OF NATURE STUDY. — 2g 



Thus the teacher's work is in selecting' the material and in directing- the pupil's 

 analysis, while the pupil's work is to discover facts about this material, and" to 

 give expression to each fact in some way, finally summarizing- all these facts in a 

 composition which is virtually the story oi the life of the animal studied. In doing 

 this work the mental power is increased in all directions, and the power of 

 expression is incidentally cultivated in an interesting- way. 



The teacher can do a great deal lo correlate nature study with other subjects 

 of school study, e. g., geography and physiology, and should base all training 

 in expression — reading, drawing, and composition, upon it. This phase of the 

 work has been already fully discussed. 



It is impossible in view of the relation between the constructive activities of 

 the child and its development to escape the conclusion that manual training and 

 domestic science should occupy an important place in elementary education, 

 especially in the secondary and following stages. Such statements as "social 

 life which does not have its root and background in nature is blind and unregu- 

 lated ;" " nature, apart from the place which it plays in giving instruments by 

 which social life maintains itself, is empty and dead;" "the study of nature is the 

 study of the materials ami o'i the processes by which society maintains itself;' 

 " education is a ]irocess of remaking experience, giving it a more socialized value 

 through the medium of increased individual efficiency;" "the aim of the school is to 

 socialize the child; " go to prove that only by repeating typical acts which have 

 operated in the development of the race can the child "remake experience " and 

 thereb}^ interpret his environment. 



Now, as before stated, development oi the race resulted from the reaction of 

 man upon environment in adaptitig it to his needs and aims. To adapt himself to 

 the present complex environinent it is necessary that lie should repeat typical ex- 

 periences of the race such as carpentering, metal work, cooking, etc. This does 

 not mean that he must master every phase of social experience any more than he 

 needs lo own every industrial mechanism in order to feed and clothe himself. But 

 he must know enough about them to be able to interpret them and adapt himself to 

 changing conditions. In the field of literature and art the same typical activities 

 must have been experienced in order that he may appreciate the beauty of expres- 

 sion and form. Hence what is ordinarily designated manual training and domestic 

 science should be considered as the basis of all the school studies. Instead of 

 placing these on the curriculum as separate subjects they should be viewed as 

 modes of expression o\' the constructive activity of the child, just as reading, 

 writing, drawing, and composition are modes of expression, not separate subjects 

 of study. 



Progressive development would lead from the constructive activities to the 

 underlying principles governing the growth of material, the processes o( develop- 

 ment, the application of force necessary to act upon them; in a word to the 

 sciences, while in later lite all would culminate in the highest expression of social 

 experience, literature and art. A complete course in nature study must be 

 correlated with manual training and domestic science. 



