' NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 3 



schemes of nature-study. Hence it has come about that nature- 

 study is understood to mean: (i) elementary agriculture; (2) 

 simple object lessons on plants and animals ; (3) informal teaching 

 about natural things seen by pupils, for the sake of developing 

 interest and habits of observing; (4) serious elementary biology 

 and physical science; (5) popular picnics in the woods; (6) senti- 

 mental talks and reading about plants and animals ; (7) *' teaching 

 children to love Nature " — these and all their possible combina- 

 tions and probably still other points of view are found in the cur- 

 rent interpretation and practice of nature-study in the United 

 States. Such variation is not surprising, for the natural processes 

 and materials with which nature-study in any form has to deal are 

 extremely variable in their distribution, and therefore so far as 

 facts are concerned the nature-study in one locality can not be the 

 same as that in another. From a Maine forest to a wheat field 

 in the Dakotas is a transition to quite a different world ; but in 

 spite of the difference in materials available for study it seems 

 reasonable to believe that educationally the study of the objects of 

 the immediate environment ought to lead the Maine and the 

 Dakota pupils to the same essential result. In other words, if 

 nature-study is anything more than local manifestations of a 

 widely distributed fad, there ought to be found some fundamental 

 principles concerning whose educational and scientific value there 

 will be general agreement. The science of biology is taught in 

 the colleges on the basis of materials locally available, and yet 

 there is such general understanding and agreement regarding the 

 fundamental principles that in all essentials of a general biological 

 education the students of the Australian colleges have equal ad- 

 vantages with their contemporaries in England, Germany, and 

 America. The situation with regard to nature-study is exactly 

 parallel. There is need of agreement and uniformity concerning 

 the fundamental principles by which the teaching about any par- 

 ticular natural object or process may be guided. In search of 

 such agreement it is necessary, first of all, that the conflicting 

 views as to what nature-study is in education should be brought 

 together for comparison and discussion. This will be attempted 

 in The Nature-Study Review ; and we open the discussion 

 of fundamental questions by presenting this month a series of 

 brief papers which attempt to point out the differences between 

 nature-study and natural science — two terms which are commonly 

 regarded as quite synonymous.] 



