Jan. 10.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 35

10. A broad treatment on regional lines of the United States of America.
11. General knowledge of other countries New Zealand is particularly interested in—e.g., Argentine and Patagonia, Holland and Denmark, Palestine, Egypt.
12. Geography in connection with the daily newspaper, history lessons, and books of travel.
13. Map-reading and a knowledge of the conditions controlling industries, including the conditions of growth of the principal crops grown in different parts of the world.

STANDARD VII (FORM III).

1. The weather records, to lead to a study of isobars, isotherms, high-pressure and low-pressure areas, theory of cyclones and anti-cyclones, distribution of the world’s rainfall.
2. Map-making: the plane table. Hachures and contours. Defects in Mercator’s projection.
3. Latitude and longitude. Value of degree of latitude measured on map; similarly with degrees of longitude in different latitudes. Variations in time in different countries and in different parts of a large country—e.g., Australia, United States. Local and standard time. International date-line. Simple time problems. Explanation of varying length of day and night in different zones and at different seasons. Causes of the seasons more fully explained.
4. Agents in changing the surface of the earth: Weathering, denudation, building-up, young and old river-valleys, volcanic and thermal action, earthquakes, raising and lowering of the land surface, drowned valleys, glacial action more fully treated, icebergs.
5. Racial characteristics as affected by climate and surface features.
6. The world’s forest areas, petroleum deposits, mineral wealth, best cropping-areas. Relation of industry to industry—e.g., coal-mining to iron-mining; of climate and soil conditions to plant products—e.g., tea demands an even and warm temperature, plenty of humus, hence old forest ground suitable, plenty of moisture but not water round roots. The relative importance of different countries in regard to valuable products. Conditions affecting the location of industries—e.g., cotton-manufacture in Lancashire.
7. Hence trade relations within the Empire and between Great Britain and other countries. New Zealand’s rivals in trade—e.g., Australia, Argentine, Denmark.
8. General geography of the world. Revision and extension of work prescribed for previous classes. Geography in connection with world happenings as recorded in the daily papers. Map-reading. Books of travel.
9. Projects based on the above programme.
10. Elementary statistical geography—e.g., comparative rainfall, graphical representation of relative importance of exports.

NATURE-STUDY AND ELEMENTARY SCIENCE.

INTRODUCTION.

Considered in its widest sense Nature-study should aim at giving the child an understanding of the facts and phenomena which confront and surround him and the environment of which he is himself, consciously or unconsciously, a part. It should also inculcate in him a love for Nature and an appreciation of its beauties. The material for this subject is practically inexhaustible in that it comprises the whole of the animate population of the world together with the physical setting into which the many organisms have been born and in which they have fought and are fighting their way upward to higher and yet higher stages of development. Ultimately Nature-study should aim at enabling Man to understand and appreciate to some extent the scale of the universe and his own place in it.

The material chosen by the teacher must necessarily vary with circumstances, but it should always be such as is readily accessible to the pupils and such as will enable the teacher to imbue the work with appreciative enthusiasm. In general, the teacher should assume the function of a director of studies; the pupils should make their own investigations and inductions, while the teacher supplies the thread of necessary information and guidance which corrects error, avoids the rough places and leads the pupils to gather a properly organized body of knowledge.

It should be considered a fundamental principle that nothing should be regarded as Nature-study in which the child is not observing or investigating Nature at first hand. From this it follows that the work will be done mainly outside the class-room and it will be necessary in all cases for teachers