NATURE-STUDY AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



By JOHN D. HANEY, Principal, P. S. 5, Bronx, New York City 



The syllabus of studies for the 



New York City schools makes no 



provision for "nature-study" as 



such in the last three years of the 



elementary grades. Nature- 



%^ study, if the efforts of the public 



HP have counted for anything, is 



,r ** J ' "finished" in the fifth year. In 



the sixth, there is nothing to take 



its place, and in the seventh and eighth there 



is "elementary science". 



It occurred to the writer last year, to try 

 to revive, in the four upper grades, an in- 

 terest in the moribund nature-study and to 

 make it function in some other than that 

 of acting as an excuse for drill in connected 

 oral discourse, and he decided to see wheth- 

 er the constructive instinct of boys and girls 

 would not help him out. 



He chose bird houses as his theme, or core of interest, and 

 suggested to the classes that they try their hand at getting up 

 a practical exhibition for May 5th, Audubon Day, a day he 

 thereupon established in his school as a perpetual reminder of 

 the birth of America's foremost exponent of the beauty and 

 charm of America's native birds. The date was convenient, 

 being near to that of the state Arbor Day and kindred in its 

 interests and emotional appeal. 



Some pupils elected to make houses and others chose to 

 make posters advertising the coming exhibition of houses. 



Under the able guidance of the teacher of constructive 

 work, the pupils entered with zest upon their problems — the 

 planning of space, subject matter and color of their posters, and 

 the working drawings of their houses. 



Some fundamental facts were enunciated; e. g., the hole 

 for the entrance must be big enough for the tenant to enter 

 and not so big as to allow, for instance in the case of the wren, 

 the usurpation of interlopers; the exterior must attract and not 

 repel by its artificial appearance; the roof must shed the rain; 

 access must be allowed for the purpose of cleaning the box at 



