NATURE STUDY, 



CHAPTER I. 



THE IDEALS OF NATURE STUDY. 



IN approaching the subject of Nature Study with a view 

 to acting as guides to others in the same field it is desirable 

 that we should at the outset endeavour to arrive at a clear 

 understanding as to what service the study of nature can 

 render as an educational process, what claim nature has 

 upon us in the training of young people towards efficiency 

 in life, and what is the relation between Nature Study and 

 human life in general. In other words, our first question 

 is : What is the place of Nature Study in education, and 

 what is its relation to the larger sphere of human life ? 



In considering the educational value of any subject, a 

 wide outlook is absolutely essential. In the present in- 

 stance it must be agreed that to allow children to grow 

 up, we shall not say ignorant of nature in general, but even 

 of those aspects of her which are most familiar, is to deprive 

 them of knowledge not only of a useful kind, but also such 

 as can afford them some of the purest and most elevating 

 pleasures in life. 



It must be recognised here that Nature Study stands 

 apart from the formal science courses which already form 

 an important part of the discipline afforded in our school 

 curricula. Nature Study is more than formal science. 

 The latter is rigidly disciplinary, training hand, eye, and 

 intellect, at the same time equipping the mind with know- 

 ledge useful in the affairs of life. Of Nature Study, as we 

 seek to teach it, all this can be said, and more. 



N. S. 1 



