The Fact in the Thing; The Law in the Mind; The Method in Both. CONTENTS. SYMPOSIUM ON NATURE STUDY, A few words from each of many prominent educators. C. B. GILBERT, Supt. of Schools, St. Paul. H. C. MUCKLEY, Supervisor of Public Schools, Cleveland. 3 SARAH L. ARNOLD, Supervisor of Primary Instruction, Minneapolis. FRANCIS W. PARKER, Principal Cook Co. Normal School. From Teachers' College, Columbia University, FRANK T. BAKER, English Language and Literature. JOHN T. WOODHULL, Science. ELIZABETH A. HERRICK, Form, Drawing and Color. J. F. REIGART, Psychology and History of Education. SARAH C. BROOKS, Supervisor of Primary Work, St. Paul, H. H. BALLARD, Prest. of Nat, Agassiz Asso., Pittsfield, Mass. L. H. JONES, Supt. of Schools, Indianapolis. EMMA F. BATES, Valley City Normal School. M. F. AREY, Iowa Normal School, Cedar Rapids. W. W. PENDERGAST, State Supt. of Minn. W. H. H. BEADLE, Pres. Normal School, Madison. H. L. CLAPP, Master Geo. Putnam School, Roxbury, Boston. PEDAGOGIC ASPECTS OF NATURE STUDY, D. L. KIEHLE, LL. D., Professor of Pedagogy, U. of M., and Editor Pedagogical Department of SCHOOL EDUCATION. 8 NATURE STUDY AND THE TEACHER, CHARLES B. SCOTT, Supervisor of Nature Study, St. Paul and Editor Nature Study Department of SCHOOL EDUCATION. THE OUT-DOOR STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY, SANFORD NILES, Author of Niles's Geographies, Niles's History of the U. S. and Editor of SCHOOL EDUCATION. PLANT STUDY-SEEDS AND THEIR GERMINATION-THE STUDY OF LEAVES-FLOWERS AND THEIR WORK. 7 10 13-14-15-18 19 22 L. B. WILSON, Teacher of Science. [Cuts of birds furnished by courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons.] BIRD STUDY, 28 7. Apgars Trees of the United States. American Book Co., Chicago. 8. Laurie's How Plants Feed. MacMillan & Co., N. Y. 9. Spalding's Introduction to Botany. D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 10. Glimpses of the Plant World. Lee & Shepard, Boston. Nos. 1 and 2 contain specific suggestions and directions for the actual study of the plants themselves, of seeds and seedlings, roots, stems and leaves, flowers and fruit, taking up the most common garden, field, forest and house plants. Nos. 3 and 4 (No. 3 to accompany No. 1, No. 4 to accompany No. 2) greatly broaden and strengthen the ideas gained by actual observation and give a glimpse of some of the wonderful secrets of plant life and work as discovered by Darwin, Lubbock and other students of nature. No. 5 treats the plants as living working beings and tells of their life and work, rather than of their structure. No. 6 is, as its name indicates, simply an aid in identifying or discovering the names of our common wild flowering plants. It contains descriptions of several hundred plants and plates of over 100. Those who know nothing about technical botany or botanical terms will find it helpful in identifying the common flowers. No. 7, more orderly and scientific in arrangement, will aid not merely in identifying our trees, but in studying their relationships. It is written by the author of the article on "Tree Study" in this number. No. 8 describes very simple experiments for studying the physiology or life processes of the plant and investigating its food and the way in which it gets and uses its food. No. 9 is a laboratory guide for the careful and detailed study of plants. Most of the work it suggests can be done by any one with very little apparatus. Its special feature is the emphasis placed on the study of plant physiology and of the relation of the plant to its environment. No. 10 gives the student of plant life glimpses of some of the lower or humbler forms of plant life. Animal Study. 1. Morse's First Book of Zoology. American Book Company, Chicago. 3. McCook's Tenants of an Old Farm. Fords, Howard & Hulbert, Philadelphia. 3. Colton's Practical Zoology. D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 4. Our Common Birds and How to Know Them. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 5. Ballard's Moths and Butterflies. Geo. Putnam's Sons, New York. 6. Entomology for Beginners. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 7. Guides for Science Teaching. D.C. Heath & Co., Chicago. No. 1 gives suggestions for the study of the most common forms of animal life, placing special emphasis on snails and clams, insects, spiders and centipedes, and touching on other forms. The teacher will find it most helpful in animal study. In No. 2, Dr. McCook introduces the reader, in a very pleasant way, to the habits and life of the insect dwellers on his farm, the spiders and moths, the crickets and locusts, the bumble bees and wasps. It will certainly awaken an interest in our insect neighbors. No. 3 is a laboratory manual, corresponding quite closely in general character to Spaulding's Introductions to Botany, a great aid in the study of the structure, general plan and relationships of animals. No. 4 contains fine plates of many of our most common birds (several of these are reproduced in these columns by the courtesy of the publishers) with simple descriptions fitted for the non-scientific student, and suggestions for the study of the life and habits of birds. The lover of birds will find no better elementary or introductory book. Nos. 5 and 6 will supplement the article on insects by Dr. Lugger; No. 5, treating of the lives and habits of the most attractive order of insects, and No. 6 meeting the needs of the beginner in insect study. In No. 7 are included several little pamphlets, containing suggestions by naturalists and teachers of national reputation for the study of sponges, corals, starfishes and sea urchins, worms, mollusks and insects. Study of Rocks and Physical Geography. 1. Shaler's First Book of Geology, Teacher's edition. D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 2. Geikie's Study of Geography. MacMillan & Co., N. Y. 3. Crosby's Common Minerals and Rocks. D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 4. Clapp's Observation Lessons on Minerals. D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 5. Ballard's World of Matter. Howard & Wilson, Chicago. 6. Kingsley's Town Geology. MacMillan & Co., New York. No. 1 treats the world as a workshop and shows in a very simple way how soil is made, how valleys are worn, how coal is formed; how fossils are deposited and what they tell. The student and teacher of out-of-door geography will get much help from it. In No. 2 Dr. Geikie, the Director General of the Geological No. 6 describes for the unscientific reader the "stones in the wall," "the coal in the fire," and the various earth materials which can be seen and studied anywhere and everywhere. General Works for Nature Study. 2. 1. Jackman's Nature Study. Henry Holt & Co., N. Y. Madam How and Lady Why. MacMillan & Co., N. Y. 3. Ballard's Three Kingdoms. Writers Publishing Co., N. Y. No. 1 by Prof. W. S. Jackman of the Cook County Normal school, will be found exceedingly suggestive in all its phases of nature study. No. 2 is a study of the forces by which the earth and its inhabitants are guided and regulated. No. 3 by the national president of the Agassiz Association, is most useful for general reference. Besides directions for organizing and conducting Agassiz Associations, it contains suggestions for studying plants, animals and minerals, and for collecting, arranging and caring for collections or museums, and a list of several hundred books on science, with prices and addresses of publishers. DO NOT FAIL TO KNOW WHAT ADVERTISERS OFFER. We gladly call your attention to the goods offered by each advertiser who patronizes us in this work. Many of the advertisements have been Survey of Great Britain, shows himself to be a teacher as will specially prepared, referring to publications as a geologist. His suggestions for field excursions for the study out-of-doors of physical geography and of the changes taking place on the earth's surface, for making more exact the fundamental ideas of direction, distance, height, etc., and for making and studying maps, will give the teacher of geography much broader ideas and greatly aid in that most important branch of nature study which we may call earth study. No. 3 will be found useful in identifying the more common minerals and rocks. No. 4 describes the plan followed with great success in a Boston school in the study of minerals. No. 5 treats, in a very clear manner, of the physical world, the properties of matter and of the forces controling matter. A CASE OF SPOONS. A country bridal pair once boarded a train at a way station, and in their simplicity, the wedded lovers, by their affection, attracted attention and amused the passengers, who grew quite hilarious. Finally the groom, noting the general amusement, got up and said: "We are inarried. We sparked for four years. She's my violet and I'm her towerin' oak. We're goin' to St. Paul and we're goin' to spoon every rod of the way, and if there's any critter here who thinks he can't stand it he kin git out and walk. That's what." And he was right. A man doesn't take a wedding journey very often; but when he does, or a business or pleasure journey, for that matter, he should take the Duluth Short Line (the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad), which is the popular road for all between St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, West Superior, Stillwater, Taylor's Falls and other points, which are reached by fast and handsomely appointed trains running on convenient schedules and making close connections at fine terminals with trains bound for all points of the compass. Always take the Duluth Short Line. agents wil! furnish circulars, maps, etc., or they may be had by addressing W. A. Russell, General Passenger Agent, St. Paul, Minnesota. Ticket Ask about "School Education Helps." Address, ScHOOL EDUCATION CO., Minneapolis, Minn. that can help teachers in the lines of work treated in this magazine. All the advertisers offer goods in which successful teachers are interested. It is the duty of teachers to know what can be obtained that will assist them in their work. As a rule, teachers are not as well provided with tools as mechanics are. Why not? EXPERIMENTAL PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. By DR. WALTER OELS. TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY D. T. MACDOUGAL. A concise laboratory text, comprising a series of 122 experiments on the more important phases of plant life and growth, with explanatory paragraphs. The apparatus needed to carry on the series of experiments detailed is within the reach of every teacher. The chemical and physical apparatus found in every high school or college laboratory will be found sufficient. The subject matter is grouped under the following heads: Derivation of nutriment from the soil and water. Transpiration. Photo-synthesis. Respiration and metabolism. Geotropism. Heliotropism. Warmth. Growth. Movement. Relations of plants and animals. The titles of a few selected experiments will indicate the nature of the contents. EXPERIMENT 1. Water cultures. 9. Action of acid excretions of roots on a marble plate. 33. Excretion of water drops by leaves. 38. Effect of girdling on a plant growing in the soil. (Ascent of sap.) 54. Estimation of the amount of starch formed in a leaf in a day. 56. Excretion of carbon dioxide by germinating seeds, flower heads, etc. 83. Effect of red and blue light on the position and growth of organs. 88. Effect of freezing on plants. 112. Irritability of Mimosa pudica (Sensitive Plant). 120. Pollination of flowers by insects. 121. Bitter substance as a protection against animals. Octavo, 100 pages, 77 illustrations, cloth binding. TO ANY TEACHER Who will cut out this "ad" we will send one of LINCOLN FOUNTAIN PEN CO., Rooms 46 and 47, No. 23 Barclay St., New York, SYMPOSIUM ON NATURE STUDY. Wm. T. Harris, U. S. Commissioner of Education. From "How to Teach Natural Science in the Public Schools," It seems to me that the reflex value of Nature Study on the teacher is worth quite as much as the immediate value of the lessons to the pupil. The teacher is led to study and thoroughly prepare herself, and then, in this lesson, she is led to probe in a freer manner than ordinary the miscellaneous fund of experience possessed by the individuals of her class; thus she cannot fail to find new means of getting hold of pupils in each of the regular branches of the daily course. She will find herself getting more and more emancipated from the slavish use of the text-book and able to stand before her class with a consciousness of her strength and ability to draw out the resources of each and all of her pupils and combine the same into one result. Wilbur S. Jackman, Cook County Normal School, Englewood, Ill. Nature study in all its phases is the first necessity and inalienable right of the child. By the shimmering light, through the tremulous air and to his inquisitive touch, nature speaks to the child while even his mother strives vainly to be understood. Education begins with these initial touches and, as contact with nature widens and intensifies, the senses quicken, the judgment strengthens, the rational imagination grows and the thoughts which come into the mind as it contemplates the mutual adaptations of the different parts and their relations to the whole are, in their suggestions of infinite law, the loftiest that can possess the human soul. Edward Searing, President State Normal School, Mankato, Minn. There is an earnest effort being made in this school to organize a thorough course in Nature Study for the grades. This has its origin in the conviction that natural objects are amply worth studying, both for their intrinsic interest, and for the development of the observing and judging faculties of the pupil. Familiarity with nature, we also believe, has a tendency to make a pupil gentle, sympathetic, compassionate, reverential of beauty and law. If "an undevout astronomer is mad," an ungentle, unsympathetic botanist, zoologist, or geologist must also be mad. The entire effect of nature study is refining and elevating. We also hold that through nature study, rightly planned, the power of expression, oral and graphic, has opportunity for easy, rapid and large development. I do not myself hold that nature study is necessarily the best field for this, but that it is at least a large and useful annex to the old humanitarian domain. C. B. Gilbert, Supt. City Schools, St. Paul. WHY SHOULD THE CHILD STUDY NATURE AND HER PHENOMENA?-Nature is man's environment in the world. A thorough knowledge of this environment is essential to success of either the lower or higher sort. The progress of the present century is due to a better apprehension of the wonderful powers and activities of nature, so that to be in touch with the age and to obtain even a material success, the child must know his surroundings. Second. The study of nature, better than any other study, develops the powers of observation and those valuable intellectual faculties, classification and generalization. Third. The study of nature leads up to the spiritual world. H. C. Muckley, Supervisor of Public Schools, Cleveland, Ohio. We feel that Nature Study has had a wholesome influence in quickening the perceptive faculties, in multiplying the points of contact between the child and his environment, and in bringing about a more sympathetic relation between teacher and pupil. Nature Study stands closely related to nearly all other work; to Literature, because a knowledge of natural laws and natural phenomena is indispensable to a full appreciation of much that the best authors have written; to Language and Composition, because of the material which it furnishes for work in these subjects; to Geography, because this subject whether considered from its physical or commercial aspects rests ultimately upon natural laws. Nor is it wholly unrelated to Arithmetic, for turn where we may we are confronted by a question of number. Sarah L. Arnold, Supervisor of Primary Schools, Minneapolis. The work in Nature Study in the schools of Minneapolis has not been an isolated thing. It has been closely related to language, literature, reading, spelling and drawing. The purpose of the study has been not simply so give to the child knowledge of animals, plants or minerals, but to beget in him a love of nature, to inspire a reverent questioning in the field of nature, and to lead him into avenues of happiness through developing in him a love of the beautiful and a power to see the beautiful. This being the aim the work has not been confined to observation, but we have tried to appeal to the imagination as well. We have called upon artist and poet to help us to interpret the beautiful, and the children have committed to memory the poems which express so beautifully what their own eyes are beginning to see. The work in nature study and literature thus related has been the basis of the language lessons and has directed, as far as possible, the selection of material for reading. We feel that our children are constantly growing in the power of observation and interpretation of nature. They give every evidence of interest in their work. We feel that Nature Study is now an essential factor in our course. Francis W. Parker, Principal Cook County Normal School, Chicago, Ill. Nearly twenty years ago a suspicion was aroused in my mind that elementary science should form a substantial part of the organic work of the public schools. I believed without experience and without any practical knowledge of what I believed, that science was an exceedingly valuable study and that the children of the schools, when the right conditions came, would love that study; that pupils from the highest grammar grade could step into the high school with a vast deal better knowledge and better mental equipment of science than those who now graduate from the high school. Since the time I began my supervision in Quincy until the present time I have held this belief. I am glad to say that it has been growing day by day, and has at no time been stronger than now. I see the children in the Cook County Normal School, under Mr. Jackman's direction, earnestly and persistently devoted to the study of elementary science, and I am convinced from actual experience that the children learn reading, writing and arithmetic, and drawing, as a means to an end; that end being the study of the laws of nature, manifested through inorganic and organic matter. The results in our school I think, prove the immense value of this direction of study. There is no doubt about the future, as teachers understand more how to teach, the more of science they will use, not leaving out, it is true, the study of geography and history. Frank T. Baker, English Language and Literature, N. Y. Teachers' College. I believe Nature Study for children will help in their appreciation of literature by its enlargement of their sympathies; by sharpening their power of observation and enriching their concepts of beauty; and by its revelation of cause and unity in life. John F. Woodhull, Science, N. Y. Teachers' College. Nature Studies contain in themselves the possibilities of a complete education not excepting the fruits which have hitherto been ascribed to the humanities alone. And, although I appreciate that such a treatment is not practicable in the common schools, I am loth to circumscribe the province of Nature Studies in our curricula. enables him to appreciate, in a measure, some of the beauty which is around him. This appreciation of natural beauty leads to the recognition of the higher beauty. The drawing and modeling of natural forms leads to clearer observation, and more truthful expression, which will be helpful in every walk of life. J. F. Reigart, Psychology and the History of Education, N. Y. Teachers' College. Nature Studies should afford appropriate sense training at the time when such training is of the greatest importance. They should cultivate the power to compare, to analyze, to classify, in a word, accurate observation as the basis of sound thinking. Such studies appeal to the early interests and instructive activities of the child, and lead to broader sympathies. Annie A. Schryver, Science Department, Teachers' College, N. Y. To me the life of so many of these city children seems altogether wrong. In so many cases childhood is only a term of apprenticeship served that the bread and butter question may be solved in the future. The child should find himself in the natural world and become acquainted with the environment fresh from the creator, not in artificial surroundings learning the trades and occupations of men. These will come soon enough. Is our kindergarten a child's garden outdoors do we bring outdoors in? or child's factory? If we cannot take the children. Sarah E. Brooks, Supervisor of Primary Work, St. Paul, Minn. Christ and the prophets stated and demonstrated the law of apperception long before the time of Leibnitz. "There must first be the seeing eye, the hearing ear and the understanding heart." No mind, no soul, advances in the way of Life beyond its own capacity to receive. We have boys in our schools who hate books and slates and who seek opportunity to defy our authority, even to the extent of truancy; but teachers will tell you that these same outlaws are the first to respond when a request is made for frogs' eggs, tadpoles, crayfish, crickets, snails, plants and flowers. They know these things and can tell you many secrets of their habits and environments. They hate reading and writing because they don't seem to be related to anything of interest in life. Now why not approach these boys on the side of their knowledge and interest, and thus lead them to better things? The facts known of a plant may be supplemented by names and uses of parts, its habits through successive seasons, and its dependence for Elizabeth A. Herrick, Form, Drawing and Color, N. propogation upon insects, wind or animals. God's Y. Teachers' College. The study of Nature opens a child's eyes to really see something of the world in which he lives. It tender consideration for all frail, helpless creatures can be taught in the protection afforded to roots, buds and blossoms. Simple reading lessons can be |