NATURE STUDY IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT 



(Photographs of figures 5-9 by the author.) 



/~\NE of two things can happen to a civilized people fol- 

 ^-^ lowing upon a great world war ; they may either be- 

 come brutalized by the .experience and sink into an age 

 of decadence, barbarity, and lawlessness, or they may 

 maintain their vigor and stability, and, with a firm de- 

 termination to rebuild the shattered structure of their 

 civilization, rise superior to the brutality and destruction 

 in which they have been engaged. When the latter 

 course is chosen there is no surer and more gratifying 

 index of it than to see the people go back to nature for 

 their refinement, inspiration and rebuilding. This is 

 what has happened in this country, to a large extent ; 

 and it is a most encouraging symptom when such a 

 movement manifests itself, as indicating the soundness 

 of the brains, morals and physique of the people. 



Chief among these indications is the taking up of the 

 study of nature 

 not only here 

 and there as a 

 pastime, but by 

 students all over 

 the country, and 

 by its introduc- 

 tion into univer- 

 sities and col- 

 leges and into 

 private and pub- 

 lic schools. At 

 this writing the 

 study of nature, 

 as it has come to 

 be incorporated 

 into the curri- 

 cula of our pub- 

 lic schools, has 

 been a move- 

 ment taken on 



dressing my communications to the superintendents of 

 our public schools in various cities of the United States. 

 The responses have been most gratifying and encour- 

 aging. I have also been favored by the Bureau of Edu- 

 cation of the Department of the Interior, it having 

 supplied me with a number of their recent Bulletins on 

 this subject. One of these, on the "Reorganization of 

 Science in Secondary Schools," is of especial interest 

 and importance as touching upon this matter. Here the 

 work of what was being accomplished along such lines 

 and for further recommendations was referred to a 

 Science Committee, composed of teachers of biology, 

 chemistry, physics and general science in the public 

 schools and other schools located in various towns and 

 cities all over the country. This report makes a pamph- 

 let of over sixty pages, and includes, or embodies, the 



c o n t r i butions 

 and criticisms 

 of more than 

 fifty science 

 teachers and ad- 

 ministrative of- 

 ficers, approved 

 by the review- 

 i n g committee 

 of the Commis- 

 sion on the Re- 

 organization of 

 Secondary Edu- 

 cation. Some of 

 the suggestions 

 set forth will be 

 touched u p o n 

 further on. 



It would seem 

 that a large 

 number of the 



FIG. 1. EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDING AT ST. LOUIS 

 y ai s ji^g children composing a Nature Study Class are seen entering the main door with their 



and others, and teacher. Note the two large delivery trucks which are filled to their capacity twice daily. 



through their 



energy and encouragement has spread over the country 



as a great wave of enlightenment from one end of it to 



another. 



Having been a working naturalist for many years, and 

 having during the past year conducted nature study 

 classes in the public schools of Washington and the regu- 

 lar summer course lectures upon the same subject at the 

 George Washington University, I have become thor- 

 oughly interested in this country-wide movement. Then, 

 in order to obtain a broader view of the situation, I wrote 

 for information, plans, booklets and photographs, ad- 



superin- 

 tendents of 

 our public 

 schools issue these schemes on the elementary course in 

 science, each after his own fashion. As a rule, they are 

 neatly bound in heavy paper, frequently carrying many 

 half-tone illustrations devoted to the children in the 

 classes, to school museums, specimens used in teaching, 

 and to numerous other features of interest. On an 

 average, these pamphlets carry fifty or more pages of 

 printed matter in the case of one or two schools over 

 a hundred ; occasionally charts and diagrams are in- 

 corporated. Among the most elaborate of these publica- 

 tions are from the superintendents of the public schools 



