Patterson] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY 59 



than to animals. Most of them included some topics in physics 

 and chemistry and all of them suggested weather and sky observa- 

 tions. In the upper grades there was in all a decided agricultural 

 trend. 



All, so far as could be determined from the outlines and the 

 prefatory notes advocated the nature-study method of attack. A 

 few quotations chosen at random substantiates this statement. 

 "The teacher should bear in mind that the pupils in this work are 

 discoverers and should place them in such relation to the subject as 

 to make their investigation profitable." "The teacher must have 

 a strong conviction that nature-study, if it fulfills its mission, must 

 bring children into actual touch with real things." "Progress and 

 results will depend, not so much on the topics as on the method of 

 presentation and treatment." "The best teaching consists of the 

 minimum of instruction by the teacher and the maximimi of study 

 and inference by the pupils." "The course presupposes that the 

 work in the schools will be real nature-study; the children will 

 handle and observe real objects, will perform experiments, will 

 work with their hands and think while they work." 



All of the courses recommended the correlation of nature-study 

 with other school subjects. Emphasis was placed upon the corre- 

 lation with language. Geography stood second. In fact a number 

 of courses had attempted to outline these two studies together. In 

 every case, however, after two years' work the course practically 

 dropped nature-study and taught pure geography. The reason for 

 this is not far to seek. The first studies in the best geography teach- 

 ing is what is called home geography, a large part of which is simply 

 nature-study under another name. Other subjects for correlation 

 were hand work, and reading, with a few suggesting history and 

 arithmetic. 



No radical changes have been made in the course during the past 

 five years. They have, however, been repeatedly revised, or 

 rather they are in a continuous state of revision. Some topics are 

 shifted from one grade to another. Some are dropped altogether, 

 some additional ones are inserted, especially is this true in teachers 

 colleges and normal schools where opportunity to test the work with 

 classes of children in training schools is possible. 



All this means that the leaders are giving more and more atten- 

 tion to the psychology of the subject. They are trying to adapt 



