Thought-Culture; Or, Practical Mental TrainingAtkinson, William Walker
Science
Thought-Culture; Or, Practical Mental Training
Atkinson, William Walker
Thought and thinking
One of the best methods of developing and cultivating the faculty of
Perception is to take up some study in which the perceptive faculties
_must be_ employed. Botany, physics, geology, natural history give
splendid exercise in Perception, providing the student engages in actual
experimental work, and actual observation, instead of confining himself
to the textbooks. A careful scientific study and examination of _any
kind of objects_, in a manner calculated to bring out the various points
of resemblance and difference, will do most to develop the Perception.
Training of this kind will develop these powers to a high degree, in the
case of small children.
Drawing is also a great help to the development of Perception. In order
to draw a thing correctly we must of necessity examine it in detail;
otherwise we will not be able to draw it correctly. In fact, many
authorities use the test of drawing to prove the degree of attention and
Perception that the student has bestowed upon an object which he has
been studying. Others place an object before the pupil for a few
minutes, and then withdraw it, the pupil then being required to draw the
object roughly but with attention to its leading peculiarities and
features. Then the object is again placed before the pupil for study,
and he is then again required to draw from memory the additional details
he has noticed in it. This process is repeated over and over again,
until the pupil has proved that he has _observed_ every possible detail
of interest in the object. This exercise has resulted in the cultivation
of a high degree of perception in many students, and its simplicity
should not detract from its importance. Any person may practice this
exercise by himself; or, better still, two or more students may combine
and endeavor to excel each other in friendly rivalry, each endeavoring
to discover the greatest number of details in the object considered. So
rapidly do students improve under this exercise, that a daily record
will show a steady advance. Simple exercises in drawing are found in
the reproduction, from memory, of geography maps, leaves of trees, etc.
Similar exercises may be found in the practice of taking a hasty look at
a person, animal or building, and then endeavoring to reproduce in
writing the particular points about the person or thing observed. This
exercise will reveal rapid progress if persisted in. Or, it may be
varied by endeavoring to write out the contents of a room through which
one has walked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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