THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 2 SEPTEMBER, 1906 No. 6 



NATURE-STUDY AND HIGH-SCHOOL CHEMISTRY 



BY ALEXANDER SMITH 



Professor of Chemistry, The University of Chicago 



[Editorial Note. — Most articles heretofore published in The Review have 

 discussed nature-study from the standpoint of elementary education considered 

 as complete in itself and with only incidental regard for the bearings of nature- 

 study on high-school sciences. However, the secondary schools do have great 

 interest in the nature-study which precedes their own work, and something may 

 be gained by looking at nature-study problems from the high-school point of 

 view. The paper before us is full of suggestions concerning physical nature- 

 study for elementary schools which will be valuable quite apart from preparation 

 for high-school chemistry, in which the author is specially interested.] 



That some study of natural objects and processes is an indispen- 

 sable part of elementary education nearly all concede. It must be 

 admitted, however, that the problem of how to manage this part of 

 the instruction is an exceedingly difficult one and is still far from 

 having been solved. Those who have little scientific training are 

 naturally hampered in their efforts to suggest means of accomplishing 

 the end in view by their lack of knowledge, and those who are trained 

 in some of the sciences are, if possible, still more embarrassed by the 

 highly organized and differentiated nature of the knowledge they 

 possess and by the difficulty they therefore experience in adjusting 

 themselves to the entirely novel way "of arranging the study of their 

 subject which the case demands. One difficulty is that when we attempt 

 to describe what the work should be our description is itself more 

 or less conventionally organized and systematic, and is thus in danger 

 of impressing upon the resulting instruction the very qualities that 

 should most carefully be eliminated. 



It is not part of my purpose to treat this question exhaustive!) . 

 or to present an outline of my own. That would demand much more 



