davis] NATURE-STCDY IN THE PRIMARY GRADES 107 



"woolly bear" not for the purpose of having him tell what he 

 knows but to learn more by means of his own efforts. The first 

 thing that she is to be sure of is that the child really knows the 

 "woolly bear" when he sees it. Simple directions are then given 

 as to how to find the caterpillars as they are crawling around 

 seeking a place to transform into pupae for hibernation ; how to 

 capture and keep them in small paper boxes; and how to watch 

 them from time to time. By some such procedure the child will 

 be able to see the caterpillar transformed into a pupa within a 

 felt-like cocoon. If the child has discovered all this through his 

 own efforts, he has learned one of the great facts about this 

 insect, and insects in general. If in the spring the cocoons are 

 placed in glass jars or bottles in a warm sunny room, another 

 great fact will be learned: The transformation into a moth. 

 The mental image of the restless, crawling caterpillar, the cocoon 

 of hairs and silk is made vivid again in this new association. 

 The story of the caterpillar getting ready for winter may then be 

 told by the child, for it has been made clear by real experience. 



If in the spring silkworms are reared by the pupil and followed 

 through their entire life-history, the experience with the "wooly 

 bear" has a new significance. Suppose that similar experiences 

 with other insects are obtained during the next three or four 

 years. The child thus equipped with data is ready in one of the 

 grammar grades to take up special problems concerning some of 

 our common injurious insects, e. g., the codling moth. But such 

 problems will involve the use of other nature data such as birds, 

 for birds are useful in destroying insects. Reading will have an 

 immediate practical use as a tool to handle bulletins and other 

 accounts of the material investigated. 



Nature work of this character thus unifying the previous ex- 

 periences which were interesting in themselves gives the child 

 some training as an investigator. He is naturallv at the gram- 

 mar-school age an investigator, but gets little help or en- 

 couragement from the schools. 



Such studies not only stimulate in the pupil wholesome 

 interests outside of school hours but give him the right attitude 

 toward the subject. He will be less inclined to be superficial, 

 and less apt to feel that he knows all about a thing because he has 

 read about it in books or has been told of it in school. He will 

 also be keen for science when he gets into high school. Here 



