Froebel's Gifts Part 10

"The fourth gift incites the child to consider things in their relations to s.p.a.ce, and to the forces of nature, and in his play with the bricks he is constantly engaged in efforts to adapt himself to the laws of their nature, while rendering them subservient to his ends." W. N. HAILMANN.

1. The fourth gift consists of a cube measuring two inches in each of its dimensions. It is divided once vertically in its height, and three times horizontally in its thickness, giving eight parallelopipeds or bricks, each two inches long, one inch wide, and one half inch thick.

2. Like the third gift in form, size, material, and use, it is unlike it in division. In the third gift the parts were like each other, and like the whole, in the fourth they are like each other, but unlike the whole.

3. The most important characteristics of the gift are:--

_a._ Approximation to surface in the symmetrical forms.

_b._ Greater height and greater extension, resulting in a greater possible inclosure of s.p.a.ce.

_c._ The ill.u.s.tration of two philosophical laws, viz., the law of Equilibrium or Balance, and the law of Transmitted Motion or Propagation of Force.

4. Progress is shown in this gift as follows:--

_a._ In the difficulty of dictation and manipulation arising from the different character of the faces of the bricks, and the many positions which each brick can a.s.sume.

_b._ In the necessity of perfect balance.

_c._ In a clearer ill.u.s.tration of dimension. In the third gift the parts were equal in height, breadth, and thickness; in the fourth they are unequal, and therefore each dimension is emphasized.

As to progression, the increase of difficulty suits the increase in the child's power of comprehension and receptivity. He is being developed thus far, not by rapid changes in material or greater exercise in number, but by practice with differing forms, each one bringing with it new knowledge and experience. The organs of perception are being constantly made to grow by exercise with intention. We are forming the scientific eye which can detect differences ever after at a glance.

5. The geometrical forms ill.u.s.trated in this gift are:--

Solids. { Rectangular Parallelopipeds.

{ Square Prisms.

Planes. { Oblongs.

{ Squares.

6. The fourth gift presents contrasts of dimension and, as to the area of its faces, contrasts of size and their mediation.

What the Child has gained from Third Gift.

The use of the third gift opened to the child quite a new world of experiences, each one of which was pleasant and instructive, combining all the delights of mental and physical activity, imagination, practical industry, and cooperation.

He has gained an idea, distinct in proportion to the skill with which it has been placed before him, of the cube as a solid body having surfaces, corners, and edges; of a whole and its equal fractional parts; of the power of combining those parts into new wholes; and of the fact that form and size are two separate and distinct characteristics of objects. He has also gained new dexterity.[43]

His ten little fingers that seemed "all thumbs" as they arranged so carefully the clumsy little cubes of the Low Wall can now build the Bunker Hill Monument with unerring skill, and can even, with the grave concentration that it demands, drop the last difficult little block cornerwise into the top of the church window.

[43] "A child trained for one year in a kindergarten would acquire a skillful use of his hands and a habit of accurate measurement of the eye which would be his possession through life." (W. T. Harris.)

The child has counted his cubes from one to eight until he knows them like the children of a family, and can divide them into sets of two and four with equal ease.

These are the deeds. As to the new words the little box of blocks has brought him, their number is legion, comprising many terms of direction and position, names of tools and implements, buildings and places.

Truly if the kindergartner has been wise and faithful, the child has gained wonders from this simple una.s.suming toy, one which is almost too plain and rude to fix the momentary attention of a modern spoiled child, though even he will grow to appreciate its treasures if rightly guided.

Differences between Third and Fourth Gifts.

And now we approach another cubical box, containing the fourth gift, and, on opening it, see that it presents resemblances between and differences when compared with that just left behind.

We notice at once the new method of division, and in separating it find that the parts, evidently in number the same as before, are entirely novel in form, though the whole was familiar in its aspect.

If the child is old enough to understand the process of comparison, he will see that the parts of the two gifts have each six surfaces, eight corners, and twelve edges; but that while edges and corners are alike, the faces differ greatly on the new block, which he will probably call the "brick," as it is a familiar form and name to him. This process of comparison will be greatly facilitated if he models the two cubes in clay, and divides them with string or wire, the one into inch cubes, the other into bricks.

Dr. Seguin's Objections to the Cube as the Primary Figure in the Kindergarten.

Dr. E. Seguin, in his celebrated "Report on Education," says, in regard to the use of the cube as the primary block or figure in the kindergarten: "Had the kindergartners chosen it with their senses, as it must speak to the senses of the child, instead of with their mind, they would certainly never have selected the cube, a form in which similarity is everywhere, difference nowhere, a barren type incapable by itself of instigating the child to active comparison. Had they, on the contrary, from infantile reminiscences, or from more philosophical indications, selected a block of brick-form, the child would soon have discovered and made use of the similarity of the straight lines, and of the difference of the three dimensions. For example: Put a cube on your desk and let a pupil put one on his; you change the position of yours, he, accordingly, of his. If you renew these moves till both of you are tired, they will not make any perceptible change in the aspect of the object. The movement has been barren of any modification perceptible to the senses and appreciable to the mind. There has been no lesson unless you have, by words speaking to the mind, succeeded in making the child comprehend the idea of a cube derived from its intrinsic properties; a body with six equal sides and eight equal angles."

Answers to these Objections.

With all deference to Dr. Seguin, whose opinions and deductions are generally indisputable, we cannot regard as unwise the choice of the cube as the primary figure in the gifts.

In the first place, Froebel, having a sequence of forms in his mind, undoubtedly wished to introduce, early in that sequence, the one which would best serve him as a foundation for further division and subdivision. This need is, beyond question, better met in the cube than in the brick, which would lend itself awkwardly to regular division.

Secondly, although there is in the cube "similarity everywhere, difference nowhere," and therefore it might be called in truth a "barren type, incapable by itself of instigating the child to comparison and action," we do not introduce it, by itself, but in contrast with the sphere and cylinder.

Then, when it appears again in the building gifts, "as the simplest and most easily handled form element," the kindergartner has every opportunity to use it so that it may lead the child to comparison and action, and to develop the slowly dawning sense of difference and agreement without which she well knows "knowledge has not yet made the first step." But, if the cube is a form speaking little to the senses of a child, and requiring description by words spoken to the mind, it is evident that we should use great care in dealing with the second gift, lest we run needlessly into abstractions, and strive to give the child ideas of which he can have no comprehension.

Value of the Brick Form.

The "brick" is a form rich in impressions, for we find that every position in which it is placed gives the child a new perception, and the union of these perceptions furnishes him with a complete idea of the object, and of its possible uses in relation to its form.

Dr. Seguin does not rate it too highly when he says: "What a spring of effective movements, of perceptions and of ideas in the exercises with this form, where a.n.a.logy and difference, incessantly noted by the touch and the view, challenge the mind to comparison and judgment!"

Dimension.

The fourth gift contains all that the three former gifts showed, and introduces differences of dimension and equilibrium only hinted at before. It also, as Froebel says, "throws into relief the perception of size by showing similarity of size with dissimilarity of dimension and position."

As to dimension, the child built the Shot-tower with the third gift, and knew that it was high, the Platform and that it was broad, the Well and that it was deep, the Wall and saw that it was thick, etc., so that he has a conception of height, length, breadth; but in the fourth gift he is shown these dimensions in a single block. He is thus led from the known to the unknown.[44] They are united and contrasted in one object, and therefore emphasized.

[44] "The three princ.i.p.al dimensions of s.p.a.ce, which in the cube only make themselves known as differences of position, in the fourth gift become more prominent and manifest themselves as differences of size. These three relations of size are in the fourth gift as abiding and changeless as the position of the three princ.i.p.al directions was before and still is."--Froebel's _Pedagogics_, page 189.

Equilibrium.

As to the law of equilibrium, it is very forcibly brought to the child's attention every time his forms fall to the table when constructed without due regard to its principles.

He soon sees its practical significance, takes care to follow its manifest expression, and to observe with more care the centre of gravity. Great liberties could be taken with the stolid little cubes and they seldom showed any resentment; they quietly settled down into their places and resisted st.u.r.dily all the earthquake shocks which are apt to visit a kindergarten table during the building hour. The bricks on the other hand have to be humored and treated with deference. The moment one is placed upon another, end to end, the struggle begins, and in any of the high Life forms, the utmost delicacy of touch is necessary as well as sure aim and steady hand.