Right Method' of Teaching. 143 



done by conninsi; on the part of the child. It is done hj self- 

 imposed purposive activity on the part of the child ; it is induced 

 by a loving appreciation of the way the child learns and by a 

 broad, intellectual, thoroughly-planned leading on the part of 

 the teacher. Thus far have I given what I am pleased here to 

 state as the first circle in the teaching of geography in the schools 

 of Washington. 



The giving of geographic knowledge has been but a secondary 

 consideration in the teaching of the subject thus far, as will be 

 readily seen. It has been, rather, the ever-present aim of all 

 the work to put the learner's mind in a rational attitude toward 

 geographic phenomena. Quantity is of little importance in any 

 school work. More important is that presentation of subjects 

 and that consideration of subjects that result in an attitude on 

 the part of the learner toward these which may be characterized 

 by intellectual alertness or interest, intellectual exactness or 

 accuracy, and intellectual control or a cultivated will. 



The child who has finished a subject in school has not been 

 put in a rational attitude toward that subject. The learning 

 must be such that it will nourish and give appetite for more, 

 and at the same time develop that intellectual activity and 

 strength that will insure success and continued pleasure in the 

 further prosecution of the subject. He who closes his German 

 book to read no more because he has finished the subject has 

 not been taught right and has studied largely in vain, no matter 

 how high he stands on his final examination. So is it with any 

 other subject. The fault is always in the teaching, and is 

 found in the wrong idea of what should be taught or in a wrong 

 selection no less than in the wrong methods of teaching. What 

 to teach is harder to determine than how to teach. 



In our study thus far we have been brought in contact with 

 two kinds of phenomena, geographic conditions and causes of 

 geographic facts. Neither has been studied, however, in a way 

 to show its relation in the groups of geographic categories. The 

 child does not know that he has been studying geography. He 

 has been growing familiar with the forms and other character- 

 istics of naturalistic facts which, however, have been so grouped 

 as to make their relations easily seen when he shall have reached 

 the stage of progress in his development where it will be desira- 

 ble and profitable for him to resolve his store of facts into cate- 

 gorical series. He has been preparing for geographic study. 



