236 NATUEE STUDY. 



CHAPTER XL 



NATURE STUDY AND THE EXPRESSIVE WORK OF THE 



SCHOOL. 



WE have formulated the aims and discussed the psy- 

 chological principles which must determine method in 

 nature study, and have considered the application of 

 these principles in the study of material. 



We must now turn our thoughts to the relation of 

 nature study to other school-work, and to the means and 

 methods by which it can be made most helpful in such 

 work. 



In planning any work for elementary schools, the ad- 

 vocate of nature study must keep in mind the immedi- 

 ate object of these schools. That object, as recognized 

 by most school officers and parents, is to teach read- 

 ing, writing, arithmetic, geography, " the essentials." 

 Many teachers look little farther. 



The educator who has deeper insight and a broader 

 and higher outlook looks beyond these immediate ob- 

 jects to higher aims, the development of the whole 

 child, the building of character, the perfecting of the re- 

 lations between the child and his environment, nature, 

 man, and God. 



The two objects are in no sense incompatible. 



