THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



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Vol. 12 May, 1916 No. 5 



The Organization of Nature-Study* 



Otis W. Caldwell. 



It is probably a safe statement that the elementary schools 

 throughout the United States are now conducting more studies 

 in nature than at any previous time since the introduction of na- 

 ture-study into public schools. This statement is based partly 

 upon general impressions, but chiefly upon exact information which 

 has been secured. In the states of Indiana and Illinois which were 

 taken as types, information from nearly 400 school systems shows 

 that something like 80 per cent of these schools are now teaching 

 nature-study in one or more grades. Some of these schools are 

 teaching the subject in all of the eight grades, and practically all 

 of them teach it in at least four years. Less definite information 

 from most of the other states indicates an essentially favorable 

 situation, while in a few states very little attention is given to 

 the subject. It is evident that notwithstanding the intermittent 

 nature of public advocacy of nature-study as means of education 

 of children the subject has grown in favor until it has now come 

 into fairly general use. 



Need of Organized Courses 



The definite studies of conditions in Indiana and Illinois re- 

 ferred to' above, the less definite impressions secured regarding 

 conditions in other states, and almost constant requests by cor- 

 respondence, show a wide-spread and definite desire for a better 



*Paper presented at the Annual Meeting, American Nature-Study Society, 

 Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 1915. 



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