Meaning of the Movement 39 



himself to them. The environment will sug- 

 gest the work. 



There will be opportunity for endless varia- 

 tion in the details and in the little applications 

 of the work. The personality of the teacher 

 must always stand out strongly. We need the 

 very best of teachers for nature-study those 

 who have the greatest personal enthusiasm, and 

 who are least bound by the traditions of the 

 classroom. The teacher, to be ideal, must have 

 more time, more feeling, and more knowl- 

 edge. It is better if the teacher have a large 

 knowledge of science, but nature-study may be 

 taught without great knowledge if one sees 

 accurately and infers correctly from the par- 

 ticular subject in hand. 



The teacher should avoid starting with 

 definitions and the setting of patterns. Defini- 

 tions should be the result or summary of the 

 study, not the beginning of it. Mere patterns 

 should afford means of comparison only, and 

 not be regarded as useful in themselves; and 

 even then they are often misleading. The old 

 idea of the model flower is an unfortunate one, 



