212 The Nature-Study Idea 



Can I make a nature-study exhibition useful 

 as a part of an exposition? 



I hope to see good nature-study exhibitions 

 at all the great expositions. It is time that we 

 begin to relate education directly to the affairs 

 of life; or, to put the matter in another way, 

 to make the affairs of life a means of education. 

 I hope that you will find some way of making 

 your educational exhibition dynamic. Most 

 exhibitions are merely passive or static, con- 

 sisting of pictures and charts, books, apparatus, 

 and such other things as sit still. The very 

 essence and spirit of the new education is 

 activity. I judge from your letter that you 

 are expecting to express this activity by means 

 of a school in actual operation. I hope that 

 you may also have a good school-garden in 

 actual operation, and also some effective out- 

 door laboratory work. I am not yet satisfied 

 with the school-garden movement. I think that 

 we have not yet developed its laboratory 

 significance. 



The time is coming when we shall begin our 

 educational process by putting the child into 



