NATURE-STUDY. A modern development of the movement of elementary education toward the study of real objects rather than symbols. It arose in response to a demand voiced as early as the year ISIS in this country by Horace :\lann (q.v.) for early training in the inductive method of thought and in the field of nature.
According to generally accepted ideas on nature-study, it must concern itself with the common objects of the child's environment. These the child must be led to examine, to work With himself. The work must lie carried on, so far as possible, to strengthen independence of thought and judgment. The beginnings of the study must be based upon the immediate surroundings 14 the child, and the field of inquiry may be extended further abroad as the later years of the school are approached. 'The tasks in the earlier years should he 4•Itietly observational. Nevertheless, the experimental method of study should not be neglected. As far as possible. organic forms should lie regarded as living things capable of activity and change; the point of view should therefore lie dynamic, a matter of great pedagogic importanee. The plan of the work may properly he made out so is to include the commoner animals and plants. and the every (lay phenomena of inorganic nature. Duplication of work should be avoided by increasing the dillienIty of the problems and basing them on different material. It is better to study the materials comparatively as far as possible. so that pupils may learn to discriminate and to form general notions. The exhaustive study of one type is of mind] less value. Outdoor work should be done; in addition to gardening, studies of the habits and haunts of animals, the appear ance and disappearance of the birds, the relations of insects to plant life, the appearance of trees in summer and winter dress, and numerous other similar topics nuty form the basis of study. It is highly important that the materials
should be abundant, that the teacher be not too closely tied to a detailed plan of work, and that lie be resourceful in the matter of making the most of what is available. it is important, too, that the pupils should provide their own ma terial, and to this end both the excursion and the garden should be turned to account. It would seem best, on the whole, to devote, at any rate, two periods (one to two hours) a week, or its equivalent, throughout the course. The school garden has in sonic cases been provided for after school hours, and this seems to be a reasonable adjustment of the matter.
Consult: Carss. Course in Nature Study (in the Horace Mann School) ; Teachers College Record, vol. i., No. 2, for March, 1900 (New York, with an extensive bibliography) ; Course in Nature Study for Public Schools (Ithaca. 1900. to be obtained through the State Secretary) ; 1-lodge, Nature Study and Lile (New York, 1902) ; Jackman. Nature Study for the Common Schools (ib., 1894) ; id., Nature Study for tile Grades (ib., 1899) ; Lange, Hand book of Nature Study (ib., 1899) ; Scott, Nature Study and the Child (Boston, 1901) ; Wilson, Nature Study in the Elementary School (New York, 1899) ; Bailey, Garden Making (ib.,1901).