An Introduction to Nature-study
9781465637994
281 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
One of the most encouraging of recent educational movements is the increasing importance attached, both in this country and abroad, to what is called Nature-Study. It is evident that the instruction contemplated differs as widely, on the one hand, from the traditional object-lessons on polar bears and ironclads, as it differs from formal Biology on the other. This difference is abundantly shown, not only by the circulars and syllabuses issued by our own Board of Education, but by the publications of the leading educational authorities of Europe and America. The aim of Nature-Study, as thus laid down, is not primarily the acquisition of the facts of natural history: it is rather a training in methods of open-eyed, close, and accurate observation, especially of familiar animals and plants, which shall teach the student tosee what he looks at, and to think about what he sees. It is in a spirit of entire agreement with these views that this book has been written. No previous knowledge of Biology on the part of the reader is assumed, and technical terms have as far as possible been dispensed with. In drawing up the course, I have had in mind throughout the attitude of an intelligent youth of sixteen, and the work will be found to be well within the powers of such a student. Teachers will, however, find no difficulty in adapting the exercises to the needs of younger pupils. Care has been taken to select, as types for study, animals and plants which are at the same time representative and easily obtainable, and I have been further guided in the selection by the Board of Education Syllabuses of the King’s Scholarship Examination and Section I. of the Elementary Stage of General Biology, the subjects of which are included in the volume. The book has, however, a considerably wider scope than is indicated in these syllabuses, and will therefore, I hope, be found useful not only in schools and training-colleges, and to examination candidates, but also to members of field clubs and to students of natural history generally. It has been necessary to arrange the chapters with some attempt at logical sequence, but it is not supposed that this order will be adhered to in practice; by the aid of the monthly nature-calendar, together with numerous cross-references, it will be found easy to take up the work at any point. The chapters are divided into sections, each of which consists of two parts: First, precise instructions for practical observations and experiments, designed to exercise the reasoning faculties of the students; and, second, a descriptive portion, in which the meaning and relation of the results obtained are discussed. At the end of each chapter is a number of additional exercises, either original or taken from past examination papers. Of the latter class, questions to which dates are affixed have been set by the Board of Education, while those marked “N.F.U.” are selected from National Froebel Union tests. In many cases, the exercises provide subjects for further observation and experiment, as well as for written description.
