'903] Nature Study— No. 6. 



'3' 



rosaceous family ; the development of the apple and cherry; studies 

 of the heavens at night ; the story of the dandelion ; the develop- 

 ment of the frog- ; the life-history of mosquitoes ; studies of snails 

 and slugs ; the habits of the common birds (about 60 were identified 

 during the term) ; studies of the currant-worm ; development of 

 barberry and wheat rust ; lady birds ; a soil survey of the Farm ; 

 the grasses of Guelph ; insects and plants ; etc. 



Throughout the whole course every student was compelled to 

 record daily in the "Nature-Study Journal" some observation 

 which he had made during the day. This Journal was carefully 

 inspected every day by an instructor, in order to determine the 

 accuracy of the descriptions of the observations made by the 

 students. As the term wore on, the observations were given in 

 greater detail. 



For the first two weeks of the term the class met for an hour 

 every day at two o'clock. At first the time was devoted mainly to 

 explaining the written instructions given out to the students, and 

 to encouraging the observers. Later, however, two of the students 

 were selected every day to report the results of any investigation 

 which they had concluded. The object of this was to give them 

 facility in expressing their ideas befo-e an audience. 



It is likely that some of the students who took this Nature- 

 Study course at the Agricultural College will sooner or later be- 

 come teachers of Agriculture, and perhaps Nature-Study, in 

 either the Public or High schools of this province In the writer's 

 judgement, the knowledge of plants, animals, earth, and sky is 

 absolutely necessary to the teacher who essays to teach Nature- 

 Study. It appears to be of greater importance than the knowledge 

 of the psychology of the child. It is probable that the teacher, 

 who is himself a nature student, has gained through his own 

 experience an insight into the best way of interesting the child, such 

 as he could never obtain in any other way. A teacher may have 

 a knowledge of child-nature, but if he has not a knowledge of 

 nature as a part of his environment, it will be next to impossible 

 for him to maintain for any length of time, in a direction which 

 will be educative, the child's natural interest in its surroundings. 

 How can a teacher train the child to use the materials of knowledge, 

 such as plants and animals, in the proper development of the 



