Lesson Plans for Teachers in Nature-Study Agriculture
Based Upon the Illinois State Course of Study
Description:... Excerpt from Lesson Plans for Teachers in Nature-Study Agriculture: Based Upon the Illinois State Course of Study
Two years ago when a course in Nature Study Agriculture became a part of the new state course of study there arose on the part of teachers a demand for some special help in teaching this subject. To supply this need the Lesson Plans in Nature Study Agriculture were published. That these have proved of value is very evident. Both teachers and superintendents speak in the highest terms of their usefulness.
The first edition is now exhausted and it seems wise to publish a second edition. The lessons have been carefully revised and a number that in the first edition were rather meager have been rewritten in full. The arrangement of the years has been changed to follow each other consecutively instead of previous plan of grouping into odd and even years. This will add to the efficiency of the book.
The lessons are planned expressly for busy teachers and especially for those who have had little or no training in nature study and elementary agriculture. They include how to obtain material, what to have the children observe, how to report the observations, how to conduct simple experiments, etc. At the same time sufficient information is given with each lesson to enable the teacher to gain the fundamental facts that she should know in order to present the lesson successfully.
Relation To The Children. - The book presupposes that the work in the schools will be real nature study, that the children will handle and observe real objects, will perform experiments, will work with their hands and think while they work. This will bring them into the right relation with their environment so that the nature-world, their inheritance, shall become their own to understand and to love. This work will enable them also to see beauty and value in everyday common places especially as they put to the test some of the fundamental laws of life and of physical phenomena, or as they experience the joy that comes with beautifying their own school and home grounds.
Relation To The Teacher. - The teacher as well as the pupils is a learner in this work. No matter how much she may know about nature objects she realizes that there is still much to be learned. There is no finis written in the book of nature. Every day she finds new interest in the wayside plants, in every flying and crawling insect, in the birds, and trees, and in the farm and garden crops. Her life is enriched and broadened both by her own contact with the nature world and by her efforts to bring her pupils into a sympathetic understanding of this world.
Relation To Parents. - Since the nature study deals with the environment of the children it is a strong factor in keeping home and school in close touch with each other. The material used is the material of the home, the field and shop; parents are interested because the children come to them with questions or information about objects and phenomena that they constantly use in their daily work. The special days suggested by the course such as Harvest Festival, Corn Day and Arbor Day, afford an excellent opportunity to invite the parents to the school in order that they may see what the children are accomplishing in the work.
Correlation With Other Subjects. - Many rural teachers find lack of time the principal obstacle to nature-study and agricultural work. The daily program is already full. Another subject may be the last straw. But with careful correlation we believe that the nature study lessons will make the other work more interesting and more effective. As the course is planned a part of the language work is based upon the nature-study topics. Much of the arithmetic may be correlated with the nature-study. This is also true of the drawing. In the first and second grades the constructive work offers excellent opportunity for correlation. Indeed, much of the constructive work may f...
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