190 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW f6:7-Oct., i9io 



in this cultural aim, I must confess I am a strong advocate of it 

 nevertheless. 



That nature-study should give practical information, goes 

 without saying. Like all education, nature-study should fit the 

 child for life. The mistake is often made to make this practical 

 knowledge applicable chiefly or only in later life. The informa- 

 tion should, however, be immediately available or applicable in 

 the everyday life of childhood, in work and in play and in the 

 interpretation of what he sees and of w^hat arouses his curiosity. 



In spite of the bad repute of the formal discipline theory 

 in some quarters, I must press the importance of nature-study 

 as a mental discipline. Through it the child may be trained to 

 habits of careful observation and truthful and logical thinking. 

 He should get the idea of intellectual honesty and make it a habit 

 of thought. He should be taught how to depend upon himself 

 alone in finding the answers to his questions about nature. We 

 should teach him how to attack and solve nature problems. In 

 other words, we should at least lay the foundations for acquiring 

 the scientific habit of thought. The subject matter of a nature 

 course, and its arrangement seriously affect this disciplinary aim. 



The course of study is also determined by the method of 

 instruction. In the first place, we have to deal with the child. 

 We cannot, as in the high school and college, make him conform 

 to the logical requirements of sequence in the subject as a science. 

 Wc have to adapt the subject matter to his psychological capacity. 

 From this general principle follow others. We here find the 

 reason for the variety and the choppiness of the nature course. 

 Young children need variety and tire of long systematic units. 



Nature-study must be adapted to the interests of the child. 

 Primary pupils care more for the aesthetic than for the economic 

 treatment ; more for habit than structure ; more for living things 

 than for inanimate nature; more for animals than for plants. 

 They are not as capable of reasoning, nor so interested in reason- 

 ing processes, as older children. As pupils get older their inter- 

 est in economic aspects, in inanimate nature, in structure, in- 

 creases, and they show more conscious interest in their own 

 logical processes in studying and hence are more interested in 

 reasoning out adaptations, inter-relations and classifications. 



Again, the principle of the apperceptive basis must be recog- 

 nized. We must go from familiar to less known types in order 

 to build up a stable mass of knowledge. 



There is another factor which I might call the principle of 



