54 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:2— Feb., 191* 



attributes of a bluebird when many times daily one is singing from 

 the fence posts along the side of the school yard. "Study Nature; 

 not books" was the motto over the door of the laboratory wherein 

 the spirit of the great Agassiz held sway, and the injunction is the 

 very essence of the Nature-Study idea. 



Following directly after the elements of training thus far referred 

 to, is another which grows out of them as a matter of necessity. 

 I have in mind the attainment of a skill in the organization of 

 materials on a teaching basis. Success or failure lies here. To 

 work over a unit of thought to discover the logical relationships of 

 its parts, to discern the outstanding elements worthy of emphasis, 

 to understand the sequence in which they may be comprehended, to 

 be able to arrange them in the order necessary to the comprehen- 

 sion of the principle toward which they point, is, I maintain, a 

 large and decisive factor in successful teaching. It is clear then, 

 that practice in the manipulation of material should be provided. 

 Units of teaching must be gone over to discover the parts and their 

 arrangement upon a teaching basis. That this can be done only 

 in the light of extensive knowledge is obvious; that it is essential 

 is equally true, and emphasis upon it should effect a distinct reduc- 

 tion in the haphazard and shapeless teaching so commonly found. 

 The Nature-Study lessons, to be effective, must be well organized. 

 This brings us then, to the last point I wish to make, how be it, 

 others might well be set up. But this one is, I feel, so frequently 

 overlooked as important, that special emphasis is here laid upon it. 

 I point now to the opportunity of seeing good teaching done. By 

 this I mean as well that the teacher should be skillfully taught as 

 that he may see good teachers in action. Unconsciously pupils 

 take on the mental attitudes of their teachers, and unwittingly ape 

 their mannerisms and follow their methods. More and more am I 

 convinced of the powers of imitation in producing good teachers, 

 and less and less regard do I have for the efficacy of formal instruc- 

 tion in psychology or pedagogy as determining factors. Partic- 

 ularly is this true of young teachers. Seldom indeed, does the 

 average teacher make conscious application of a psychological or 

 pedagogical principle to the problems of his teaching, but con- 

 tinually the modes of thought, the manner of approach and the 

 general method of action characteristic of his teachers are breaking 

 out in his own. Observation of good teachers in action give 

 mental pictures sure to influence toward similar ways, and, at the 



