56 THE NATURE STUDY COURSE. 



accounts for this condition on the theory that the analytical 

 study of things dead and dissected has so long monopolized 

 the higher school and university courses that the teachers 

 know nothing else to teach. If this theory # be true it may 

 bring some encouragement to teachers of Nature Study who 

 did not take science in their academic course. I have seen 

 very poor Nature Study lessons taught in elementary classes 

 in the public schools by persons who knew enough science to 

 teach that subject in high schools. It is a good thing to have 

 studied science, but profound scientific knowledge is not indis- 

 pensable to teaching Nature Study in public schools. 



Domestic Farm Animals. — In rural schools, almost 



without exception, observations on the horse and cow or on 

 the sheep and pig may be directed to be made at the homes. 

 Continue the comparative, method wherever practicable. 

 Observing the differences between the ways in which the 

 horse and the cow eat grass in the pasture means more than 

 twice as much training to the child as observing how either 

 one eats without reference to the other. One reason of this 

 is that paying attention to the differences is pretty sure to 

 cause the observer to wonder about their causes. 



In the assignment of the observations to be made it is 

 advisable to suggest points to be noted. Observe the differ- 

 ences in the ways in which the cow and the horse eat grass in 

 the pasture; notice the movements of the head, the tongue, 

 the neck. When the child observes that the cow pushes her 

 head forward when she crops the grass and that the horse's 

 movement in the corresponding act is different he will desire 

 to know the cause of the difference, or he will anticipate that 

 when he reports the observation the teacher will inquire 

 whether he found out why it occurs. Continued observation, 

 stimulated by some new suggestion, will reward him with the 

 discovery that the difference is connected with the absence of 

 upper teeth in the front part of the cow's mouth. It will 



