Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study Part 49

Search for the crayfish in streams and ponds. Why is the crayfish hard to find? Hard to capture?

Obtain a living crayfish from a pond or stream and place it in a jar of water or in an aquarium.

The crayfish should not be placed in an aquarium containing insects and small fish which are to be kept, as it is fierce and voracious.

The pupils should study the living animal, noting its habit of lurking under stones; the sweeping of the water with the feelers; the backward movement in swimming, produced by bending the tail sharply underneath the body; the walking by means of four pairs of legs, the great claws being used to turn the animal; the use of the great claws in seizing prey and holding food near the mouth; the movements of the small appendages under the front part of the animal and the water currents caused by these; the movements of the small appendages under the abdomen of the animal.

FRESHWATER MUSSEL

The freshwater mussel--"clam" as it is usually called by school-boys--may be found in almost any stream.

Place a mussel in the aquarium, and note the opening and closing of the valves of the sh.e.l.l; the hinge connecting the valves; the foot protruding from the sh.e.l.l; the movements by means of the foot; the mantle lobes lining the sh.e.l.l and visible at the open margins; the two siphons at the rear of the animal--water currents may be observed entering the upper and emerging from the lower of these. Infer uses for these currents. Touch the edge of the upper siphon and observe how quickly the sh.e.l.l is closed.

Compare the mussel with the snail as to movements and sh.e.l.l.

Compare also with the oyster and sea clam.

Examine empty sh.e.l.ls and notice the pearly layer of the sh.e.l.l, the action of the hinge, and the marks on the sh.e.l.l to which the muscles for closing the sh.e.l.l were attached.

State all the means of protection that you have discovered the animal to possess.

BIRD STUDY

(Consult _Bulletin 218. Birds of Ontario in Relation to Agriculture_, Nash. Department of Agriculture, free.)

If the lessons in bird study which are prescribed for Forms I, II, and III have been successful, the pupils of Form IV should have a fair acquaintance with the habits of the common birds.

A very interesting exercise is to hold a trial upon those birds which are viewed with suspicion or which are openly condemned as objectionable neighbours. A pupil is appointed to act as judge and other pupils give evidence. The evidence must be based upon the pupil's personal observations on the habits of the bird.

The following birds are named, and brief descriptions of their habits are given as suggestions for materials for bird trials:

ROBIN.--He steals small fruits, such as cherries, currants, etc. He is a cheerful, jolly neighbour, who sings sweetly. He eats great numbers of cutworms and white grubs.

CROW.--He robs the nests of other birds, and steals chickens, corn, and potatoes. He helps the farmer by killing cutworms, white grubs, gra.s.shoppers, and other insects.

WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.--The members of this family are grievously persecuted because they are believed to injure orchard and shade trees by pecking holes in the bark from which to suck the sap. Careful observations tend to show that the trees are benefited rather than injured by this treatment. Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs are undoubtedly beneficial as destroyers of wood-borers and other obnoxious insects.

CROW-BLACKBIRD (bronzed grackle).--His habits are similar to those of the crow.

OWLS.--All the owls are held in ill repute because of the crimes of a few members of the family. Very seldom does an owl steal a chicken; their food consists chiefly of mice, rats, squirrels, gra.s.shoppers, and other field pests.

HAWKS.--The hawks are unjustly persecuted for crimes of which they are seldom guilty. As a cla.s.s they are beneficial, not injurious birds.

DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF NATURE STUDY

There is a knowledge of Nature which contributes to the earning of a living. This is the _utilitarian_ aspect.

There is a knowledge of Nature which may be obtained in such a way as to develop the observing and reasoning powers and give a training in scientific method. This is the _disciplinary_ aspect.

There is a knowledge which leads the pupil to perceive the beautiful in Nature, to enjoy it and so add to his happiness. This is the _aesthetic_ aspect.

There is a knowledge of Nature which, through the life history of plant and animal, throws light on the pupil's own life, gives him an insight into all life in its unity, and leads him to look up reverently to the author of all life--through Nature up to Nature's G.o.d. This is the _spiritual_ aspect.

Each of these aspects supplements, interprets, or enforces the others.

He who omits or neglects any of these perceives but a part of a complete whole. Nature Study develops in the pupil a sympathetic att.i.tude toward Nature for the purpose of increasing the joy of living. It leads him to see Nature through the eyes of the poet and the moralist as well as through those of the scientist.

Nature Study is concerned with plants, birds, insects, stones, clouds, brooks, etc., but it is not botany, ornithology, entomology, geology, meteorology, or geography. In this study, it is the spirit of inquiry developed rather than the number of facts ascertained that is important.

Gradually it becomes more systematic as it advances until, in the high school, it pa.s.ses over into the science group of studies.

ILl.u.s.tRATIONS OF THESE ASPECTS

The simple observational lessons on The Robin, pages 96-7, form the bases for further study in more advanced cla.s.ses. This bird as a destroyer of worms, beetles, etc., is a valuable a.s.sistant to the farmer as, indeed, are practically all birds in this Province. Birds such as the duck, goose, partridge, etc., are valuable as food, and laws are made to protect them during certain seasons.

The training in inference which a pupil receives in studying the parts of a plant or an animal and the adaptation of these parts to function is valuable. He studies the plant and the animal as living organisms with work to do in the world, and learns how what they do and their manner of doing it affect their form and structure.

The short, curved, and slightly hooked bill of the hen and her method of breaking open a pea pod or splitting an object too large to swallow shows the bill to be a mallet, a wedge, or a pick as the case may be. A study of the bills of the duck, woodp.e.c.k.e.r, and hawk will reveal the method by which each gets his food and how the organ is adapted to its purpose. Similar studies of the feet and legs of birds will make the idea of adaptation increasingly clear.

Literature is rich with tributes to the songs of the birds. The thoughts and feelings aroused or suggested by these songs are the topics of much of the world's enduring poetry. Longfellow, in his "Birds of Killing-worth" (_Tales of a Wayside Inn_) sings exquisitely of the use and beauty and worth of birds. Sh.e.l.ley, in his "Skylark", describes in glowing verse "the unbodied joy" that "singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest". Wordsworth hears the blithe new comer, the Cuckoo, and rejoices

Though babbling only to the vale Of sunshine and of flowers Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours.

The life story of a bird throws light on our own lives, puts us in sympathy with the lives of others, teaches kindness, teaches the duties and responsibilities of the higher to the lower, teaches respect for all life.

Observe the helpless bird in its nest, helpless as a baby. See the care given by the mother and father to keep it warm till its down and feathers grow, to feed it till it is able to leave the nest. Watch the parents teaching it to fly by repeated short flights. Olive Thorn Miller in her _Bird Ways_ gives a delightful sketch of the father robin teaching a young robin where to look for worms and how to dig them up.

When that task was accomplished, his father began to give him "music lessons", that is, practice in imitating the Robin's song. Thus, the young bird was equipped to make a living and to enjoy life. The social life of birds, as they sing their matins, as they choose their mates, as they gather in flocks preparatory to migration, furnish many opportunities for indirect teaching on many of life's problems.

The Ontario Readers contain many poems that may be used in connection with the Nature Study lessons. To supplement the observational studies of birds, read from the Third Reader, "The Robin's Song", "The Red-winged Blackbird", "The Sandpiper", "To the Cuckoo", "Bob White", "The Lark and the Rook", "The Poet's Song".

In the Third Reader, the lessons on "The Fountain", "The Brook", "The Tide River", and "A Song of the Sea" form a group that can be used in connection with lessons in geography. "A Song for April", "An Apple Orchard in the Spring", "The Gladness of Nature", "The Orchard", "A Midsummer Song", "Corn-fields", "The Corn Song", "The Death of the Flowers", "The Frost", "The Snow-storm", make another group to accompany a study of the seasons. A similar group may be selected from the Fourth Reader.

The pupil who has made a study of a "brook" as a lesson in geography and defined it as "a small natural stream of water flowing from a spring or fountain" will, if he studies the following lines from Tennyson's "The Brook" and perceives by careful observation the descriptive accuracy and aptness of the words in italics, realize that the poet sees much that the geographer has not included in his definition.

I _chatter_ over stony ways, In little sharps and trebles, I _bubble_ into eddying bays, I _babble_ on the pebbles.

I _slip_, I _slide_, I _gloom_, I _glance_.

Among my skimming swallows;

I _murmur_ under moon and stars.