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A Short Graded Course in Reading from

The Riverside Literature Series.

The specific recommendation of over 60 prominent Superintendents. (Excepting The Book of Nature
Myths to be ready in September.)

Nos.

Single numbers, paper, 15 cents; Double numbers, paper, 30 cents. All prices are Net, postpaid.

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The Book of Nature Myths. (Special Number.)..
47-48....Scudder's Fables and Folk Stories....
49-50....Hans Andersen's Stories......

107-108..Grimm's German Household Tales

.......... ...........

GRADE III.

GRADE IV.

59.......Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading.....

70-71....A Selection from Whittier's Child Life in Poetry and Prose..
17-18....Hawthorne's Wonder-Book............

GRADE V.

10, 29....Hawthorne's Biographical Stories; Little Daffy downdilly, and other Stories.......
13-14....Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha.......

GRADE VI.

7-9......Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair: True Stories from New England History. 1620-1803..
28,36....Burroughs' Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and other Papers.....

GRADE VII.

75.......Scudder's George Washington (Double Number).

6.......Holmes' Grandinother's Story of Bunker Hill and Other Poems.

40, 69....Hawthorne's Tales of the White Hills and Sketches; The Old Manse and a Few Mosses...
GRADE VIU.

4..

.Longfellow's Evangeline......

Whittier's Snow-Bound and Other Poems

30......Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal, and Other Poems.................................................
1, 4, 30...in one volume......

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The Hiawatha Primer and The Book of Nature Myths form a two book course for beginners, continuous in vocabulary, grading and subject matter.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &

Progress in Drawing

Depends largely on GOOD TOOLS.

Dixon's

School Pencils

are the BEST TOOLS.

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In response to inquiries from School Officers for & Book of convenient size containing Blank Orders

Jos. Dixon Crucible Company, upon the Treasurer-and in compliance with

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their request-we are prepared to furnish such Blank Orders in the form of the ordinary Check or Receipt Book, Substantially Bound, with Stubs Perforated so that Orders may readily be detached, at the following rates:

Books Printed to Special Order: With Name of District and County, and other Blanks, including Name of Treasureer if desired, printed in good style, Book Containing Three Hundred Orders, $3.00.

We have also been printing Special Order Books for Overseers of the Poor and for Road Commissioners, in Townships and School Districts, at same rate and in same form as above, with changes desired. Address

J. P. McCaskey, Lancaster, Pa.

The Pennsylvania District Register will be ordered at Publishers' rates ($4.50 by express or $5.00 by mail), to any School Board desiring it, and remitting amount here named with order for the book. Address,

J. P. McCaskey, Lancaster, Pa.

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IN

STATE TEACHERS' AND, OF THE ASSOCIATION

SEPTEMBER, 1902.

DEPARTMENTS OF STATE EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

CONFERENCE ON NATURE STUDY.

IN the absence of the Chairman, Dr. A. E. Maltby, Principal of the Slippery Rock State Normal School, presided over the meeting of the Department of Nature Study, and read the following paper:

SOME PHASES OF NATURE STUDY.

In

The introduction of nature study into the school work in one or more of its particular phases naturally draws attention to consideration of the best methods for securing the advantages which the study offers to the teacher and the child. these days of advanced ideas, when the demand is growing stronger every year for concrete work in education, much stress must be laid upon nature study as affording the desired mental discipline. It cannot be denied, however, that much of the work along the various lines is so desultory and fragmentary that little of any real value is gained. Intelligent association with nature in any of the many phases of her activity cannot fail to be beneficial to the growing mind, and especially is this true when the active principle within the child-mind is brought into harmonious contact with that phase of nature study that deals with the principle of life in the external world.

Nature study has been defined as the seeing of the things one looks at, and the drawing of the proper conclusions therefrom. In any one of the phases studied, the child must be kept in sympathy with

No. 3.

nature, and the final product must be the sympathetic, nature-loving child. A graded and systematic body of facts kills nature study. When the teacher thinks chiefly of his subject, he teaches a science; when he thinks chiefly of the effects upon his pupils, he teaches nature study.

In its essence it will be readily seen that nature study is but a re-birth of the actual methods of Gilbert White and of Agassiz. It is in reality the true method of study in any subject like natural history, and has for years been sadly neglected by the professional zoologist. More and more has his work tended toward special and almost secret instruction to a few-a sort of esoteric instruction as distinguished from the exoteric instruction which should be given to the general public. The teacher must not be so much engrossed in his researches in the private laboratory that he loses touch with the man of general information, while even the amateur is unable to understand in large degree the results which the scientist has elaborated. Nature study must be an affair of the heart-a real development of true sympathy with nature in all her works.

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine.

Yet nine out of every ten of the instructors in natural science if asked to assist in the preparation of a lesson in

nature study will begin with the gun, that is, will pull apart and analyze the wings of the bird so as to show every distinct feather, instead of calling attention to the phases of instinct and habit, and to the adaptation of parts to their various uses. The analysis is of great service in its place, however. Order must be brought out of the chaos of observation, and the power of just discrimination be cultivated, yet the ideal nature study makes the student the historian of nature rather than the dissector of nature.

The nature study movement is the most conspicuous feature in educational methods. Child study, which alone disputes the supremacy, is only another phase of the same great educational progress. The basis of nature study is contact of the child-mind with the world of realities. Every child has a quick eye for the curious and interesting things in the fields and woods, and nature study becomes especially valuable, therefore, because it is associated with the interest and work of childhood. A good teacher, in love with learning and on speaking terms with nature, will be able to obtain results which will far surpass anything which can be done by adherence to mere work with the text-book. The essence of nature study is to expand and train the mind of the pupil, rather than to emphasize the importance of the subject matter. True nature study holds at present no direct relation to the study of the subjects as presented in the ordinary text-books. Such presentation of the material does not possess any advantage that does not belong to other subjects presented through the text. The child mind does not crave the text-book, but reaches out after the things themselves, in order that a complete idea of nature's message may be gained. The growing mind of the child is stimulated by intelligent contact with nature in any phase of presentation. That is a great moment in the child's life when he finds that the thing he loves links him to the internal or mental world as well as to the external world of the non-ego. Instinctively he loves nature, and is interested in the things which he can see and handle. The teacher may not be able to make the children " see nature," but he can lead them in their study so that they will not lose the love of nature they already have.

It would be a large undertaking to attempt to enumerate the objects to be

studied. In general the objects should be things which can be seen and handled. Encourage the children to bring to you, from their walks in the fields and woods, whatever to them seems curious and interesting. Stimulate the natural curiosity of the children, and let interest keep well ahead of knowledge. During the various seasons of the year the teacher will have little trouble in finding an abundance of material. Nature appears in myriad forms, yet even here the real miracles lie nearest at hand. We need not call the attention of the child to the seemingly more marvelous things in nature before he gains some knowledge of the marvels at his feet. The motto written on the walls of the old school at Eton is suggestive to the teacher who would succeed in nature study:

"Do ye nexte thinge."

So the children are encouraged to become collectors of materials for the lessons, school museums are formed, and those things that can be found near at hand are studied; to-day a stone, tomorrow a twig, a leaf, a bird, a flower. In the geographical phase of nature study, let the child study the sand, the gravel, and the clay. How were these materials formed, whence were they derived, and by what means were they laid down in their present position? How came the different rocks to occupy their present places in the earth? Are there any similar changes now going forward on the face of the globe? Study the action of the brooks and larger streams as they bear away the mud, the sand and the gravel in one place, and deposit it in another. Let the child discover that the rains and frosts, the winds and other agents act upon the solid rocks of the earth, and make them crumble down, thus forming new soil. Open the eyes of the child to some of these wonders that lie all aronnd him.

In general it may be said that those objects are most interesting to the child that attract him through motion or beauty. The living animal and the color masses of the flowers attract the child at once. Objects in perfectly natural conditions are much better than cut and dried specimens. Among the subjects suitable for nature study during the several months of the school year are these:

Plants, seeds and buds; development of buds; growth of plants; roots and rootlets; stems and leaves; flowers; colors

of foliage; parts of plants used by man; where certain plants abound; common forest trees, etc.; fruits and seeds, etc. Other subjects which may be similarly expanded may include animals, birds, quadrupeds, beasts of burden, minerals, winds, soils, temperature, time, migration of birds, etc., etc., the host of natural phenomena which are related to the child's mental life.

There are as many ways of conducting nature study lessons as there are good teachers; still some suggestions as to the preferable methods may not be amiss. When Agassiz held his great school of science on that little island of Penikese off the coast of Massachusetts, he stated vital truth when he said, "Study nature, not books." The only natural and productive method of teaching the subject to the young must be through direct contact with nature. If science work be attempted through the study of textbooks alone, no strictures of the opponents of the departure can be too severe. The vital principle of the work being absent, the results will be meager and inadequate.

The

Nor will the German laboratory methods, so prevalent and useful in specialization, produce the results we seek. The point of view and motive of the laboratory method is distinctly wrong for the work in the public school, since the attempt is made to teach primarily the facts of the sciences rather than to develop and train the mind of the child. It is true that the habits of correct observation and concentrated attention can be secured also by the laboratory methods, but it is of prime importance that the first contact with nature should be sympathetic rather than systematic. stage of the microscope and the tables of the laboratory are too narrow ranges for the young mind when there are fields and forests adjacent. The objects must first be presented to the child as wholes-to be analyzed it is true, but not to be reconstructed from the original protoplasm. In this sense synthesis should not precede analysis. The child must not have set before him the impossible task of rediscovering all the truths of natural science. Laboratory practice has its limitations in the capacities of the pupils, in the time at their disposal, and in the means at hand. The laboratory methods, as usually pursued, lack the inspiration and impulses which the young mind

needs. The golden mean must be reached in practice, and the work be made neither rigidly fine nor yet desultory and fragmentary. The first consideration must be the cultivatiou of the powers of the child; his imagination must be quickened, his sympathies enlarged, his points of contact with the world increased. A well-known naturalist has said: "One throb of love of nature which you can awaken in the child's heart is worth any number of dry facts which you can put into his head."

"O, Nature, gracious mother of us all! Within thy bosom myriad secrets lie, Which thou revealest to the patient eye That seeks and waits."

The work with the young children should be informal, consisting of talks with the children, by the children, and sometimes to the children. No tasks should be set nor examinations held, yet the work should not be allowed to degenerate into a confusion of tongues. There must be definite plan and purpose in the mind of the teacher. The nature work may in some schools take the form of a rest exercise, but such a rest exercise as comes from change and not from idleness. There should be short, sharp, and spicy observation; the object rather than the teacher. Variety in method from day to day must not be lacking, and things must be studied as they are and not as they ought to be. The child should be taught to make his own charts, reproducing by drawings, by blue prints, etc. The individual interest should be preserved, and to a large degree the pupil should select his own objects.

One prime condition of success in nature study is genuine, contagious enthusiasm. The teacher must himself feel the living interest which he wishes the pupil to acquire. Knowledge, accurate and ready, is also essential. The teacher must inform himself before he can properly inform others. Nor need he become a scientist to be able to do this. He should, in a sense, be simply an older pupil. pupil. "Do not be ashamed to say, I do not know" was written on the blackboard in the old sheep barn at Penikese. The teacher will need helps in securing information, but such text-books should be used as guides rather than as original sources of information. The book should never stand between the child and nature. The teacher should have the power to see the true correlations: Thus the corre

lations between nature study and language, drawing, writing, and other elementary branches should be skilfully utilized. Nor should such correlations be in any sense artificial, forced, or strained. Thus the true objects of nature study may be attained: the development of true sympathy with nature in all her works, and the expression of the effects of nature upon the mind.

The next paper on the programme was read by Mrs. Letitia P. Wilson, of Johnstown, Superintendent of the State Kindergarten Association :

SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTING NATURE STUDY TO

SMALL CHILDREN.

As

It was a warm morning in May. A kindergartner stood at the head of the stairs awaiting the arrival of two little boys whose pattering feet were heard in the hall below. These boys were brothers, the older one a tall lad of six and a half years, quiet in his manner, rather inclined to be written as Little Sobersides. In his hands he carried a wooden bowl half full of water. Some common water weeds were floating over it, while underneath were a small lizard and a little crab. he put the bowl into the centre of the ring, he explained to the other children that he had gathered the weeds and grasses and put them into the bowl so that the crab and the lizard would not get lonesome, for these same weeds and grasses grew on the edge of the brook where the day before these little animals had lived. He told us further that when he started home from the brook he had a leech too, but he thought the lizard had gotten hungry and eaten it on the way.

The kindergartner turned away to greet the other boy, leaving a half-dozen children to tell of various expeditions to this same brook-the brook that ran through the first woods east of town. What treasures they had gathered in the way of shining pebbles and snail shells! Indeed the kindergarten cupboard had stored in its capacious depths various things from this first trip to the woodsa feather from a blue jay's wing and cocoons and lichens from the trees. It was here that the blue-birds and robins sang in early spring time, and every leaf and blade had its message for the little child fortunate enough to go to the first woods east of town.

The second boy was the very reverse

of his brother. Almost five years old but short in stature for his years, his chubby limbs brought him more slowly to the top of the stairs, but with the utmost animation he exclaimed, "Here are some violets just crying for a drink of water!" at the same time holding up his fat little hand almost hidden by its fistfull of early spring violets that drooped from the tight clutch and the perspiring fingers. Quietly the kindergartner placed them in a glass of water, and put them on the window-sill where the fresh breeze helped to revive them. In an hour the child exclaimed, "Oh, look! Now the violets have had a drink of water and they are not thirsty any longer." And happily he pursued his little play.

An eminent psychologist said over each school gate should be written this motto for the teacher: “Establish a background of sympathy." How happily it can be done through the nature work! Slowly we are beginning to recognize the fact that a love for the common things about him does not necessarily bespeak an embryo naturalist in our midst. We have discovered that all children have a love for the ever-abundant blessings-the common things about them. What the child truly needs is a conscious interpreter that shall aid him, to be written, "One who has eyes to see, and sees; one who has ears to hear, and hears." What attracts the child so strongly is something beyoud the lifeless things-of them, yet beyond them. It is majestic Nature herself, with her thousand manifestations, with her great unknown universe, animate and inanimate, that creates the interest and thus ever woos the child.

The little one always brings with him into the Kindergarten that wonderful faculty of his, to endow nature with his own attributes; and as the crab and the lizard were treated with consideration because they might be homesick, and as the withered violet suggested to the small boy his thirst on a warm day, so must our plans for his development encourage those traits which shall blossom into loving kindness for persons as well as things. The objects about him are so diverse, the time so limited, that it is often a most difficult task to present the thing which interests and instructs at the same time unless we are ourselves saturated with a love for God's visible emblems of beauty. Let us remember that there are but three channels of thought through which all

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