A SUGGESTION FOR NATURE-STUDY IN NORMAL SCHOOLS 



By LAETITIA M. SNOW 

 Farmville, Va. 



While many attriVjute the failure of nature-study work in the 

 grades of some schools to the lack of appreciation for, and love of 

 nature on the part of the teacher, I doubt if any valuable or use- 

 able inspiration can be acquired without a certain body of facts. 

 It is probable that the greater difficulties lie in the teacher's lack 

 of information and inability to handle material. 



The acquirement of a body of facts, by study, reading and 

 investigation has been frequently discussed, hence we will con- 

 sider briefly the manipulation of material. After the necessary 

 courses in botany and zoology the student enters the method 

 where the use of the acquired facts will be treated. The> may 

 discuss methods of presentation, prepare papers and lesson plans 

 ad nauseam, but still the inability to handle the subject will be 

 noticed when the students enter the practice school. How can 

 this be remedied? The following appeals to me as a method for 

 overcoming the difficulty. 



We will take as an example a young teacher beginning the 

 study of caterpillars in the Fall. She may be familiar with the 

 common forms, may have read that certain plants are their food, 

 and that certain methods are the best for their preserv^ation, but 

 finds it awkward, for lack of practice, to put this knowledge into 

 use. Why not devote the major part of the method course to 

 doing in laboratory exactly the things the student w'ill do when 

 she teaches? It may be argued that a sensible girl will easily find 

 out how to make live cages and aquaria, to stock them and care 

 for them properly. In all probability she will in time ; but in the 

 meanwhile the work is delayed, results do not come, and the 

 interest of the children has cooled. In cases where the children 

 take personal care of the specimens, the teacher should have had 

 actual practice in order capably to direct them. 



Each student should find her own specimens, bring in food 

 plants, make the vivarium or aquarium, stock it, keep it in order, 

 study the difficulties connected with it, the possible causes of fail- 

 ure and the best ways to prevent or remedy them. She should 

 kill, mount, label and preserve her own museum specimens. In 



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