76 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



courteous, with faces turned toward the best things in life. 

 Nature study if properly taught will aid in bringing about 

 these results. It is exceptionally adapted to lead boys and 

 girls to become inquirers after truth and the true relations 

 of things, to acquire a reverence for life and living things, 

 to gain patience and self-control in the performance of 

 duties, a genuine respect for labor, and skill in handling 

 tools. Besides these things nature brings the children into 

 possession of numerous interesting and useful facts that 

 will be of value to them after they leave the grades whether 

 they pursue their education further in high schools and 

 colleges, or whether they go out at once into the world of 

 business to earn their living. 



It is far easier, however, to declare what we desire the 

 children to become than it is to form any accurate concep- 

 tion of what the children really are at any period in their 

 school life, and what nature study has to offer that fits their 

 needs at this particular stage of their development. In- 

 dividual children of the same age or in the same grade 

 differ greatly from one another in natural powers, in abil- 

 ity to grasp new ideas, and in quickness of thought and 

 action. In spite of these differences children have cer- 

 tain characteristics which for the most part are common 

 to all and which make possible a workable course in 

 nature study. 



Primary grades. — Primary children are interested 

 chiefly in activities, especially those activities in which 

 they may participate. In fact, it is by this participation 

 that most of their ideas are gained and fixed. They are 

 interested in whole objects, not in parts; in large things 

 rather than small ones; in the useful rather than in those 



