THE CHILD & THE MUSEUM

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2156, 23 May 1914, Page 11

THE CHILD & THE MUSEUM

WHAT NEW YORK DOES. It is one thing to have a splendid Museum of Natural History at 77th Street and Central Park West filled •with Btrange and rare and interesting things, but quite another to bring those things within reach of all the school children in New York city, states a writer in the New York "Evening Post." Thero is something awe'somo about the/great building, which used to keep children from coming alone, and as busy parents cannot always find time to bring thein, the museum and the child were not so well acquainted as

they might have been. It is only within very recent times'that the museum has begun to travel. . For two years now the American Museum of Natural History has been travelling in its little black cases to the school children, and thousands of them have been learning wonderful lessons in biology, mineralogy and hygieno from material which tho museum can supply The -only trouble is that the Natural History Museum cannot' do it all. and needs the co-operation of the Now York Botanical Garden in order to' bring the school children lessons in Botany, as well as other subjects. The work'began in 1903 with ten small cases of birds; to-day more than 500 cabimfts, including birds, : nsects, minerals, and woods are in use in' the schools. Without expense to the Board of Education this material is sent to the very city limits—to City Island on tho north'; to Carnnrsie, and Coney Island on the. cast and south, and to remote districts in Staten Island. In' the first year, 1903, only a few, thousand children studied the collections last, year more than a million were reached. The first year fewer than a hundred, schools were supplied; to-day there are nearly 500 on our list. The trustees devote from 10,000 dollars to Io.OOCf dollars a year of their funds "to this work,, and are prepared toostdnd it further. The Children Handle Them. The best thing about these specimens is that they can bo touched and handled bv the children. Thero is no. sign of '"hands off," and the birds can be taken out of' the 'case and carefully

studied by tho children. This new way of tcnchinc naturo study, in tho schools has ■ transformed tho attitude of •children and teachers from one of tolerance to one of keen interest in the subject. It has also encouraged' the other children to> come to the museum and become* familiar with its treasures. Any one who has' been- through the Bird Hall and seen the birds in their'natural settings, oach case a picturo of beauty, true in all its details to lifo, never thinks of the museum as a place of dead tilings stuffed and standing around in glass, cases. • - ! During the spring and fall a course of lectures is giveii for the children at tho museum on Monday, Wednesday,, and afternoons, at foiir o'clock 1 .: Some of the subjects for this spring are: "The, Coming of Columbus," "Settlement of New England," "Inside the Indian's Wigwam," "The Birds of Our Park," "Fur-Bearers Found Within Fifty Miles of New York," "The Panama Canal," and }■ ever so many others. That- the school children are interested is shown by the increasing mintber who come to the lectures, although attendance is voluntary. Teachers can give special talks to their pupils at the museum, ithcrc are small rooms, for this purpose, and lantern slides, more than forty thousand in all, which deal with subjects included in the school curriculum, will mako nnv lecture interesting. ' But there is another phase' of tho work which tho museum is doing for tho'public school children, which is especially interesting. This is its cooperation in the teaching of 'school hygiene and sanitation. Dr. C. E. A. Wiuslow, who has recently been appointed to take charge of the public education work in-vthe State Health De-. partment, has been most successful ,in developing this, side of the museum's usefulness, and intends to carry on the work on a broader scale in connection with the State Department. Training for Better Health. "I believe," says Dr. Winslow, "that biology and public health should occupy the central place in tho curriculum of the elementary and secondary schools. There is nothing on earth nioro important to tho child than a knowledge of how to keep well, and t-h's knowledge can come, in many cases, only through the medium of the public school. Many schools have come to a realisation of this, and have given tho practical aspects of biology an important place in their list of required subjects. This is the case in the Morris High Schools, where tho broader aspects of sanitation are taught, while the larger girls' schools, the Washington Irving and the WadleighHigh Schools, have introduced splendid courses in house sanitation;"