Pupil's Motive May Be Indirect.—It is evident from the foregoing that the pupil's motive for applying himself to any lesson may differ from the real lesson problem, or motive. For instance, in mastering the reading of a certain selection, the pupil's chief motive in applying himself to this particular task may be to please and win the approbation of the teacher. The true lesson problem, however, is to enable the learner to give expression to the thoughts and feelings of the author. When the aim, or motive, is thus somewhat disconnected from the lesson problem itself, it becomes an indirect motive. While such indirect motives are undoubtedly valuable and must often be used with young children, it is evident that when the pupil's motive is more or less directly associated with the real problem of the lesson, it will form a better centre for the selecting and organizing of the ideas entering into the new experience.
Relation to Pupil's Feeling.—A chief essential in connection with the pupil's motive, or attitude, toward the lesson problem, is that the child should feel a value in the problem. That is, his apprehension of the problem should carry with it a desire to secure a complete mastery of the problem from a sense of its intrinsic value. The difference in feeling which a pupil may have toward the worth of a problem would be noticed by comparing the attitude of a class in the study of a military biography or a pioneer adventure taken from Canadian or United States sources respectively. In the case of the former, the feeling of patriotism associated with the lesson problem will give it a value for the pupils entirely absent from the other topic. The extent to which the pupil feels such a value in the lesson topic will in most cases also measure the degree of control he obtains over the new experience.
AWAKENING INTEREST IN PROBLEMS
As will be seen in Chapter XXIX, where our feeling states will be considered more fully, feeling is essentially a personal attitude of mind, and there can be little guarantee that a group of pupils will feel an equal value in the same problem. At times, in fact, even where the pupil understands fairly well the significance of a presented lesson problem, he may feel little personal interest in it. One of the most important questions of method is, therefore, how to awaken in a class the necessary interest in the lesson problem with which they are being presented.
1. Through Physical Activity.—It is a characteristic of the young child to enjoy physical activity for the sake of the activity itself. This is true even of his earliest acts, such as stretching, smiling, etc. Although these are merely impulsive movements without conscious purpose, the child soon forms ideas of different acts, and readily associates these with other ideas. Thus he takes a delight in the mere functioning of muscles, hands, voice, etc., in expressive movements. As he develops, however, on account of the close association, during his early years, between thought and movement, the child is much interested in any knowledge which may be presented to him in direct association with motor activity. This fact is especially noticeable in that the efforts of a child to learn a strange object consist largely in endeavouring to discover what he can do with it. He throws, rolls, strikes, strives to open it, and in various other ways makes it a means of physical expression. Whenever, especially, he can discover the use of an object, as to cut with knife or scissors, to pound with a hammer, to dip with a ladle, or to sweep with a broom, this social significance of the object gives him full satisfaction, and little attention is paid to other qualities. For these reasons the teacher will find it advantageous, whenever possible, to associate a lesson problem directly with some form of physical action. In primary number work, for example, instead of presenting the child with mere numbers and symbols, the teacher may provide him with objects, in handling which he may associate the number facts with certain acts of grouping objects. It is in this way that a child should approach such problems as:
How many fours are there in twelve?
How many feet in a yard?
How many quarts in a peck? etc.
The teaching of fractions by means of scissors and cardboard; the teaching of board measure by having boards actually measured; the teaching of primary geography by means of the sand-table; the teaching of nature study by excursions to fields and woods; these are all easy because we are working in harmony with the child's natural tendency to be physically active. The more closely the lesson problem adjusts itself to these tendencies, the greater will be the pupil's activity and hence the more rapid his progress.
2. Through Constructive Instinct.—The child's delight in motor expression is closely associated with his instinctive tendency to construct. When, therefore, new knowledge can be presented to the child in and through constructive exercises, he is more likely to feel its value. Thus it is possible, by means of such occupations as paper folding or stick-laying, to provide interesting problems for teaching number and geometric forms. In folding the check-board, for example, the child will master necessary problems relating to the numbers, 2, 4, 8, and 16. In learning colour, it is more interesting for the child to study different colours through painting leaves, flowers, and fruits, than to learn them through mere sense impressions, or even through comparing coloured objects, as in the Montessori chromatic exercises. A study of the various kindergarten games and occupations would give an abundance of examples illustrative of the possibility of presenting knowledge in direct association with various types of constructive work.
A. Activity must be Directly Connected with Problem.—It may be noted, however, that certain dangers associate themselves with these methods. One danger consists in the fact that, if care is not taken, the physical activity may not really involve the knowledge to be conveyed, but may be only very indirectly associated with it. Such a danger might occur in the use of the Montessori colour tablets for teaching tints and shades. In handling those, kindergarten children show a strong inclination to build flat forms with the tablets. Now unless these building exercises involve the distinguishing of the various tints and shades, the constructive activity will be likely to divert the attention of the pupil away from the colour problem which the tablets are supposed to set for the pupils.
B. Not too much Emphasis on Manual Skill.—Again, in expressive exercises intended merely to impart new knowledge, it may happen that the teacher will lay too much stress on perfect form of expression. In these exercises, however, the purpose should be rather to enable the child to realize the ideas in his expressive actions. When, for example, a child, in learning such geographical forms as island, gulf, mountain, etc., uses sand, clay, or plasticine as a medium of expression, too much striving after accuracy of form in minor details may tend to draw the pupil's attention from the broader elements