, finally, 

 look into his face from the ice pitcher as water again. By repeated 

 efforts, by slow stages, he learns the causes of clouds and their 

 precipitation as rain. He sees the morning mist, rising from the 

 sidewalk as water, being carried away to be formed into drops 

 to be relurned again to the hilltop as water ; and, by slow de- 

 grees and by easy steps, he learns that the sun is lifting the 

 water from the sea and from every other place where water is 

 found, in whatever form, to the skies, where it is gathered and 

 drifted and cooled, to be returned to the earth. Thus does he 

 learn one great cause of geographic facts, of geographic phe- 

 nomena, without which the mountains would not be denuded, 

 valleys would not be made, springs would not become, and rivers 

 would not flow. 



While the work in the study of plants and animals and in 

 experimenting with water and studying its wonderful and in- 



