CHAPTER VI 



THE APPARENT MOVEMENTS OF THE SUN 



WE have now described the simpler forms of observations which 

 may be made on the physical environment. But it is obvious 

 that the course would be very incomplete if it did not also include 

 somewhat more detailed observations on the changes of the 

 seasons on that great drama which lies at the back of most of 

 the historic religions, and has so powerfully moulded the thought 

 and the literature of all peoples. As these phenomena are less 

 obvious to town-dwellers than to the shepherds on the hills, the 

 hunters on the trackless plains, or the sailors on the seas, it is 

 essential that the attention of school children be directly drawn 

 to that mighty swing upwards and downwards in the sky of the 

 great sun, to that rhythm which punctuates all our life. The 

 Christmas festival when the infant sun begins his upward climb, 

 the Easter joy near the period when his triumph is assured, the 

 harvest rejoicing at the work he has accomplished when his 

 descent is becoming increasingly obvious all these ancient 

 ceremonies may be used to suggest the unity of the human race, 

 the continuity of emotion through all the changes in modes of 

 life and thought. 



Again, another if more prosaic argument for a careful study 

 of the seasons in the Nature Study period is that their scientific 

 explanation can never be made easy, and it is therefore of great 

 educational importance that an association of wonder and interest 

 be firmly established before the pupils pass to the consideration 

 of the difficulties involved in their geographical lessons. 



As in the case of meteorological problems, various methods 

 of approach may be profitably tried. It seems, however, a sound 

 educational method to begin with some of the direct effects of 

 the sun's (apparent) motion on daily life. The varying lengths 

 of the days, for instance, is a point to which attention may well 



