148 W. B. Powell — Geographic Instruction. 



The children are now strong enough to look upon the world 

 as a whole ; they are acquainted with much of the phenomena 

 resulting from the facts that the earth is spherical and that it re- 

 volves on its axis. They undoubtedly know these facts also, for 

 an intelligent teacher could not thus long instruct children with- 

 out being forced to tell them of these facts. They now, therefore, 

 are to become acquainted with the globe representing the earth 

 and its surface. They learn the grand land divisions of the earth 

 and its chief water divisions and learn the relations of each to all 

 the others; learn the relative size of each and approximately as 

 as nearly as they can be made to understand the actual size of each 

 in extreme breadth and length. They learn some facts of climate 

 without special stud}^, of course, further than that derived from 

 a knowledge of the relation of the axis of the earth to the plane 

 of its orbit. This gives opportunity for teaching belts or zones, 

 and as far as it is taught at all it is taught with accuracy. Now, 

 the children's knowledge of plants and animals and kinds of 

 people about which they have been learning may be further 

 enlarged, and each kind or group of facts relegated to its appro- 

 priate belt or zone home. The continents and oceans may be 

 located in zone belts or climatic homes, and plants, animals and 

 men located in their respective parts of continents or oceans ; 

 thus correlating the old, or that which was previously learned, 

 with the new. Thus may the learner see the globe divided into 

 land and water, related to heat and cold, possessed of life, dis- 

 tributed by climatic causes, possessing characteristics consistent 

 with and lives induced by such causes. 



The children are now prepared to study geography as the 

 home of man and as the result of man's skill and efforts ; study 

 geography by states, by civilization, by socialistic phenomena, by 

 economic phenomena. State lines may be made to mean Some- 

 thing to the children now. Great and important lines of com- 

 merce may be fixed easily, because the children find out not only 

 where they exist but why they are there. But before these are 

 studied in their detail it is desirable to study the continent in its 

 special structure of mountain ranges and consequent basins or 

 drainage areas. For this the children have been prepared by 

 their previous work. To prevent making this part of my sub- 

 ject too long and too tedious I will say that North America is 

 studied physically, in which connection it is studied historically 

 also, so that national lines or divisions are seen to move back and 



