96 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW Uh-apr., i9 o 9 



With this definition, and working upon the hypothesis that 

 nature-study should precede agriculture, let us work out a 

 tentative plan for nature-study and agriculture in the eight years 

 or grades usually found in the better rural elementary schools. 

 These grades may be conveniently divided into three groups, as 

 suggested by Davis in his bulletin on School Gardens for California 

 Schools.* Group I includes grades i to 3, children 6 to 8 years 

 old; Group II, grades 4 to 6, children 9 to 11 years old; and 

 Group III, grades 7 and 8, children 12 to 14 years old. The work 

 of the first two groups should consist largely of nature-study 

 supplemented by school and home garden work; that of the 

 third group, elementary agriculture, with illustrative demonstra- 

 tions and practicums or experiments. In general the work may 

 be divided as shown in the table on the following page. 



In preparing this table we have endeavored to make the work 

 progressive throughout, because we believe that in nature-study 

 and agriculture, as in other work, the teacher should have a 

 definite plan of instruction in which the educative effect of the 

 work on the child's mind should be carefully considered. This 

 plan need not be revealed to the child, and much less should it be 

 reduced to written or printed form for him to learn. It is well, 

 however, for the teacher always to remember that while it is 

 comparatively easy to interest and excite a child, it is more 

 difficult to both interest and instruct him. Book work and the 

 ordinary formalities of learning and reciting set lessons should be 

 excluded from nature studies. The problem is to take advantage 

 of the spontaneous curiosity of the child and so direct it by a 

 subtle and unperceived guidance that the charm of original 

 quest and discovery of natural objects and phenomena will not 

 be lost and that the finding of one thing will lead on to the finding 

 of another until at length the child realizes, though it may be 

 unconsciously, that the secrets of nature are united one with 

 another in most delightful and useful ways. The pupil's indivi- 

 duality of interest, thought, action, and expression should also 

 be cultivated and strengthened, while accuracy of perception, 

 execution, and statement should at the same time be stimulated. 



Book work will come naturally, later in connection with the 

 agricultural work, seemingly as a result of a demand <>n the part 



*This magazine Nov. 1905, vol. I, p. 21 '1. 



