I 7 4 THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 6-sbpt., .908 



study was chiefly a matter of demonstration by the teacher, with 

 occasional readings. And later when science insisted on each 

 student being provided with individual specimens or apparatus, 

 nature-study made similar demands. When biology empha- 

 sized morphology, nature-study required the same. So much 

 for the nature-study of the past, whose chief end was to furnish 

 advantages to those of the children who at a later time took up 

 the study of science. Such form of study was useful in its time, 

 but is not in keeping with the present views of education. 



It is now rather generally conceded that nature-study is not 

 science — that in science the teacher holds close to fundamental 

 principles or laws, but that in nature-study she moves over and 

 stands among the children. The perspective, the point of view, 

 is different. Nature-study is not interested in developing broad 

 generalities, but in furnishing the children with rich, vital exper- 

 iences. And here I may say that I believe this can be done best 

 by furnishing these experiences through the stimuli of problems 

 — the .children's problems, and this will make the work vital and 

 full of human interest. To illustrate, I know a teacher who had a 

 class of city children and concluded to furnish them with some 

 simple experiences in the application of current electricity. 

 Through her tact, the children decided to install a small electric 

 light in the cloak room. In reaching this decision the initiative 

 passed from the teacher to the class, — the problem and its solu- 

 tion were the children's and the results most gratifying. 



What, then, should be the training of one who is to furnish sit- 

 uations out of which problems grow whose solution is with ma- 

 terial, — what should be the training of a teacher of nature-study? 

 Furnish the candidate with student experiences similar to those 

 the children are to have, that is, the prospective teacher in nature- 

 study should have experiences with material, the experiences 

 superinduced by problems of her own. Furthermore, the stu- 

 dent teacher should have an opportunity to work out her own 

 problem according to her own plan. For example, I knew a 

 class of student-teachers at one time interested in the determina- 

 tion of the relative conductivity of different solutions. In mak- 

 ing the determination they wanted a current of 6—8 volts. Their 

 immediate problem was how to get the current. It was their 

 problem and they solved it according to their own plans The 

 teacher of the class saw to it that their schemes were workable. 



