194 



The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



c. Attraction rather than compulsion of learner. 



A child with a healthy appetite craves wholesome food. The 

 appetite is a guide in the determination of the kind of nourish- 

 ment required, because foods desired and relished are generally 

 needed by the child. Curiosity and interest are the psychological 

 equivalents ot appetite and relish and they likewise indicate the 

 subjects that promote mental development. The time of interest 

 is the time of opportunity. 



That children are attracted by the " natural subject " needs 

 no proof. Nature Study requires direction and encouragement, 

 but never compulsion, as it contains its own propelling power. It 

 is interesting because of its unceasing novelty, because it affords 

 a means for the exercise of the self activities of the student, and 

 because of the sympathy generated by intimacy with living things. 



" And whenever the way seemed long 

 Or his heart began to fail, 

 She would sing a more wonderful song 

 Or tell a more marvellous tale." 



d. The child rather than the book. 



Previous to the time of Copernicus it was believed that the 

 universe was geocentric ; the Copernican theory teaches us that 

 our system is heliocentric. As great a change will take place in our 

 methods of teaching when we practically realize that it is the child 

 rather than the book that is to be considered ; that our educational 

 system is no longer bibliocen'ric, but psedocentric. In the past 

 we have prepared the subject that we wished to teach ; in future, 

 the child also must be prepared to receive the instruction. A per- 

 son whose duty it is to attend to the purely physical welfare of a 

 child does not say : Here is a certain amount of food to be 

 eaten ; how can I so prepare it that it can be devoured in the 

 shortest possible time and with the least possible effort? She 

 rather says : Here is a child to be nourished. Whence can I 

 obtain food that will best promote healthy development? 



Now what is the connection between this characteristic of the 

 New Education and Nature Study? Study the child rather than 

 the subject. Child study should precede subject study. The 

 child being a natural product is an integral part of nature. Thus, 



