NATURE KNOWLEDGE AND A MODEL SCHEME.

Otago Witness, Issue 2762, 20 February 1907, Page 14

NATURE KNOWLEDGE AND A MODEL SCHEME.

The following is a scheme taken from the Educational News, the official organ of the Educational Institute of Scotland, and I am sure it will be read with interest by teachers in New Zealand: — In view of the now and deservedly greater attention with which Nature knowv ledge is regarded, and the consequently increasing importance of j(s place in th# school curriculum, the teaching of a fevseraps of unconnected ''sciences" vriU hardly fulfil the requirements of the present day. And yet. unhappily, in the vai L majority of cases, an unsystematic teach' ing- of Nature knowledge is the rule. Thiseems chiefly due to the character cf th<» "schemes" drawn up. Possibly a conclso statement of the latest ideas on the formulation of such schemes, together with a suggested course of study, suited to an elementary school, may prove of service to those who at present find no profit in their teaching of Nature knowledge. It is generally allowed that scientifio terminology is out of place in an elementary scheme. Long words do nothing but scare. The range of interest to be opened up should be as '.vide as possible, so that the end of the courae should sco the children, in possession of the stimulative entrance facts of plant-lore, beast-lore, earth-loro, sea-lore, city-lore, body-lore, and skylore : tht> sky-lore to be taught la.=t. and the body-lore throughout. In crcier to facilitate the obtaining of the necessary specimens, the scheme of work must be seasonal. In so far as it is conditioned by the immediate en-vironment of the <-chcol> it might ai3o be said to be regional. la

jt&e ca«e of the model scheme below, the region is Edinburgh. Such items in the scheme as flower identification and even the recognition of common insects might with advantage be conjoined with drawing, as similarly training the observation, while the lessons on brewing, printing, steam, electricity, etc., included in city-lore, are certain to demand attention in the teaching of " Reading and Intelligence." Body-lore must have a pre-eminent place in the course, for, of all subjects, an interest in the cauces and conditions of Stealthy living ie of most importance to the children as future citizens. Any artifice tKei, in the rearrangement of the scheme .■which induces a more telling and satisfactory teaching of body-lore, must, by all means, be employed. The hygienic part of the course will benefit enormously by co-ordination with the other portions. Thus will the task of understanding body processes be rendered immensely easier by "the furnishing of close analogies and apposite illustrations. This co-ordination subserves also the underlying ethical end of the scheme, to bring home to plastic minda the fact of Humanity's place in a larger "Scheme." And if, as seems possible, education become completely secularised, the importance of the last point cannot well be over-esti-mated. -■' ■The following 6cheme is in some measure concentric, and recognises five grades ; in tke ancient language of standards, Standard 11, 111, IV, V, and Vl— i.e., the junior sad senior elementary school.