4 NATURE STUDY 



While this method may seem a haphazard one, it need by no 

 means be so. The order of presenting the facts need not inter- 

 fere with good judgment in their selection and in the final group- 

 ing of the facts according to their relations. 



Above all the nature study lessons should not be undertaken 

 without the object. It is nature that is to help the child, and if 

 the bit of nature on which the lesson is based is absent, nothing 

 can make up for the loss. 



Equally important with the presence of the object is the secur- 

 ing of the activity of child in relation to it. Indeed the success of 

 the nature study teacher is complete, when the object and the 

 child are brought together, and the child is awakened to work 

 thoroly with this bit of nature. The skill to induce the normal 

 activity of the child is the essence of teaching. Many a teacher 

 makes the mistake of considering that what he says is of the ut- 

 most importance and can not be left out, and further, that no one 

 but him can perform the little experiments just right. Conse- 

 quently he teaches and does so much, and does it so long and so 

 loudly, that the room is filled with him. Now the truth is, that 

 what the teacher talks is of very little importance, but what he 

 succeeds in getting the pupil to do and think is of the utmost 

 importance. There is no work of the school so well adapted to 

 bring out the activity of the child as nature study, and it would 

 be a pity if the exceptional opportunities it offers for the best 

 work of the school were lost by simply not giving the pupil the 

 chance to do what he would do so willingly. 



To sum up: The work in nature study should be daily; each 

 lesson should cover only that small bit of observation that can be 

 clearly seen and understood; the lesson should be brief with the 

 lower grades; it must be fragmentary; the topics should be fre- 

 quently changed ; the lesson must always be adapted to the child's 

 powers and interests; it should be with a real bit of nature; and 

 above all, the great aim should be to induce the child to work foi 

 himself with hand, eye and mind with the bit of nature before 

 him. 



