dickkrson] JVA TURE-STUD Y IN CITY PRIM A R Y SCHOOLS 1 03 



so that nature objects are almost or quite new to him, again we must 

 beware, remembering that love of an object does not come into a 

 child's heart so much from the beauty or wonder of the object as 

 from association of this object with some loved person, or some 

 place or time that gives pleasure. What in nature did we like when 

 we were children ? Objects that we see now, sometimes, when we 

 look out beyond the horizon of our responsibilities and all absorbing 

 human interests, and that make us long for something of the child's 

 power of building a world of contentment about the objects close at 

 hand, whether beautiful or despised. Daisies for wreathes, dande- 

 lions for curls, burdocks for baskets, willows to be made into whips 

 and whistles, nuts to be cracked and eaten, and as we recall the nuts 

 there are beside them a host of delicacies, prominent among which 

 are sorrel and " cheeses ' [fruit of the common garden mallow.] The 

 things that we liked were always things associated with our pleasures. 

 We must remember this law of association in the primary grades or 

 we shall find ourselves not only failing to make the children love 

 nature but taking definite steps towards making them dislike it. 



In actual life, as we have said, it is the child's curiosity, activity 

 in play or his desire to satisfy his hunger that introduces him to 

 nature ; his information about it and love of it come later through the 

 avenues of his senses. In a way this tells the teacher her method. 

 Incidentally it suggests another thing, viz. that nature-study mpnmaty 

 grades must train the child's' senses — not merely use them. Nature- 

 study must make these senses act with larger and more accurate 

 results. 



When we give a primary nature lesson, let us have in mind the 

 ideal lesson in which there is no behavior unfitted for the schoolroom, 

 no child is thinking of anything but the material and the teacher, and 

 yet there is the life and spontaneity inspired by the subject, the free 

 handling of the material when necessary for the discovery of facts, 

 and the enthusiastic expression of discoveries and feelings. 



To get the best results from a given le-son is a problem that nature- 

 study has in common with all other subjects. Its solution may be 

 helped by changes in conditions as advance in education goes on 

 (such as reducing the number of children in a schoolroom). At 

 present the method of observation lessons is the individual teacher's 

 problem and must depend on existing conditions and the personality 

 of the teacher. One of the greatest aids is a definite directing of 

 the observation — telling where to look, and what to look for, what to 



