The Psychology of Nature Study^ 



" Mind groivs only in so far as it Jiiids expression for itself." — 

 HINSDALE. 



" Educafio?i is a piocess of jemaking experience, giving it a more 

 socialized value, through the medium of individual efficiency " — 

 McLELLAX. 



The process of remaking experience is inseparably united with expression. 

 This process is from the vajjne to the definite, from real to ideal. This latter 

 expression is apt to be misinterpreted imless restated in oilier words. We mean 

 by it heie that education is a i>rocess by wliicli the individual becomes moie and 

 more independent of material things as a sliimiliis to thought and in expressing 

 thought. Thought and expression cannot be divorced. The power of exjires- 

 sion, though conditioned by thought, is yet tlie ciieans b}- wliich thought is made 

 dv;tinite, and is thus conmiunicated to others. 



The growth of mind is a process of analysis followed by synthesis. A 

 child should not be allowed to analyze anything without following up that mental 

 process by an act of sjnthesis, /. e., expression. The expiession is the \isible 

 sign by which we can v;ilue the thought, and it ilelermines the nature and the 

 extent of analysis of the material of stuily. 



This correlation of analysis and synthesis is so fundainenlalU' important that 

 the psychology of any subject is necessarily depentlent upon it. .V basket may 

 be analyzed and if so, one shoidd be made like it. When natural objects are 

 analyzed, often the onl\- possible synthesis is a drawing of the objei't, but this 

 form of expression is possible to anv great extent, only after eight years of age. 

 To determine the extent of the analysis which may be made at atiy age, we have 

 only to determine the power of expression possible at that age. A child is quite 

 able to analj'ze, that is, to tear to pieces, mechanically, ;i delicate flower, but if 

 he is unable to represent this analj'sis, either by a drawing, by a model, or by 

 words, the analysis is a waste of time ; na}', woi-se, it gives the destructive bent 

 of the mind an impetus, which, unbalanced as it is by constructive ability, can 

 lead only to mental dissipation. 



No one would think of asking a child of seven jears of age to model the 

 parts of a Hower nor all the sinuosities of a leaf margin, the indentations of bark, 

 nor the structure of a cell. Yet we often find teachers endeavoring to teach 

 very j'oung children all these details of form and structure. They are forcing 

 their pupils to analyze without possessing the power to synthesize and will fail in 

 securing proper development. 



An example from the teaching of number in arithmetic will make clear the 

 necessity of both processes. Suppose a teacher is teaching the number seven. 

 She has taught six, and now hands each pupil seven sticks with instructions to 

 take a stick six times in the right hand and a stick one time in the left hand- 

 Would an}- teacher think of stopping there ? I think not. She will requiie that 



