n8 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW _ [7 :5 — May 191 1 



of actually supplying as many as possible of the fundamental 

 experiences without which book knowledge does fail. 



It is the more or less clear recognition of these facts which 

 makes teachers demand, as they have not done heretofore, that 

 book knowledge and imaginative experiences be based on previous 

 contact with real situations and materials introduced into the 

 instruction by every legitimate means possible. 



Such being the facts, it is evident that some sort of school 

 museum must come to be a part of the ordinary equipment of 

 the schools. There must be some place, call it what you will, 

 into which there may be gathered certain materials with which 

 the children may learn by doing, by finding out about, or settling 

 things, in order that we may replace a mere memoriter acquaint- 

 ance with the fruits of the intelligence of the race by activities 

 similar to those by which the race produced these fruits. These 

 activities may not arise to the dignity of experiments and re- 

 searches in the sense of high school and college work, nor be en- 

 gaged in from the same motive, but the place where the materials 

 are stored and organized may fairly be called a. school museum. 

 The scope of such an instrument of education is limited. This 

 should be clearly understood. It is not a panacea ; but it is both 

 legitimate and important in the present effort to turn the pendu- 

 lum of instruction away from mere conversational exercises about 

 objects and phenomena to fresh experiences with them, after 

 which only, is discussion profitable. 



II. THE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MUSEUM 



In some cities attempts have been made to supply illustrative 

 material to individual schools from a central bureau. I do not 

 contend that such an arrangement cannot be made worth while, 

 but the difficulties in the way of making it so are not few. The 

 value of the bureau of geography, which the board of education 

 in Chicago until recently maintained, for several years did not 

 seem to warrant its continuance. If there were no other grave 

 difficulty in managing a central bureau, the fact that it would do 

 for the individual school much of what they should do for them- 

 selves makes the value of the central bureau doubtful. Certainly 

 there should be school museums whether there is a central 

 bureau or not, and there should be a clear differentiation in 

 functions. If a city lacks such valuable institutions as we have 

 in the Chicago Academy of Science and the Field Museum, a 

 central school museum would be most desirable. But no central 

 institution for a whole city can serve the purpose I have in mind. 



