Purpose of the inductive lesson.—­The developmental, or inductive, lesson, therefore, seeks to lead the child to observe, discover, think, find out for himself.  It begins with concrete and particular instances, but it does not stop with them.  It does not at the start force upon the child any rules or general conclusions, but it does seek to arrive at conclusions and rules in the end.  For example, the purpose in having the child watch particular bees carrying pollen to blossoms, and in having him observe particular pollen drifting in the wind, is to teach in the end the general truth that certain plants are dependent on insects and others on currents of air for their pollenization.

In similar fashion, the purpose in having the child understand the effects of disobedience in the case of Adam and Eve and in any particular instance in his own experience is to teach the general conclusion that disobedience commonly brings sorrow and trouble.  The aim, then, is to arrive at a universal truth of wide application, but to reach it through appealing to the child’s own knowledge, experience, and observation.  In this way the lesson learned will have more vital meaning and it will be more readily accepted because not forced upon the learner.

Two principles.—­Two important principles must be kept in mind in teaching an inductive lesson: 

1.  A basis or starting point must be found in knowledge or experience already in the learner’s possession.

2.  The child must have in his mind the question or problem which demands solution.

The first of these principles means that in order for the child to observe, think, discover for himself, he must have a sufficient basis of information from which to proceed.  The inductive lesson, therefore, rests upon and starts from the informational lesson.  To illustrate, in order to understand and be interested in the work of the bees as pollen-bearers, the child must first know the fact that the blossoming and fruiting of the common plants depend on pollen.  The ear of corn which did not properly fill with grains because something happened to prevent pollen grains from reaching the tips of the silks at the right time, or the apple tree barren because it failed from some adverse cause to receive a supply of pollen for its blossoms may properly be the starting point.  The problem or question then arising is how pollen grains are carried.  With this basis of fact and of question, the child is ready to begin the interesting task of observation and discovery under the direction of the teacher; he is then ready for the inductive lesson, in which he will discover new knowledge by using the information already in his mind.

Conducting the inductive lesson.—­In conducting the inductive lesson the teacher must from the beginning have a very clear idea of the goal or conclusion to be reached by the learners.  Suppose the purpose is to impress on the children the fact of Jesus’s love and care for children.  The lesson might start with questions and illustrations dealing with the father’s and mother’s care and love for each child in the home, and the way these are shown.