PATTERSON] TRAINING TEACHERS 



395 



such as we occasionally have in our training schools is of little 

 value. Few nature-study lessons can be finished at one sitting. 

 A series in which the student has an opportunity to watch the 

 children in their observation and the solutions of their problems 

 is, I believe, much more valuable. 



An illustration of such a series of lessons will make clear what I 

 mean. The eighth grade in our training school has recently com- 

 pleted a series of lessons on the box elder bug {Leptocoris trimttatus) 

 Altogether there were four lessons. However, the lessons did not 

 occur on consecutive days so that a period of about a week and a 

 half elapsed between the first and last lesson. 



The first lesson was a visit to a box elder tree on whose trunk 

 was a large number of the insects in various stages of development. 

 The children were told to look at the insects a few minutes and then 

 ask questions or tell facts. Several facts were stated but the chief 

 problems were : Why was there such a mass of the insects on the 

 tree ; and did the difference in size and color mean a difference of 

 age or different kinds? 



To solve the problems the children were asked to place in some 

 glass jars, brought for the purpose, a number of the smaller insects. 

 A few box elder leaves were put into the jar and the children were 

 told to watch for results. 



At the beginning of the second lesson a number of the children 

 were ready to report that the small red insects had changed into 

 black and red adults. The fact that they shed their skins in the 

 process of changing had also been observed. The differences and 

 resemblances between the immature and the adults was then worked 

 out by observation and at the same time the life history stages as 

 far as they could be worked out were noted. The children were 

 asked to keep eyes open and report all the places in town where 

 the box elder bugs were found. 



The third lesson consisted of reports of the places where the 

 insects had been found and a discussion as to whether or not we 

 should consider them pests. Having decided that they were, at 

 least, a nuisance, the next question was what could we do to lessen 

 their numbers. Experiments in S])raying were tried and were 

 found effective. 



The fourth lesson was a summary of the facts that had luvn 

 learned from the concrete work, the ol)S(.'rvation and expcrinu-nta- 

 tion; and a discussion of the advantage to the entire eoinnminlx- 

 of destroying the insects. 



