Report of the Executive Committee 35 



" (2) In the Lower Forms it is used to cultivate the powers of 

 observation and expression. Definite Botanical teaching is relegated 

 to the Upper Forms, following an elementary course of Physics and 

 Chemistry. 



" (3) One member of the staff devotes his attention exclusively to 

 * Nature-study ', his whole non-teaching time being taken up with the 

 preparation of lessons and the arrangement of specimens in the 

 museum." 



At the Coombe Hill School, Westerham, the object is : — 



*' to conduct the Nature-study of the school in such a way as to arouse 

 interest in all natural phenomena and to foster the spirit of enquiry. 



" The greater part of the work is carried on, as a matter of course, out- 

 of-doors, and is therefore seasonal, for the children are taken direct to 

 Nature, and are led to observe for themselves the modes of growth and 

 the habits of plants; to follow the life-history of animal organisms; to 

 note the changes wrought, as the year advances, in landscapes familiar 

 to them ; and to note the daily and seasonal alterations in the face of 

 the heavens. 



"The use of note-books is not adopted, as it tends to divert the 

 mind from the subject in hand; and as the children are not likely to 

 forget their own discoveries, notes are not needed, at any rate during 

 the lesson. Wherever direct information is given by the teacher, the 

 faculty of association can be relied on to give the necessary stimulus to 

 memory. It has seemed to be worse than useless to systematize over- 

 much in these studies. One has to take for subject-matter such objects 

 as are at hand. The general direction of a term's or a year's course 

 of study can be planned, and it is well, when possible, to explain 

 beforehand what is to be noticed in a given (outdoor) lesson; but the 

 children's taste, and enthusiasm, and wonderfully quick observation 

 carry them beyond this, and much more is discovered, as a rule, than 

 was expected at the outset. 



" The exercise-books contain descriptions (written spontaneously by 

 the children) of some of the work of the present year, while the 

 diagrams test the accuracy of their observations and, in most cases, 

 the retentiveness of their memory. 



** Brush-work is resorted to as a simple and effective means of repre- 

 senting the beauty of which they become conscious in the course of their 

 study, and the specimens in the exhibition were entirely their own 

 work, and are treated by the brush alone. The woodwork (nesting- 

 boxes, &c. ) and baskets were included in order to show that the chil- 



