THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN 

 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



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Vol. 10 OCTOBER, 1914 No. 7 



Elementary Science Courses 



Ora May Carrol 



A. In Normal Schools 



A survey of courses in elementary science in Normal Schools 

 shows that little has been done to increase the content or length of 

 such courses since 1 903-1 908. During this period many normals 

 introduced a nature-study course. These courses varied in differ- 

 ent schools according to the length of the term and included four or 

 five recitations each week for twelve weeks, two recitations each 

 week for twenty weeks or one recitation each week for forty weeks 

 according to the arrangement of courses in the respective schools. 

 In a limited number of normals there has been an advanced course 

 of the same length offered for students who wish to continue this 

 line of study. Courses in elementary agriculture have been organ- 

 ized in some normals which offer a second term that may partake 

 of the essentials of nature-study but generally its nature is re- 

 stricted to interests of the farm, rather than to elementary nature- 

 study.^ 



In most normals there has been little change in the content of 

 the nature-study course since its introduction nearly a decade ago. 

 Teachers have been placed in charge of such courses who have 

 attained high scholarship in biological study and many of them are 

 eminently fitted for carrying on such teaching. As a result, 

 however, of the large store of material and the briefness of the 

 course, instructors and committees in charge of courses of study 

 seem to have overlooked the fact that many normal students have 



^The data collected has been mainly concerning Normal schools in the 

 Middle West. 



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