Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-08-13

I into the most ingenious uses for edu-
cational purposes The March number
Of the Worlds Work contained an arti-
Gle informing us that I'm school athletics
valuable use II being made OF NOV
ing pictures for moral purposes. \
young man fouled In race. we were
told. In which he won the point how
ever was disputed by his fellow con-
testant. ordinarily there would have
been no proof on either side. but Ia
this instance photograph was exhibit
ed In proof that he had fouled An edu-
catlonal institution IN the cast has been
spending $4,000 In experiment
ing with this means OF intoxicating
moral ideas, ana no doubt we shall
hear more about II from now on. But
my contention is that the use of pic
lures so freely In school and popular
education implies that there Is In them
an appeal to something deep-seated in
our human nature, and that IN ein-
ploying them in the Religion class, we
are making use OF an additional means
Of intoxicating religious ideas In our
children.
There are at least three distinct val
ues that ought to come To us through
the use OF pictures In our classes.
The first benefit consists I'm this that
IL viii help to arouse and 20 hold IN
tcrest I'm the class recitation. To en-
gage the Child's attention Is always the
first requisite II you would teach IL
anything without that attention you
can do nothing. Nor Is interest IN our
Religion classes To be obtained by the
usual means OF talking loud or scolding
the children The only attention that Is
worth having. the only interest that
has educational value here at all
events. is the voluntary interest OF the
class. Since interest. therefore. is 20
necessary a condition to getting ideas.
any legitimate means to the arousing
and holding OF the attention in the
class will be beneficial Now, pictures
are such a means.
The reason for this fact Is not far
to seek. A child's world Is a world OF
concrete things-the earth, the sky.
trees. flowers, people, tops, marbles,
dolls. and so on The native interests
OF children" says Prof. James, lie
altogether In the sphere OF sensation.
Novel things 10 look at or novel sounds
to hear. especially when they Involve
the spectacle OF action OF "A violent sort,
will always divert the attention from
abstract conceptions OF objects verbally
taken in The grimace that Johnny Is
making the spitballs that Tommy rs
ready 10 throw, the doghght i'm the
street, or the distant nrebells ringing
these are the rivals with which the
teachers powers Of being interesting
have necessarily to cope. The child will
always attend more to what a teacher
does than to what the same teacher
SAYS 4 lady told me that one
day. during n lesson, she was delighted
at having captured so completely the
attention OF one of her young charges.
He did not remove his eyes from her
face: but he said to her after the les
son was over. L looked at you all the
time. and your upper jaw did not move
once That was the only fact that he
had taken in.
Living things. then, moving things
or things that SAVIOR of danger or OF
blood. that have n dramatic quality
these are the objects natively interest
ing to childhood, TO the exclusion of al
most everything else; and the teacher
~ young children. until more artificial
interests have grown up, will keep in
touch with her pupils by constant APP
peal TO such matters as these. Instruc-
ton must be carried on effectively, eX-
perimentally. anecdotally The black |
board drawing and story telling must |
come in"
AID TO STORY TELLING
stories we already have in the Re- |
igion class, as a means OF rousng and |
holding the interest OF the children |
getting and keeping that interest. The
FIRST thing we shall do when we have /
A lesson to present which we can illus
rate pictorially will be to place before
he class a good picture. Instantly
.very eye will be upon II, and every
mind alert TO know what II means.
That meaning will be given in another
manner-by a story. Then the
children will readily take part in a dis
,ussion of how we can apply in our
ives the idea we have thus obtained
So, I repeat. pictures are an advan-
age IN the way Of capturing the in
crest Of tho children in our Religion
lasses.
A second benefit derived from the use
4 pictures Is that they help to fix
images on the mind.
know that in my own experience
he illustrations in the school books
Z the past generation, the National