shbphbrd] TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF NATURE-STUDY 175 



but otherwise kept hands off. At the. conclusion of the work 

 five different kinds of cells or batteries had been made and each 

 student had contributed one cell. A sufficient amount of this 

 kind of work would develop the method of handling nature- 

 study material with children and now I should like to say some- 

 thing as to the specific material handled. I think it is very de- 

 sirable that the student-teacher have experiences as a student 

 with the same kind or class of material that the children in nature 

 study will use. For example, if the children are to grow plants, 

 then the student-teacher should have experience in plant grow- 

 ing; and if the children are to have experiences in making cells 

 for current electricity then the student-teacher should be ac- 

 quainted with cell making. At this point I wish to make my 

 position plain. I do not advocate the student-teacher doing the 

 same work as the children in nature-study, — it would not be pos- 

 sible and if she undertook it she would not be working on her 

 plane as a student, but her effort would degenerate into a poor 

 quality of imitation, a stagnant, deadening procedure. Secondly 

 I do not advocate the student-teacher working with all the ma- 

 terial that the children may use in nature-study, for under such 

 conditions one could not suggest a connected, unified course such 

 as would conform to the habit of thought of the mature student. 

 I should want the student-teacher to solve problems with ma- 

 terial in the general field of my nature-study course and would 

 then rely on the germinating influence of this work to help in the 

 student-teacher's subsequent handling of her nature-study class. 

 When the student-teacher has had all the academic prepara- 

 tion of the kind indicated that her course will permit she still 

 lacks another very important part of her training, namely, an 

 opportunity to apply her student attitude as a teacher under the 

 guidance of those who appreciate her point of view. She has 

 worked as a student on a problem of her own and as a teacher it 

 remains for her to have the children work on problems that are 

 theirs and this transition is not easily and quickly made. The 

 student-teacher should have an opportunity to teach a class of 

 children in nature-study so as to get training in the teaching 

 attitude. One of the most efficient helps in this phase of the 

 work that I know is part of a general scheme in the Chicago Nor- 

 mal School. When a student-teacher is teaching in any subject, 

 she together with all others teaching the same subject meet twice 



