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SELECTION AND SEQUENCE OF MATERIAL. 209 



enthusiastic, then it was well to take advantage of their 

 interest and study thoroughly. As the children studied 

 nature more, their interest broadened until they could 

 be interested in almost anything. 



It is wise to consider in the selection of material, 

 particularly in beginning work in nature study, the in- 

 terests and ideas of the parents. Nature study is, un- 

 fortunately, new in most schools, and, like all new 

 things, will meet with much opposition and criticism. 

 A wise teacher can very often disarm the critics by 

 a proper selection of material for study. In the manu- 

 facturing town, comparatively few parents will object 

 to having their children study about machinery or 

 iron, or about the cotton from which they make their 

 cloth. In a coal-mining region, the study in the school 

 of coal and its formation and mining and transporta- 

 tion, may be welcomed by the stanchest believer in the 

 three R's. In the country, the study of corn or wheat 

 or oats, of fruit-trees, or of plant food and soil, or of 

 insects, may not be regarded as a very dangerous in- 

 novation. The machinist would be much more apt to 

 object to having his children " waste their time " on 

 flowers and bugs and stones. The farmer could not 

 see the sense in spending time in school on electricity 

 and machinery, the value of which he could not see. 



Later, when the children and parents have been 

 interested, and the parents have learned that nature 

 study helps in other work of the school, and develops 

 and awakens their children, the teacher can select 

 her material and plan her work with less reference to 



