42 The Nature-Study Exhibition 



this type were given indoors as object-lessons. For in- 

 stance, in the schools of the Leicester Board — 



" The upper classes are taught Observation Lessons on Animal and 

 Plant Life and on Minerals. The methods of teaching adopted are 

 the fostering of the children's own observation of actual objects \ the 

 awakening of the discrimination of likeness and difference as the basis 

 of natural classification ; the arousing of the sense of wonder, surprise, 

 and novelty at the adaptation of means to ends, and the relationships of 

 each object in nature to all other objects and its surroundings. 



"The principle adopted in the actual teaching is to insist upon the 

 pupils finding out, for themselves as much as possible, the mere ' infor- 

 mation ' from which the inferences and generalizations are to be derived 

 by the children with suggestive aids from the teachers." 



At Churchill Boys' School one of the many subjects taken 

 up will serve as an illustration : — 



" Timber Trees. — To observe the mode of perennation and growth of 

 these trees, the boys collected winter buds in December, and observed 

 the development of the leaves in spring, which when fully developed 

 they gathered and pressed. The specimens of bark were likewise col- 

 lected, and the seasoned wood obtained from the timber yard. An 

 object-lesson on each tree is given when the observations have been 

 completed. The points eventually fixed are: (i) Habitat, (2) Shape, 

 (3) Mode of Growth, (4) Perennation, (5) Wood, (6) Uses, (7) Trees 

 most suited to different situations. 



•'Occasional walks are taken, and these with a distinct object, t,g, to 

 see tree-planting, to a quarry, to a lake, to hear birds." 



The head-master of Pailton School, Rugby, says : — 



*'(i) Let the children bring specimens they themselves gather of 

 either wild flowers or grasses, and, in autumn, leaves and berries, 

 insects, and so forth; (2) Base most of your object-lessons on these 

 specimens, and also on other things they see going to and from school.** 



The methods adopted at Rangeworthy School call for 

 consideration and are as follows : — 



** The children bring a specimen of something they have found — say 

 a caterpillar — and a little conversation is allowed among them as it is 



