144 NATURE STUDY. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PRINCIPLES DETERMINING METHOD IN NATURE STUDY. 



THE discussion of almost any subject involves the 

 consideration of three questions, " What ? " " Why ? " 

 " How ? " We have answered two of these questions. 



The consideration of method involves three topics, - 

 the study of material, the selection of material, and the 

 arrangement of material and formulation of a course in 

 nature study. The term "method" is frequently re- 

 stricted to the first of these, the method in studying 

 material. This may be discussed under three main 

 heads : First, the presentation of matter to the children ; 

 second, the expression by the children of what they 

 have learned, involving a consideration of the methods 

 of relating nature study to the expressive work of the 

 school, language, drawing, moulding, painting, music ; 

 third, the method of relating nature study to other school- 

 work, particularly literature, geography, and arithmetic. 



In this and the next chapters we propose to consider 

 the principles which must largely determine all method ; 

 in the two chapters following these we can study the 

 application of these principles in the presentation of 

 matter to the children, taking up in later chapters the 

 other phases of method. 



