Abstract
IT is generally agreed that in the early stages science teaching should consist of Nature study. But it is seldom that teachers realise that this should afford a sound foundation on which later, more serious, study can securely rest. Mr. Philips little book is a bright and outstanding exception to the general rule. It concerns itself solely with botanical material in its twelve chapters; but the child of from twelve to fourteen years of age who works through its pages in the course of a year will not merely have learnt to observe, but also will have gained a firm grasp of fundamental botanical principles. From the outset the author is at pains to impress the fact that the organs of a plant are not in mere haphazard positions, but that they occupy definite positions in relation to one another; and that the whole plant is a living, breathing, feeding, energy-producing organism. The student is thus led on by easy steps to the clear conception of modification of organs, and of homologies; and is thus furnished with a clue by which to solve riddles presented by an apple, a cocoanut, the corm of a crocus, seeds, buds, flowers, etc. Practical work enters largely into the scheme; and by means of questions and exercises the attention of the pupil is frequently directed to the wild plant life of the countryside in a way that is entirely admirable. We cordially commend the book to all teachers of elementary botany.
Nature Study Lessons Seasonally Arranged.
By J. B. Philip. Pp. ix + 147. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1916.) Price 2s. 6d. net.
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L., O. Nature Study Lessons Seasonally Arranged . Nature 99, 82–83 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/099082b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/099082b0
