INQUIRIES 153 



J 



Shall I correlate the nature-study work with other 

 work ? 



This question can be answered only for particular 

 cases. In general, correlation is an advantage to 

 all subjects concerned ; however, I fear that In 

 much of the correlation the nature-study part is 

 little more than a name. If the nature-study can 

 be kept genuine — a real study of natural objects at 

 first hand — I see no danger in correlation. The 

 correlation usually is of greater benefit to the other 

 subjects than to nature-study. 



Nature-study work can be correlated with various 

 other school work, notably with essay writing, 

 drawing and geography teaching. The very first 

 essential in essay writing is to have something from 

 one's own experience to say. Assigned topics are 

 usually "hard" at best. Let the child write of 

 what it has seen or done that day or yesterday — the 

 butterfly, the tadpoles in the pond near by, the 

 plants growing in its garden, the fish in the aquarium, 

 the peaches on the tree by the barn, the little world 

 of life in the terrarium, the woodchuck that lives 

 under the stone fence. If the child has had no such 

 experience, why not begin by assigning him a 

 living topic to look up and report on in writing ? 



We need to be unusually careful to see that the 

 writing is not exotic to the child. Avoid the model 

 of mere nature-study " stories " about things ; these 

 stories tell what others have found out. They 

 inform and instruct and entertain, rather than 

 educate and set the child to work. 



We stifle the desire to write if we first lay down 



