Essays

Wild On The Prairie: Learning

Nature study cultivates accurate observation and stimulates the imagination
October 30, 2011

2011 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anna Comstock's  Handbook of Nature Study. In recent years Richard Louv wrote Last Child in the woods – Nature Deficit Syndrome which has spawned a world-wide effort to encourage children (and adults)  to explore, learn, and enjoy the out-of-doors. People inspired by the book and Louv created "The Children and Nature Network," which in turned encouraged educators from both formal and informal education institutions and facilities to lobby the United States Government  to pass the "No Child Left Inside" bill. Individual states have adopted similar bills, but it has yet to pass on the federal level.

Much of Comstock's introductory chapter contains the same reasoning shared by the modern practitioners and promoters. Nature Study began as an educational philosophy in 1894 when Cornell University was given funds to create short pamphlets to aid teachers in engaging students in exploring their surroundings.  Comstock organized and rewrote the information from the leaflets (and added much more)  for her book.

Comstock wrote, "The object of the teacher is to cultivate in children the powers of accurate observation. This cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many stories that can be read with one's own eyes. This creates a perception and regard for what is true, and the power to express it. Nature study cultivates a love of the beautiful, with a knowledgeable appreciation of color, form, and line. A knowledge of the immutability of nature's laws is basic to moral education. Out-of-door exploration encourages physical fitness and  keeps the child from mischief."    

"It is important to understand that the greater the knowledge of the world around us,  the more that one realizes how vast the unknown knowledge is. The teacher of nature study should tell the student, "I do not know, but let's try together to learn. Maybe no one knows the answer yet, and you may discover the answer before I or a scientist at a university."  There is not a weed or insect so common that the child, by observing carefully, may  see things not yet recorded. By teaching that learning is a continual process by one and all, students find that knowledge is not something only needed to be able to pass a test.  Much of the disciplinary problems at school result because of the child's lack of interest in his work, as well as the child's physical inaction."

Ernest Thompson Seton wrote books during the same time period, telling stories from the point of view of the animals at the center of the story.  Comstock commented, "seeing from another perception is a source of strength and breadth of mind." Comstock encouraged the use of field journals."When the teacher asks a student to write an account of an excursion and says, "I want to know what you discovered," the student will never realize that he or she is being taught "language skills." She also encouraged collecting stories from Thoreau, Seton, other nature writers, and collections of local Indian tales for supplemental reading, which aids the student in learning narrative, grammar, and spelling.

Drawings were encouraged as part of the journaling, for it "is a natural form of self-expression." She also encouraged terrariums and aquariums in the class room to bring the out-of-doors into the classroom. "Nature study lends itself to appreciation of history, geography, and even math. Understanding the world around us is an innate goal of the human mind, and as we seek greater understanding, we learn to use all of the tools at hand."

It is unfortunate that "nature study" fell out of favor as a part of education, becoming something of considerable ridicule as our society became increasingly urban. Imagine what a hundred years of development could have brought to the pedagogy!  Since Comstock, there have been other "voices in the wilderness," with, for example, Oren Arnold writing Wildlife in the Southwest as a classroom book for Texas teachers in the 1930s. The development of nature centers, beginning in the 1960s, is another extension of the development of this style of education. The Sibley Nature Center is proud to carry on in the tradition. We have embarked on developing field guides for our local habitats for computers and eventually smartphones.  Help us by sharing your photographs of our flora and fauna!