es. The printing-press gave to the world the learning
of the past and revolutionized social conditions. The invention of high
explosives has made possible many of the great engineering works of
to-day. The inventions that have made transportation and communication
so easy and rapid have already done a great deal to bring nations to a
better understanding of each other and thus to promote the peace of the
world. Discoveries in medicine alone have had an incalculable influence
on the health and prosperity of society. In fact, the study of history
and an understanding of modern social and industrial conditions are
impossible without a knowledge of scientific inventions and discoveries.
(See pp. 87, 92.)

Children naturally take an interest in what individuals have done, and
it is easy to interest them in the work of men such as Watt, Stephenson,
Whitney, Fulton, Morse, Edison, Marconi, and their fellows. The
biographies of famous inventors should therefore be given, both as a
record of what they did and as an inspiration to like achievements.

HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTIVE WORK

Constructive work may be used to advantage in history and civics. It
gives concrete expression to some facts of history through the
construction by the pupils of objects mentioned therein. In studying
Indian life, the class may make in paper, wood, etc., wigwams, bows and
arrows, stockades, etc.; in connection with pioneer life, they may make
some of the buildings and implements used by the pioneers,--log houses,
spinning-wheels, hominy blocks, Red River carts, etc.; in studying
campaigns, they may make models in plasticine or clay, or on the sand
table, of forts, battle-fields, etc., for example--the Plains of
Abraham, Queenston Heights, Chateauguay, Plymouth Harbour; the Union
Jack may be cut out and coloured. (See p. 68.) In this way the
activities of the child may be made of practical use.

On the industrial and social side of history, which is being more and
more emphasized, it is of great value to the child to become acquainted,
even though on a small scale and through the simplest implements and
machines, with the construction of machinery and modes of manufacture.
For a lesson on the Industrial Revolution in England, for example, it
will give pupils a better understanding of the changes, if they know
something, through their own activities, of the way of making cloth.

For suggestions on constructive work, see the Manual on Manual Training