Some Fundamental Propositions for Nature-Study 



By Maurice A. Bigelow 



Teachers College, Columbia University. 



The following propositions are not new and not radical. They 

 are simply groupings of ideas which seem to me to be accepted by 

 numerous workers in nature-study lines. They are submitted as a 

 sort of inventory of the best nature-study as it now exists, and with 

 the hope that constructive criticisms and additional suggestions 

 may be offered by readers of The Review. 



1. Nature-study should be defined as including: 



(a) Simple observation study, primarily. 



(b) Reading or lectures, secondarily. 



(c) Common natural objects (living and Hfeless). 



(d) Common natural processes (heat, light, mechanics, 



electricity, etc.) 



(e) Viewpoint of everyday life. 



2 . Nature-study should aim to give : 



(a) Interest and sympathetic acquaintance with natural 



things. 



(b) Observation as a method of studying nature. 



(c) Useful information concerning nature as it affects 



human life directly. 



3. Nature-study should be differentiated from the natural 

 sciences as represented in the prevailing work in later years of high 

 schools and in colleges. Natural science is knowledge concerning 

 nature organized around the leading principles or generalizations, 

 such as, atomic theory in chemistry, evolution and cell-theory in 

 biology. Nature-study should avoid this type of organization and 

 should be organized on educational lines in harmony with the 

 definition and aims of nature-study. 



4. Nature-study must be organized and adjusted to the estab- 

 lished principles of elementary education. It can not permanently 

 continue to ignore these principles. 



5. The nature-study point of view or idea, as defined in i, 2 

 and 3 above should prevail: In all studies of (i) living things 

 (animals, plant and human) ; (2) lifeless objects (air, water, soil, 

 minerals); and (3) physical processes (mechanical, light, heat, 

 sound, electricity) below the second year of high school (i. e., in 

 Grades I to IX, inclusive). 



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