320 NATURE STUDY, 



into the schools. It will be found wise during the 

 spring and fall months of the first year to limit the re- 

 quired work in nature study to plants, allowing teach- 

 ers who wish to do so to study also birds in the spring, 

 and insects and domestic animals in the fall. 



Gradually, as teachers become accustomed to the na- 

 ture study, and can prepare for the work, more animal 

 study can be introduced, and then the study of min- 

 erals, physics, and chemistry, which will, in general, be 

 found the most difficult. 



Most teachers, even those who have never studied 

 physics, have a sufficient stock of general information 

 to study with their pupils common physical phenomena, 

 such as water, air, and perhaps heat. These can best 

 be studied during the winter. 



The preparation or lack of preparation of the teach- 

 ers for the science work must affect the distribution 

 of the different phases of nature study throughout the 

 year, or the emphasis on different kinds of work at dif- 

 ferent seasons. Botanists urge that the study of plants 

 be pursued throughout the whole year, that much in 

 the plant can be best studied during the winter. Much 

 work in physics and meteorology can be best done or 

 only done during the warm season. So it has been 

 proposed that all lines of nature work should be carried 

 on, each alternating with the others from day to day or 

 week to week throughout the school-year. This greatly 

 increases the labor of preparation on the part of the 

 teacher. If the work is limited each season to one or 

 two lines, teachers can more easily prepare and plan for 



