Handbook of Nature-Study for Teachers and Parents

PART I. The Teaching of Nature-Study

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

Page

What Nature-Study is 1

What Nature-Study Should do for the Child 1

Nature-Study as a Help to Health 2

What Nature-Study Should do for the Teacher 2

When and Why the Teacher Should say “I do not know!” 3

Nature-Study, The Elixir of Youth 4

Nature-Study as a Help in School Discipline 4

The Relation of Nature-Study to Science 5

Nature-Study not for Drill 6

The Child not Interested in Nature-Study 6

When to Give the Lesson 6

The Length of the Lesson 7

The Nature-Study Lesson Always New 7

Nature-Study and Object Lessons 7

Nature-Study in the Schoolroom 8

Nature-Study and Museum Specimens 8

The Lens, Microscope and Field-glass as Helps 9

Use of Pictures, Charts and Blackboard Drawings 10

The Use of Scientific Names 10

The Story as a Supplement to the Nature-Study Lesson 10

The Nature-Study Attitude toward Life and Death 11

Should the Nature-Study Teacher Teach How to Destroy Life? 13

The Field Note-book 13

The Field Excursion 15

Pets as Nature-Study Subjects 15

The Correlation of Nature-Study with Language Work 16

The Correlation of Nature-Study with Drawing 17

The Correlation of Nature-Study with Geography 18

The Correlation of Nature-Study with History 18

The Correlation of Nature-Study with Arithmetic 19

Gardening and Nature-Study 20

Nature-Study and Agriculture 21

Nature-Study Clubs 22

How to Use this Book 24

PART II. Animal Life

ANIMAL LIFE

I Bird Study

Beginning Bird Study in the Primary Grades 25

Feathers as Clothing 27

Feathers as Ornament 30

How Birds Fly 33

Eyes and Ears of Birds 36

The Form and Use of Beaks 37

The Feet of Birds 39

Chicken Ways 41

Pigeons 45

The Canary and the Goldfinch 49

The Robin 54

The Bluebird 60

The White-breasted Nuthatch 63

The Chickadee 66

The Downy Woodpecker 69

The Sapsucker 73

The Redheaded Woodpecker 75

The Flicker or Yellow-hammer 77

The Meadowlark 80

The English Sparrow 84

The Chipping Sparrow 88

The Song Sparrow 91

The Mockingbird 94

The Catbird 98

The Belted Kingfisher 101

The Screech Owl 104

The Red Shouldered and Red Tailed Hawks 108

The Swallows and the Chimney Swift 112

The Hummingbird 120

The Red-winged Blackbird 122

The Baltimore Oriole 125

The Crow 129

The Cardinal Grosbeak 133

Geese 136

The Turkey 143

The Study of Birds’ Nests in Winter 147

II Fish Study

The Goldfish 149

The Bullhead 154

The Common Sucker 158

The Shiner 161

Brook Trout 164

The Stickleback 168

The Sunfish 172

The Johnny Darter 177

III Batrachian Study

The Common Toad 181

The Tadpole Aquarium 185

The Tree-frog or Tree-toad 190

The Frog 193

The Newt, Eft or Salamander 197

IV Reptile Study

The Garter or Garden Snake 201

The Milk Snake, or Spotted Adder 204

The Water Snake 206

The Turtle 208

V Mammal Study

The Cotton-tail Rabbit 213

The Muskrat 218

The House Mouse 224

The Woodchuck 229

The Red Squirrel or Chickaree 233

Furry 238

The Chipmunk 240

The Little Brown Bat 243

The Skunk 247

The Raccoon 250

The Wolf 255

The Fox 257

Dogs 261

The Cat 268

The Goat 275

The Sheep 281

The Horse 286

Cattle 295

The Pig 303

VI Insect Study

The Life History of Insects 308

The Structure of Insects 312

The Black Swallow-tail Butterfly 315

The Monarch Butterfly 320

The Isabella Tiger Moth or Woolly Bear 326

The Cecropia 330

The Promethea 336

The Hummingbird, or Sphinx, Moths 340

The Codling Moth 347

Leaf-miners 352

The Leaf-rollers 357

The Gall-dwellers 360

The Grasshopper 365

The Katydid 370

The Black Cricket 373

The Snowy Tree-cricket 377

The Cockroach 378

How to Make an Aquarium for Insects 380

The Dragon-flies and Damsel-flies 382

The Caddis-worms and the Caddis-flies 387

The Aphids or Plant Lice 392

The Ant-lion 395

Mother Lace-wing and the Aphis-lion 397

The Mosquito 400

The House-fly 405

The Colorado Potato-beetle 409

The Ladybird 413

The Firefly 416

The Ways of the Ant 419

How to Make a Lubbock Ant-Nest 423

The Ant-Nest and What May be Seen Within it 425

The Mud-dauber 429

The Yellow-jacket 432

The Leaf-cutter Bee 436

The Little Carpenter Bee 439

The Bumblebee 442

The Honey-bee 445

The Honey-comb 451

Industries of the Hive and the Observation Hive 453

VII Other Invertebrate-Animal Study

The Garden Snail 458

The Earthworm 462

The Crayfish 466

Daddy Longlegs, or Grandfather Greybeard 472

Spiders 475

The Funnel-web 477

The Orb-web 478

The Filmy Dome 483

Ballooning Spiders 484

The White Crab-Spider 485

How the Spider Mothers Take Care of their Young 487

PART III. Plant Life

PLANT LIFE

How to Begin the Study of Plants and Flowers 489

How to Make Plants Comfortable 490

How to Teach the Names of the Parts of a Flower 492

Teach the Use of a Flower 493

Flowers and Insect Partners 494

The Relation of Plants to Geography 495

Seed Germination 495

I Wild-flower Study

The Hepatica 496

The Yellow Adder’s Tongue 499

Bloodroot 503

The Trillium 506

Dutchman’s Breeches and Squirrel Corn 509

Jack-in-the-Pulpit 512

The Violet 515

The May Apple or Mandrake 519

The Bluets 523

The Yellow Lady’s Slipper, or Moccasin Flower 525

The Common Buttercup 528

The Evening Primrose 530

The Hedge Bindweed 535

The Dodder 538

The Milkweed 540

The White Water Lily 545

Pondweed 548

The Cat-tail 551

A Type Lesson for a Composite Flower 554

The Goldenrod 555

The Asters 558

The White Daisy 560

The Yellow Daisy or Black-eyed Susan 562

The Thistle 563

The Burdock 566

Prickly Lettuce, A Compass Plant 570

The Dandelion 572

The Pearly Everlasting 576

The Jewelweed, or Touch-me-not 578

Mullein 582

The Teasel 586

Queen Anne’s Lace, or Wild Carrot 589

Weeds 594

Outline for the Study of a Weed 595

II Cultivated-Plant Study

The Crocus 596

Daffodils and their Relatives 599

The Tulip 603

The Pansy 607

The Bleeding Heart 611

Poppies 613

The California Poppy 616

The Nasturtium 620

The Bee-Larkspur 623

The Blue Flag, or Iris 626

The Sunflower 631

The Bachelor’s Button 636

The Salvia or Scarlet Sage 637

Petunias 640

The Horseshoe Geranium 643

The Sweet Pea 649

The Clovers 652

Sweet Clover 655

The White Clover 658

Maize, or Indian Corn 660

The Cotton Plant 666

The Strawberry 672

The Pumpkin 675

III Flowerless-Plant Study

The Christmas Fern 684

The Bracken 689

How a Fern Bud Unfolds 691

The Fruiting of the Fern 693

The Field Horsetail 699

The Hair-cap Moss, or Pigeon Wheat 702

Mushrooms and other Fungi 706

Puffballs 712

The Bracket Fungi 714

Hedgehog Fungi 717

The Scarlet Saucer 718

The Morels 719

The Stinkhorns 720

Molds 720

Bacteria 723

IV Tree Study

How a Tree Grows 726

How to Begin Tree Study 731

How to Make Leaf Prints 734

The Maples 736

The American Elm 745

The Oak 748

The Shagbark Hickory 755

The Chestnut 757

The Horse-Chestnut 761

The Willows 765

The Cottonwood or Carolina Poplar 770

The White Ash 774

The Apple Tree 778

How an Apple Grows 782

The Apple 785

The Pine 789

The Norway Spruce 796

The Hemlock 801

The Flowering Dogwood 803

The Staghorn Sumac 806

The Witch-Hazel 810

The Mountain Laurel 813

PART IV. Earth and Sky

EARTH AND SKY

The Brook 818

How a Brook Drops its Load 822

Crystal Growth 825

Salt 827

How to Study Minerals 828

Quartz 829

Feldspar 831

Mica 832

Granite 833

Calcite, marble and Limestone 835

The Magnet 838

The Soil 842

Water Forms 850

The Weather 857

Experiments to Show Air Pressure 877

The Barometer 878

How to read Weather Maps 879

The Story of the Stars 887

How to Begin Star Study 889

Cassiopeia’s Chair, Cepheus and the Dragon 893

The Winter Stars 895

Orion 895

Aldebaran and the Pleiades 897

The Two Dog-Stars, Sirius and Procyon 898

Capella and the Heavenly Twins 900

The Stars of Summer 901

The Sun 905

The Relation between the Tropic of Cancer and the Planting of the Garden 909

The Zodiac and its Signs 911

The Relations of the Sun to the Earth 913

How to Make a Sun-dial 915

The Moon 918

In Nature’s infinite book of secrecy A little can I read. --SHAKESPEARE.

PART I.. The Teaching of Nature-Study

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

WHAT NATURE-STUDY IS

Nature-study is, despite all discussions and perversions, a study of nature; it consists of simple, truthful observations that may, like beads on a string, finally be threaded upon the understanding and thus held together as a logical and harmonious whole. Therefore, the object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate in the children powers of accurate observation and to build up within them, understanding.

WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD DO FOR THE CHILD

First, but not most important, nature-study gives the child practical and helpful knowledge. It makes him familiar with nature’s ways and forces, so that he is not so helpless in the presence of natural misfortune and disasters.

Nature-study cultivates the child’s imagination since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes, which affect his imagination as much as does fairy lore; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps, half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it. Nature-study aids both in discernment and expression of things as they are.

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