charles] ABSTRACTS OF DISCUSSIONS 1 85 



symmetrical development of the child, and that in that education 

 much of the pedagogical material will naturally be found in the 

 environment. 



II 



By LETTA BERNICE BURNS 

 Jamaica [N. Y] Normal and Training School 



First, careful attention should be given to the difference in the 

 needs of city and country schools. The point of view of the city 

 child is widely different from that of the country child, but it is as 

 necessary that he have a knowledge of real things in order that he 

 may read and understand things of every-day life. More material 

 is needed in city schools. 



Second, that the instruction given in nature-study be of a 

 practical kind as well as asthetic. Pupils need a better under- 

 standing of the agricultural interests of the country, forestry, 

 gardening and other phases of work related to nature-study. Too 

 frequently the meaning is in words only and not in actual con- 

 tact with the real things. 



Third, the time given to the training of teachers for nature- 

 study work is too brief in most normal and training schools. The 

 work of the city and village teacher requires careful preparation. 

 They must know and be able to handle the problems found in the 

 environment of the child. 



Ill 



By FRED L. CHARLES 

 De Kalb [111] Normal School 



Few situations are more highly artificial than the atmosphere 

 of many schoolrooms. Nature-study, by taking the child where 

 it finds him — akin to the creatures of the wild, immersed in the 

 natural world, the world of things — gains a foothold at once upon 

 his interests and his emotions. 



If the teacher can stay young, keep the child attitude, listen to 

 stars and birds with open heart, she is fit for the calling of nature- 

 study; at least, if she cannot do these things, she is unfit. But 

 there's the rub — to take the book-tutored graduate of today and 

 restore his heritage of contact with and enthusiasm for the won- 

 ders of the commonplace. Eugene Field puts it well in his poem 



