By the inductive method of teaching, a pupil is led from facts to'generalizat ions : for example, in natural science where individual forms are first observed. then classified according to essen tial t'harac•teristic•s; and in the study of syntax, where the rule is formulated after several cases of the construction are observed and compared.
By the deductive method, the teacher or the author first states a principle and then proceeds to elucidate and exemplify it, as when in gram mar the definition of noun is given and then examples of nouns. Each of these methods has its own field, every subject having its deductive and its inductive stage. and every study of any sub ject being partly deductive and partly inductive. In the Socratic method, the teacher asks ques tions designed to lead the pupil to think about what he already knows, to see his mistakes, revise his judgments, and discover the truth. This meth od is especially applicable in subjects involving moral or .esthetic judgments, where the pupil has experiences and knowledge more or less unor ganized. Akin to this is the method of discorcry, which leads the pupil to experiment, observe, infer. and formulate conclusions. In all the above methods the principle of self-activity and partici pation is called in. Often Pombined with these is the method of discussion, in which the teacher proposes, or has members of the class propose, theses to be defended. The advantages and dan gers of this method are extreme. Great skill and address. together with the power of summarizing the discussion, are required in the leader. All these methods aim to make the pupils ready, re sourceful, self-reliant. They need to be supple mented by some form of the lecture method or by the text-book method, which are strong on the side of exactness and breadth. The recitation
(which is the name applied in the 'United States to class exercises in general) varies in efficiency according to the method pursued. The minimum of advantage results if the time he spent in saying lessons learned memoriter from a book, or in re citing facts more or less known to all the class. A class exercise is at its best when the class is engaged upon sonic problem toward the solution of which each one, including the teacher, from his peculiar point of view, contributes his proper share. It has been proposed that instead of reci tations in which the quick and the slow proceed at time same rate, each pupil should be allowed to go at his own pace under the guidance of the teacher. This plan (known as the Pueblo plan), though it contains an element, of wisdom. is of only limited application. Its vital defect lies in its failure to recognize sufficiently the social value of the recitation.
BinemenArnY. Adams, Hcrbartian Psychol ogy (Boston, 1S98) ; Butler, The Meaning of Education (new ed., New York, 1902) ; Eliot, Educational Reform (ib., 1878) ; Eroded. Educa tion of Man (ib., 1887) ; Blow. Symbolic Educa tion (ib., 189-1 ) : Dewey, The Sehool and Society (Chicago, 1899) ; Hall, in Pedagogical Seminary, passim (Worcester, 189]) ; Herbart, Reience of Edueation (London. l89:1) ; Hanus, Educational Aims and Educational T'alucs (New York. 1899) ; Harris, Psychologie Foundations of Edu cation (ib., 1899) ; James, Tall,'s to Teachers (ib., 1807) ; Laurie, Institutes of Education ( ib., 1802) ; Bishop Potter, Principles of Religious Education (ib., 1000) ; Rosenkranz, Philosophy of Education (ib., I8SG) ; Spencer, Education iib.. ).