caldwell] ORGANIZATION OF NATURE-STUDY 191 



of content by means of which teachers may benefit from the 

 many experiences of others who have tried to discover the best 

 use of nature materials in school work. 



In the development of nature-study we have now come to the 

 point where more definite courses of instruction must be provided 

 for the use of those who are to teach, and in providing these 

 we shall need to exercise great care in order that on the one hand 

 we do actually provide the teachers with outlines which will 

 assist them, and, on the other hand, outlines which reduce to a 

 minimum the great danger that the subject will be formalized. 



Principles of Organization. 



It has been shown in a general way by psychologists, and in 

 a more definite way by experiments made by scientists that 

 younger children want to know their nature environment ; that they 

 skip quickly from one thing in nature to another asking constantly 

 for names and for much general information about each natural ob- 

 ject which catches their attention. These young children are 

 not interested in details and a teacher who tries, as has been done, 

 to use the rabbit as a topic of instruction for two months in a first 

 and second grade group, soon reduces pupils, rabbit, and herself 

 to a condition of impotence. 



In intermediate grades pupils want to know more intimate 

 details regarding natural objects — how the river grows from its 

 rivulet source through steep eroded banks, to the great stream 

 with flood plains, and a flow that will support ships; how the garden 

 plants grow through their life round; how insects live through 

 their miraculous stages; how electricity and magnetism work. 



In upper grades no previous interest is lost, but a new demand 

 has developed. Nature is no longer merely an embodiment of 

 things, curious and full of wonder, but nature in her relation to 

 man opens a new point of view. Upper grade pupils want to 

 know how animal bodies, particularly the human body works; 

 individual, group, and community hygiene demand attention; 

 the science of the school room, home, and community give 

 the real foundation of prevocational studies. 



It is evident that if the above brief statement is sound an or- 

 ganization of a course of study has a good foundation. Many 

 topics, each dealt with briefly, will compose the work of lower 

 grades; fewer topics and more intensive study should be in inter- 



