The Correlation of Nature-Study in the Platoon School 



Julia Shourek 

 Pittsburgh, Pa. 



Much has been said concerning the economic possibilities of a 

 platoon school which has been used with much success to relieve 

 congestion in over crowded districts. A school designed for the 

 accommodation of a certain number of pupils can, under this 

 system of specialized work, care for a group of nearly twice the 

 size with the added advantage of having each branch better taught 

 than could be possible in the traditional school. The possibilities 

 of correlation under this system are great. The fact that these 

 schools are located in congested sections makes the possibilities of 

 nature-study seem rather small, and yet it is under such a system 

 that nature-study may have the broadest possible interpretation 

 and correlation. At the McKelvy school where this system is 

 being used, the Nature-Study department forms a centre from 

 which much other work radiates. A corps of three teachers is 

 employed one for the first and second grades, one for the third, 

 fourth and low fifth, and one for the grades above. 



Throughout the work runs a definite plan so that the work of 

 the intermediate grades is based on that done in the primary and 

 the work of the grammar grades, which in the seventh and eighth 

 years takes the form of general science, is based on the foundation 

 laid down in the intermediate grades. The nature-study work 

 with very- little exception is limited by local conditions. The pets 

 and pests of the household, the trees on the streets, the weeds in 

 the vacant lots, the insects injurious and beneficial, and the plants 

 of conservatory and garden as well as the shrubbery from the 

 school grounds form the basis of much of the work. 



The work of the primary teacher combines art and music with 

 the nature-study. The daily forty-five minute Nature-Study 

 periods were found too long for the little children and the correla- 

 tion has proved very successful. Each subject has been helped 

 by the combination. How many times do our primary children 

 sing songs of dandelions, butterflies or maple trees and realize 

 nothing from the song except the rhythm ? But if the mpale tree 

 is seen on a trip to the reservoir or to some other point of interest, 

 if its leaves, bark, size and shape are discussed, if free hand cutting 



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