MCQUADE CHILDREN'S INTEREST IN NATURE-STUDY 211 



The work described in the following pages was started and 

 notes were taken daily for the purpose of finding out by such a 

 study (as much as possible) of the continuity of children's interests 

 in such plants and animals as any school may have and to note 

 their power of interpretation and their spontaneous reactions 

 toward the work. 



It will be noted in this paper that very little was done along 

 the lines of the second topic while the first and third gave fairly 

 satisfactory results as far as this particular group of children 

 were concerned. 



The time covered in making the daily observations was three 

 months (Saturdays and Sundays omitted) . A class of nine children 

 averaging in age five and six years was chosen for the work. Of 

 these six had attended kindergarten. 



From the beginning great care was taken to leave the children 

 as free as possible and at no time were any but very slight sugges- 

 tions made by the teachers. Still it must be remembered that 

 these suggestions, however mild, were no doubt partly responsible 

 for the remarkable continuity of interest shown by the children. 



The plan adopted was one that I had wished to try for a long 

 time, and though it developed along unexpected lines in some 

 respects, the divergence was due wholly to the initiative of the 

 children themselves. 



The work was begun in the early Autumn by taking the children 

 on walks, stopping at favorable resting places and talkiftg freely 

 about the objects at hand. The main idea was to develop the 

 desire for plants and pets but in the nature of the case many other 

 subjects came up all helping, however, more or less directly in 

 fostering the original plan. Grasshoppers were imprisoned by a 

 fence made of clasped hands, humming birds were watched 

 breathlessly as they gathered nectar from the flowers. Erroneous 

 notions such as the belief that grasshoppers chew tobacco and 

 that humming birds make honey were corrected by the older 

 children. 



In the course of a week the children knew that the gardener 

 does not plant all the seed and that he does not go to the store to 

 buy all that he does plant. The wind was kind and they dis- 

 covered these things for themselves. 



At the end of two weeks through the influence of talks, stories 

 and delightful walks the children caught eagerly at the suggestion 



