THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF NATURE-STUDY 9 



by disuse. Since the senses are the gateway for our knowl- 

 edge of the outer world, it is necessary to train them well. 

 We must learn to perceive things as they really are. Clear 

 and truthful perceptions are the basis of sound thinking. 



But observation should lead to thought. The mind 

 should be receptive, should take in the newly observed facts 

 and connect them with what is already known. That is, 

 there should be what is pedagogically called apperception, 

 as well as perception, in order to make intellectual progress, 

 to increase the sum of individual knowledge. 



Now, nature-study is especially suitable for stimulating and 

 training the power of observation. There are hosts of ani- 

 mate and inanimate things to be observed and thought about. 

 In such thinking there is something tangible and concrete. 

 The object can be seen and handled, perhaps. Children 

 are not mature enough for much abstract thinking. Hence 

 object-study is more suitable for them. By a proper selection 

 of material and proper guidance, the child may be made more 

 observant of natural things around him, to his lasting benefit 

 and pleasure. 



In the education of our children we seem to neglect the 

 hint that nature herself has given us. Before school-days 

 begin education is chiefly through observation. The founders 

 of the kindergarten taught that this method should be con- 

 tinued in the school, and not set aside by the use of books, 

 as is so generally the case. Books have a very great value, 

 but they give their information at second hand. A book tells 

 what some one else thinks about something, and no reader 

 of such a book can get as vivid or perfect a knowledge of 

 the thing as had the author, who learned the fact first hand. 

 "Seeing is believing" is a maxim full of truth. We should 



