by

KATHARINE ELIZABETH DOPP

_Formerly Instructor and Lecturer
in the Extension Division of the
University of Chicago_

[Illustration]

RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
New York Chicago San Francisco

_Copyright, 1904_,
BY KATHARINE ELIZABETH DOPP
_Entered at Stationer's Hall_
All rights reserved
Edition of 1930

[Illustration]

Made in U.S.A.

_TO MY MOTHER_

+Janet Moyes Dopp+

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

PREFACE

The series, of which this is the first volume, is an attempt to meet a
need that has been felt for several years by parents and physicians, as
well as by teachers, supervisors, and others who are actively interested
in educational and social progress. The need of practical activity,
which for long ages constituted the entire education of mankind, is at
last recognized by the elementary school. It has been introduced in many
places and already results have been attained which demonstrate that it
is possible to introduce practical activity in such a way as to afford
the child a sound development--physically, intellectually, and
morally--and at the same time equip him for efficient social service.
The question that is perplexing educators at the present time is,
therefore, not one regarding the value of practical activity, but rather
one of ways and means by which practical activity can be harnessed to
the educational work.

The discovery of the fact that steam is a force that can do work had to
await the invention of machinery by means of which to apply the new
force to industrial processes. The use of practical activity will
likewise necessitate many changes in the educational machinery before
its richest results are realized. Yet the conditions that attend the
introduction of practical activity as a motive power in education are
very different from those that attended the introduction of the use of
steam. In the case of steam the problem was that of applying a new force
to an old work. In the case of practical activity it is a question of
restoring a factor which, from the earliest times until within the last
two or three decades, has operated as a permanent educational force.

The situation that has recently deprived the child of the opportunity to
participate in industrial processes is due, as is well known, to the
rapid development of our indust