On Methods in Teaching Ornithology at 

 Oberlin College 



BY LYNDS JONES 



Instructor in Zoology in Oberlin College 



LHIS article has not to do with ideal methods in teach- 

 ing people about birds. Ideal methods presuppose 

 ideal conditions, which cannot be expected if the 

 subject be taught as a part of a large college cur- 

 riculum and as a part of the teacher's work. The 

 subjoined remarks will therefore be rather an expla- 

 nation of the methods employed under the conditions named than as 

 a statement of what the writer hopes that he may some time be able 

 to realize. 



There are taught, in Oberlin College, three courses in orni- 

 thology. The beginning course, which meets for recitation three 

 times a week during the spring term, aims at a general introduction 

 to the subject, with special stress laid upon field familiarity with a 

 limited number of the more common local species as a basis for 

 further study. The advanced course, with two meetings a week for 

 recitation, undertakes economic and philosophic studies, which require 

 original field work. A course is also offered in the summer school, 

 which meets five times a week for eight weeks, designed for teachers 

 and others who have little or no previous acquaintance with birds, 

 but who desire to teach the subject to children. The methods em- 

 ployed in each of these courses may now be discussed separately. 



Until the advent of Mr. Frank M. Chapman's ' Handbook' made 

 the use of a text-book possible, the work in the beginning course was 

 wholly given in lectures. With that book as a text for the syste- 

 matic part of the work, a much larger opportunity for lectures upon 

 habits and field characteristics was afforded. 



This course is introduced by a brief history of ornithology and a 

 statement of present day activities, showing where effort may be 

 profitably directed. This brief history is followed by a careful 

 scrutiny of the content of ornithology, indicating the bird's place in 

 nature structurally, and its economic importance. After a brief notice 

 of migration and distribution, the real subject is entered upon in the 

 study of the orders as a basis for the study of species. A thorough 

 drill upon the names and characteristics of each of the seventeen 

 orders of North American birds is followed by a somewhat less rig- 

 orous drill upon the minor divisions of the orders as illustrated by 

 the common local species of each, except the Passerine birds, which 



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