What is Nature-Study? 13 



indefiniteness and haziness of ideas in persons 

 who have their theory before they have their 

 facts. They do not have their feet on the 

 ground. They do not drive stakes; or if they 

 do, they ponder the method until the operation 

 becomes lifeless. For nature subjects, the first 

 essential is an intense love of nature; the best 

 training is to acquire the actual facts and to 

 know the subject, and then to go out and teach, 

 without too much burden of doubt as to 

 the kind and propriety of the theoretical 

 methods. I do not doubt the value of the 

 psychological study of education, and all teach- 

 ers should profit by a discussion of educational 

 history and method; but we should be careful 

 not to fill the young teacher full of ab- 

 stractions. A teacher may safely theorize 

 and speculate after he has learned how to teach. 

 Of the criticisms on this book and on my gen- 

 eral attitude toward nature-study teaching, the 

 most important is that I insist too much on spon- 

 taneousness and informality and thereby provide 

 an excuse for lazy or indifferent teachers who 



