HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I 3 



to think they can dissect their way into the mystery of Na- 

 ture, or reach her through the laboratory. 



While it is but common-sense opinion, and one 

 almost universally admitted, that nature should 

 be studied in her own domain, as well as in the 

 laboratory, few nature-study or science teachers 

 seem to admit this in a practical way. 



Again says John Borroughs : " The purely edu- 

 cational value of nature-study is in its power to 

 add to our capacity of appreciation, our love and 

 enjoyment of all open-air objects." 



So we have wandered, from nature study to 

 nature study, and we find that, according to these 

 authorities, it is science and it is not science ; it is 

 not to be studied in the fields and it is ; it is to 

 be pursued in the schoolroom and it is the biggest 

 piece of nonsense that was ever seen in the school- 

 room. We are progressing. Let us keep on, and 

 we shall at some time get a clear idea, so as to be 

 able to formulate a model definition. 



Charles B. Scott, in his " Nature Study and the 

 Child," thus attempts to define the subject : 



It seems wise, at the very beginning, to determine just 

 what we mean by elementary science, or Nature Study. 

 This will prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding in later 

 discussions. The terms " elementary science " and " Nature 

 Study," are both widely used. Elementary science is, per- 



