226 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 5, sept. 1905 



couragement may seem necessary ; but numerous recent books 

 illustrated by photographs of birds' nests show the possibility of 

 teaching children to watch without destroying. The general line 

 is to wean a boy gently from mere collecting to collecting with a 

 purpose ; to collecting and observing, and then to the collection of 

 observations in a note-book kept for the purpose. Collecting is a 

 great help to accuracy of observation, and the boy who brings 

 back a collection of pebbles from the seashore or of grasses from 

 a field will know far more about what he carries in his hand than 

 a schoolfellow who has never troubled to pick up anything. 

 Children may be encouraged to try how many different sorts of 

 wild flowers they can find along a country road and to write 

 notes on their differences and resemblances. 



The collecting instinct is a great motive power, if rightly di- 

 rected. It should be used to solve special problems ; and, if prizes 

 are offered, they need not be for the largest or best collection of 

 wild flowers, but for collections illustrating insect pollination, 

 seed dispersal, the habits of climbing plants, and so on. 



Some serious defects which have been noticed in nature-study 

 teaching as at present conducted are : 



( 1 ) An attempt is made to cover too much ground, hence ex- 

 periments and measurements are shirked because they take time 

 and involve preparation on the part of the teacher. Experiments 

 are described instead of performed, and a drawing on the black- 

 board takes the place of realities. This is the commonest and 

 most vicious defect in such teaching. 



(2) Unsuitable objects are often taken, especially with the 

 idea of being practical. It is of no use to dictate notes on hay- 

 making to a class where there is no opportunity of seeing the 

 process carried out. 



(3) On the other hand, there is a great lack of system. A 

 lesson on opening buds is followed by one on tadpoles or on the 

 motions of the moon. For upper standards we think the course 

 should become more systematic. 



(4) When a definite course is chosen it is often overloaded 

 with classification. The teacher seems to have the fear of a pos- 

 sible examiner before him, and is afraid to omit anything. 

 Science is often supposed to consist of big words. : ' Amaryllis, 

 fruit, a bilocular loculicidal inferior capsule " need not appear in 

 the notebook of a boy of thirteen. [New Zealand Journal of 

 Education.} 



