1182
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No 53

Too much detail should not be given; for instance, the position of Manchester and the cause of its importance should be known; but such information should not be expected with regard to Bolton, Preston, and other “cotton towns.” Again, Constantinople should be known; but a knowledge of the position of Adrianople would not be expected unless recent events had brought it into prominence. The teacher will not omit to call attention to the position and importance of places connected with the chief current events recorded from time to time in the newspapers.

The parts of the subject indicated under this heading cannot for the most part be taught directly from observation of the actual facts, but it is recommended that pictures should be used as largely as possible in conjunction with the globe and maps.

Series of pictures for geographical teaching are published by the Education Department, and other suitable pictures from illustrated papers are available in almost every school; if these are mounted upon brown paper and kept, each school will in time come to possess a collection of pictures that, with a little supplementing from other sources, will form a very useful adjunct to the lessons in physical and descriptive geography. The pictures should be used in such a way as to call forth the reasoning powers of the children as much as possible. They may be passed round the class in order, each pupil having a map, or atlas, and a note-book; and the lesson at the end might sum up and enforce the ideas gained from the pictures. The pupils should be trained in the habit of making rough sketch-maps of small portions of the earth’s surface to illustrate special points, but it is not desirable that time should be spent in making elaborate copies of maps in the atlas. The use of pictures will generally also secure attention to places of interest in connexion with current events—a point that should never be overlooked in the teaching of geography. The same pictures would in many cases suggest suitable subjects for oral and written composition lessons in the upper classes.

NATURE-STUDY.

The lessons given should be marked by three main characteristics. In the first place, they should be really lessons on objects, or on natural phenomena—that is, they should treat of things that each child in the class can see with his own eyes or handle with his own hands; secondly, they should not be disconnected, but should form a course of lessons co-ordinated with one another, and, as far as possible, with the other subjects of instruction; thirdly, every lesson should be followed by a conversation-talk and the oral description by the children, or by one or more of them, of what they have seen and of what they have learnt from their observation. Often the nature-study may be appropriately followed by a handwork lesson (drawing or modelling) based upon it.

The following list of topics, the material indicated under the head of Physical Geography, and the suggestions given elsewhere in these regulations, will serve as indications of the kind of teaching that should be included in a course of nature-study:—

[It will be understood that it is not intended that common objects of manufacture or daily use should be excluded from the list of suitable topics.]

The structure of a bird; birds and their habits; the study of an egg at various stages. The structure of a well-known mammal, as a rabbit; the differences in form and habit of various mammals. The human body. The structure of a fish. Insects: the life-history of a few common insects—e.g., butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, grubs and caterpillars, hive-bees and wild bees, &c. (butterflies or moths may be reared in the school). Lizards, frogs, crabs, oysters, worms, and other forms of animal life as seen in ponds or on the seashore. Plants; flowers, wild and garden; roots, leaves, seeds, and fruits; the life of plants, germination and growth; the effect of light, moisture, soil, and manures. Food of plants.· Trees and the common kinds of timber. Shrubs. Wheat and other useful grasses. Other useful plants. Useful vegetable products: starch may be obtained from a potato, sugar from a parsnip, beet, or carrot. Ferns. Fungi; mildew. Water, its nature and forms. Soils; clay, sand, limestone, mud, gravel, &c. Quarries; a few common rocks, minerals, and fossils; typical volcanic rocks contrasted with stratified rocks and metamorphic or altered rocks (specimens should be handled by the children). Coal. Quartz. Shingle of rivers and of the seashore. Clay; bricks and tiles. Building-stone. Pottery. Glass. Mortar; cement. Road-metal. The air; oxygen; carbonic acid. Vapour-clouds. The thermometer and temperature. Ventilation. Winds. The barometer. Frost and heat. The weather; weather-charts. Rain-fall. Hydrometer. Milk; cream; curds; whey; cheese; tests for milk;