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Handbook of Nature Study [SCM]

by Anna Botsford Comstock Author

(From Amazon): A matchless handbook for decades, this classic work has been the natural history bible for countless teachers and others who seek information about their environment. Written originally for those elementary school teachers who knew little of common plants and animals, and even less about the earth beneath their feet and the skies overhead, this book is for the most part as valid and helpful today as it was when first written in 1911—and revised in the spirit of its authors by a group of naturalists in 1939. After all, dandelions, toads, robins, and constellations have changed little since then! And modern society's concern with the quality of life and the impact of people on soil, water, and wildlife makes this book even more relevant. Nature-study, as used in this handbook, encompasses all living things except humans, as well as all nonliving things such as rocks and minerals, the heavens, and weather. Of the living things described, most are common in the northeastern states, and many, such as the dandelion, milkweed, and mullein, and the house mouse, muskrat, and red fox, are so widespread that people living outside the United States will recognize them easily.Anna Botsford Comstock very appropriately took the view that we should know first and best the things closest to us. Only then, when we have an intimate knowledge of our neighbors, should we, journey farther afield to learn about more distant things. Teachers and children will find the material in this book invaluable in that regard. Details of the most common, but in some ways the most interesting, things are brought out, first by careful, nontechnical descriptions of the things themselves and later by thoughtful questions and study units. Because the most common things are treated in greatest detail, materials for study are easy to find. Whether the reader lives in the inner city or in the rural outback, the handbook is a treasure trove of information. A teacher does not need to know much about nature to use this handbook. The information is there for the novice and the expert alike. All that is needed is an inquiring mind, senses to observe, and a willingness to think about nature on a personal level. To enter this book in search of information about any common organism, stone, or object in the sky is to open the door to a fresh and lively acquaintance with one's environment.

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Additional Details

Resource Type: Book
ISBN: 0-8014-9384-6
Print Status: In Print
Chapters: 375
Pages: 912
Publisher: Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press
Edition: 1
Copyright: 1986

Chapters

1:1 What Nature-Study Is
1:2 What Nature-Study Should Do for the Child
1:3 Nature-Study as a Help to Health
1:4 What Nature Study Should Do for the Teacher
1:5 When and Why the Teacher Should Say "I Do Not Know!"
1:6 Nature-Study, the Elixir of Youth
1:7 Nature-Study as a Help in School Discipline
1:8 Relation of Nature-Study to Science
1:9 Nature-Study Not for Drill
1:10 The Child Not Interested in Nature-Study
1:11 When to Give the Lesson
1:12 Length of the Lesson
1:13 The Nature-Study Lesson Always New
1:14 Nature-Study and Object Lessons
1:15 Nature-Study in the Schoolroom
1:16 Nature-Study and Museum Specimens
1:17 Lens, Microscope and Field Glass as Helps
1:18 Uses of Pictures, Charts and Blackboard Drawings
1:19 Uses of Scientific Names
1:20 The Story as a Supplement to the Nature-Study Lesson
1:21 The Nature-Study Attitude toward Life and Death
1:22 Should the Nature-Study Teacher Teach How to Destroy Life?
1:23 The Field Notebook
1:24 The Field Excursion
1:25 Pets as Nature-Study Subjects
1:26 Correlation of Nature-Study with Language Work
1:27 Correlation of Nature-Study with Drawing
1:28 Correlation of Nature-Study with Geography
1:29 Correlation of Nature-Study with History
1:30 Correlation of Nature-Study with Arithmetic
1:31 Gardening and Nature-Study
1:32 Nature-Study and Agriculture
1:33 Nature-Study Clubs
1:34 How to Use This Book
2:1 Birds
2:2 Beginning Bird Study in the Primary Grades
2:3 Feathers as Clothing
2:4 Feathers as Ornament
2:5 How Birds Fly
2:6 Migration of Birds
2:7 Eyes and Ears of Birds
2:8 Form and Use of Beaks
2:9 Feet of Birds
2:10 Songs of Birds
2:11 Attracting Birds
2:12 Value of Birds
2:13 Study of Birds' Nests in Winter
2:14 Chicken Ways
2:15 Pigeons
2:16 Canary and the Goldfinch
2:17 Robin
2:18 Bluebird
2:19 White-breasted Nuthatch
2:20 Chickadee
2:21 Downy Woodpecker
2:22 Sapsucker
2:23 Redheaded Woodpecker
2:24 Flicker or Yellow-hammer
2:25 Meadowlark
2:26 English Sparrow
2:27 Chipping Sparrow
2:29 Song Sparrow
2:30 Mockingbird
2:31 Catbird
2:32 Belted Kingfisher
2:34 Screech Owl
2:35 Hawks
2:36 Birds of Prey and Scavengers
2:37 Swallows and the Chimney Swift
2:38 Hummingbird
2:39 Red-winged Blackbird
2:40 Baltimore Oriole
2:41 Crow
2:42 Cardinal Grosbeak
2:43 Geese
2:44 Wild Geese
2:45 Game Birds
2:46 Turkey
2:47 Birds of Marsh and Shore
2:48 Fishes
2:49 Goldfish
2:50 Bullhead
2:51 Common Sucker
2:52 Shiner
2:53 Brook Trout
2:54 Stickleback
2:55 Sunfish
2:56 Johnny Darter
2:57 Amphibians
2:58 Tailless Amphibians
2:59 Common Toad
2:60 Tadpole Aquarium
2:61 Spring Peeper or Pickering's Hyla
2:62 Frog
2:63 Tailed Amphibians
2:64 Newt or Eft
2:65 Reptiles
2:66 Garter or Garden Snake
2:67 Milk Snake or Spotted Adder
2:68 Water Snake
2:69 Other Snakes
2:70 Turtles
2:71 Lizards
2:72 Mammals
2:73 Cotton-tail Rabbit
2:74 Muskrat
2:75 House Mouse
2:76 Woodchuck
2:77 Red Squirrel or Chickaree
2:78 Furry
2:79 Chipmunk
2:80 Little Brown Bat
2:81 Skunk
2:82 Raccoon
2:83 Wolf
2:84 Fox
2:85 Dogs
2:86 Cat
2:87 Goat
2:88 Sheep
2:89 Horse
2:90 Cattle
2:91 Pig
2:92 Animals of Zoos and Parks
2:93 Insects
2:94 Life History and Structure of Insects
2:95 Insects of the Fields and Woods
2:96 Black Swallowtail Butterfly
2:97 Monarch Butterfly
2:98 Isabella Tiger Moth or Woolly Bear
2:99 Cecropia
2:100 Promethea
2:101 Cynthia
2:102 Hummingbird or Sphinx Moths
2:103 Codling Moths
2:104 Leaf-miners
2:105 Leaf-rollers
2:106 Gall Dwellers
2:107 Grasshopper
2:108 Katydid
2:109 Black Cricket
2:110 Snowy Tree Cricket
2:111 Cockroach
2:112 Aphids or Plant Lice
2:113 Ant Lion
2:114 Mother Lacewing and the Aphis Lion
2:115 Housefly
2:116 Colorado Potato Beetle
2:117 Ladybird
2:118 Firefly
2:119 Ways of the Ant
2:200 How to Make a Lubbock Ant-nest
2:201 The Ant-nest and What May Be Seen within It
2:202 Mud-dauber
2:203 Yellow Jacket
2:204 Leaf-cutter Bee
2:205 Little Carpenter Bee
2:206 Bumblebee
2:207 Honeybee
2:208 Honeycomb
2:209 Industries of the Hive and the Observation Hive
2:210 Insects of the Brook and Pond
2:211 How to Make an Aquarium for Insects
2:212 Dragonflies and Damsel Flies
2:213 Other Aquatic Insects
2:214 Caddis Worms and the Caddis Flies
2:215 Mosquito
2:216 Invertebrate Animals Other Than Insects
2:217 Garden Snail
2:218 Shells of Florida and the East Coast
2:219 Earthworm
2:220 Crayfish
2:221 Seashore Creatures
2:222 Daddy Longlegs or Grandfather Greybeard
2:223 Spiders
2:224 Cobwebs
2:225 Funnel Web of a Grass Spider
2:226 Orb Web
2:227 Filmy Dome
2:228 Ballooning Spiders
2:229 White Crab Spiders
2:230 How the Spider Mothers Take Care of Their Eggs
2:231 Other Invertebrates
3:1 How to Begin the Study of Plants and Their Flowers
3:2 Some Needs of Plants
3:3 How to Teach the Names of the Parts of a Flower and of the Plant
3:4 Teach the Use of the Flower
3:5 Flower and Insect Partners
3:6 Relation of Plants to Geography
3:7 Seed Germination
3:8 Wild Flowers
3:9 Hepatica
3:10 Yellow Adder's-Tongue
3:11 Bloodroot
3:12 Trillium
3:13 Dutchman's-Breeches and Squirrel Corn
3:14 Jack-in-the-Pulpit
3:15 Violet
3:16 May Apple or Mandrake
3:17 Bluets
3:18 Yellow Lady's-Slipper
3:19 Evening Primrose
3:20 Milkweed
3:21 White Water Lily
3:22 Pondweed
3:23 Cattail
3:24 Type Lesson for a Composite Flower
3:25 Goldenrod
3:26 Asters
3:27 The Jewelweed or Touch-me-not
3:28 Weeds
3:29 Outline for the Study of a Weed
3:30 Poison Ivy
3:31 Prevention of Ivy Poisoning
3:32 Curative Treatment for Ivy Poisoning
3:33 Common or Field Buttercup
3:34 Hedge Bindweed
3:35 Dodder
3:36 White Daisy
3:37 Yellow Daisy or Black-eyed Susan
3:38 Thistle
3:39 Burdock
3:40 Prickly Lettuce, a Compass Plant
3:41 Dandelion
3:42 Pearly Evening
3:43 Mullein
3:44 Teasel
3:45 Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot
3:46 Garden Flowers
3:47 Crocus
3:48 Daffodils and Their Relatives
3:49 Tulip
3:50 Pansy
3:51 Bleeding Heart
3:52 Poppies
3:53 California Poppy
3:54 Nasturtium
3:55 Bee-Larkspur
3:56 Blue Flag or Iris
3:57 Sunflower
3:58 Bachelor's-Button
3:59 Salvia or Scarlet Sage
3:60 Petunias
3:61 Garden or Horseshoe Geranium
3:62 Sweet Pea
3:63 Cultivated Crop Plants
3:64 Clovers
3:65 Sweet Clover
3:66 White Clover
3:67 Maize or Indian Corn
3:68 Cotton Plant
3:69 Strawberry
3:70 Pumpkin
3:71 Trees
3:72 Parts of the Tree
3:73 The Way a Tree Grows
3:74 How to Begin Tree Study
3:75 How to Make Leaf Prints
3:76 Maples
3:77 American Elm
3:78 Oaks
3:79 Shagbark Hickory
3:80 Chestnut
3:81 Horse Chestnut
3:82 Willows
3:83 Cottonwood or Carolina Poplar
3:84 White Ash
3:85 Apple Tree
3:86 How an Apple Grows
3:87 The Apple
3:88 Pines
3:89 Norway Spruce
3:90 Hemlock
3:91 Dogwood
3:92 Velvet or Staghorn Sumac
3:93 Witch Hazel
3:94 Mountain Laurel
3:95 Flowerless Plants
3:96 Christmas Fern
3:97 Bracken
3:98 How a Fern Bud Unfolds
3:99 Fruiting of the Fern
3:100 Other Ferns
3:101 Field Horsetail
3:102 Hair-cap Moss or Pigeon Wheat
3:103 Others Mosses and Hepatics
3:104 Mushrooms and Other Fungi
3:105 How Mushrooms Look and How They Live
3:106 Puffballs
3:107 Bracket Fungi
3:108 Hedgehog Fungi
3:109 Scarlet Saucer
3:110 Morels
3:111 Stinkhorns
3:112 Molds
3:113 Bacteria
4:1 The Brook
4:2 Life in the Brook
4:3 How a Brook Drops Its load
4:4 Rocks and Minerals
4:5 Rocks
4:6 Sedimentary Rocks
4:7 Igneous Rocks
4:8 Metamorphic Rocks
4:9 Calcite, Limestone, and Marble
4:10 Minerals
4:11 Crystal Growth
4:12 Salt
4:13 Quartz
4:14 Feldspar
4:15 Fossils
4:16 Mica
4:17 The Soil
4:18 Soil Material
4:19 Soil Formation
4:20 Kinds of Soil
4:21 Soil Experiments
4:22 How Valuable Soil Is Lost
4:23 Soil Erosion, an Old Problem
4:24 How to Conserve Our Soil
4:25 The Magnet
4:26 Climate and Weather
4:27 Tower of the Winds
4:28 Historical
4:29 Atmosphere
4:30 Air as a Gas
4:31 Composition of Air
4:32 Pressure of Atmosphere
4:33 The Barometer
4:34 Height of the Atmosphere
4:35 Temperature of the Atmosphere
4:36 Thermometer Scales in Use
4:37 Distribution of Temperature and Pressure
4:38 Winds of the World
4:39 Storms
4:40 Weather Maps
4:41 The Principles of Weather Forecasting
4:42 Forecasts Based on Weather Maps
4:43 Maps, Where Published and How Obtained
4:44 Value of Weather Service
4:45 How to Read Weather Maps
4:46 Highs and Lows
4:47 Observations Concerning the Weather
4:48 Weather Proverbs
4:49 Water Forms
4:50 The Skies
4:51 The Story of the Stars
4:52 How to Begin Star Study
4:53 Circumpolar Constellations
4:54 The Polestar and the Dippers
4:55 Cassiopeia's Chair, Cepheus, and the Dragon
4:56 Winter Stars
4:57 Orion
4:58 Aldebaran and the Pleiades
4:59 The Two Dog Stars, Sirius and Procyon
4:60 Capella and the Heavenly Twins
4:61 Stars of Summer
4:62 Regulus
4:63 Arcturus
4:64 The Crown
4:65 Spica
4:66 Vega
4:67 Antares
4:68 Deneb or Arided
4:69 Altair
4:70 The Sun
4:71 Comets and Meteors
4:72 Shooting Stars
4:73 The Relation between the Tropic of Cancer and the Planting of the Garden
4:74 The Ecliptic and the Zodiac
4:75 The Sky Clock
4:76 Equatorial Star Finder
4:77 The Relations of the Sun to the Earth
4:78 How to Make a Sundial
4:79 The Moon

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