1 8 THE iVA TURE-STL 'D Y RE I 'IE IV {l ■ ,_, AN ., ig07 



quoted for assistance in method. What do I find? An interesting 

 photograph shows a teacher and a pupil passe-partouting ios, lunas, 

 etc., between plates of glass (p. 268); indeed nearly half the article 

 referred to is occupied with the mounting of dead insects. Will 

 someone show the value of this work. as nature-study? Its value as 

 manual training to that pupil would be increased if she cut the glass 

 and made the mounting strips herself. 



Save as part of the expression of his study which each pupil may 

 make and take away with him, why mount dead insects at all ? In 

 the study of the science of entomology their use is evident. But can 

 one teach nature-study from dead insects? No one has published a 

 stronger condemnation of the museum method of teaching nature- 

 study than Dr. Hodge. Has he changed his opinion ? He suggests 

 a use of the dead specimens to show pupils when starting them on a 

 competition of egg-hunting. Hunting insect eggs may be more edu- 

 cative than some people would be willing to grant. When children 

 are searching for these eggs they are likely to observe many other 

 things. But if the pupils can find clusters of tussocks' and tent- 

 caterpillars' eggs, can not and should not the teacher also find samples 

 about the time she wishes to start the hunt ? With regard to the spec- 

 imens illustrated on page 266, would not pupils about to study the 

 cabbage-butterfly with such a mounted life-history before them be 

 like the boy studying the answer when he begins to work the problem ? 

 They would certainly be deprived of the joy and reward of discovery. 



'•In the case of insects more than in any other branch of nature- 

 study, a teacher needs actual specimens" (p. 267). Does this imply 

 that there can be genuine nature- study in some branches without 

 actual specimens? Is picture study, not to mention word study, ever 

 real nature-study ? I like to keep pictures and books and museums 

 behind the real contact with nature and give them a place, if any, 

 near the close of the expressive stage of the lesson or series of lessons. 

 Give me abundance of material in the condition in which it most 

 closely touches the child's interest. I would modify the third 

 sentence on page 269 to read : — My teaching experience seems to 

 prove that we must have two or three kinds of living insects before 

 the attention of the class at the same time in order to get the best 

 results with nature-study work on insects. Comparison is the easiest 

 and readiest activity to use in the nature-study lesson. 



Is it true that the object of nature-study is "the creating and 

 increasing of a loving acquaintance with nature" (E. F Bigelow), 



