174 The Nature-Study Idea 



The higher the grade, the more the topics may 

 be correlated and coordinated. I doubt whether 

 a closely graded nature-study is really nature- 

 study at all. For children, I believe in that 

 continuity and consecutiveness that relate the 

 subject to its place and season. In April, cor- 

 relate the work with the opening of the spring; 

 in October, with the coming of winter. Com- 

 pare the nature-study of June with that of May. 

 Relate it to the farm work or other activities 

 of the neighborhood. With living things, the 

 cycle of the year is the fundamental continuity. 

 Life-history is continuity. The procession of 

 nature continues the work. 



Should nature-study give way to ^^funda- 

 mental ^' work? 



[Suggestions in reply to a foreign corre- 

 spondent who asks whether we succeed in 

 America in "getting good nature-study in one- 

 teacher schools*'; what attitude we take toward 

 "the old-fashioned object-lesson work" ; whether 

 teachers are not in "great danger of forgetting 



