trafton] outline OF NATURE-STUDY 105 



Relation of Nature-Study to other Subjects 



The nearer our schoolroom procedure can approach Hfe condi- 

 tions, the more effective will our teaching be, as the greater are the 

 probabilities that the child will make use of that which he learns 

 in school. Correlation is the natural and common procedure in 

 ordinary life. The unit is not the subject matter involved, but the 

 activity in which the person is engaged, and our ordinary activities 

 involve a great variety of subjects. Hence, natural correlation is a 

 desirable thing to be made an organic part of teaching. Con- 

 venience seems to demand that the various subjects should be 

 taught separately, and hence there is all the more need that there 

 should be found some interest that shall unite and correlate these 

 various subjects. 



Furthermore, psychology teaches that when a topic is approached 

 from several standpoints and taught in its relation to other things, 

 it becomes more surely a part of the child's experiences than if 

 taught disconnectedly. 



Nature-Study and Art — There are many opportunities for natural 

 correlation in nature-study. This is specially true in connection 

 with art and literature. Many nature-study topics permit of 

 correlation with art. Much of the material used in the nature- 

 study lessons may be reproduced by the child by means of free hand 

 cuttings and drawings with colored crayons for younger children 

 and outline drawings and paintings in water colors for older 

 children. For young children a large amount of handwork is 

 necessary thruout all departments of school work, and the drawings 

 and cuttings may furnish this in connection with the nature-study 

 lessons. 



Nature-Study and Literature — In literature are many references 

 to nature, and he who would most truly appreciate literature needs 

 know something of the plants and animals to which reference is 

 made. Our poets write often of birds, flowers and trees, and 

 whenever these farms are studied in the nature-study lesson, the 

 study of some appropriate poem will add greatly to the child's 

 appreciation of the object studied. It is also true from the stand- 

 point of literature that the child's appreciation of the poem is 

 increased if some study is made of the forms to which reference is 

 made. 



