lOtt NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:3— Mch, 1916 



torily grouped under observational, disciplinary, aesthetic or ap- 

 preciative, ethical, scientific-method, preparatory, knowledge, 

 and economic or vocational aims. A few sample quotations will 

 show best the type of answer put under each of these aims; 

 observational aim, "to train powers of observation," "habit of 

 observation," "sharpening of perceptive powers;" disciplinary, 

 "to develop the senses of pupils;" aesthetic or appreciative, "love of 

 nature," "to enjoy the whole out-of-doors," "to appreciate nature 

 and to stimulate a greater love for plants and animals;" ethical, 

 "respect for law and order in the universe," "a reverence for 

 the Creator of all things," "better attitude toward life;" 

 scientific-method, "to see and interpret things," "to train in 

 scientific thought," "interpreting life and experience;" prepar- 

 atory, "the understanding of nature as a basis for the study of 

 geography," "gives basis for work in drawing, geography, Eng- 

 lish, and general science," "builds up a body of information 

 which becomes foundation in later science work;" knowledge, 

 "to give wider and richer environment," "acquaints students 

 with the law of nature," "to give knowledge of birds and bird 

 life;" the economic or vocational, "economic importance of the 

 same," "to care for health," "leads to a protection of birds and 

 wild flowers." The city superintendents and village principals 

 gave 123 distinct aims for Nature-Study in the primary grades. 

 No particular aim was recorded more than once for the same 

 person reporting, but when the person gave a number of diff- 

 erent aims, which was usually the case, credit was given for 

 each aim that was listed. On this basis 34 or 28% of the aims 

 emphasized the aesthetic or appreciative aim, 26 or 21% the 

 observational, 23 or 19% the knowledge, 16 or 13% the pre- 

 paratory, 13 or 10% the ethical, 6 or 5% the scientific-method, 3 

 or 2% the economic or vocational, and 2 or 2% the disciplinary. 

 A similar classification of the aims of Nature-Study in the pri- 

 mary grades by the supervisory force of the department of edu- 

 cation, principals of training schools and science teachers in the 

 normal schools, out of a total of 66 distinct aims, shows that 

 13 or 20% emphasized the observational aim, 13 or 20% the 

 aesthetic or appreciative, 13 or 20% the knowledge, 10 or 15% 

 the preparatory, 6 or 9% the scientific-method, 4 or 6% the eth- 

 ical, 4 or 6% the psychological, and 3 or 5% the economic or 

 vocational. In the classification of aims for the second group 



