298 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:7-0ct., 1916 



BASIS FOR THE 'ORGANIZATION OF A COURSE IN NATURE-STUDY 



i. The course should cover all phases of elementary science 

 adapted to the grades. (Biology, hygiene, elementary agricul- 

 ture, elementary physics and chemistry, astronomy.) 



2. This material should be organized from the child's stand- 

 point and not the adult's. 



3. The basis for organization should be found in the child's 

 needs and interests, instead of in the subject matter. 



4. This basis should be found in the needs and interests of the 

 child's present life or of his immediate future, instead of in those 

 of the distant future. 



5. The arrangement of topics should depend on the seasons. 



6. The course should be adapted to local conditions. 



7. In the lower grades the dominant purpose should be the 

 esthetic; in the upper grades the dominant purposes should be 

 the economic and social. 



8. The topics for the primary grades should deal largely with 

 the study of plants and animals ; the work for upper grades should 

 cover all phases of elementary science. 



9. The topics for study in the primary grades should include 

 the most conspicuous plants and animals in the child's environ- 

 ment, selected from the standpoint of color, activities, size, and 

 occurrence. 



The thought of the writer in starting this discussion is that 

 others might contribute their views and that from these contri- 

 butions it might be possible to select the ones on which all agree, 

 not as a compromise, but as representing some of the essential 

 principles underlying the organization of a course in nature-study. 

 These must exist ; have they been found yet ? 



Dr. L. H. Bailey has assembled the addresses delivered by him 

 as president of the American Nature-Study Society and as vice- 

 president of Section M (agriculture) of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, and another of similar character, 

 and published them privately under the title "Ground Levels in 

 Democracy." He offers to send the booklet free, as long as the 

 supply lasts, to persons interested, upon application to his home 

 address, Ithaca, N. Y. 



