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Handbook of N ature-Study 



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USES OF PICTURES, CHARTS AND BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 



ICTURES alone should never be used as the subjects for 

 nature-study lessons, but they may be of great use in 

 illustrating and illuminating a lesson. Books well illus- 

 trated are more readily comprehended by the child and 

 are often very helpful to him, especially after his interest 

 in the subject is thoroughly aroused. If charts are used 

 to illustrate the lesson, the child is likely to be misled by the size of the 

 drawing, which is also the case in blackboard pictures. However, this 

 error may be avoided by fixing the attention of the pupil on the object 

 first. If the pupils are studying the ladybird and have it in their hands, 

 the teacher may use a diagram representing the beetle as a foot long and 

 it will still convey the idea accurately; but if she begins with the pict- 

 ure, she probably can never convince the children that the picture has 

 anything to do with the insect. 



In making blackboard drawings illustrative of the lesson, it is best, if 

 possible, to have one of the pupils do the drawing in the presence of the 

 class; or, if the teacher does the drawing, she should hold the object in 

 her hand while doing it and look at it often so that the children may 

 see that she is trying to represent it accurately. Taking everything into 

 consideration, however, nature-study charts and blackboard drawings are 

 of little use to the nature-study teacher. 



THE USES OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES 



ISQUIETING problems relative to scientific nomenclature 

 always confront the teacher of nature-study My own 

 practice has been to use the popular names of species, 

 except in cases where confusion might ensue, and to use 

 the scientific names for anatomical parts. However, 

 this matter is of little importance if the teacher bears in 

 mind that the purpose of nature-study is to know the subject under obser- 

 vation and to learn the name incidentally. 



If the teacher says: "I have a pink hepatica. Can anyone find me a 

 blue one?" the children, who naturally like grown-up words, will soon be 

 calling these flowers hepaticas. But if the teacher says, "These flowers 

 are called hepaticas. Now please everyone remember the name. Write 

 it in your books as I write it on the blackboard, and in half an hour I shall 

 ask you again what it is," the pupils naturally look upon the exercise as a 

 word lesson and its real significance is lost. This sort of nature-study is 

 dust and ashes and there has been too much of it. The child should never 

 be required to learn the name of anything in the nature-study work; but 

 the name should be used so often and so naturally in his presence, that 

 he will learn it without being conscious of the process. 



THE STORY AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE NATURE-STUDY LESSON 



^ ANY of the subjects for nature lessons can be studied only 

 in part, since but one phase may be available at the 

 time. Often, especially if there is little probability that 

 the pupils will find opportunity to complete the study, it 

 is best to round out their knowledge by reading or telHng 

 the story to supplement the facts which they have disco v- 



