I9 6 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [2:6-sept., 1906 



siasm cannot be aroused, or the sam- results attained with a more 

 schematic plan than that indicated by the foregoing illustration, or with 

 any organized system of object study. The abstract treatment of the 

 properties of some material will not in itself sustain the interest of 

 children, nor will the study of isolated materials, plants or animals, 

 hold the attention. To quote Miss Camp: 2 



"This so-called 'object-study' conceives the presence of a material, such 

 as chalk, stone or wood, in the child's immediate surroundings to be sufficient 

 justification for its detailed study. A child accustomed to taking a purely 

 sensational interest in natural objects will soon lose his natural attitude ot 

 investigation and inquiry. On the other hand, by the reinforcement brought 

 to observation of natural phenomena through their connection with some use, 

 either by the child or by man, not only is the habit ot inquiry more firmly 

 established, but incidental observations are made the child's permanent property. _ 

 Because a child is using wood in construction is no reason for giving him, 

 when the properties taken up have no connection with his use of the material, 

 such detailed observations as the number and position of the knots, the grain 



of the board as depending on the section of the tree, etc The same 



objection applies to the detailed study ot any process isolated from its social 

 value. rfor example, the city child must be quite well advanced, and have 

 a background ot" social acquaintance with agriculture and navigation to 

 appreciate the importance and immediate effect of meteorological conditions." 

 An organized scientific form of arrangement is the bane of nature- 

 study. There can be no biology or chemistry for young pupils. 

 There is simply the problem, and, like all problems in science, it will 

 run naturally into the field of more than one of the sciences before it 

 has been solved. For example, Jackman ' has suggested the problems 

 of the destiny of autumn leaves as a subject of interest to children, 

 and as being capable of experimental study. Mixed problems like this 

 and the soil question referred to above, are numerous, purely chemical 

 ones are not. It is useless to take some of the chief chapters from 

 text-books on the science and give them in emasculated form to 

 children. Appreciation of the fact that common materials may be 

 resolved into elements, which may be classified as metals or non-metals, 

 requires too great powers of abstraction, although I have seen this 

 included in one very brief list of topics for grade work. Nor was the 

 caption "Acids, bases, salts" in the same list any more fortunate. 

 The combustion of a candle, the source of the light and the 



*T/ie Elementary School Record (iqoo) No. 6. 

 "Nature-Study for Grammar Grades," Chap. VIII. 



