Part 9 (1/2)
=A. Conception.=--In describing the method of attaining general knowledge, it is customary to divide such knowledge into two slightly different types, or cla.s.ses, and also to distinguish between the processes by which each type is attained. When the mind, through having experienced particular dogs, cows, chairs, books, etc., is able to form such a general, or cla.s.s, idea as, dog, cow, chair, or book, it is said to gain a cla.s.s notion, or concept; and the method by which these ideas are gained is called _conception_.
=B. Induction.=--When the mind, on the basis of particular experiences, arrives at some general law, or truth, as, ”Any two sides of a triangle are together greater than the third side”; ”Air has weight”; ”Man is mortal”; ”Honesty is the best policy”; etc., it is said to form a universal judgment, and the process by which the judgment is formed is called a process of _induction_.
=Examples of General and Particular Knowledge.=--When a pupil learns the St. Lawrence River system as such, he gains a particular experience, or notion; when he learns of river basins, he obtains a general notion. In like manner, for the child to realize that here are eight blocks containing two groups of four blocks, is a particular experience; but that 4 + 4 = 8, is a general, or universal, truth. To notice this water rising in a tube as heat is being applied, is a particular experience; to know that liquids are expanded by heat is a general truth. _The air above this radiator is rising_ is a particular truth, but _heated air rises_ is a general truth. _The English people plunged into excesses in Charles II's reign after the removal of the stern Puritan rule_ is particular, but a _period of license follows a period of repression_ is general.
=Distinction is in Ideas, not Things.=--It is to be noted further that the same object may be treated at one time as a particular individual, at another time as a member of a cla.s.s, and at still another time as a part of a larger individual. Thus the large peninsula on the east of North America may be thought of now, as the individual, Nova Scotia; at another time, as a member of the cla.s.s, province; and at still another time, as a part of the larger particular individual, Canada.
=Only Two Types of Knowledge.=--It is evident from the foregoing that no matter what subject is being taught, so far as any person may aim _to develop a new experience_ in the mind of the pupil, that experience will be one or other of the two cla.s.ses mentioned above. If the aim of our lesson is to have the pupils know the facts of the War of 1812-14, to study the rainfall of British Columbia, to master the spelling of a particular word, or to image the pictures contained in the story _Mary Elizabeth_, then it aims primarily to have pupils come into possession of a particular fact, or a number of particular facts. On the other hand, if the lesson aims to teach the pupils the nature of an infinitive, the rule for extracting square root, the law of gravity, the cla.s.ses of nouns, etc., then the aim of the lesson is to convey some general idea or truth.
APPLIED KNOWLEDGE GENERAL
Before proceeding to a special consideration of such type lessons, it will be well to note that the mind always applies general knowledge in the learning process. That is, the application of old knowledge to the new presentation is possible only because this knowledge has taken on a general character, or has become a general way of thinking. The tendency for every new experience, whether particular or general, to pa.s.s into a general att.i.tude, or to become a standard for interpreting other presentations, is always present, at least after the very early impressions of infancy. When, for instance, a child observes a strange object, dog, and perceives its four feet, this idea does not remain wholly confined to the particular object, but tends to take on a general character. This consists in the fact that the characteristic perceived is vaguely thought of as a quality distinct from the dog. This quality, _four-footedness_, therefore, is at least in some measure recognized as a quality that may occur in other objects. In other words, it takes on a general character, and will likely be applied in interpreting the next four-footed object which comes under the child's attention. So also when an adult first meets a strange fruit, guava, he observes perhaps that it is _pear-shaped, yellow-skinned, soft-pulped_, of _sweet taste_, and _aromatic flavour_. All such quality ideas as pear-shaped, yellow, soft, etc., as here applied, are general ideas of quality taken on from earlier experiences. Even in interpreting the qualities of particular objects, therefore, as this rose, this machine, or this animal, we apply to its interpretation general ideas, or general forms of thought, taken on from earlier experiences.
The same fact is even more evident when the mind attempts to build up the idea of a particular object by an act of imagination. One may conceive as present, a sphere, red in colour, with smooth surface, and two feet in diameter. Now this particular object is defined through the qualities spherical, red, smooth, etc. But these notions of quality are all general, although here applied to building up the image of a particular thing.
PROCESSES OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE SIMILAR
If what has already been noted concerning the law of universal method is correct, and if all learning is a process of building up a new experience in accordance with the law of apperception, then all of the above modes of gaining either particular or general knowledge must ultimately conform to the laws of general method. Keeping in view the fact that applied knowledge is always general in character, it will not be difficult to demonstrate that these various processes do not differ in their essential characteristics; but that any process of acquiring either particular or general knowledge conforms to the method of selection and relation, or of a.n.a.lysis-synthesis, as already described in our study of the learning process. To demonstrate this, however, it will be necessary to examine and ill.u.s.trate the different modes of learning in the light of the principles of general method already laid down in the text.
CHAPTER XV
MODES OF LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICULAR KNOWLEDGE
A. LEARNING THROUGH THE SENSES
In many lessons in nature study, elementary science, etc., pupils are led to acquire new knowledge by having placed before them some particular object which they may examine through the senses. The knowledge thus gained through the direct observation of some individual thing, since it is primarily knowledge about a particular individual, is to be cla.s.sified as particular knowledge. As an example of the process by which a pupil may gain particular knowledge through the senses, a nature lesson may be taken in which he would, by actual observation, become acquainted with one of the constellations, say the Great Dipper.
Here the learner first receives through his senses certain impressions of colour and form. Next he proceeds to read into these impressions definite meanings, as stars, four, corners, bowl, three, curve, handle, etc. In such a process of acquiring knowledge about a particular thing, it is to be noted that the acquisition depends upon two important conditions:
1. The senses receive impressions from a particular thing.
2. The mind reacts upon these impressions with certain phases of its old knowledge, here represented by such words as four, corner, bowl, etc.
=a.n.a.lysis of Process.=--When the mind thus gains knowledge of a particular object through sense perception, the process is found to conform exactly to the general method already laid down; for there is involved:
1. _The Motive._--To read meaning into the strange thing which is placed before the pupil as a problem to stimulate his senses.
_2. Selection, or a.n.a.lysis._--Bringing selected elements of former knowledge to interpret the unknown impressions, the elements of his former knowledge being represented in the above example by such words as, four, bowl, curve, handle, etc.
3. _Unification, or Synthesis._--A continuous relating of these interpreting factors into the unity of a newly interpreted object, the Dipper.
SENSE PERCEPTION IN EDUCATION
=A. Gives Knowledge of Things.=--In many lessons in biology, botany, etc., although the chief aim of the lesson is to acquire a correct cla.s.s notion, yet the learning process is in large part the gaining of particular knowledge through the senses. In a nature lesson, for instance, the pupil may be presented with an insect which he has never previously met. When the pupil interprets the object as six-legged, with hard sh.e.l.l-like wing covers, under wings membranous, etc., he is able to gain knowledge about this particular thing: