shepherd] a point of view in natcre-study 27 



the children help furnish the opportunity when possible, and 

 this effort of theirs constitutes an essential part of their doing. 



Sometimes to furnish an opportunity for nature-study work 

 means, in part, the gathering of material and making of simple 

 constructions. The providing of material, making of apparatus, 

 etc., which utilize and enrich their manual training experiences, 

 thus should become a legitimate part of the children's work and 

 at the same time it will lessen the demand on the teacher. 



Unfortunately most children will bring material or perhaps 

 go on excursions just because the teacher tells them to do so. In 

 general, it would be better for all concerned if the children brought 

 no material than to bring it for the reason cited. Children 

 should be given credit for coming witliout material under such 

 conditions. The providing of material simply because the 

 teacher has directed that it be done is unfortunate for two 

 reasons. First, the children's stimulus is the wrong one; and 

 secondly, their subsequent work with this material is apt to be 

 largely mechanical. 



The quantity of material provided by the children is not a safe 

 index of the quality of nature-study work being done. The value 

 depends on the motive which actuates the bringing. A good 

 test to apply would be : Did the children bring the material be- 

 cause they wanted to use it? Most of us may have seen great 

 numbers of plants in the schoolroom serving no other purpose 

 than as mute reminders of a bit of manual labor. 



Far more important than the fulness of opportunity for nature- 

 study would be the desire on the part of the children to work with 

 the available material, even it there were but little of it. This 

 condition can be realized when, pnd not before, the end which 

 the teacher intends for them to attain becomes their aim from 

 the beginning. In realizing the aim, problems appear, and in 

 the solution of these problems the children help furnish, and 

 then M'ork with, material. For example, suppose in connection 

 with physiology the teacher wants the children to know what 

 food materials are starchy. Instead of bringing in food materials 

 herself or liaving tlie children do so she should furnish a stimulus 

 to the children to want to know. When they want to know, one 

 of their first problems is how to determine starchy substances 

 and when this has been ascertained the rest is simple. The 

 children will gladly bring foods and food-material from home in 



