CORRELATION 59 



There is also a reflex benefit from the art lesson upon the 

 nature lesson, if the two have been correlated as suggested. 

 A child that has drawn carelessly the margin and shape of a 

 leaf, and has his attention called to his inaccuracy, will have 

 his scientific understanding of the leaf made clearer and more 

 definite. The visual image left by the drawing lesson will 

 assist the nature-study. A child who has carefully and 

 accurately drawn a hard and a soft maple leaf must have the 

 similarity and also the difference of these two leaves im- 

 pressed upon him all the more deeply. The correct painting 

 or drawing of a natural object clarifies and makes more 

 definite the mental image the child may have got from the 

 object in the nature lesson. 



When the children have become more proficient in draw- 

 ing, etc., they should be required more and more frequently 

 to represent the objects of the nature lessons with the 

 scientific aspect in mind. Require them to illustrate their 

 nature work with correct and carefully drawn illustrations 

 showing form, color, proportions, details of structure, rela- 

 tionship of parts, diagrams, development of growing things, 

 principles of experiments, interrelations of plants and ani- 

 mals, structure and action of simple machines, plans of con- 

 struction, plans of the garden, etc. These drawings are 

 avowedly from the nature-study point of view, but the prin- 

 ciples of art may be applied to them nevertheless. Many of 

 these illustrations may be made first purely from the art side 

 and afterwards applied to the nature work, such as written 

 work, records; essays, charts, booklets, herbaria, portfolios, etc. 



I would urge the use of diagrams in the upper grades. 

 This requires a certain amount of maturity, an ability to 

 represent what the mind sees, often in disregard of actual 



