trafton] PLACE OF OBSERVATION IN NATURE-STUDY 125 



worth while. The observation should be guided by specific, clear- 

 cut problems within the child's comprehension. The amount of 

 observation called for will depend upon the nature of the prob- 

 lem. In some cases it may be an important factor, in others it may 

 play but a minor part. 



Observation for its own sake cannot be justified as the aim of 

 nature-study. This narrow conception has helped to bring the 

 subject into disrepute and has sometimes been the cause of the 

 apparent conflict between agriculture and nature-study. Obser- 

 vation is not an end in itself, but simply a means to one end. The 

 introduction of this new method of study was such a radical de- 

 parture from the method in common use, that it is not to be won- 

 dered at that for a while undue emphasis was laid upon it. It 

 should now be given its proper place as secondary to and con- 

 trolled by some large aim expressed in terms of things that inter- 

 est the child. 



The effect of applying the suggestions here given would be 

 to lessen the importance attached to observation, but it would give 

 a more rational and symmetrical perspective to the whole subject 

 of nature-study. Too often the work in nature-study has con- 

 sisted merely of aimless observations alone and the work has 

 stopped there, whereas this should be but the starting point. Ob- 

 servation is simply a means of gathering the raw material which 

 is to be used, and the chief value of observation consists in the 

 fact that it constitutes a new way of gathering this material quite 

 different from the book method used in most school subjects. 

 But the work should not be allowed to stop at this point, but 

 should be organized around some vital problem and carried 

 through to some real issue. A nature lesson which consists of 

 observation alone may be quite as deficient as one in which ob- 

 servation forms no part. 



Observation is an extremely desirable feature in nature- 

 study as a starting point, but there are many congested city dis- 

 tricts where any large amount of observation on living material 

 is out of the question. Yet, even under these conditions it is 

 possible to carry on the organization of the topic in a manner 

 similar to that used in other topics, although the work must be 

 done under serious disadvantages and at a great loss. In these 

 crowded districts the child lives in such an unnatural environment 

 that it is worth while to try to teach him something of the world 

 of nature which everywhere surrounds him at no great distance, 

 but from which he is temporarily shut off. 



