hoak] outlook for nature-study in calif. 157 



tions. Sympathetic touch with the beauty, order and im- 

 mensity of the universe should be one of our earlier lessons and 

 where is it better exemplified than in the starry heavens ? Much 

 of the physical nature-study work, especially in the lower grades, 

 may be correlated with the observational geography. Phenom- 

 ena of the weather and climate, simple lessons on temperature, 

 wind, clouds, the seasons, observation of the simpler and more 

 superficial features of the home geography, lay the best and 

 truest foundation for the more formal study of geography later 

 on. With the child's bottle of pebbles as a starting point we 

 may make excursions far afield into the realm of rocks and 

 minerals. Material from the realm of chemistry has long been 

 so popular that it is hardly worth while to re-discuss the matter 

 here. Thus we see that we should omit nothing from our nature- 

 study courses that will widen the outlook of the child, and we are 

 at liberty to make free use of all or any material that may be 

 utilized to excite a living and lasting interest in the world about 

 us. 



In our present embryonic and experimental stage of develop- 

 ment it would be well if we could keep in mind some of the practi- 

 cal values that have already been accredited to nature-study 

 wherever it has been given a fair show to work out its ideals. In 

 Europe, in Canada and in many of the eastern states it has al- 

 ready been clearly demonstrated that this new movement 

 "nature- ward" is one of the most vital, wholesome, and sane, as 

 well as an effective and practical method, yet put forward to 

 advance the cause of true education. Here on the Pacific Coast 

 we need to put ourselves in sympathetic touch with the great 

 national movement and after having gained the inspiration of 

 the higher ideals we will have the courage to strike out boldly 

 and realize our own ideals in practical lines. 



We have been inclined to place too much reliance on eastern 

 authority and eastern texts, and we are just waking up to the 

 fact that owing to peculiar conditions of soil and climate we have 

 many original and distinctively local problems to solve. In 

 nature-study we must learn the lessons that our farmers have 

 already learned in the hard school of experience, that eastern 

 conditions are widely different from those west of the Rockies, and 

 many of the well-known practices as well as the demonstrable 

 theories must here be thrown to the winds. We now feel confident 



