The Benefits of Nature Study
In the history of education, the study of nature, has always been given high priority as a valid part of a science curriculum - until the last fifty or so years, when, it has increasingly been replaced by 'lessons', making it more formalised and less personal.
This, I believe, detracts from the personal experience and enjoyment of the study of nature, and thereby encourages pupil's who may not be 'scientific' to see it as a chore rather than a pleasure. In short - the enjoyment has been taken away in proportion to the extent that the nature study form of approach to teaching science has been abandoned. The result is that few of us have much more than a passing knowledge or awareness of the living things around us and how we connect to them - though we may have had a good science education. I believe that this change in emphasis has been directly responsible for our lack of awareness of the world in which we live and our inter-connectedness with it, today. It has led not only to a disregard for our planet and the creatures and plants that live in it, but also a disregard for the fundamental laws of life - that everything relies on everything else - all is interconnected and nothing survives by itself. Many have grown up unaware of the life all around them - in their homes and backyards even. We are just beginning to acknowledge the problems this has caused, for example the effects of polluting our waterways and using toxic fertilisers on the plants. Of course, the damage extends far beyond this to our very selves. We want to live wrapped up with our technology as if our science has superseded nature and we can live without it. How foolish we have become! It is even affecting our physical and mental health. The common thought is to 'protect the planet' with all sorts of projects to reduce the problems. The real tool to put things right, as always - is through good education - understanding the fundemental laws that govern all living things: if we try to change them, we bring only destruction. However,we need to know exactly what the problem is before we can attempt to put it right. How will we know if we do not understand the natural world? What is special about nature study? Nature study is by necessity practical. It implies having first hand experiences of the natural world. Thereby, it means going out to study our surroundings. Without this, it is of no value at all. It is this personal emphasis that sets it apart from formal science education. It can help us to see science in action all around us. It naturally leads us to think scientifically: How does that happen? Why does it happen? Does this always happen? We follow in the footsteps of the great scientists who began by asking these simple questions and then set out on a quest to answer them. |
Anna Botsford Cornstock, the author of The Handbook of Nature Study (1911) said this:
"The kernel of that method of treatment (Nature study) is the study of the organism in its environment, its relation to the world about it, and the features which enable it to function in its surroundings. This study takes the individual organism, rather than an abstract phylum or genus, as the point of departure." "Mrs. Comstock believed that the student found in such a study a fresh, spontaneous interest which was lacking in formal textbook science, and the phenomenal success of her work seems to prove that she was right. Moreover, nature-study, as Mrs. Comstock conceived it, was an aesthetic experience as well as a discipline. It was an opening of the eyes to the individuality, the ingenuity, the personality of each of the unnoticed lifeforms about us. It meant a broadening of intellectual outlook, an expansion of sympathy, a fuller life." Nature study should rightly start in the early years and continue through to secondary level, where it will naturally become Biology or Ecology. Correctly taught, it provides the best platform for further study in all of the sciences, as well as providing stimulii for plentiful meaningful lessons in English, Mathematics, Art, History and Geography. Above all, Nature study feeds the soul. Yes, it gives space for reflection, provides time in the outside, away from the computer screen and is essential for physical and emotional well-being, but over and above that, it brings us face to face with the works of a loving Creator. Only then can we truly understand the world in which we live. Only then can we wrestle with the big questions asked by science - and have any hope of reaching the correct conclusions. There is still much to be discovered. Let us renew our enthusiasm. Here at KS1 Nature we want to encourage a return to the nature study approach. We want to give teachers and parents the resources they need to teach science properly, as nature study is no less 'science' than formal lessons are, but will have much more lasting benefit. We need to aim not just at turning out scientists, but to educate everyone to be a part of the world in which they live. We are Christians, but our materials are not explicitly Christian (except the Nature Explorers monthly magazine that we advertise) and are therefore suitable for use by all. We let the evidence speak for itself. We aim that our resources will reflect the beauty of the world around us and not detract from it, so you will not find any comic strips, or jingly tunes, only beautiful photographs and suitable artwork. We aim to educate, not merely entertain. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Romans 1 verse 20 |
"There is nothing that appeals to the heart of the ordinary child like living things, be they animal or vegetable, and there is no branch of education at the present day that bears, in the young mind, such excellent fruit as the study of the simple, living things around us.
Your child is nothing if not curious. He wants to understand everything that lives and moves and has its being in his bright little world.
Nature Study involves so many ingenious little deductions, that the reasoning powers are almost constantly employed, and intelligence grows proportionately. The child’s powers of observation are stimulated, and his memory is cultivated in the way most pleasing to his inquiring nature. By dissecting seeds, bulbs, buds, and flowers, his hand is trained, and methods expeditious and exact are inculcated. By drawing his specimens, no matter how roughly or rapidly, his eye is trained more thoroughly than any amount of enforced copying of stiff, uninteresting models of prisms, cones, etc., ever could train it.
The love of flowers and animals is one of the most commendable traits in the disposition of the wondering child, and ought to be encouraged above all others."
The Look About You book of Nature, THOMAS W. HOARE: TEACHER OF NATURE STUDY to the Falkirk School Board and Stirlingshire County Council, Early 1900's