114 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:3— Mch., 1915 



city superintendents and village principals , and the super- 

 visors of the state department of education, principals of training 

 schools and science teachers in the normal schools agree that 

 the chief aims of Nature-Study in the primary grades are to train 

 the powers of observation, to develop the aesthetic and appre- 

 ciative capacities of pupils, and to aquaint them with the ani- 

 mate and inanimate material of the environment. 4. The ad- 

 ditional aims for the intermediate grades suggest special emphasis 

 on training in the scientific method of thinking and the exten- 

 sion of acquisition of information; further the educators, other 

 than the city superintendents and village principals, think that 

 a strong beginning should be made in the introduction of the eco- 

 nomic elements into the instruction. 5. In the grammar grades 

 increased importance is given to the economic or vocational 

 aims, the knowledge, and preparatory aims. 6. The meaning 

 of the economic or vocational aim in Nature-Study which was 

 made the special burden of this paper, as interpreted from the 

 aims of the more strictly vocational subjects, such as domestic 

 science and manual training, implies a general rather than a 

 restrictive training, an appreciation of the industries in the broad 

 sense instead of immediate efficiency in a trade. 7. The voca- 

 tional aspect is presented in arithmetic in 1 7 schools, in geography 

 in 15, in language in 9, in civics in 4. in agriculture in 3, in reading 

 in 3, in spelling in 2, in history 1, and in Nature Study 1. Even 

 when agriculture is included with Nature-Study, the vocational 

 in this subject is not very frequently attempted. The answers 

 of city superintendents and village principals on objections 

 to the vocational trend in Nature-Study shows that there is 

 very little opposition to the notion. Consequently, the few 

 schools that stress- the vocational in this subject must be 

 due to the relatively small number of schools that present syste- 

 matic courses in Nature-Study. 8. The replies to the specific 

 question as to whether in prevocational subjects the chief 

 thing sought is to train in the scientific, theoretical, and artistic 

 aspects of many trades or for direct participation in a trade, 

 suggest that the majority believe that the purpose is to present 

 the large outlook of industrial life, instead of specialized train- 

 ing in a trade. This agrees with the purposes of the prevocat- 

 ional subjects, manual training and domestic science. If this 

 is the conception of industrial or vocational education, educa- 



