122 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [2 : 4 -aprh., 1906 



PHILADELPHIA NORMAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 



Ninety percent of the students are high school graduates who have 

 devoted four hours a week for one year to the study of botany and 

 four hours a week of the following year to the study of zoology. 

 Experience has shown us that the three things most obviously lacking 

 in the entering students are: ( a) a point of view, (b) contact with nat- 

 ure (c) teaching ability, especially in selecting suitable subjects and 

 in so presenting them as to gain at once the interest of the child- 

 ren and to enlist their energies, either mental, or bodily, or both, in 

 solution of resulting problems. 



Therefore in our course of study we lay the greatest emphasis on: 

 (a) evolution, both organic and social, (b) field work, (c) preparation 

 of lessons under careful guidance and the teaching of them to classes 

 of children under observation and criticism. 



The time is distributed as follows: Courses in zoology, botany, and - 



evolution in Junior Year and Teaching in the Senior Year. 



Zoology. Two hours per week for half the year, field work and laboratory 

 work: insects, birds, the aquarium. 



Botany. Two hours per week for half the year, field and laboratory work. 

 Evolution. One lecture per week for half a year. 

 Teaching under observation, one hour per week. 



As indicated above, the work in zoology is based on the results of 

 observations made in field excursions. The specimens collected are 

 classified in the laboratory, and their habits and life-histories studied. 

 Each student is provided with a simple vivarium (a lamp chimney) in 

 which insects, usually caterpillars, may be observed. Colored sketches 

 of insects are made and their observations on them are recorded in 

 note -books. 



Topics relating to the materials obtained on excursions are assigned 

 to individual students. With the aid of specimens, charts, and mod- 

 els they demonstrate the subject to their fellow students, and the 

 matter and manner of presentation are then criticised by the teacher 

 and the class. 



Some time is also devoted to the study of common insects having 

 economic importance. 



Additional excursions are taken for the purpose of learning the 

 appearance, habits, and songs of our common birds; and this study 

 is supplemented by the use of stuffed birds, nests, and pictures, ref- 

 erence to books and pamphlets. 



The work in botany is based on the material collected on excur- 

 sions, on observations made at the same time, and on observatiors 



