THE THIRD YEARBOOK 



NATURE-STUDY. 



CHAPTER L 

 INTRODUCTION. 



I. nature-study: its general meaning. 



The spirit of nature-study requires that the pupils be inteUigently 

 directed in the study of their immediate environment in its relation 

 to themselves ; that there shall be, under the natural stimulus of the 

 desire to know, a constant effort at a rational interpretation of the 

 common things observed. If this plan be consistently pursued, it 

 will naturally follow that the real knowledge acquired, the trust- 

 worthy methods developed, and the correct habits of observing and 

 imaging formed will lay a sound foundation for the expansive scien- 

 tific study which gradually creates a world-picture, and at the same 

 time enables the student, by means of the microscope, the dissecting 

 knife and the alembic, to penetrate intelligently into its minute details. 



The study of nature ultimately resolves itself into a study of 

 energy. The great aspects under which energy may be observed — 

 color, form, and force — are presented to the children through an 

 inquiry into their functions. 



In nature-study as in .everything else, the work must begin 

 with what the individual has already acquired, and it should pro- 

 ceed from this according to the natural laws of mind-growth. The 

 pupil's knowledge of nature, which must be recognized as the basis 

 for further study, has been gathered by a more or less careful 

 observation of his surrounding landscape. The function of the 

 teacher is to assist the learner through experiment, and by following 

 the suggestions derived from experience in an elaboration of the 

 details of this great indefinite picture. If properly conducted, the 

 study will lead to a fuller recognition of natural laws which are 

 simply the statement of the sequence of phenomena, that, so far as 

 observed, remains constant. 



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