The order of the procedure is materially affected by the form of instruction. In presentative instruction the full series, as outlined above, is practicable. But in explanatory instruction the steps of reception and comprehension are generally united into one, for a text is first perceived in a general way, then its meaning is grasped, and only after this is a full perception of it possible. The main point, then, for explaining the single parts is clearness, while for giving the meaning of the whole, perspicuity and orderliness of arrangement must be the prime consideration (see infra, ch. LIII.). In developmental instruction the teacher must from the beginning aim at an intelligent reception, and thus he will be best serving the interests of the comprehension (see infra, ch. LV.). It is, however, impossible to follow in every case the rules of our canon, because many subjects are not compact units, and require, consequently, no special preparation nor a correlation with the circle of thought. There is likewise in some cases neither an opportunity for exercises nor a possibility of applying what has been learned.

Otto Frick has aptly stated the limitations that restrict the use of the steps of the articulation of the subject-matter of instruction: "These steps should, indeed, be regarded as the guides for each and every instruction period, because they are founded on nature, and the young teacher, particularly, will find them helpful in the educative process, since they remove the fatal uncertainty in acting. Yet it were an abuse to follow the method slavishly in each and every class period. Some of the steps are impracticable under certain conditions, and must be passed over in favor of other functions that must be brought into the foreground. One period will rarely suffice for taking all the steps, and, after all, it is not the number of periods given to a subject that will determine whether it be a true educational unit, i. e., a compact whole; but such it is, if it admits of being treated profitably according to that process which is based on

nature.

1

CHAPTER LI.

Presentative Instruction.

1. Presentative instruction belongs to the empirical factor in learning, and in so far is connected with exhibitive instruction.

1 Lehrproben und Lehrgänge, 1888, Heft 16, p. 51.

But it is opposed to explanatory as well as developmental instruction, for their object is to give the comprehension of a thing. It is likewise opposed to that phase of instruction which deals with fixing in the mind the content of teaching as well as with its practical application.' We shall better understand the nature of presentation if we consider that it is not only the teacher that must present certain matters, for the same is done by the poet, the orator, the savant, the popularizer-with this difference, however, that each pursues his own particular aim. The object of the poet's presentation is elevating pleasure. The orator presents a certain matter in order to move the wills of his hearers. The savant presents scientific knowledge to the learned; and the popularizer presents knowledge with a view to rendering it accessible to the masses. Like the savant and the popularizer, the teacher strives to present his subject-matter in as clear a form as possible; but he strives besides, like the poet and the orator, to produce by means of this subject-matter a certain effect upon his pupils, and, if mindful of his true mission, he will try to combine into a unit the knowledge he imparts and the influence he exerts. The characteristic, then, of instructional presentation lies in the union of three ends: to impart knowledge, which is not only to prove an educational force in the pupil's life, but also to be co-ordinated with a larger whole. These ends can be inferred from the three principles of instruction which have been repeatedly discussed in the present work.2

There are always more or less points of contact between the matter that is presented and the pupil's mental horizon. What is presented is, indeed, subject-matter of teaching, yet it is not in all its parts subject-matter of learning; and the pupil can, if guided aright, discover by himself much of the content of teaching. What is found in this way, is the heuristic element of presentation (ch. XLVI.). Another part of the content can generally be visualized in a sensuous way, in which case the showing blends with the presentation. Other parts reveal a connected and chronological sequence of events, and such materials are best presented in the form of a narration, while other parts admit of being presented in the form of a description. The proper use and combination of these different methods. ought to engage the teacher's attention first.

The heuristic element is properly introduced in the beginning, and can in most cases be connected with the review.1 With this arrangement there will be sufficient preparation for the understanding of the presentation, as the preliminary difficulties will be cleared up, but the teacher must take care lest the heuristic method encroach upon what properly belongs to the presentation. All the subject-matter that the pupil may be expected to be familiar with, should be treated according to the heuristic method, and the teacher should never say anything that the pupil might say himself and never give him anything that he might discover by himself. The teacher should try to discover all the points of contact between the subject-matter of the presentation and the pupil's mind and interests, and consequently the heuristic method can be applied successfully only after the teacher and pupils have been working together for some length of time. The home and local conditions that admit of being connected with the matter to be presented, should be kept in mind throughout the presentative instruction. 2. Whatever sensuous materials belong to a subject should be taken into account when planning the presentation of the respective subject. Of them it is true what Horace says in his Art of Poetry:

"Most true, whate'er's transmitted through the ear

To mind and heart will never come so near,

As what is set before the eyes, and each

Spectator sees brought full within his reach.”3

Pictures, cards, and other visual aids should be treated separately and in most cases before the presentation proper. They should be treated thoroughly, as they will otherwise distract rather than prove useful. Occasionally, a mere reference to the actual environment or to local conditions will infuse a new spirit and a deeper interest into the matter presented. The instruction in geography, especially, should use the impressions of the moment: "a heavy fall of snow may suggest a reference to the climatic conditions in the Arctic and Antarctic zones; a heavy rain may serve to recall the rainy seasons of the tropics; a solar or lunar eclipse may suggest the problem of ascertaining what countries are witnessing it at the same time as we." Certain memorable days of the year may be used in history teach

1 Supra, ch. XLVIII, 5.

2 Supra, ch. XLVI, 4.

3 Ars Poetica, 180 ff.: “ Segnius inritant animos demissa per aurem, Quam quæ sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus et quæ Ipse sibi tradit spectator."

ing as similar points of contact. The teacher of history, if wide-awake, will not allow the ides of March, or the days from Oct. 16th to the 18th and other noteworthy days' to pass without referring to the historical events connected with them. He will therefore keep a school calendar of "days and deeds to memory dear." A story, on the other hand, can be made doubly interesting by showing pictures of the chief places mentioned. A clear and vivid description will often produce the same effect. Cicero remarked that a place will recall most strikingly the persons and events connected with it. The vividness of Ovid's narrations may be traced in good part to his happy use of the local element; witness such turns of expression as: "Ipse locum vidi."

The narration is the most effective element used in presentative instruction. Unity of action and place is very important for the narrations to be used in this kind of instruction. The beginning of the narration should plunge in medias res, as Horace says, or, at the least, be catchy and interesting. The development should be that of the epic; the situations and events should follow naturally from each other, so that the review may find resting-points, which, however, lie in a continuum. The end of the narration should, in accordance with the genetic principle, be such as connects the various threads of the plot, and it will largely determine the selection of the details (ch. XLII, 5.). The story is a valuable asset of instruction and a capital of which the teacher should make the most profitable use. The teacher who can do justice to a story, approaches the rhapsodist. The pupils will not only listen to him, but will hang breathlessly upon his every word, as upon a rhapsodist's; and so the teacher will not only win their interest, but infuse into their souls sympathy with, and enthusiastic devotion to, what is great and noble.

The strict unity of the narration is impossible in the description, as it can not show how one thing follows from an

The teacher of United States history may find the following noteworthy. All our important wars, except that of 1812, began in April; and generally the nineteenth of the month was the day that decided the issue of war or peace. April 19, 1775: Battle of Lexington and Concord; first blood of the Revolution. April 19, 1861: Sixth Massachusetts Regiment fired on at Baltimore; first blood of the Civil War. April 19, 1898: Congress declares Cuba free and independent, and demands withdrawal of Spanish troops; this made war certain. April 6, 1917, Congress passed a declaration of war against Germany. For a Catholic historical calendar, see Course of Christian Doctrine, Teacher's Manual, Philadelphia, 1904, pp. 160-164.

other; still it can demonstrate how the one is adapted to the other. The best material for descriptions is the organic and whatever can be studied like the organic. Lessing would reserve the description of the coexistent to the plastic and graphic arts and let poetry and verbal descriptions depict only what is successive. But this view is untenable in the light of what can be accomplished by literary art. Descriptions may be truly poetical and leave impressions similar to those created by the narration— provided that the color or tone of the description preserve the unity of the whole.

3. In his presentation the teacher may profitably follow the points which the rhetoric of the ancients describes as indispensa-. ble to the orator (“res, quas oratorem habere oportet"): 1. inven- 1 tion of thought, evpeois, inventio; 2. order or arrangement of thought, ráğis or oikovoμía, dispositio; 3. style, λéğıs, elocutio; 4. memory, uvnμn, memoria; 5. elocution or delivery, vπókрaσis,

actio.

With regard to the invention of thought, the teacher must provide, in the first place, all the material that the subject calls for. Young teachers, however, rest satisfied with providing this material, but do not sift and arrange it with respect to their pupils. But they should arrange the material in accordance with the following questions: What among this mass of material is such as my pupils can grasp, elaborate, retain, and apply? After a few years' experience in the schoolroom, the teacher! will spontaneously sift his material somewhat, but he will hardly discover by himself the further need of correlating it with what is now occupying or has occupied the pupils' attention, i. e., the need of correlating the new matter with their circle of thought and interest. There is, lastly, an æsthetical element that must not be overlooked. Despite all the variety of materials and all the considerations governing its selection, the subject-matter must possess a certain unity. The first rule that poetics insists on, is the following: "Whate'er you write, let it be simple, homogeneous, one.

The proper arrangement of the material collected also demands that what is suggested by the subject itself-when properly examined-be given the first place. In this regard we should follow the series that we outlined in the last chapter (ch. L, 8), and which are patterned after organico-genetic materials. As the skeleton is not visible in the organic body, so in the presentation

1 Ars Poetica, 23: "Denique sit quidvis simplex dumtaxat et unum."